Get Shorty (film)

Get Shorty is a 1995 crime thriller comedy film based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, and Danny DeVito, the plot remained true to the book except for a few minor details.

A sequel, titled Be Cool, was released in 2005.

Plot

Chili Palmer, a loan shark based in Miami, clashes with mobster, Ray "Bones" Barbone over a leather jacket borrowed from Palmer at a restaurant without permission by Mr. Barbone. They have two confrontations, the first of which leaves Barbone with a broken nose. Barbone then wants his boss Jimmy Capp to go after Palmer, but he refuses, as Palmer has done nothing wrong. Barbone took the jacket without permission, and Chili's car keys were in the jacket. Jimmy also tells Bones that Chili works for another mafioso named Momo and Capp has no power over him. But soon after Palmer's boss, Momo, dies of a heart attack, Chili finds himself working for Barbone, whose first order is for Palmer to collect a loan shark debt owed by dry cleaner Leo Devoe. Devoe was believed to have been killed in a commercial airliner crash, but in truth had actually gotten off the plane, and failed to re-board because he was getting drunk in the airport bar. After the plane crash, Devoe's wife, Faye, identified his personal effects, and the airline quickly offers her an insurance check for $300,000. Faye gives Leo the insurance money, and he heads out of Miami. When Chili visits Leo's "widow" Faye, she reveals to Palmer that Leo is still alive, has left Miami, and is partying and winning money in Las Vegas, Nevada.