ELMORE LEONARD
The novelist Elmore Leonard, who died at 87,  labored in obscurity for many years. He began by writing Westerns. Then he switched genres, practically inventing a new form.  His stories always involve a clever scam, various nogoodniks, and wonderful wiseguy dialogue. 
Leonard fans are always struck by how cinematic his novels are. But despite the fact many of them have become movies, nobody (including Mr. Leonard) could seem to get it right until 1995.
Get Shorty (1995) is funny, smart and enormously entertaining. The screenwriter, Scott Frank,  has the characters and the story down pat. A small-time thug, wonderfully played by John Travolta, decides he wants to get into producing movies. He uses the same tactics that he used as a mob enforcer. The results are sly digs at Hollywood and outright belly laughs.  Rene Russo, Danny DeVito, Gene Hackman and Delroy Lindo are all appropriately venal in supporting roles.
Then in 1997, a Leonard story (Rum Punch) had the good fortune to attract director Quentin Tarantino. The result is Jackie Brown, a brightly entertaining romp that never misses a beat. Pam Grier, star of numerous blacksploitation flicks in the 
70's, is Jackie. She is nabbed by the Feds while she is making a drug run and has to cooperate with them or go to prison. What she actually does is play the Feds, the drug dealers, and everyone else against each other in a clever scam we don’t believe will work but guiltily hope that it does. Samuel L. Jackson, Robert DeNiro, Michael Keaton and Bridget Fonda are all along for a wonderful ride. Mr. Tarantino uses the device of 
reintroducing the same scene with wider angles several times, and it works as well as it did in Pulp Fiction.
Out Of Sight (1998) finishes a respectable third in the Elmore Leonard sweepstakes. George Clooney is an escaped bank robber who never uses a gun and who is (of course) looking for that last big heist. Jennifer Lopez is a U.S. Marshall determined to put Clooney back in the big house. Their strangely rewarding romance features the sexiest scene ever shot in the trunk of a car. Scott Frank’s screenplay perfectly captures Leonard’s quirky dialogue and characterization.  
I’m afraid that’s most of the good news about Elmore Leonard movies. Stick (1985), Mr. Majestyk (1974), Cat Chaser (1990) and Touch (1997) are just plain bad. 52 Pick-Up (1986) is just so-so. 
However, Leonard’s Fire In The Hole short stories gave rise to one of the best TV series ever, Justified (2010-2015). Timothy Oliphant is letter perfect as a US Marshall sent to his home area of eastern Kentucky to round up bad guys.
All of the recommended films in this article are available on DVD. None are suitable for children under 12.