Get Shorty book review

Elmore Leonard’s 1990 ‘too-cool-for-school’ novel, Get Shorty, was a popular bestseller that spawned a film adaptation in 1995. I read the book shortly after it was released, and I went on to read The Switch and Rum Punch as well. In general, I really love Leonard’s brisk and action-packed writing style—they are always packed with compelling dialogue. But, did I enjoy reading Get Shorty? Read our Get Shorty book review to find out!

A suave loan shark named Chili Palmer lives in Miami. He spends a lot of his time tracking down bad debts. And when he does, he meets interesting but equally shady people along the way.

Despite his reputation as a shylock, Chili does not enjoy using violence to collect outstanding loans. Instead, he creates the fear of violence in a debtor’s mind, and usually, that’s all it takes to ring the cash register.

When he relaxes, Chili enjoys going to the movies. In fact, this guy is a film buff, and he knows all the great movies, along with the stars in those productions.

Fortunately for Chili, he gets assigned to collect a bad debt in Las Vegas, which eventually leads him to Hollywood. That’s when he gets the idea that he, too, could make it big in the film production business. So, that’s where this action-packed story takes Chili!

And now, for the Get Shorty ensemble cast list in our Get Shorty book review! And, check out the movie trailer below.

Throughout this fast-paced novel, we meet an ensemble cast of characters. In a way, they all share the stage as protagonists. However, the main character, and the one we are urged to identify with the most and to adulate, is Chili Palmer.

Chili Palmer is a loan shark, or shylock, from Miami. By the way, a shylock is an antisemitic slur derived from a character in a William Shakespeare play. And, it’s a perfect way to describe Chili.

To protect his capital, Chili doesn’t loan money to people who won’t pay him back. But, unlike a stereotypical shylock, when they do come up short, he hesitates to use violence.

According to Chili, violence is counterproductive. However, he has found that it does pay to conjure up violent images of retribution among his delinquent clientele.

And occasionally, he must use violence to amplify his image as a shylock. Since Chili does have a good reputation as a small-time debt collector, he often gets assigned to collect from more difficult customers, some of whom are high-rollers.

When Chili has some down time, he goes to the movies. In fact, he’s a film buff—he knows all the movies and lots of trivia about their stars.

Fortunately, one of Chili’s high-roller bad debtors lives in Hollywood. And, this guy just happens to be a movie producer! So, the story takes off from there.

Chili is charismatic, fast-thinking and quick-talking. In addition, he is good-looking and the ladies like him!

Unfortunately, I was not able to empathize with Chili Palmer, despite his being the protagonist, and despite his unique, interesting lifestyle. Sure, he was interesting, but I really didn’t become captivated by his character.

Ray Bones is part of the older generation of mobsters that used to be successful in Miami. Despite his advancing age, Bones is a dangerous guy, and unlike Chili, Bones enjoys using violence to get what he wants.

Bones is into all kinds of mobster-schemes in Florida, but he gets sent out to Vegas and Hollywood, just like Chili. Unfortunately, Chili is trying to avoid Bones, because he knows this Bones-guy wants to eliminate him, with extreme violence!

Despite this guy’s interesting persona, I could not empathize with Ray “Bones” Barboni. Sure, I could understand why he would want to get revenge, but I just didn’t care whether he was successful. And, I didn’t care if he lived or died. That’s sad, but it’s true—there was no empathy for Bones.

While owning a dry cleaner business might sound like a squeaky clean way to earn a living, Leo Devoe was not clean. While he had his good points, he was a low-down sneaky thief.

First of all, he owed a debt to Chili Palmer, so Chili was looking for him. But, it turns out he stole some settlement money from his wife, and then took off to Las Vegas to live like a king.

Everybody except his wife, Faye, thought Leo had died in a plane crash. So, that made it convenient for Leo, at least it was convenient until Chili caught up with him.

Despite being an interesting character who had a fun story to read about, I could not empathize with Leo Devoe. His descent into crime was not engaging, and his personality just didn’t enthrall me.

Harry Zimm was a successful, low-budget film producer. The trouble with Harry’s business, though, was that he was always looking for financial backers to begin production on his latest sure-fire hit.

Unfortunately, some of those investors were not the reputable type of business leaders. Instead, to raise money for his low-budget productions, Harry often had to entice drug dealers who had money to launder.

And often, those investors could get cranky when Harry didn’t stick to the film production schedule. Unfortunately, Harry loved to gamble, also.

When Harry skipped out on a big debt in Las Vegas, Chili gets on his trail, too. And that’s where Chili thinks he can team up with Harry and make a beautiful big film production together!

