Get Shorty is a 1995 crime-comedy film based on Elmore Leonard's novel of the same name. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring John Travolta, Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, and Danny DeVito, the plot remained true to the book except for a few minor details.

The sequel Be Cool began production in 2003 and was released in 2005. It was based on the novel of the same name published in 1999.

Plot[link]

Chili Palmer (John Travolta), a loan shark based out of Miami, clashes with another mobster, Ray "Bones" Barboni (Dennis Farina). Barboni borrows Chili's jacket without permission, and Chili gets it back after slugging Barboni. After several more confrontations, Barboni tried to get his boss, Jimmy Capp (Alex Rocco) involved. Capp refuses to go to mob war over such a trivial matter as Chili's jacket. When Palmer's New York boss, Momo, dies of a heart attack, he quickly finds himself working for Barboni. Barboni's first order is for Palmer to collect a 18K loansharking debt owed by dry cleaner Leo Devoe (David Paymer). Devoe was believed to be killed in a fatal commercial airliner crash. Owing loan shark money to Palmer, a panicky Devoe had got off his flight, started slamming down drinks, and failed to re-board. After his plane crashed, Devoe's wife, Faye, identified his personal effects. The airliner quickly offered her a check for $300,000, assuming Devoe had been aboard the aircraft. When Chili visits Devoe's widow to see if he had any flight insurance, she suddenly tells him Leo is actually still alive, and partying in Las Vegas.

While looking for Devoe in Vegas, Palmer picks up a job from a casino manager, Dick Allen (Bobby Slayton), to collect a gambling debt from a B-movie producer named Harry Zimm (Gene Hackman). When Palmer locates Zimm at actress Karen Flores' house, he agrees to pay back the money he owes the casino in 90 days. On an aside, Palmer then pitches a movie idea to the producer: a thinly veiled story of his own recent life. Zimm is interested in the concept, but he has financial problems of his own. He owes $200,000 to drug dealer Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo). Palmer tells Zimm he will help Zimm take care of it. In the interim, Palmer tracks down Devoe and collects the $300,000 in insurance money, plus another $10,000, which he promises to pay back plus interest. Palmer returns the next day, and asks Karen Flores (Rene Russo) out. Flores is the ex-wife of famed actor Martin Weir (Danny DeVito), who is just the man Palmer wants to star in his life story. With Karen, Palmer pitches Weir the story idea. Weir seems very interested in the script ideas.

When Catlett visits Zimm for a progress report about the film he is supposedly financing, Palmer tells Catlett that Zimm has a project he needs to finish first. Catlett wants to produce the new film, Mr. Lovejoy, but Harry claims he cannot do that, as the new film deal is "structured". Catlett and his sidekick Ronnie (John Gries) then threaten Harry, saying they want their $200,000 back immediately. In the meantime Catlett's drug dealing business has had problems with cash shortages and Mexican mafia dealers wanting money. Chili has problems too, as a drunken Harry has recklessly called Ray Barboni in Miami, and told him Chili has recovered the money from Leo Devoe. Barboni is soon on his way to Los Angeles. A few days later, Catlett offers Zimm $500,000 interest free to drop Palmer's help and let him produce the film. Palmer soon asks Karen Flores (Rene Russo) out. Karen, is a low-budget actress and the ex-wife of actor Martin Weir. Martin is the man Palmer wants to help him produce and star in his story. Through Karen, Palmer pitches Weir the idea. Weir seems interested. As a romance starts developing between Palmer and Karen, they begin to realize they both have a love for movies, too.

Bo Catlett is upset about his failing drug business, and the fact Harry will not let him produce Mr. Lovejoy. Desperate for money, Catlett kidnaps Karen and demands the money that Chili has gotten back from Leo Devoe. Though Chili turns over the money he received from Devoe, Catlett reneges on their deal. Catlett's double crossing henchman, Bear (James Gandolfini), starts beating on Chili on Catlett's balcony. In the ensuing struggle, Catlett is pushed against the balcony railing (which was earlier secretly weakened by Bear). Catlett plummets to his death. At his hotel the same night, Barboni confronts Palmer, searching him until he finds the airport locker key. At the airport, upon opening the locker, Barboni is confronted by police and arrested.

