''Get Shorty'' is a 1990 novel by American novelist

Elmore Leonard Elmore John Leonard Jr. (October 11, 1925August 20, 2013) was an American novelist, short story author and screenwriter. He was, according to British journalist Anthony Lane, "hailed as one of the best crime writers in the land". His earliest no ...

. In

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, the novel was adapted into an eponymous film, and in 2017 it was adapted into a television series of the same name.

Plot summary

The story is about Ernesto "Chili" Palmer, a small-time

loan shark A loan shark is a person who offers loans at Usury, extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of debt collection, collection, and generally operates criminal, outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, ...

based in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

. After learning that his operation has been turned over to an old enemy, Ray "Bones" Barboni, Chili flies to

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

in pursuit of Leo Devoe, a dry cleaner who has scammed an airline out of $300,000 in

life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...

by faking his death in a plane crash, and who owes a $10,000 gambling debt to Chili's employers. After relieving Leo of the money in Vegas, Chili impulsively gambles it all away. To avoid returning home empty-handed, he goes to the casino's security director and is offered the chance to collect from Harry Zimm, a veteran horror film producer based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Chili, interested in the movie business, heads for Los Angeles to make Zimm pay. Chili sneaks into the house of "scream queen" actress Karen Flores, where Harry is staying, in the night. After he warns Harry to pay his Las Vegas markers, he explains that he has an idea for a movie. Harry is immediately taken in by Chili's charm and his movie premise. For the movie's plot, Chili recounts Leo's story to Harry in the third person, as if it were a work of fiction. Karen recognizes the premise as a true story and identifies Chili as the unnamed shylock. The next morning, Harry asks for Chili's help in dealing with a movie script for ''Mr. Lovejoy'' he wants to buy from his writer's widow, Doris Saffron, who wants $500,000 for it and he guaranteed a $200,000 investment from Bo Catlett, a local limo driver and drug dealer, to make another movie, ''Freaks''. (Harry gambled Bo's $200,000 away in the Vegas in hope of making the $500,000 he needed for ''Mr. Lovejoy''). In a meeting with Bo, Harry and Chili tell them that their investment in ''Freaks'' is sound but they are making another movie first. Bo tells them to move the money into the new picture; Harry says he cannot since the new movie deal is "structured". Bo is involved in a Mexican drug deal that falls through. He has left the payment in a locker at the Los Angeles airport but the Colombian sent to receive the money, Yayo, does not feel safe unlocking the locker with so many DEA agents nearby. Bo later meets Yayo at the limo garage and after Yayo threatens to tell the DEA who Bo is, Bo shoots him. Bo soon offers the locker money to Harry as an investment and tells him to send Chili to get the money. Chili senses something wrong, signs out a nearby locker as a test and is taken for questioning by DEA agents. After the questioning, Chili seeks the interests of Michael Weir, a top-tier Hollywood actor to play the lead in "Mr. Lovejoy". Ray Barboni, after learning about Leo's money from his wife, comes to Los Angeles looking for the money Chili collected from Leo, only to find the key to the locker from the failed drug deal in one of Chili's pockets. Thinking Chili has stashed his cash in a locker, he goes to the airport and is busted by drug officials. In a final showdown with Bo, Chili is held at gunpoint by Catlett. One of Catlett's henchman, known as the Bear, arrives just in time to apprehend Catlett, and in the struggle for the gun, Catlett falls through the railing of his sun deck. As Chili recounts his story to Karen and Harry, it shares some comparisons with Mr. Lovejoy.

Adaptations

The novel served as the basis for a ''Get Shorty'' franchise. This included: the 1995

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

; a sequel titled '' Be Cool'' was released 2005, which was based on the novel of the same name; and the ''Get Shorty'' TV series was released through Epix from August 2017 – November 2019. Ray Romano and Chris O'Dowd star in the series. The first season premiered on August 13, 2017.

Notes

{{Elmore Leonard 1990 American novels American crime novels Novels by Elmore Leonard Hollywood novels American novels adapted into films Novels about film directors and producers Novels set in casinos American novels adapted into television shows de:Schnappt Shorty