dual personalities

Elmore Leonard (October 11, 1925 – August 20, 2013) died last week at the age of 87. He was an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest novels, published in the 1950s, were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into popular films.

None of these literary genres is a particular favorite of mine, but I have always appreciated Leonard as a better writer than most in his chosen field. And, of course, he wrote the novel Hombre in 1961 on which the 1967 movie was based. It is one of my favorite westerns.

In this film Paul Newman plays John Russell, a white man brought up as an Apache. It is a classic tale of strangers on a stagecoach, journeying through hostile territory. The ‘bad guys’ are led by the scary Richard Boone. Unfortunately, the ‘good guys’ aren’t much better. As Boone says to Frederick March (who has billed the government for food for the Indians and then kept the money while the Indians starve to death), “Looks like you did good and we did better…You know, the thing is; [you] ought to be over here with us instead of standin’ over there.” That, indeed, is the crux of the story. Russell/Hombre wants no part of the others on the stage, but they look to him to get them out of their predicament. And as much as he doesn’t want to, he is forced by circumstances (and Diane Cilento) to do “the right thing”.

Hombre is also my favorite Paul Newman movie, along with Cool Hand Luke, which amazingly was made the same year. He is just over 40 and at the peak of his powers. Awesome.

It would be a worthy tribute to watch Hombre in memory of Elmore Leonard. It is an underrated film–I don’t know why–and classic Leonard before he became famous.

You could also watch an episode or two of Justified, an FX show which is based on Elmore Leonard’s novels Pronto and Riding the Rap and his short story “Fire in the Hole.” An evening with U.S. Marshall Raylen Givens would not be a bad idea either.

I’m just sayin’.