Grab Shorty
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Grab Shorty |
| Original title | Get shorty |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1995 |
| length | 101 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| script |
Scott Frank Assist: Elmore Leonard |
| production |
Danny DeVito Graham Place Michael Shamberg Stacey Sher |
| music | John Lurie |
| camera | Don Peterman |
| cut | Jim Miller |
| occupation | |
| |
Grab Shorty (Original title: Get Shorty ) is a novel adaptation of the work of the same name by the author Elmore Leonard , with John Travolta and Danny DeVito in the leading roles.
action
Chili Palmer works as a loan shark in Miami. When one day Chili's boss, the mafia boss “Momo”, dies of a heart attack, the somewhat idiot but tough Ray “Bones” Barboni, an old enemy of Chilli, takes on Momo's sole inheritance. Ray puts Chili first on Leo Devoe to collect a debt from him. Leo, however, allegedly died in a plane crash, after which his wife receives severance pay from the airline. In reality, however, Leo wasn't on board the crashed plane and has now run off to Las Vegas with the insurance money. Chili travels to Las Vegas, but learns from the casino owner Dick Allen that Leo is now in Los Angeles. On this occasion, Dick Allen asks Chili to visit the unsuccessful film producer Harry Zimm in Los Angeles, who still owes the casino money.
Once in Los Angeles, Chili finds Harry Zimm in the home of actress Karen Flores. After an agreement about the gambling debts, Harry Zimm asks Chili to help him with an even bigger problem: Zimm owes the unscrupulous Bo Catlett $ 300,000, which he invested in a film project. Catlett and his cronies Ronnie Wingate and Bear, a former stuntman, have their fingers not only in the movie business, but also in the drug business. Chili promises to help Zimm.
Since Chili is a passionate film and cinema fan, he got the idea of producing a film himself - to do this, he presented his first ideas for the plot of the film to Zimm: It is the story of the runaway Leo Devoe. Chili realizes very quickly that there are only small differences between the mafia business and the film business and accordingly settles in quickly. He wins the favor of the film star Martin Weir, which he can win for his film project, and also the favor of Karen Flores, with whom he begins an affair. This is how Chili Palmer made a name for itself in Hollywood's showbiz within a very short time.
Bo Catlett gets wind of the planned film project and finally wants to participate. After Chili had warned him several times to stay out of the project, Catlett wanted to take Chili off. He tells Harry about a sum of 500,000 dollars that is waiting in a locker at the airport and is supposed to pick up the chilli. This is actually money from a drug deal with Yayo Portillo, nephew of the South American drug lord Escobar, and the locker in question is closely monitored by the drug authorities. Catlett hopes that Chili will be arrested while picking up the money, but Chili manages to convince the drug investigators of his harmlessness. Meanwhile, Catlett is put under massive pressure by Escobar because of the $ 500,000 and because of Yayo, who was shot by Catlett. Catlett now desperately wants the money back from Harry's film.
Meanwhile, Harry Zimm, who is still looking for a new sponsor for his film project, calls Ray "Bones" Barboni drunk and tells him about Leo Devoe. So Ray is surprisingly in Harry's office the next day. He beats Harry up and shoots Ronnie Wingate, only to then blame Harry for this murder. Harry, who was seriously injured, first arrives at the hospital, but leaves shortly afterwards to attend a meeting with Martin Weir, Chili Palmer and Karen Flores, since the film project is now ready for signature. In the meantime, Chili has also tracked down Leo Devoe and took the money he had thrown away.
Bo Catlett, who is under pressure from Escobar, then kidnaps Karen Flores in order to extort the money from the film project from Chili. Chili seeks Catlett in his villa, frees Karen and with the help of Bear, with whom he became friends despite a fight, finally eliminates Bo Catlett by throwing him from his balcony into the depths.
Shortly afterwards, Chili receives an unpleasant visit from Ray Barboni. The latter takes the key for the locker from Chili, since he suspects that Chili has deposited Leo Devoe's money there. But when Ray Bones goes to the airport and opens the locker, he is arrested by the police as a suspected drug dealer.
This scene is later recreated in the studio with Harvey Keitel in the role of Ray Bones. This feature film, with Martin Weir in the lead role, is entitled “Grab Shorty!”, Which is produced by Chili Palmer and Harry Zimm and tells Chili's own story. And this film was funded with the money from Leo Devoe, who started the whole story.
Awards
John Travolta won the film awards Golden Globe , American Comedy Award and Southeastern Film Critics Association Award . Other American Comedy Awards went to Dennis Farina and Bette Midler . Despite being nominated for the Golden Bear , the film could not win a German award. Instead, the Golden Bear this year went to the film Sense and Sensibility by Ang Lee .
In 1997, John Lurie was nominated for a Grammy for the score for Snatch Shorty .
Reviews
The film received mostly positive reviews, earning an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes , based on 51 reviews. At Metacritic , a Metascore of 82, based on 22 reviews, was achieved.
James Berardinelli praised the script and said it was “a great pleasure” not to have to “turn off your brain” while watching the film. John Travolta has not looked so "cool" since Saturday Night Fever and is also surrounded by "excellent" supporting actors. Berardinelli attested the quality of the "biting" dialogues in a Quentin Tarantino film .
"An intelligent, thoroughly entertaining crook and crime comedy, brilliantly cast, rich in quotations and peppered with satirical tips against the vain representatives of the supposed 'dream factory' Hollywood."
Cinema magazine described the film as "black, weird and well-played" and "an intelligent satire on the dream factory". He sealed the "cult status" of John Travolta.
According to Movieman, this “delicious comedy” is “absolutely worth seeing” because it is “perfectly cast right down to the smallest supporting role” and thus offers “terrific entertainment”.
The Wiesbaden film evaluation agency awarded the production the rating “valuable”.
backgrounds
In the USA the film opened on October 20, 1995, in Germany the date of the theatrical release was February 29, 1996. In 2005 the sequel Be Cool was released - Everyone is looking for the next big hit in the cinemas, also with John Travolta and Danny DeVito.
John Travolta had originally turned down the lead role until he got a call from Quentin Tarantino asking him to read not only the script but the novel as well. As he read the novel, he realized that many of the best passages had been rewritten for the script. He then asked the scriptwriters to put these good passages back in their original form. After that happened, he took on the lead role.
The real Ernest "Chili" Palmer plays one of Barboni's companions in the scene at the beginning of the film in which Ray Barbone makes fun of the name "Chili". He's the right of the two, who ironically congratulates Ray on his successful joke.
With a budget of 30 million US dollars, the film grossed 13 million US dollars in the USA on the first weekend and over 100 million US dollars worldwide.
In Men in Black II - also directed by Barry Sonnenfeld - there is an allusion to the locker C-18, which plays a central role here: a tribe of tiny aliens lives in a locker in New York's Grand Central Station with the same number.
In August 2017, a series of the same name started in the USA , which is also based on the literary template.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for Snaps Shorty . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2004 (PDF; test number: 74 611 V / DVD).
- ↑ Shorty at rotten tomatoes (English)
- ↑ Shorty at Metacritic (English)
- ↑ James Berardinelli on ReelViews
- ↑ Grab Shorty. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Cinema, accessed January 7, 2008
- ↑ Critique by Markus Oehlschläger on movieman.de ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Assessment by the Wiesbaden Film Assessment Board
- ↑ Box office Mojo gross profit
- ↑ schnittberichte.com, accessed on May 29, 2017
Web links
- Get Shorty in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Shorty at rotten tomatoes (English)
- Shorty at Metacritic (English)
- Snaps Shorty in the online film database
- Grab Shorty in the German dubbing file