Paramount re-issue the marvellous 'Get Shorty' to milk the cash cow of their cinema release to it’s sequel 'Be Cool'.
Sonnenfeld scores one of his biggest hits with 'Get Shorty' , this is a long way from his porn movie director roots and then he became a regular as a cameraman for the likes of the delightful Coen brothers. Quite a leap, and now he’s got the cream of Hollywood in his hands for a fantastic romp.
John Travolta is Chili Palmer, a loan shark and the epitome of cool. He is asked to go to L.A. for a job to pick up a debt and ends up in the lions den of money and Hollywood. Strangely he fits right in ! Travolta made this role his own and at his insistence sections of the movie with Palmer as a movie fan were enhanced and makes the movie work a treat.But I could be here all night singing the praises of this flick and the wonderful heaven sent cast. The main thing here is why should you spend your hard earned cash on this re-issue ?
Is it John Lurie’s toe tapping music ? Is it Gene Hackman's superb comic toothed out role ? Is it John Travolta's walk ? Or Rene Russo's sexy screamer ? Is it that there is a sequel in the cinemas now ? Well, yes and no...The answer is.... Disc 2. This is what is different from before and there are featurettes a plenty.
The first is ‘Get Shorty: Look At Me’ , a 26 minute romp with the cast and crew chatting away including Elmore Leonard praising the way his material has been handled. Sonnenfeld discusses his first choice of Danny De Vito to play Chili Palmer before they got hold of Quentin Tarantino (the studio's first choice for directing this movie) to persuade Travolta, being hot property after 'Pulp Fiction'. De Vito actually declined due to commitments on 'Matilda' . Hollywood itself was peppered with false billboards of De Vito’s character of Martin Weir; De Vito got call upon call as people were wondering what was going on.
Next is ‘Get Shorty: Wiseguys and Dolls’ , a 20 minute continuation on the above but looking more at the guys and femmes, a harking back to the time of noir (we even get to see Travolta’s character in the movie watching 'Touch of Evil' ).
‘Page to Screen: Get Shorty’ is an episode of the Page To Screen TV documentary series, and on this particular episode hosted by actor Peter Gallagher (sex, lies & videotape ). This little documentary is full of snippets from critics, cast, and many others. Looking at Elmore’s background and other novels and the real Earnest ‘Chili’ Palmer himself. After the many hard-boiled crime novels and pulp westerns this was his first satire in his writing history. Seemingly the character of the egomaniacal Martin Weir was based on Leonard’s own experience in meeting Dustin Hoffman. This also hints that a sequel might be in the pipeline with Leonard continuing the exploits of Palmer in his novel 'Be Cool' .‘Going Again’ is exactly that, the guys are back showing in a amusing 5 minute stretch the techniques of ‘keep it rolling’ filming, it does seem that although Sonnenfeld wanted things word perfect that the cast still found much to enjoy themselves.
‘Get Shorty Party Reel’ is a montage of snippets and outtakes from both sides of the camera.
'Be Cool, Be Very Cool' is the reason for this release, this is the tie in with the cinema release of the Get Shorty sequel ‘Be Cool’ in which Chili takes on the music industry and here is your 8 minute snippet. F. Gary Gray takes over from the Sonnenfeld role as director and Harvey Keitel even makes a re-appearance but completely unconnected to his previous uncredited appearance. This also looks like The Rock has at last found a role to have fun with. 'Be Cool' is indeed in the cinemas this April and this is your chance of a sneak peak now.A deleted scene comes in the shape of ‘The Graveyard Scene’ with Palmer and Zimm making an appearance to a movie set with Ben Stiller making a nice cameo as a director for a shlocky horror flick. This is in two forms; one showing the scene in its entirety and the other has Sonnenfeild talking you through the reasons for its exclusion.
And we have Easter eggs too on these menus, so after watching the extras, page around the screens and bull’s-eyes and icons will light up with extra Danny De Vito moments
A photo gallery and theatrical trailer (which strangely enough contains a section of the deleted scene) completes this awesome extra bonus disc.
On disc 1 we do have a director's commentary and Sonnenfeld is not the most musical of voices but he does have some interseting things to say, there's also a subtitle track to go with this if you wish. On the subject of tracks this has been outfitted with more language and subtitle options than the European Community.
So should you buy this ? Well if you do not have the original release yes do without a doubt as this is an excellent 2 disc package, but if you already have that one, if extras are your cup of tea, then this will do no wrong in your collection.
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