The final scene is on a Hollywood studio set at MGM, with actor Harvey Keitel playing Ray Barboni and Martin Weir as Palmer. Directing them is Penny Marshall, with Zimm as executive producer, Chili and Karen as co-producers. Bear appears as a technical consultant. Bette Midler is at the studio in an uncredited part as Harry's girlfriend.

Cast[link]

• John Travolta as Chili Palmer
• Gene Hackman as Harry Zimm
• Rene Russo as Karen Flores
• Danny DeVito as Martin Weir
• Dennis Farina as Ray "Bones" Barboni
• Bette Midler as Doris Saffrin
• Delroy Lindo as Bo Catlett
• James Gandolfini as Bear
• Jon Gries as Ronnie Wingate
• Renee Props as Nicki
• David Paymer as Leo Devoe
• Martin Ferrero as Tommy Carlo
• Miguel Sandoval as Mr. Escobar
• Jacob Vargas as Yayo Portillo
• Bobby Slayton as Dick Allen
• Linda Hart as Fay Devoe

Cameos

• Harvey Keitel as himself
• Penny Marshall as herself
• Jane Fonda as a Las Vegas casino cocktail waitress
• Barry Sonnenfeld as the Beefeater doorman
• Alex Rocco appears as the gangster Jimmy Cap

Production[link]

John Travolta originally refused the picture, until he got a call from Quentin Tarantino asking him to "read the book". Travolta did, and realized many of the best parts had been paraphrased. He then requested they be added back into the screenplay, and Travolta contracted thereafter.^{[citation needed]}

At the beginning of the film, Ray Bones makes jokes at Chili's expense. He has two thugs with him; the one on the right, who says, "That was a good one", is played by an actor named Ernest "Chili" Palmer. Palmer was author Leonard's model for the original book's character. According to a newspaper article, he claims not to have been involved with gangsters, loan sharking, or anything of that sort. When the filmmakers found out from Leonard that there was a real "Chili" Palmer, they gave him a bit part in the film.^[4]

Actor Miguel Sandoval portrayed the drug lord "Mr. Escobar," who shares a common name with Pablo Escobar, a real South American drug lord. In Clear and Present Danger, Sandoval previously played a character named "Escobedo", based on the real Escobar.^[5]

In Spain, the title was changed to Cómo conquistar Hollywood (How to Conquer Hollywood).

Reception[link]

Get Shorty received general critical acclaim and currently holds an 86% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes.^[6] The film was entered into the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.^[7]

The film opened at #1 upon its release (10/20-22) with $12,700,007.^[8] Get Shorty remained #1 for three consecutive weeks before being overtaken by Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.^[9]

American Film Institute lists

• AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs - Nominated^[10]
• AFI's 10 Top 10 - Nominated Gangster Film^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Get Shorty

• Get Shorty at the Internet Movie Database
• Get Shorty at Box Office Mojo
• Get Shorty at Rotten Tomatoes
• Get Shorty at Metacritic

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2008)

This article consists almost entirely of a plot summary and should be expanded to provide more balanced coverage that includes real-world context. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. (May 2010)

Get Shorty is a 1990 novel by American novelist Elmore Leonard. In 1995, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name.

Plot summary[link]

The book's story centers around Chili Palmer, a small-time shylock (or loanshark) based in Miami, who is sent after Leo Devoe, who has scammed an airline out of $300,000 in life insurance by faking his own death. Leo had been aboard a plane whose flight was delayed, prompting Leo to disembark and go drinking in the airport bar. Leo misses the plane's actual takeoff, and when it crashes, his "widow" receives a check for $300,000, money which Leo takes to Las Vegas. His trail leads Chili to Las Vegas, where the loanshark finds a more interesting assignment: the casino is looking to collect from Harry Zimm, a horror film producer based in Los Angeles. Palmer, himself very interested in the movie industry, takes the extra assignment and heads for Los Angeles.

