Films from Elmore Leonard books, screenplays
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Some movies that were either adapted from Leonard books or for which he wrote the screenplay: "Hombre". The 1967 film starred Paul Newman as a man raised by Apaches who returns to the white-man's world to collect an inheritance. It was adapted from Leonard's 1961 novel. • "The Big Bounce". Leonard has described the 1969 film about a tough guy drifter (Ryan O'Neal) as a bad movie and "that's all I can say about it," he says. • "The Moonshine War". The 1970 movie starring Alan Alda marked the first time Leonard travelled to Hollywood to write the screenplay adaptation of one of his books. It tells the story of a man holding on to a stash of choice moonshine until the repeal of the 18th Amendment. • "Valdez Is Coming". Starring Burt Lancaster, the 1971 film was the first of Leonard's Westerns brought to the screen since "Hombre" four years earlier. • "Joe Kidd". Leonard's first original screenplay, the 1972 film starred Clint Eastwood in the title role as a former bounty hunter enlisted to capture a Mexican revolutionary. "Mr. Majestyk". Charles Bronson played Vince Majestyk, a Vietnam War veteran and peaceful watermelon farmer whose workers are threatened by the local mob hit man. Leonard wrote the screenplay for the 1974 film before making it into a novel. • "Stick". The 1985 movie features Burt Reynolds as Earnest "Stick" Stickley, one of Leonard's favourite characters. • "Fifty-Two Pick-Up". Based on Leonard's 1974 novel, the 1986 film version starred Roy Scheider and AnnMargret. • "The Rosary Murders". Based on a novel by the late William Kienzle, Leonard wrote the screenplay for the 1987 film starring Donald Sutherland, as a priest who must solve a murder in his Detroit parish. • "Glitz". Based on the novel that allowed Leonard to again hit it big after some quiet years, 1988's "Glitz" was a television movie that starred Jimmy Smits and Markie Post. - "Cat Chaser". Starring Peter Weller and Kelly McGillis, the 1989 movie tells the story of a veteran of a small United States war in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s, who returns there and gets mixed up with a former general's wife. • "Get Shorty". With John Travolta starring in the role of "Chili Palmer", the 1995 film was a box-office hit, grossing more that $100 million.
"Everybody has seen 'Get Shorty', at least in video," Leonard says. "And they all love it. I haven't heard a negative word about it, because it's fun." • "Last Stand at Saber River". Starring Tom Selleck, the 1997 television movie was based on Leonard's 1959 novel about a Confederate soldier who returns from the Civil War to reclaim his Arizona homestead from rebel pioneers who sympathised with the Union war effort. • "Touch". Starring Skeet Ulrich and Christopher Walken, 1997's "Touch" tells the story of a man who works miracles and displays the stigmata - the five wounds of Christ. • "Pronto". Starring Peter Falk, the 1997 movie was based on Leonard's 1993 novel about mob dealings in south Florida. "Elmore Leonard's Gold Coast". Based on Leonard's 1980 novel, "Gold Coast", the 1997 television movie was directed by Peter Weller, who starred in "Cat Chaser" eight years earlier. • "Jackie Brown". Based on Leonard's 1992 novel "Rum Punch", the 1997 movie was directed by Quentin Tarantino. It starred Pam Grier in the title role and featured appearances by Samuel L. Jackson, Robert De Niro and Robert Forster, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role as bail bondsman Max Cherry. • “Out of Sight”. Critically applauded, but not a particular commercial success, the 1998 film starred George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez and was directed by Steven Soderbergh.
“I disagreed with the ending where all the emphasis is on Clooney and not Jennifer Lopez,” Leonard said. “Because I said, ‘It’s her book.’ It’s her story. And (screenwriter) Scott Frank said, ‘It’s her book, but it’s his picture.’... When I saw the picture, I agreed with him that he was right.” • "Maximum Bob". A short-lived 1998 television series, it was produced by Barry Sonnenfeld and starred Beau Bridges. Source: Elmore Leonard's Web site: http://www.elmoreleonard.com/
