Tall in the Saddle

1. Elmore Leonard died last week. He was 87. Most notably recognized for his crime/noir fiction, Mr. Leonard's (he is esteemed and ranks high in my pantheon therefore, 'Mr') works first caught the attention of Hollywood in the 50's. However, it was a novel, 'Get Shorty' and a subsequent movie in 1995 that catapulted Mr. Leonard into the public eye. Another novel, 'Rum Punch' attracted Quentin Tarantino, who adapted and cast Pam Grier into the title role and called the film, 'Jackie Brown,' arguably the best movie that QT has ever made. A short story of Mr. Leonard's, 'Fire in the Hole,' is the underpinning for the successful cult series, 'Justified.' But back to the 50's. I'll bet that only true aficionados knew Mr. Leonard was a prolific short story Western writer. His dialogue and his obvious fondness for Western genre became a source, a flowing river of gold, for films such as: Valdez is Coming, Hombre, the classic 3:10 to Yuma, Joe Kidd, and a movie I recently watched, and which some refer to as the best Western of the 50's, The Tall T. Elmore Leonard. He was old school. Colorful. And a man among boys.

2. Best summer reading: 'Canada' by Richard Ford. 'The Art of Fielding' by Chad Harbach.

3. Monday. Honor Labor.