Palmer lets his interest in the movie industry overshadow his collection job. He sneaks into the house of Karen Flores (Zimm's friend) in the middle of the night, startling both Zimm and Flores, and after he tells Zimm he has to pay his Las Vegas markers, he then explains that he has an idea for a movie. Zimm is immediately taken in by Palmer's charm and his movie idea, although Flores is still skeptical. Palmer recounts Leo Devoe's story in the third person, and recalls chasing Leo to Las Vegas as if it were an incomplete work of fiction. Flores is smart, and points out that the story clearly isn't fictional, she saw the plane crash in the news in the past week, and Palmer is obviously the shylock mentioned in the story. The next morning, Zimm asks for Chili's help in dealing with a good script he wants to buy. Zimm tells Chili that this script, Mr. Lovejoy, could be Academy Award worthy material. "It'll be my Driving Miss Daisy," Zimm assures Palmer. There are, however, two problems: Zimm doesn't own the script, his writer's widow Doris Saffron does, and she 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 called Freaks. (Zimm gambled Catlett's $200,000 away in Vegas in hopes of making the $500,000 he needed for Mr. Lovejoy). In a meeting with Catlett and his sidekick Ronnie Wingate, Zimm and Palmer tell them that, while their investment in Freaks is sound, they are making another movie first. Catlett tells them to move the money into this new picture; Zimm says he cannot, as the new movie deal is "structured."

Meanwhile, Catlett is involved in a Mexican drug deal which doesn't go through. He has left the payment in a locker at the L.A. airport, but the Colombian sent to receive the money, Yayo Portillo (Catlett keeps calling him Yahoo), doesn't feel safe unlocking the locker with so many DEA agents staked out nearby. Catlett later meets Yayo back at his home, and after Yayo threatens to tell the DEA who Bo is, Bo shoots him.

Catlett soon offers the locker money to Zimm as an investment, telling him to send Palmer to get the money. Palmer senses something wrong, signs out a nearby locker as a test, and sure enough is taken for questioning by drug officials when he tries to open it.

Palmer and Flores are meanwhile seeking the interests of Michael Weir, a top-tier Hollywood actor to whom Flores was once married, to play the lead in Zimm's film.

The loose ends are tied up when Ray Barboni comes to Los Angeles looking for the money Palmer collected from Leo Devoe, only to find the key to the locker from the failed drug deal in one of Palmer's pockets. Thinking Palmer has stashed his cash in a locker, he goes to the airport and is busted by drug officials. In a final showdown with Catlett, Catlett is double-crossed by his partner, Bear.

The novel ends with Zimm, Palmer and Flores having visited a few production studios and wondering why writing the ending of a story was always the hardest part.

External links[link]

• Get Shorty at the Internet Movie Database
• Get Shorty at Rotten Tomatoes
• Get Shorty at AllRovi

This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

Chili Palmer is a character from Elmore Leonard's novels Get Shorty, the movie adaptation of the same name, the sequel, Be Cool and the movie adaptation of the same name. Chili is played in the films by John Travolta. His character and name are a tribute to Elmore Leonard's good friend Ernest 'Chili' Palmer from Brooklyn, New York, who had a cameo at the beginning of Get Shorty.

Get Shorty[link]

Chili is introduced as a shylock from Miami. He is sent to Las Vegas to collect a bad debt. While on this journey, he runs into Harry Zimm (in the film, played by Gene Hackman), a Hollywood producer of low-budget horror films; his girlfriend Karen Flores (Rene Russo), a film actress who often appears in Harry's films; Bo Catlett (Delroy Lindo), Harry's drug-dealing financier; and Martin "Shorty" Weir (Danny DeVito), a well-meaning but self-centered movie star. While trying to get the $300,000 debt (the actual debt was only $15,000, the $300,000 was scammed from an airline), Chili also uses his experience in the mob to coach Martin Weir for a role as a mafia enforcer, and also to help Harry finance his latest movie, Mr. Lovejoy.

Be Cool[link]

Ten years after becoming a film producer, Chili gets tired of being a filmmaker and is thinking that he might go back to being a shylock because they're "honest about being dishonest." His friend, Tommy Athens (James Woods), a music producer, wants his own life as owner of NTL Records to be made into a film. Tommy tells Chili about an aspiring singer named Linda Moon (Christine Milian). However, shortly after, he gets killed by a Russian mafia boss named Roman Bulkin (Alex Kubik), leaving Tommy's business partner and widow Edie (Uma Thurman) in a sea of debt. That night, Chili meets Linda and decides that she has the potential to become a big star. However, Linda's current manager, Raji (Vince Vaughn), and his gay bodyguard, Elliot (Dwayne Johnson), an aspiring actor, won't let her go. Chili and Edie grow closer -- first as friends and then as lovers -- as they try to figure out how to make Linda a star despite NTL's financial woes. This is complicated by entanglements with debtors such as the Russian mob and hip-hop mogul Sin LaSalle (Cedric the Entertainer) and music rivals such as Raji and his business partner, Nick Carr (Harvey Keitel).

