Elmore Leonard is a name I’ve heard talked about a lot over the years, especially on podcasts like The Watch. The only stuff I really know about him is that he wrote a lot of crime fiction that was based in Detroit and then had an LA stint where he based some more of his stories. On top of that, he also wrote a bunch of westerns. He was what would be considered a pretty pulp fiction type guy, but what I didn’t realize is that he has written some bangers of classics.
First, as I just learned, he wrote the short story “Three-Ten to Yuma", the same story that both the 1957 classic and the 2007 remake were based off of. That is just holy text right there that I had no idea about; also, that he was just banging out stories for that long. Another classic is Rum Punch, the basis for Jackie Brown. Now, it wasn’t until a recent rewatch of Jackie Brown within the past couple of years that I realized how damn good that entire story is, and luckily it’s been getting retconned in the pantheon of film. And of course, there is Justified - the highly praised and beloved prestige FX show that I know I need to watch, because all of my friends told me so.
Which brings us to Get Shorty: what an absolute banger of a film. One of those multi-layered plot crossing movies with several characters both idiotic and genius. There’s so many moving parts that are interwoven, and it’s just a solid meta-Hollywood film. These can be done so poorly and have been over the years, but this is not one of them. The casting is done so well it truly elevates an already entertaining story. It has just made me realize that I really need to get my hands on some of these books.