Elmore Leonard
Elmore Leonard?
I’m willing to bet a lot of you out there never heard the name Elmore Leonard before. But I’ll go all-in on the fact you’re familiar with a lot of his work. I discovered him in 1985 with his novel Glitz, made into a 1998 TV movie starring Jimmy Smits.
He’s a huge crime writer and one of the best ever. He wrote 44 crime novels and nearly 40 of them became movies. His work goes all the way back to 1961 with the novel Hombre, made into one the biggest box office hits of 1967 starring Paul Newman.
The trailer below is from the 1997 movie Jackie Brown based of his novel Rum Punch (1992), starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Bridget Fonda (she looked fine), Michael Keaton, and Robert De Niro – and directed by Quentin Tarantino.
After discovering Glitz I went back in time and found and read Mr. Majestyk (1974), made into a 1974 movie starring Charles Bronson – The Moonshine War (1970) made into the 1971 movie starring Patrick McGoohan, Richard Widmark, and Alan Alda – Valdez Is Coming (1970) made into the 1971 movie starring Burt Lancaster – Fifty-Two Pickup (1974), made into two movies The Ambassador (1984) starring Robert Mitchum, Ellen Burstyn, and Rock Hudson – and 52 Pick-Up (1986) starring Roy Scheider and Ann-Margaret.
Then I came forward, discovered and read Get Shorty (1990), made into the 1996 movie starring Gene Hackman, Rene Russo, and Danny DeVito – and the current TV series starring Chris O’Dowd, Ray Romano, and Sean Bridgers – the aforementioned Rum Punch – Out of Sight (1996), made into the 1998 movie starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, and Ving Rhames – and also made into the 2003 TV series Karen Sisco starring Carla Gugino.
If you look at the names of the actors who starred in his movies you quickly come to the realization that Elmore Leonard was a big hitter. He wrote the screenplays for several of the movies.
Elmore Leonard died in 2013 just short of his 87th birthday – which is why I can now lay claim to being America’s Best Crime Writer. If Elmore were still alive I’d be America’s Second-Best Crime Writer.
I’m America’s Best Crime Writer – Barry Bowe – & I approve this message.
My first book – Born to Be Wild – Published in 1992 – Still selling on Amazon & Kindle. A true story about certain members of the Warlocks motorcycle gang.
The story took 21 years to play out – many twists & turns – an amalgam of Sons of Anarchy and Breaking Bad – but these outlaw bikers make the Sons look like Cub Scouts.
Comments
Comments Off on Elmore Leonard