Real life counterpart[link]

The Chili Palmer in the novel version of Get Shorty is based on an actual person of the same name, who had a cameo in the film as one of Ray Barbone's henchmen in the beginning of the film. He is the one on the right of the screen next to Ray Barbone.

Notes[link]

John Travolta, who portrays Palmer in both films won Golden Globe Award and American Comedy Award for his acting performance in the film Get Shorty. He was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for acting ensemble.

External links[link]

• Chili Palmer at the Internet Movie Database

James Gandolfini
Gandolfini at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	James J. Gandolfini, Jr. (1961-09-18) September 18, 1961 (age 50) Westwood, New Jersey
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	Marcy Wudarski (m. 1999–2002; divorced) Deborah Lin (m. 2008–present)

James J. Gandolfini, Jr. (born September 18, 1961) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Tony Soprano in the HBO TV series The Sopranos, about a troubled crime boss struggling to balance his family life and career in the Mafia. For this role, Gandolfini garnered enormous praise, winning both the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series three times. Gandolfini's other roles include the woman-beating mob henchman Virgil in True Romance, enforcer/stuntman Bear in Get Shorty, Lt. General Miller in In the Loop, and the impulsive Wild Thing Carol in Where the Wild Things Are. In 2007, Gandolfini produced the HBO documentary "Alive Day Memories: Home from Iraq" in which he interviewed 10 injured veterans from the Iraq War. In 2010, Gandolfini produced another HBO documentary "Wartorn: 1861-2010" in which Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and its impact on soldiers and families is analyzed throughout several wars in American history from 1861 to 2010.

Early life[link]

Gandolfini was born in Westwood.^[1] His mother, Santa, a high school lunch lady, was born in the U.S. and raised in Naples, Italy.^[2] His father, James Gandolfini, Sr., a native of Borgotaro, Italy, was a bricklayer, cement mason, and later the head custodian at Paramus Catholic High School, New Jersey;^[2][3][4] he also earned a Purple Heart in World War II.^[5] His parents were devout Roman Catholics and spoke Italian at home. Due to such influence, Gandolfini has a strong sense of being Italian, and regularly visits Italy.^[3][6]

Gandolfini grew up in Park Ridge, New Jersey, and graduated from Park Ridge High School in 1979, where he played basketball and acted in school plays.^[7] He was awarded the title "Class Flirt" in his senior yearbook. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from Rutgers University, where he worked as a bouncer at an on-campus pub.^[8] Gandolfini also worked as a bartender and club manager before embarking on an acting career.^[8] Gandolfini was introduced to acting as a young man living in New York City, when he accompanied a friend, actor Roger Bart, to a Meisner technique acting class.^[9] In 2003, Gandolfini appeared in a series of television commercials with Greg Schiano promoting Rutgers football.^[10]

Career[link]

[edit] The Sopranos

Gandolfini in 2006

Gandolfini's most acclaimed role to date is that of Tony Soprano, a New Jersey Mafia boss and family man who is the lead character in the multi-award-winning HBO series, The Sopranos, which debuted in 1999. He won three Emmys for "Best Actor in a Drama" for his depiction of Tony Soprano, who constantly questions his own identity and purpose. Gandolfini eventually earned $1,000,000 (US) per episode in the series.^{[citation needed]} Entertainment Weekly recently listed him as the 42nd Greatest TV Icon of All Time for playing Tony Soprano.^{[citation needed]}

Film and stage work[link]

Gandolfini performed in a 1992 Broadway production of On the Waterfront for six months. One of his better known film roles was that of Virgil, a brutal woman-beating mob enforcer, in the 1993 romantic thriller True Romance.^[2] Gandolfini has said that one of his major inspirations for the role of Virgil, in True Romance, was an old friend of his, who was a hitman.^[2]

In 1994 film Terminal Velocity, Gandolfini played Ben Pinkwater, a seemingly mild-mannered insurance man who turns out to be a violent Russian mobster. In Get Shorty (1995), he appeared as a bearded ex-stuntman with a Southern accent, and in The Juror (1996) he played a mob enforcer with a conscience.^[2] He played the mayor of New York in the 2009 remake of The Taking of Pelham 123.

