Get Shorty

I turned on Amazon Prime last night to watch The Godfather but Get Shorty popped right into my queue. This was serendipitous since I wrote about Elmore Leonard yesterday, so I decided to watch it.

Fine cast includes John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Rene Russo, Dennis Farina, James Gandolfini, and Delroy Lindo. Now I’m going to throw in Alex Rocco even though he was uncredited ─ but I won’t tell you why until I get back to him tomorrow or the next day. Stay tuned.

Get Shorty is a mob movie. There’s the raw, edgy, tough-guy stuff you expect from Elmore Leonard, but something else smacks you right in the face in some of the early scenes. Humor ─ almost slapstick a couple times ─ and that’s not Elmore Leonard.

I went right to the credits and, ah-ha, just as I figured. Collaboration on the screenwriting with Scott Frank. Plus the director’s fingerprints are all over this, too. Look like Barry Sonnenfeld wanted to direct a comedy.

So the finished product is an amalgam of a comedy that’s not exactly funny most of the time and a mob movie that’s wearing panties too much of the time. Glad I watched it, but not putting it on my Repeater List.  

I’m America’s Best Crime Writer – Barry Bowe – & I approve this message.

My first book – Born to Be Wild – Published in 1992 – Still selling on Amazon & Kindle. A true story about certain members of the Warlocks motorcycle gang.

The story took 21 years to play out – many twists & turns – an amalgam of Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad – but these outlaw bikers make the Sons look like Cub Scouts.

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