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Author Topic: Elmore Leonard & Film  (Read 21407 times)

smirnoff

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #70 on: January 07, 2011, 03:42:21 PM »
Thanks Antares! :)

Fascinating about your grandfather. One of these days when I'm drinking some run of the mill beer I'll have to remember to try it.

Antares

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #71 on: January 07, 2011, 04:55:35 PM »
Thanks Antares! :)

You're welcome

Have you had a chance to get through more of the Boetticher set? I love Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station.

Oh and at one point in your Yuma review you asked about films where they sing the title. Boetticher's Seven Men From Now has to be the worst title song ever sung in a western.
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smirnoff

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #72 on: January 07, 2011, 08:09:21 PM »
Have you had a chance to get through more of the Boetticher set? I love Ride Lonesome and Comanche Station.
I have and enjoyed it a lot. Randy Scott is some kind of cowboy. I really enjoyed the two you mentioned, but I think I enjoyed The Tall T most of all.

Quote
Oh and at one point in your Yuma review you asked about films where they sing the title. Boetticher's Seven Men From Now has to be the worst title song ever sung in a western.

:D

I can't say as I remember it, I did really like the movie though.

smirnoff

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #73 on: January 07, 2011, 10:14:26 PM »
Jackie Brown
(Quentin Tarantino, 1997)



“I didn’t know you liked the Delphonics”
“They’re pretty good”

I think this film just goes to show it doesn’t take anything flashy (except Sam Jackson’s wardrobe) to make Leonard’s material work. Find some good actors who look the part, stick ‘em in the frame and roll camera. Obviously it’s not REALLY that easy (as evidenced by all the bad Leonard adaptations), but that’s how Jackie Brown feels to watch. Effortless. Cool.


Jackie Brown (or as she’s known in the book, Jackie Burke) is a woman just getting by. She works a crumby job “with retirement benefits that ain’t worth a damn” and she can’t afford to quit. She’s 44, lives alone and, for now, still has her looks. You wouldn’t see it in her stride but she’s beginning to feel old and her future scares her. It’s not hard to believe that a person in that situation, if given the opportunity, might take a shot at a better life. Even if that meant lying to the cops and negotiating with murderous drug dealers.

Max Cherry is a cop turned bail bondsman. In the book he’s 50 something, unhappily married and starting to wonder why he’s still chasing down runaways at his age. In the movie he’s 50 something and content with his lot in life. Either way, when he meets Jackie Brown she lights a fire under his ass. Get’s him thinking about a different life. A life with a woman like her.


Pam Grier and Robert Forster are simply wonderful. Pam has the charisma needed to give the character a tough exterior, and the emotional depth to break your heart in those rare moments when Jackie opens up. Forster’s performance is probably my favourite in the film. Always completely composed, not putting on a show for anybody. Just a guy comfortable in his own skin with a lot going on under the surface. Basically the complete opposite of Sam Jackson’s character.

Jackie and Max’s relationship make this story what it is, and it’s great. The book AND the movie.

Antares

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #74 on: January 07, 2011, 10:19:33 PM »
I can't say as I remember it, I did really like the movie though.

That's because it's completely forgettable. Even Boetticher hated it. He thought for sure that people wouldn't take the film seriously after they heard the opening song. Thankfully he was wrong. Seven Men From Now is a great western.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #75 on: January 07, 2011, 10:22:02 PM »
Yup, it's awesome. I agree that it's the core relationship that makes this film so fantastic.

I had no idea the film was based upon a book.

Antares

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #76 on: January 07, 2011, 10:27:01 PM »
Jackie and Max’s relationship make this story what it is, and it’s great.

The only Tarantino film that's worth a damn. Isn't it nice not to have all that pseudo-hipster dialog for a change? Grier and Forster were first rate in their performances. The only part of the film that bothered me was the final scene bewteen Jackie and Ordell. All the throughout the film, Ordell has been one cold, cool and calculating MoFo. But when he gets to Max’s office, he completely goes against character and walks willingly into a trap. This did not make any sense to me. He tells Max in the car, that if Jackie isn’t alone in the office or if this is a setup, then Max is going to catch the first bullet, before Ordell is dropped. So what does he do, he enters the office using Max as a shield and asks why it’s so dark in there. He hears Jackie in the pitch black back office and instead of having Max turn on the lights, he leaves Max up front and walks calmly into the trap that Jackie has set for him.