Gandolfini returned to HBO in 2007 as the executive producer of the Emmy-nominated documentary special, Alive Day Memories: Home From Iraq, his first project after The Sopranos, and the first production for his company Attaboy Films, which was opened in 2006 with producing partner Alexandra Ryan.

He returned to the stage in 2009, appearing in Broadway's God of Carnage with Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis and Jeff Daniels.^[11]

In June 2010, it was announced that Gandolfini would be executive producing an HBO film about Ernest Hemingway and his relationship with Martha Gellhorn titled Hemingway & Gellhorn and starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman. Philip Kaufman will direct the film, which was written by Barbara Turner and Jerry Stahl, and will reportedly begin shooting in 2011.^[12]

Variety reported on January 24, 2011 that Gandolfini will reunite with Sopranos' creator David Chase for Twylight Zones (2012), a music-driven production set in 1960s New Jersey.^[13] Gandolfini will co-star in Chase's feature film debut, playing the father of a teenage rock 'n' roll band lead singer (John Magaro).^[13]

[edit] Alive Day: Home from Iraq

In 2007, Gandolfini produced a documentary with HBO focused on injured Iraq veterans and their devotion to America, while surveying the physical and emotional costs of war. Ten surviving soldiers were interviewed by Gandolfini, who revealed their thoughts on the challenges which they face integrating back into society and family life. They also reflected on the memories of the day when they narrowly escaped death, and what life may have been like in other circumstances.

[edit] Wartorn: 1861–2010

In 2010, Gandolfini produced another documentary with HBO, which analyzed the effects of PTSD throughout American history from 1861 to 2010. It featured interviews with American Military Officials on their views of PTSD and how they are trying to help soldiers affected by it. Letters from soldiers of the American Civil War and World War I who were affected by PTSD are examined along with interviews with soldiers affected by PTSD and their families.

Personal life[link]

Gandolfini and Tony Sirico visit with a member of the U.S. Air Force during a USO visit to Southwest Asia, March 31, 2010

Gandolfini has maintained ties with his hometown of Park Ridge by supporting The Octoberwoman Foundation for Breast Cancer Research. He appears at their annual October banquet and often brings other Sopranos cast members to help Octoberwoman draw large crowds. He resides in New York City, and owns a lot on the Lake Manitoba Narrows.^[14]

On August 30, 2008, Gandolfini married his girlfriend, former model Deborah Lin, in her hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, after dating her for two years. Gandolfini has a son, Michael, with his ex-wife, Marcy Wudarski, from whom he was divorced in December 2002.

His sister, Johanna Antonacci, is the manager of the Family Division of the New Jersey Superior Court in Hackensack, New Jersey. Gandolfini is a fan of motorcycles and owns a Harley Davidson and a Vespa scooter. On May 4, 2006, Gandolfini was riding his Vespa in New York City, when it was hit by a taxi in traffic. He was forced to undergo knee surgery after the accident, postponing the filming of the final Sopranos episodes by three months.

Gandolfini purchased a home in the hills of Tewksbury Township, New Jersey in 2009.^[15]

Filmography[link]

Gandolfini with Rose McGowan in Kuwait, March 31, 2010

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: James Gandolfini

• James Gandolfini at the Internet Movie Database
• James Gandolfini at the TCM Movie Database
• James Gandolfini at Yahoo! Movies

Dennis Farina
Farina at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	(1944-02-29) February 29, 1944 (age 68) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1981 – present
Spouse	Patricia Farina (1970-1980) (divorced) 3 sons

Dennis Farina (born February 29, 1944) is an American actor of film and television and former Chicago police officer. He is a character actor, often typecast as a mobster or police officer. His most known film roles are those of mobster Jimmy Serrano in the comedy Midnight Run and Ray "Bones" Barboni in Get Shorty. He starred on television as Detective Joe Fontana on Law & Order. His latest TV role is in HBO's Luck, which premiered on January 29, 2012.

Early life[link]

Farina was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Sicilian-American parents Yolanda, a homemaker, and Joseph Farina, a Sicilian immigrant doctor.^[1][2] He was raised in a large family and has three brothers and three sisters.

