I thought he looked familiar. Is he really missing part of his leg, or was that sfx or camera tricks?
The guy who played Rolly, of course, was Ferris Bueller’s sidekick and Capt. Harriman of Star Trek: Generations.
I remember him mostly as Prince’s dad from Purple Rain.
Great episode - probably the best of the series so far.
They are obviously paying attention to the “What Would Elmore Do?” rubber wristbands that the crew was handed out when the show was in development. They continue to honor the essence of a great Leonard story - the characters and dialogue…
…the conversations between Raylan and his partner the African-American Woman Marshall were good - “here you come, all strut and attitude - 'course you went to the front of the line.” “You want to try on my hat?” etc…
The biggest strength of this show is that they aren’t afraid to NOT have their star on the screen for roughly half the episode.
Yeah, I agree with the choir. The dialog between the two hitmen was outstanding. Funny lines all over the place, without being too clever. It did remind me of characters from a Leonard story.
One line made me laugh more than most was “Did he ask about me?” It was stupid, but not so stupid that it didn’t fit with the character.
One thing I must have missed. When Raylon and his partner had the conversation about him butting in line it seemed like they were referring to a previous conversation. Did I miss it? Or were they just talking about in general him coming to the office and getting good cases.
It did feel like there might have been a previous conversation, but if there was, it wasn’t in this episode. Maybe the conversation started in Rachel’s head, and Raylan only heard the last part of it, when she spoke out loud. Does Leonard do stuff like that? I’ve read him, but not a lot.
There’s a lot that goes unspoken in Elmore Leonard’s books, and his characters - particularly his leads - are usually terse. It’s the crooks and criminals who are usually dumb loudmouths.
I also liked this exchange, when Raylan was in the backseat of the hitmen’s car (paraphrased from memory):
Raylan: Leave town now, or the next time I see you, I’ll kill you.
Hitman (mocking chuckle): You offered the same deal to Stiggs down in Miami.
Raylan: And how’d that work out for him?
OK, now you all are going to have to recommend me some Leonard to read.
The Complete Western Stories of Elmore Leonard is a collection of wonderful western stories. Included in the collection is Three-ten to Yuma which is one of my favorite short stories period, of any genre. I have read a few of his novels, and they were good. But, I think his writing is better suited to the short story form as shown by this collection.
I need to read the books that Raylan comes from to see how he far afield this show has gone and get the source material. I hope reading the books doesn’t ruin the show for me. Going by how much I have enjoyed it so far I have the feeling that Justified is an adaptation that stands on it’s own and my enjoyment will remain.
OK, that’s in my local library - I’ll check it out. Thanks.
You really can’t go wrong with any of his books, IMO. Some of his novels have recurring characters, so it might be better to read them in chronological order. One of my favorites is LaBrava.
Givens appears in the novels Pronto and Riding the Rap, which I barely remember, and the short story “Fire in the Hole,” which I haven’t read. My mental image of the character was different, but I like what Olyphant is doing with him on the show.
Some good Leonard to start with, IMHO, would be Out of Sight (made into a good movie), Get Shorty (good book, not as good a movie), Maximum Bob (there was a funny, offbeat TV miniseries based on it), Rum Punch and Tishomingo Blues.
He wasn’t a vet, lost his leg to diabetes.
Being too young for the Mod Squad, I recognized him as the Preacher(/Cop?) from Deep Cover - my first experience with Lawrence Fishbourne, and a great movie.
It was ambiguous enough I thought he might’ve been a vet, but hadn’t lost his leg on active duty.
But then he ranted about the Mekong Delta to that young cop. I think the character was playing with everybody. 
You have to understand - there have been a few phases in Elmore “Dutch” Leonard’s writing - opinions will no doubt differ, but I would go with:
- Westerns - his first novels and stories
- Early Crime - his move with Fifty-Two Pickup (1974) up through around LaBrava or so
- Peak Crime/Humor - Rum Punch, Maximum Bob, etc…
- Return to Form - Out of Sight through today
His Early Crime and Return to Form books are the ones that are most like Justified. 52, Swag, Unknown Man No. 89, City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit, Stick, LaBrava - and then back with Out of Sight and subsequent books all have that deep insight and dialogue that comes from really listening.
The Peak Crime stuff tries to be too competitive with Carl Hiaasen - the humor is more explicit and forced and doesn’t emanate nearly as much from an understanding of and empathy for the characters.
WordMan - owner of over a dozen signed first editions of his…
Actually, I interpreted it this way: when Raylan and Rachel first walked up to the crime scene, Rachel was supposed to be lead. But instead, Raylan gets recognized by the (FBI? Cop?) already on scene and they just start talking, with the FBI guy assuming Raylan is in charge, and Raylan taking too long to introduce Rachel, not deferring to her, etc.
So I thought the “butting in line” comment was about that situation, not necessarily a previous conversation – although it did expand to larger issues as the Raylan / Rachel conversation went on.
J.
**52 Pickup **is a real good novel
Another somewhat convoluted plot in the 4/14 episode, but the way I see it, if people didn’t occasionally contrive to do something stupid, life would be pretty dull.
I don’t know why Arlo just didn’t break into the house and steal Perkins’ drugs. Can someone 'splain that to me?
I really like the light/dark thing that went on with Arlo and Raylan. Do you think Arlo meant what he said about being proud of Raylan? Or was he just blowing smoke? I couldn’t tell if Raylan bought it – it looked like he did, but he didn’t quite trust the feeling.
I loved the guy conflating gardening with drugs – “get 'em hooked on the free stuff and then start charging”. He was so likable, hard to believe he shot a cop.
You guys still watching?