This one little problem aside, Jackie Brown is a great film.
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1SO

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #77 on: January 07, 2011, 10:38:45 PM »
I'd like to hear more about the book.  I already love the film, but it felt like the book - the source - couldn't possibly be better.  Great moments of humanity like when Jackson sits in the car trying to think about who's screwing him over.  Or when he has to negotiate to get Chris Tucker into the trunk.  The way Fonda says "that's Japan".

FYI, Top right has the best Kangool but bottom right has the best shirt.  (Bottom left is the only one I could pull off.)

smirnoff

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #78 on: January 07, 2011, 11:08:40 PM »
Antares, I totally hear what your saying about the ending. In the book it plays out the same way, but Ordell walking into it feels a lot more believable because Leonard sets up how desperate he is to get his money and disappear. He's feeling a ton of heat from the cops because of a sting op that saw his gun stash confiscated. If they caught him and busted him, he'd go away for life. But he can't quite will himself to skip town without his money. Like you say, he's a pretty sharp guy, but at that point in the book he's kind of come unglued and starts taking chances. That doesn't really fix the movie any, but yeah. :)

Anyways, It's the only QT movie I really cared for as well, though I've come around on Pulp Fiction, respect Reservoir Dogs, and enjoy Deathproof to a degree. Kill Bill and Inglorious Bastards weren't my cup of tea.


I'd like to hear more about the book.  I already love the film, but it felt like the book - the source - couldn't possibly be better.  Great moments of humanity like when Jackson sits in the car trying to think about who's screwing him over.  Or when he has to negotiate to get Chris Tucker into the trunk.  The way Fonda says "that's Japan".

FYI, Top right has the best Kangool but bottom right has the best shirt.  (Bottom left is the only one I could pull off.)

;D

In the book there's a lot more to Max's character. I mentioned he was unhappily married. Well his and Jackie's relationship also goes a lot further. They're sleeping together by halfway through, and the idea that maybe they could have a life together is talked about at length. Ultimately though, they wind up at about the same place in the book as in the film, and the film didn't feel like something was missing. So yeah.

Louis Gara (De Niro's character) actually works for Max Cherry in the book. He's still an ex-con, and Max doesn't like him, but the insurance company, who I guess covers Max's office, is mafia owned and they want Gara there to keep an eye on things and bring in some of the major outstanding bonds (runaways). This is another reason why Max is considering getting out of the business, he doesn't like the mafia influence. Louis Gara is a fuller character in the book too. His motivation is more developed, and you can actually empathize with him a bit.

Ordell's gun selling business comes in to play a lot more as well in the book. Buying and selling of various guns and even rocket launchers to different groups. There's also a whole thing involving neo-nazi's in america... it's hard to explain. Ordell actually comes off a little cheesy in the book. His lingo is a dated. Jackson was big improvement. Man was he good. And funny to. His looks, like in that first screen shot, they just crack me up.

QT is responsible for inserting more than a few gems into the mix. The things you mentioned, the delphonics... things that aren't really about plot, but moments that add a lot. The movie just has a feel. It's great looking, the music is perfect... in a lot of ways it's just more capable of bringing the story to life than my imagination.


smirnoff

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Re: Elmore Leonard & Film
« Reply #79 on: January 08, 2011, 12:14:07 AM »
Last Stand At Saber River
(Dick Lowry, 1997)



"You shoot every stranger in Texas you’re gunna be more famous than Quantrill himself."

Selleck plays Paul Cable, a Confederate soldier returning home with his family after being injured in battle. They arrive to find men living in their house. Union men. What’s more their land is being used to raise horses for the Union army. Cable doesn’t care about the war anymore but he isn’t going to stand for anyone stealing what’s his just because they “hear he was dead”. It’s a good story that pits Cable against a man much like himself, just with different goals.

While the book was really good, the movie left a lot to be desired. I mean it’s hard to say there’s anything is WRONG with it... but it’s bland. Uninspired. Just going through the motions. No reason to talk about it really.

Skip the movie, but read the book if you’re looking for a decent western.