Elmore Leonard sold tens of millions of copies of his novels. Among film adaptations of his work are "Jackie Brown" (starring Pam Grier, directed by Quentin Tarantino) which is a "homage to the author’s trademark rhythm and pace"; "Get Shorty" (1995, John Travolta and Gene Hackman); "Out of Sight" (1998, George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, directed by Steven Soderbergh) and the television series Justified. Leonards novels were almost 30 times templates for movies, but for some critics his special style only works in a book. He married Beverly Clare Cline in 1949, and they had five children together—three daughters and two sons—before
Elmore Leonard great-grandchildren. Commended by critics for his gritty realism and strong dialogue, Leonard sometimes took liberties with grammar in the interest of speeding the story along. In his essay "Elmore Leonard's Ten Rules of Writing" he said: "My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it." He also hinted: "I try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip." Elmore Leonard has been called "the Dickens of Detroit" because of his intimate portraits of people from that city, though he said, "If I lived in Buffalo, I'd write about