The Legend of the Lone Ranger

source: The Legend of the Lone Ranger

The Legend of the Lone Ranger is an earnest adaptation of the origin and earliest adventures of John Reid's masked alter ego. Not particularly well made or well acted, Legend does have its moments, especially after lead Klinton Spilsbury dons the familiar black mask and white hat. To hear the upbeat tempo of the William Tell Overture truly does bring shivers to old fans' spines once more. Spilsbury, despite a nationwide search, was not a good choice for the Lone Ranger. He is not especially tall, broad shouldered, or very heroic in his movments. And obviously his voice was not good enough for the role either, as James Keach was brought in to dub over Spilsbury's lines. However, Spilsbury does prove to be physically capable, and his fight scenes and shoot outs are very much like the legendary Clayton Moore's. Michael Horse has departed from Jay Silverheel's monosyllabic and subservant version of Tonto. He is an activistic sidekick, prepared to defend his people to a fault, even if he has to step over his partner, the Ranger. Look for fairly good acting from the various co-stars, including Christopher Lloyd as the fiendish Butch Cavendish, Richard Farnsworth as Buffalo Bill, and especially Jason Robards as a frequently inebriated President U.S. Grant. All in all, not a great film, but one that tries incredibly hard to keep the Legend of the Lone Ranger alive.

When you were a kid and listened to the Lone Ranger on the radio it was exciting. Years later, when Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels played the Lone Ranger and Tonto in the TV series The Lone Ranger, it brought ones heroes to life through the eyes of a youngster. Who can forget the masked man riding away at the end of the program shouting, "HiHo Silver,and Away", all to the stirring music of the William Tell Overture! Wow! We all loved and respected the lone ranger and his faithful companion Tonto, but we never really knew the story of how the two came to be such great friends and why they had chosen fighting evil and injustice as an occupation. Well,the Ledgend of the Lone Ranger brings us right up to speed in a fashion that reveals many of attributes and flaws that are found as choices for all us. Loyalty, honesty, character, and fair play are pitted against deception, greed, cruelty and murder! Sounds just like another Lone Ranger episode. But,No! This time the hero is portrayed in the role of the victim. Will good have its day and triumph over evil? Things look mighty grim, after all, we've been into at least half the movie and haven't even seen or heard of our hero. And that's the point. Stick around for the wonderful second half to see how the Lone Ranger evolves, when he comes upon Silver, when he's reunited with Tonto and when he rides like the wind to even the score, as Rossini's Overture creates goosebumps, just like it did when we were kids!

I thought Klinton Splsbury was a good Lone Ranger and Michael Horse was a good Tonto. The magic of this film, for me, is the first half, when we see how John Reid becomes the Lone Ranger.Also, a great scene where he finds a wild white horse, breaks him, and names him Silver. But a later scene just blew my mind away. In that scene,after Reid and Tonto bury his brother and the other ambushed Texas Rangers, he decides to wear a mask so the bad guys won't recognize him. He tells Tonto the mask will be a symbol of justice. At this point, we have not yet seen his alter ego. That changes when we see him from the back kneeling at his brother's grave and vowing to avenge his death. Then he puts his hat on, turns around, and as we see him in his mask for the first time, blaring trumpets sound out the start of the William Tell Overture. Being a Lone Ranger fan, this literally sent shivers down my spine. The scene continues as they both ride away to more of the overture, and, of course, we hear "Hi yo, Silver, away." Breathtaking!

Here's how you know you're a loser. It's the spring of 1981. You're a high school senior, and you've never kissed a girl. You've never been on a date. You have no friends. Your mother tries to cheer you up by taking you to a movie, and you pick . . . the Lone Ranger. This was the night when I finally accepted the fact that I was a loser. What kind of 18 year old boy goes to the movies with his mother? The movie was so awful, and the worse it got the more it became clear to me . . . I deserved this. I deserved it for being a loser with no friends. But still the movie wouldn't stop! Now, as horrible as the movie was, I do remember a couple of good moments. There was a big battle early on, where a whole Ranger troop gets wiped out. And there's an old timer who tells the young Lone Ranger, "don't worry, kid . . . I've been a Ranger longer than you've been alive!" And he talks about some real life battles of the Texas Rangers, while calmly loading and firing and bringing down several bad guys. It's a nice moment. But then he dies. Just like all my high school hopes and dreams! Oh, and later on, the cowardly villain Butch Cavendish meets Ulysses S. Grant, and tries to explain why he became a villain. "I deserted my men -- I ran from the field of battle -- I was accused of cowardice -- it wasn't my fault!" And Grant just looks at him quietly, and says, "It never is." That line really stuck with me over the years. Because I mean, I came up short in high school, I had to face it that night. No good times. No dates. No happy memories. But you know what? Maybe Grant wasn't just putting Butch down. Maybe Grant understood that some guys just don't have what it takes, in combat or in high school. Maybe some guys just don't get the right break, or they only get one chance and they blow it. Over the years I've spent a lot of time thinking about what Grant says in this movie. In a way it's given me a certain kind of strength. But the movie still sucks.