While Harry Zimm was also an interesting and intriguing character, I could not empathize with him. However, I did like Harry. Basically, I believed that Harry was honest, and tried to do the right thing, but in difficult circumstances.

Harry Zimm, the film producer, was staying the night with Karen Flores, one of his actresses from a past horror film. It was a successful production, and much of the credit goes to Karen Flores.

Karen is an aging, but still pretty, movie actress. Her major claim-to-fame was the earth-shattering scream that she produced in one of Harry’s productions.

In addition to being attractive, and still physically fit, Karen is also very intelligent. She wants to break free from her scream-queen stereotype, and maybe branch out into other areas of film production.

One night, both Karen and Harry meet Chili Palmer. It was an unsettling first meeting, but they all hit it off, and together they embarked on another adventure in their careers.

While Karen had many interesting characteristics, I couldn’t empathize with her. She was a likable character, though, so I did like her, just as I liked Harry, her former boss.

Bo Catlett had a legitimate business. He owned a limo service, and earned a very good living driving important people around Hollywood. In addition, Bo imported and sold illicit drugs, sometimes to his limo customers.

While Bo was a conservative but very sharp dresser, his underworld connections made him a deceptively dangerous person to deal with. Unfortunately for Harry Zimm, Bo was invested in one of his film productions.

Harry was behind in the production schedule, and Bo was not happy. So, he was trying to figure out how to recoup his investment from Harry. Maybe, Bo could convince Harry to roll his investment over into another production that Harry was working on.

And, that’s where Harry Zimm and Chili Palmer discover that dealing with Bo Catlett could be very dangerous, even life-threatening.

As a body-builder and former stuntman, Bear was an intimidating guy. His oppressive persona made him a perfect fit to help out Bo Catlett. So, he would run dangerous errands for Bo. In other words, Bear was a hired tough-guy and enforcer.

Despite being burly, Bear had a gentle side, too. He had a daughter who he adored and pampered. In addition, Bear wanted to do the right things in life—he didn’t enjoy some of the criminal things he was asked to do.

Bear was the only character in this book who I could empathize with. I really liked the guy—he was a good, protective father, and he was also trying to set a good example. In other words, Bear wanted to be a good guy.

And I really liked understanding those conflicting forces of good and evil, and how Bear with coping with them in his own life. His character was intriguing and believable.

The successful actor, Martin Weir, commands top-dollar for his roles. Before talking about a new film project, the producer has to put up a large deposit in an escrow account before Martin will meet and discuss.

Naturally, Harry Zimm along with Chili Palmer, want Weir for their next project. If he would agree to act for them, it would guarantee a huge success and a huge financial windfall.

Unfortunately, I could not empathize with Martin Weir. His story did not interest me, and it didn’t intrigue me—not at all! For me, his character was too stereotyped and too predictable.

It was about 30 years ago when I saw the Get Shorty film production. Back then, I really didn’t like it—I thought it was boring. But now, watching this trailer, it looks pretty good. In fact, it looks really good. Maybe I should give it another chance!

Surprisingly, this sometimes violent crime thriller did have comedic aspects, which I enjoyed. The comedy helped to humanize the characters, and make them more fallible and believable.

Unfortunately, the humor did not help me to empathize with any of the characters (other than Bear). I don’t know why, but Get Shorty just didn’t grab ahold of me or engage me as much as many of the other Elmore Leonard stories I have read.

Overall, the premise and many of the characters were too stereotyped, and I just couldn’t identify with them. In addition, the large amount of time that the characters talked about film production was really, really boring.

Somehow, the characters took a subject that could have been interesting, and made it uninteresting and implausible.

Thanks for reading our Get Shorty book review. Share your thoughts about the book or the movie in the comments section below!

FINAL VERDICT:

While the characters in Get Shorty were interesting, and the premise of the story was unique, it fell flat for me.

Despite my overall disappointment with this novel, I did enjoy the first third of the book, as well as the last third of the book. In between, unfortunately, the characters spent way too much time discussing the nitty-gritty of film production, and that bored me stiff.

Still, Get Shorty is a pleasant read, and I could feel the tension building near the end. Despite being entertaining to read, I would suggest that you try Rum Punch instead. Rum Punch had great dialogue, and it was compelling from start-to-finish. In addition, Rum Punch was made into an even better movie called Jackie Brown.

Unfortunately, the film adaptation for Get Shorty was even more disappointing than the book, at least for me. However, I know I might be in the minority, because Get Shorty was on the bestseller’s list, and the film production was a great success, too!

Thanks for reading our Get Shorty book review. If you’ve read the book and loved it, please share your thoughts in the comments section below!

Content and photos by Doug Martin and Our Book Banter