{"id":15183,"date":"2020-10-20T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=15183"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:17:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:17:40","slug":"how-get-shorty-briefly-extended-john-travoltas-reign-of-cool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/how-get-shorty-briefly-extended-john-travoltas-reign-of-cool\/","title":{"rendered":"How Get Shorty<\/i> (Briefly) Extended John Travolta’s Reign of Cool"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For a time, the cinematic embodiment of cool was John Travolta. Two of his earliest films, 1977\u2019s Saturday Night Fever <\/em>and 1978\u2019s Grease<\/em>, established him as an actor of swagger, a cocksure and hip performer who could represent both a \u201850s-era version of popularity and the chic of the Disco era. In the \u201890s, for an even briefer time, Travolta\u2019s star rose again because he was once again able to tap into his innate sense of coolness. The obvious example is his second wind of stardom brought about by the perfect storm known as Quentin Tarantino\u2019s Pulp Fiction<\/em>, released in the fall of 1994 to widespread acclaim. Generally, Travolta\u2019s career got a shot in the arm after the release of Pulp Fiction<\/em>, leading to him starring in a handful of action films and comedies intended to re-cement him as an A-Lister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To hear Travolta say it, Tarantino had more than a helping hand in his immediate choices post-Pulp<\/em>. Over the span of just a handful of months in late 1995 and early 1996, Travolta co-starred in three films: Get Shorty<\/em>, White Man\u2019s Burden<\/em>, and Broken Arrow<\/em>. The latter action film (which inspired the name of film site Ain\u2019t It Cool News, in news you can truly use) was from one of Tarantino\u2019s favorite action filmmakers, John Woo. White Man\u2019s Burden<\/em>, which proposed an alternate history in which white people were discriminated against, based on the color of their skin, by black people, was produced by Tarantino\u2019s cohort Lawrence Bender. In the Los Angeles Times<\/em>, Travolta said <\/a>it directly enough: “He recommended both these movies I\u2019m doing now, \u2018Get Shorty\u2019 and \u2018White Man\u2019s Burden.\u2019 It was kind of his managerial influence on me.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That managerial influence only resulted in one true success, however \u2013  just one movie that actually served as proof that John Travolta still had the ineffable quality of cool, and it arrived one year after Pulp Fiction<\/em>. Even if Tarantino hadn\u2019t been directly encouraging of Travolta\u2019s involvement, the connection would be unavoidable. After Pulp Fiction<\/em>, he went on to adapt one of the many great novels from crime author Elmore Leonard with the 1997 classic Jackie Brown<\/em>. But John Travolta got there first as the star of the 1995 adaptation of Leonard\u2019s novel Get Shorty<\/em>. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this week, Get Shorty<\/em> remains the one truly emphatic example of Travolta using his newfound starpower to line up with the perfect project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not that Travolta was wanting for options after Pulp Fiction<\/em>. Throughout the rest of the \u201890s, he once again turned into a well-known and welcome quantity. Aside from Get Shorty<\/em>, he starred in a handful of action films such as Broken Arrow<\/em> and John Woo\u2019s operatic actioner Face\/Off<\/em> with fellow A-List ham Nicolas Cage. And there were comedies too, like Nora Ephron\u2019s Michael,<\/em> as well as his Clinton-esque turn in Mike Nichols\u2019 Primary Colors<\/em>. Even films like The General\u2019s Daughter<\/em> wound up doing decent box-office numbers in part because of Travolta\u2019s commanding presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yet the one thing that Get Shorty<\/em> asked of Travolta is one thing he shies away from in so many of his roles. It\u2019s the one thing, in fact, that made up the title of the inevitable 2005 sequel to Get Shorty<\/em>, a sequel whose inevitability was as assured as its badness: Be Cool<\/em>. The original film, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, needed Travolta at that exact moment in his career as much he needed the role of slick loan shark Chili Palmer. Chili starts out in Miami before winding up in Hollywood, involved with Hollywood producers, big-name movie stars, and the rough-and-tumble sorts behind the scenes. The film thrives on Travolta\u2019s calm charm, embodied in a single exchange, as Chili deals with some sordid bad guys led by the enigmatic Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExcuse me, but who the f**k are you?