The directory «Plots»

Leonard Elmore
(b. 1925)

Elmore John Leonard, Jr. is an American novelist and screenwriter.

His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, and Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, several of which have been adapted into successful motion pictures or TV movies.

Leonard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but since his father worked as a site locator for General Motors, the family moved frequently for several years. In 1934, the family finally settled in Detroit, Michigan. Leonard has made the Detroit area his home ever since.

In the 1930s, two major events occurred that would influence many of his works. Gangsters such as Bonnie and Clyde were making national headlines, as were the Detroit Tigers baseball team. From about 1931 to 1934, Bonnie and Clyde were on a rampage; they were killed in May 1934. The Tigers made it to the World Series in 1934. Leonard turned these events into lifelong fascinations with both sports and guns.

Leonard graduated from the University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943 and immediately joined the Navy, where he served with the Seabees for three years in the south Pacific. In 1946 he enrolled at the University of Detroit, where he pursued writing more seriously, entering his work in short story contests and sending it off to magazines. A year before he graduated, he got a job as a copy writer with Campbell-Ewald Advertising agency, a position he kept for several years as he wrote on the side. He graduated in 1950 with a degree in English and Philosophy.

Leonard had his first success in 1951 when Argosy published the short story "Trail of the Apaches". During the 1950s and early 1960s, he continued writing westerns, publishing over 30 short stories. He wrote his first novel, The Bounty Hunters, in 1953 and followed this with four other novels. Two of his stories were turned into movies at this time, The Tall T and 3:10 to Yuma.

Leonard—or "Dutch," as he is sometimes called—got his first break in the fiction market during the 1950s, regularly publishing pulp western novels. He has since forayed into mystery, crime, and more topical genres, as well as screenwriting.

Leonard now lives with his family in Oakland County, Michigan.

He has been commended by critics for his gritty realism and strong dialogue. His writing he writes, "My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." His advice to writers also includes the hint, "Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip."

Leonard has been called "the Dickens of Detroit" because of his intimate portraits of people from that city. Leonard's ear for dialogue and ability to render same on the printed page are considered by some admirers to be uncanny and have been praised by writers such as Saul Bellow, Martin Amis, and Stephen King. "Your prose makes Raymond Chandler look clumsy," Amis told Leonard at a Writers Guild event in Beverly Hills in 1998.

Aside from the short stories already noted, a number of Leonard's novels have been adapted as films, perhaps most notably Out of Sight, Get Shorty in 1995, and Rum Punch (as the 1997 film Jackie Brown). He has also written several screenplays based on his novels, plus original ones such as Joe Kidd.

The 1967 film Hombre starring Paul Newman was an adaptation of Leonard's novel of the same name.

His short story "Three-Ten to Yuma" and novel The Big Bounce have each been filmed twice.

Other novels filmed include: Mr. Majestyk (with Charles Bronson), Valdez Is Coming (Burt Lancaster), 52 Pick-Up (Roy Scheider), Stick (Burt Reynolds), The Moonshine War (Alan Alda), Last Stand at Saber River (Tom Selleck), Gold Coast (David Caruso), Glitz (Jimmy Smits), Cat Chaser (Peter Weller), Touch (Christopher Walken), Pronto (Peter Falk) and Be Cool (John Travolta). Killshot, starring Diane Lane and Mickey Rourke, was released in 2009.

The TV series Karen Sisco (2003-04) starring Carla Gugino was based on a character from Out of Sight played by Jennifer Lopez.

A 2001 comedy film, Bandits, was originally meant to be an adaptation of Leonard's novel by that name, to which Bruce Willis owns the film rights. However, the producers brought in writer Harley Peyton to write a new script from scratch that bears little or no resemblance to Leonard's book.

An adaptation of Leonard's 1972 novel Forty Lashes Less One is in development.

Leonard was referenced in the television show Leverage in episode 105 "The Bank Shot Job" when Aldis Hodge as Alec Hardison and Beth Riesgraf as Parker introduced themselves to police officers as FBI agents Leonard and Elmore.

Guinea, 2007, «Out Of Sight»