Before becoming an actor, Farina served 18 years in the Chicago Police Department's burglary division, from 1967 to 1985.

Career in show business[link]

Farina began his work in show business working for director Michael Mann as a police consultant, which subsequently led to an interest in acting when Mann cast him in a small role in the 1981 film Thief. Farina proceeded to moonlight as an actor in the Chicago theater scene before Mann chose him for his Crime Story series. Farina played the mobster Albert Lombard in Michael Mann's other television show, Miami Vice.

Two of his most well-known movie characters are Jimmy Serrano, the mob boss from Midnight Run, and Ray "Bones" Barboni, a rival criminal of Chili Palmer's in Get Shorty. He also played FBI Agent Jack Crawford in the first Hannibal Lecter crime film, Michael Mann's Manhunter.

Other movies in Farina's filmography include Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (as Army Lieutenant Colonel Walter Anderson), Striking Distance, Another Stakeout, Little Big League, Snatch, The Mod Squad and Out of Sight. He co-starred with Bette Midler in the romantic comedy That Old Feeling.

Farina has demonstrated quite a flair for comedy. He won an American Comedy Award for his performance in Get Shorty and starred in a television sitcom, In-Laws, from 2002-03. He had a comic role opposite Ed Harris and Helen Hunt in the HBO production of Empire Falls in 2005 and opposite Alan Rickman in 2008's Bottle Shock.

In early 2005, Farina provided the voice of aging boxer-turned-superhero Wildcat on Justice League Unlimited.

The producers of the long-running television series Law & Order hired Farina as Det. Joe Fontana after the retirement of Jerry Orbach's character Lennie Briscoe. Farina stayed with the show for two years, but his character was not as popular with viewers as Orbach's Lennie Briscoe had been. As a result, in May 2006, it was announced that Farina was leaving Law & Order to pursue other projects, including 2007's You Kill Me opposite Ben Kingsley and 2008's What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher.

His role of Detective Lt. Mike Torello on Crime Story was as a Chicago police officer, who was later seconded to the U.S. Justice Department. Farina's Law & Order character, Joe Fontana, worked for Chicago Homicide before his transfer to the NYPD. As is common on Law & Order, Fontana shares a number of other characteristics with the actor who plays him: they hail from the same Chicago neighborhood, attended the same parochial school, and have the same tastes in both clothes and music.

In October 2008, Farina became the new host of Unsolved Mysteries when it returned to television with a new five-season, 175-episode run on Spike TV. Farina replaced Robert Stack, who had hosted the series for its entire original 15-year run before his death in 2003. The series would include re-edited segments from previous incarnations on NBC, CBS, and Lifetime (all originally hosted by Stack) as well as several new original stories.^[3]

Farina played the title role in a 2011 independent film, The Last Rites of Joe May, written and directed by Joe Maggio, shot on location in Chicago.

He co-stars in the 2012 HBO horse-race gambling series Luck, with Dustin Hoffman, directed by Michael Mann.

Personal life[link]

Farina in May 2007

Farina was married to Patricia Farina from 1970 until their divorce in 1980. They have three sons, Dennis Jr, Michael, and Joseph. His youngest son, Joseph, is also an actor. He has one granddaughter, Brianna, and four grandsons, Michael, Tyler, Matthew and Eric.

Farina is a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and played an avid fan in a 1988 revival of the successful 1977 Organic Theater Company stage play The Bleacher Bums" which was written by and starred fellow Chicago actors Joe Mantegna and Dennis Franz.

Arrest[link]

Farina was arrested on May 11, 2008 for carrying a loaded .22 caliber pistol through LAX airport security. Farina was taken to LAPD's Pacific Division, booked on suspicion of carrying a concealed weapon and bail was set at $25,000. He claimed he had simply forgotten the weapon was still in his briefcase and had never intended to take it on a plane. After police determined the weapon was unregistered, the charges were upgraded to a felony and bail was increased to $35,000.^[4]

On July 17, 2008 after reaching a plea agreement with prosecutors, Farina pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years probation.^[5] On July 17, 2009, the judge in his case dismissed the charge and expunged it from Farina's otherwise clean record.

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dennis Farina

• Dennis Farina at the Internet Movie Database
• Dennis Farina at Yahoo! Movies
• Dennis Farina - Hollywood.com