Three-Ten to Yuma and Other Stories

This is a good set of tales by Elmore Leonard, whose writing is lean and efficient, but could do with a few more details.

I bought this for "3:10 to Yuma," after seeing the most recent version of the film and then the Glenn Ford version (which is now my favorite), and it was interesting to see what a simple story inspired both films, and how the tale grew in the telling (the short story begins at the hotel!). But I ended up enjoying most of these short Western gems and appreciating how well Leonard crafts his tales with grit and humor and the pure desire to entertain.

book looks just like new. arrived promptly and packaged well...excellent service. highly recommended seller. good book, too. 3:10 to Yuma is a a great short story...more interesting and complex than either movie version (although I liked both). i recommend the book and the seller.

i'm not sure why the author chose to write a new, short version of 3:10 to yuma, but that is what you get in this collection. it is not much like the '50s version (or the 2007 movie for that matter). he has applied the train ride to a different set of characters. my guess is it is a marketing strategy dreamed up by the publisher using the title "3:10 to yuma" to sell the book. while overall, i enjoyed this collection, i would still like to read leonard's original story.

This is the third collection of Leonard short stories to be culled from his hardcover COMPLETE WESTERN STORIES OF ELMORE LEONARD. The seven stories in this book were published between 1952 to 1956. To be frank, other reviewers have been more fulsome in their praise of Leonard's western stories. I think his stories are good, sometimes very good but rarely what I would term excellent. They are too short, too lacking in grit to win me over completely. Having said that, the stories in this collection are nicely done, workmanlike tales of a cowardly cavalryman who winds up winning a Medal of Honor, a hardscrabble farm couple who, working together, triumph over desperados, a search for a Lost Dutchman mine and so on. The longest story - 'The Captives' - is the best in the bunch. Leonard has space to fill out the characters and details, which make for a well-told story. I bought the book because it contains the story 'Three-Ten to Yuma,' one of my favorite western movies. I wanted to see how the source material compared to the movie. In this case the movie was better since the screenwriter supplied a nice twist at movie's end that elevated the story from a routine oater to something else. In any case, whether you are a confirmed Leonard fan or not, you will enjoy the tales in this book.