History Film / ShortTime

* CowboyCop: Burt goes to extreme lengths to try and [[DeathSeeker get himself killed in the line of duty]]. His attempts at getting two gang members to kill him in a car chase comes across to them as him being such a crazed cop who will stop at NOTHING to catch them that they actually get scared at him. Even the film's BigBad yells at him that he's crazy and to leave him alone.

* CowboyCop: Burt goes to extreme lengths to get himself killed in the line of duty. His attempts at getting two gang members to kill him in a car chase comes across to them as him being such a crazed cop who will stop at NOTHING to catch them that they actually get scared at him. Even the film's BigBad yells at him that he's crazy and to leave him alone.

-->'''Burt''': Can you read that number? (goon struggles to look) Oh, you can't see from there, can ya... (takes stock of the bed's pulley system) Oh, wait a minute... (yanks down on a rope, roughly pulling up the goon's leg)
-->'''Goon''': (yelps in pain)
-->'''Burt''': [[ToThePain (casually) That better?]]

->''Getting killed isn't as easy as it looks.''
-->'''{{Tagline}}'''

Detective Burt Simpson (Coleman) is an extremely risk-conscious Seattle cop whose constant worrying about the future makes him unable to enjoy the present, which has strained his relationship with his wife Carolyn (Garr) and their young son. That all changes drastically when he goes to a routine check-up and a bus driver secretly swaps Burt's test results with his own in order to cover up his recent use of marijuana. Unfortunately, said bus driver turns out to have a terminal illness, which leads to Burt being told he only has two weeks to live. While Burt is obviously upset, his main concern is for his son, since Burt's dream is for him to go to Harvard and Burt discovers that his regular life insurance will only pay out a rather small amount. His police officer's insurance is much higher, though...

Detective Burt Simpson (Coleman) is an extremely risk-conscious Seattle cop whose constant worrying about the future makes him unable to enjoy the present, which has strained his relationship with his wife Carolyn (Garr) and their young son. That changes drastically when he goes to a routine check-up and a bus driver secretly swaps Burt's test results with his own in order to cover up his recent use of marijuana. Unfortunately, said bus driver turns out to have a terminal illness, which leads to Burt being told he only has two weeks to live. While Burt is obviously upset, his main concern is for his son, since Burt's dream is for him to go to Harvard and Burt discovers that his regular life insurance will only pay out a rather small amount. His police officer's insurance is much higher, though...

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/a70_6488.png]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Life's too short, [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil so here's the end of the movie.]]]]

''Getting killed isn't as easy as it looks.''

Short Time is a 1990 comedy action movie starring Dabney Coleman and Creator/MattFrewer.

Burt Simpson (Coleman) is an extremely risk conscious cop whose constant worrying about the future makes him unable to enjoy the present, which has strained his relationship with his wife and young son. That changes drastically when he goes to a routine check-up and a bus driver secretly swaps Burt's results with his own in order to hide his recent use of marijuana. Unfortunately, said bus driver turns out to suffer from a terminal illness and thus Burt is told he only has two weeks to live. While Burt is obviously upset, his main concern is his son, since Burt's dream is that he one day attends Harvard and he finds that his regular life insurance will only pay a rather small amount. His police officer's insurance is much higher though...

...unfortunately, said insurance only covers "professional damage" i.e. dying in the line of duty. Oh, and did we mention Burt [[{{Retirony}} only has a few days left until retirement]]? HilarityEnsues as Burt becomes a [[CowboyCop reckless]] {{supercop}}, much to the confusion of those around him, especially his partner Ernie (Frewer).

** Not to mention the doctors would probably have warned any supervising authorities of the cop immediately about that detail, who would probably have suspended or immediately retired the cop on grounds of being a liability (absolute best case scenario they would have assigned the cop to desk duty for whatever time he's got left on the service), [[NecessaryWeasel which probably would have led to a much shorter film]].

** Not to mention the doctors would probably have warned any supervising authorities of the cop immediately about that detail, who would probably have suspended or immediately retired the cop on grounds of being a liability, [[NecessaryWeasel which probably would have led to a much shorter film]].

* BlatantLies: While Burt is waiting to be called in for a urine test, a bus driver asks them if the joint he smoked a couple ago would show up since his company sprung the test on him. When Burt tells him yes, the bus driver asks how he knows that. Burt flashes his badge and the bus driver chuckles nervously and says "Of course, I didn't ACTUALLY smoke a joint a few days ago..."

* ImagineSpot: Not long after being told his days are numbered, Burt imagines his grown son being told he can't go to Harvard because his then-widow couldn't afford it on his nominal life insurance and pension.

* CaliforniaDoubling: The story is set in UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} but most of the film was shot in Canada.

[[caption-width-right:Life's too short, [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil so here's the end of the movie.]]]]

* {{Retirony}}: {{Deconstructed}}. After learning of his "condition," Burt is intentionally trying to invoke this, and [[spoiler:ultimately fails]]. At the start of the movie, though, he's going out of his way to avoid danger precisely ''[[GenreSavvy because]]'' he's so close to retirement.

* BaitAndSwitch: [[spoiler:The scene on a scaffold ends with Burt falling off and then cuts to the funeral of a man, "who served the city well" as the priest says. Half a minute later Burt is shown, telling his son the deceased is the bus driver.]]