By lacrimatty on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 - 02:26 pm:
Ranco

Gregg, my man, if memory serves, Ranco was mentioned in STICK by Kyle to Barry Stam as a possible company to inesvt in.

By Straw on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 - 11:22 am:
One more mention of Ranco:

Early on in Unknown Man #89, Jack Ryan and Jay Walt are serving some papers on a woman. The woman’s husband states he was on the second shift at Ranco.

By Robb on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 - 11:46 am:
FORTY LASHES LESS ONE

Harold Jackson spent time in jail before he was at Yuma Prison. He went AWOL in Cuba and was jailed there and at Ft. Leavenworth in Kansas.

He would like to go back to Cuba if he had to spend time in jail again.

Harold Jackson also mentions being on a ship with other black soldiers before going to Cuba.

This must be the Spanish-American War. It is the background setting for CUBA LIBRE. A lot of Mr. Leonard’s characters have a connection to that war. GUNSIGHTS, GET SHORTY, “Hurrah For Captain Early”, “Tenkiller”, and “How Carlos Webster . . .” all mention the Spanish-American War.

By Admin (Admin) on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 06:52 am:
What book do “Jane” and “Katy” appear in together?

Who are they in real life?

The winner gets a prize.

By JohnnyMoreno on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 08:06 am:
They’re Fran Dunn’s daughters in Pagan Babies. They’re Elmore’s granddaughters?

By Straw on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 02:13 pm:
Well done Johnny.

By lacrimatty on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 05:09 pm:
Johnny Moreno

Excellent post. However, if memory serves—and Gregg, I think, can clear this up—at the time Elmore wrote the bullet-hole-in-the-wall scene, the character still was called Raymond Cruz. It was only later that Elmore learned he’d have to change it, that some studio—by virtue of having bought the movie rights—now owned the name. That’s when Elmore came up with Bryan Hurd and went about inserting it in the manuscript in place of Raymond Cruz.

I think I read this in an interview Elmore did, or else heard him speak about it somewhere.

Gregg, am I right on this or am I confusing this story with some other one?

By JohnnyMoreno on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 06:15 pm:
Remnants of Raymond Cruz still in there huh? How far did Elmore get in the novel when he had to change the name? Somehow I can’t see Raymond in Florida but that’s just me.

By lacrimatty on Thursday, October 30, 2003 - 06:52 pm:
I’m not sure how far Elmore got. I’m not absolutely sure I have the story right. Where’s Gregg when you need him?

I’m curious though—why can’t you see Raymond in Fla.? Raymond reminds me a lot of Vincent Mora, and Vincent was a Fla. cop.

By JohnnyMoreno on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 07:42 am:
What I meant was I can’t see him as being a Florida cop. Vacation maybe. I think Raymond is one of those types who is repulsed yet can’t leave the city of Detroit and its crime. Like his work is too important for him to leave it. This is a weird little parallel but kind of like Bruce Willis in Die Hard. He doesn’t leave New York for LA with his wife because he’s “got a six month back log of scum bags to put behind bars, can’t just pick up and go.”

Anyway, that’s how I see Raymond Cruz. I think a few of the characters that are cops are the same: where the guy can go either way between enforcing the law and punching some guy really hard in the mouth if he crosses the line. Mankowski, Mora, Cruz, Hurd and others. They’re the most fun, the shady ones.

By Admin (Admin) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 07:44 am:
Elmore tells the story of the change in the following way.

United Artists was going to film City Primeval as “Hang Tough” in 1981 but the writer’s strike that year and the difficulty of working with Sam Peckingpah made that impossible. However, contractually UA owned Raymond Cruz and any subsequent use of the name in a book would have prevented Elmore and his agent, H. N. Swanson from making any movie deal. Since Elmore was on a role with Detroit police characters, he decided to change Raymond Cruz to Bryan Hurd and, as he is fond of saying, “lighten his moustache.” The result, same character different name. This accounts for some of the backstory elements being the same as Raymond Cruz’s storyline. When the manuscript was prepared with the changes, the copy editor missed changing one Raymond to Bryan. Can anybody find it? This is the ultimate Elmore blooper.

By Admin (Admin) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 08:04 am:
Split Images was done when the changes were made.

Correct me if I’m wrong, Vincent Mora was a Detroit cop, not a Florida cop.

By lacrimatty on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 08:30 am:
Vincent Mora was a Florida cop, shot in the first paragraph, Meridian & 16th, South Beach, while crossing the street from his car to his apartment building.

By Admin (Admin) on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 06:04 pm:
Does anybody know the special significance of casting “The Rock” as Elliot Wilhelm, the gay Samoan in MGM’s Be Cool

By Avenue Williams on Friday, October 31, 2003 - 11:21 pm:
They call him The Rock, not The Rocks. I believe this because the man have only one testicle, the other one lost in a knife fight with a Samoan was high on PCP. Am I close?

Avenue Williams