Originally a book by crime
novelist Elmore Leonard, who has also written several books that have become films, including "
Touch", "
Jackie Brown", and "
Out Of Sight". It's followed by a sequel, "Be Cool".
The film, though, is hilarious. Stars Travolta, DeVito, Hackman, and Russo, as noted above, but also Delroy Lindo, Dennis Farina, David Paymer, the now famous James Gandolfini, and features cameos of Harvey Keitel, Penny Marshall, and Bette Midler.
Some quotes:
Chili: What is that?
Driver: It's an Oldsmobile Silhouette.
Chili: I ordered a Cadillac.
Driver: Oh well yeah that's the "Cadillac of Minivans".
Chili: Are you kidding me?
Driver: Hey, if you want, the other car rental is right over there, but I think all they got is rabbit convertibles.
Chili: Guess I'll take the "Cadillac of Minivans".
Bo: Only this time it ain't no John Wayne or Dean Martin shootin' bad guys in El Dorado.
Chili: That was Rio Bravo! Robert Mitchum played the drunk in El Dorado. Dean Martin played the drunk in Rio Bravo. Basically, it was the same part. Now John Wayne, he did the same in both ... he played John Wayne.
Bo: Man, I can't wait for you to be dead!
Chili: You could write one of these?
Bo: There's nothing to it! All you do, you get an idea, you set down what you wanna say on paper. Then you hire somebody else to fill in the commas and shit, where they belong, if you're not positive yourself. Maybe fix up the spelling where you have some tricky words. Although, I seen some scripts, I KNOW the words weren't spelled right, there was hardly any commas in it at all, so I don't think that's too important. All right, you get to the end, you write in "Fade Out". You're done.
Chili: That's it?
Bo: That's it.
Chili: That's all there is to it? Then what the fuck do I need you for?
Martin: I'm really glad that you rejected me ten years ago when I auditioned for the part of Eddie Solomon, the pedophile clown in "Birthday Boy". If I'd a gotten that role, I might have been typecast!