\u201d one of Bo\u2019s faux-tough guys asks after some contentious back-and-forth with Travolta\u2019s protagonist during a house call to a Z-movie producer who Chili\u2019s helping out. Chili answers without hesitation and without raising his voice, \u201cI\u2019m the one telling you how it is. That\u2019s not too hard to figure out, is it?\u201d We can attribute some of what makes Chili Palmer such a fascinating antihero to both the script and to the source material. (Scott Frank, Get Shorty<\/em>\u2019s screenwriter, is clearly one of the few writers who could so confidently tap into Leonard\u2019s distinctive voice; he went on to write the stellar adaptation of Out of Sight<\/em> in 1998.) But the script demands a specific type of performance from its star, and Travolta succeeded amazingly, especially considering how rarely he tapped into his reservoir of cool moving forward. The key to the role comes early enough, after a few curlicue twists send Chili to Hollywood. When Chili arrives, it\u2019s in the dark of night at the home of the aforementioned Z-movie producer Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman) to collect the man\u2019s casino debt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook at me, Harry,\u201d Chili intones calmly. \u201cI am <\/em>looking at\u2019cha,\u201d Harry says shakily and offhandedly. but what Chili really wants is for Harry — and anyone he orders to look at him — to peer right into the depth of his soul, to understand that he means business. He needs the other person to grasp that, as he says later on, he\u2019s the one saying how it is. Throughout the film, Chili isn\u2019t just ordering others to look at him, but he\u2019s trying to teach them how to pull off the same trick. Harry can only do it well over the phone, to another Miami gangster (Dennis Farina); in the same room, he folds like a cheap table. (A quick note: as firm as Travolta is, watching the often-terrifying Gene Hackman play such a weenie is both very funny and very strange.) But the \u201cShorty\u201d of the title, Martin Weir (Danny DeVito), gets it quickly enough that he\u2019s able to intimidate Harry in spite of just being an overpaid actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The blend of coolness and toughness is what made John Travolta John Travolta<\/em>. There was nothing cooler than watching Tony Manero swagger his way down the streets of Brooklyn, or Danny Zuko boogying with the T-Birds, decked out in his slicked-back hair and leather jacket. And Vincent Vega, before he\u2019s gunned down unceremoniously, evinces an old-fashioned sense of cool, dancing his way to victory at Jack Rabbit Slim\u2019s with the boss\u2019s wife in a scene whose choreography as iconic as any of Travolta\u2019s disco moves. Yet after Get Shorty<\/em>, Travolta\u2019s filmography descended quickly. There were a few solid enough entries after Get Shorty<\/em> (though this writer isn\u2019t the biggest Face\/Off <\/em>fan), yet Travolta rarely ever even tried to harness the innate charm that had turned him into a movie star. The few bright spots, such as his supporting turn as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray<\/em>, were overshadowed by still-laughable flops like Battlefield Earth<\/em>, and felt intended to make Travolta a walking joke. (And then there are films like Gotti<\/em>, about which…well, never mind.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Travolta\u2019s return to Chili in Be Cool<\/em> was a pale reflection of what he\u2019d pulled off in 1995. The film felt like an attempt at a one-two knockout punch, reminding audiences why his star had been revived; it wasn\u2019t just that he was playing Chili Palmer again, Travolta was reuniting with Uma Thurman! And you better believe they\u2019d dance on screen too! That superficial reunion aside, Be Cool<\/em> proved how singular Travolta\u2019s talent could be, and what its limitations were. Though Travolta returned, only DeVito joined him; Be Cool<\/em> even had a different director and screenwriter. Chili Palmer was the perfect role for John Travolta, but only at the right moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Travolta had a moment and a half in the mid-\u201990s. Few actors are fortunate enough to play such memorable, enduring characters in modern popular culture, let alone four<\/em>. Though his career has dwindled over time, Travolta had one last gasp of cool in 1995. Get Shorty<\/em> was not a repeatable success, arriving at a period in American cinema when mid-budget films for adults were the norm, not the exception. Revisiting the film is a reminder that while Travolta can\u2019t do it anymore, there was a time when he could stare anyone down, command their attention, and do it with a smile. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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