Get Shorty
.... This is how he goes about his life as a loan shark. When he retrieves his jacket from Ray Bones, he doesn’t even open his mouth- he opens the door, punches him, and then takes the jacket and leaves. He even is quoted in the movie, “I won't say any more than I have to, if that.” This is a symbol of the gangster characters in the movie. Harry Zimm, the movie producer, on the other hand and others involved in the film industry, have the opposite philosophy. They talk too much, to the point where it gets them into trouble. This aspect of the film is highlighted in the scene where Chili’s goes to Harry’s office for the first time. Chili instructs Harry to not say anything, but he cannot resist and he does exactly what Chili tells him not to do. It is ironic that a gangster is telling a movie producer how to handle people who have a piece of his movie. The relationship between Chili and Harry gives the sense that Chili knows more about what Harry is doing than he does. The contrast between how Chili and Harry handle things further highlight this point. Harry gets the script for another one of his movies from the shrink of a personal trainer of a friend. Harry tries to buy the script because he doesn’t have the Hollywood A-list status. Chili handles the situation by using his leverage and power as a gangster to get people to do what he wants. It appears as if Chili doesn’t need Harry and he can do it by himself. Bo Catlett, a fellow gangster also wants to get involved with Harry and a movie. A role reversal occurs later on in the movie when Harry tries to be the tough gangster that Chili is. He calls Ray Bones and tries to act tough and insults him in hopes of getting him to come to Los Angeles and buy a piece of his movie. This shows that while a gangster can become a movie producer, a movie producer cannot become a gangster. When Bones does come to tinsel town, he beats Harry nearly to death, further illustrating the point that gangsters have as much of a business in the film industry and movie producers do. The actor who the characters want to play Chili Palmer is two time academy award nominee Martin Weir. His character is a satire of big name actors. He illustrates the stereotype that actors are assholes. He refuses to order from the menu when they are out at lunch and cannot accept the fact that he is broken up with B-movie star Karen Flores. Each character in the film satirizes the film industry is used to satirize the film industry in a different way. Part of the comedy in this movie comes from the direct criticism and satire of the film. The movie is essentially about making a movie about itself, and there are a few points in the film where the director pokes fun at it. When Chili talks to Harry at the beginning of the film about his idea for the movie, the audience doesn’t get the humor until Chili says, “He comes to L.A.”. This is when the reader realizes that the movie idea is about Chili; however Harry doesn’t realize it later. When Chili calls his friend in Miami to check in, he asks where Chili is. When Chili says that he is in Los Angeles as a movie producer, his friend tells him that he doesn’t know anything about making movies. “I don't think the producer has to do much, outside of maybe knowing a writer,” Chili coolly responds. Later on in the film, Chili goes to Harry’s office to pick up a script where he finds Bo Catlett already looking at it. They are talking about re-writing a script for another one of Harry’s movies, “Mr. Lovejoy”. When Chili asks Bo is he knows how to write a script, Bo replies, “There's nothin' to know. You have an idea, you write down what you wanna say. Then you get somebody to add in the commas…where they belong, if you aren't positive yourself. Maybe fix up the spelling where you have some tricky words . . . although I've seen scripts where I know words weren't spelled right and there was hardly any commas in it at all. So I don't think it's too important. Anyway, you come to the last page you write in 'Fade out' and that's the end, you're done.” If all you need to know to be a movie producer is to know a ...