The untold origin of the Lone Ranger. It shows who he was and how and why he became the Ranger. Legendary bomb. The idea was not a bad one--reinvent and introduce the Lone Ranger for 1980s audiences. Right off the bat though there were problems. The studio ordered Clayton Moore (the original Ranger) to stop appearing anywhere as the Lone Ranger. It led to a nasty little battle that made headlines. I know of people who refused to see the film because of how Moore was treated. Also they hired the awesomely untalented Klinton Spilsbury to play the Ranger. Spilsbury was very handsome and muscular but had absolutely no charisma and just couldn't act. In fact his whole vocal performance was redubbed by another actor! Also his off screen antics (public drunkenness and beating people up) didn't help matters. Acting aside, the script is dull and slow. Also the Ranger himself doesn't show up until an HOUR in! There were some complaints at the time that the movie was too violent for a PG. However I don't think it was that bad. There are a few (very few) things done right here--the photography was truly beautiful; Michael Horse was excellent as Tonto; Christopher Lloyd is lots of fun as the villain and when the Lone Ranger finally shows up (with the William Tell Overture booming from the soundtrack) it's really rousing. But, all in all, this is a boring and terrible attempt to bring back the Lone Ranger. It's easy to see why this bombed. A 4--mostly for the photography.

I remember this bomb coming out in the early 80's. At first it sounded like a great idea. A retelling of an American classic with the help of modern movie techniques of the day. There was a bit a of a back lash over the treatment of the original "Lone ranger", Clayton Moore. The movie studio had threatened legal action if Moore continued portraying him self as the real lone ranger. (Moore was performing at children's hospitals as the Lone ranger for sick kids.) To many Americans Clayton Moore was just that the; the one and only lone ranger. I had always felt that the studio could have done justice to both the fans and legacy of the lone ranger if Moore had been treated better. Maybe even a cameo in the new movie. How ever this was not the case, and many of the viewing public stayed away in droves. Also the story and acting were weak. All this added up to a big box office bomb, and rightly so. I personally I'm glad the studio lost big money after the way the real Lone ranger was treated. You don't treat an American icon that way.

I saw this in a theatre when it came out. It is too bad to be believed. Not 'fun' bad like "Plan Nine From Outer Space". This is 'just plain bad'. It began to lose some of the audience the first time Klayton opened his mouth to [not] speak. I know I rolled my eyes. In fact none of the acting was anything to speak of. I'm sure the narration took it's toll, as has been said, but it's been 22 years. I recall at times when they rode, the music got louder perhaps more annoying] and the action slowed a bit for a 'dramatic' effect. Tonto would lean forward and arch his back and for a while the picture would seem like an old west painting. Probably meant to be artistic, but it failed. The scene where our [ahem] hero meets Silver was strange. A little too much attention paid to the horse's muscles and, yes, it was definately a stallion. This was a film people walked out on. In the end I only stayed because, at one point, I had to see if it would get any worse. It didn't. It couldn't.

This movie contains the worst acting performance of all time. Spilsbury lacks energy to say the least. Energy is what Clayton Moore gave us in spades. I never felt once in this movie that Spilsbury was anxious for anything. Revenge, love, justice? Not in this guy's portrayal. There is also no chemistry between Tonto and LR. If the plot did not force them to be friends, you don't get the impression they want to hang out with each other. Plus, the sidekick has the more interesting personality. Ewww. The dialogue is predictable and boring. The narration is stunningly bad and if you are familiar with the Dukes of Hazzard you can picture what this is like. I cannot believe the director would agree to this. It insulted me as a viewer by explaining every plot line I just witnessed. Hey, at least the horses and locations looked good, maybe that is what happens when you hire a cinematographer to be your director. RATING-2 You may be able to watch this one for laughs or to demonstrate to an alien what a bad movie is.

This movie was wonderful and one of the most memorable of my life. It was much more interesting and exciting than any of the old Clayton Moore stuff. The action sequences were well done, and it was emotionally effective. It gave me some good thrills, like when The Lone Ranger shoots the rope that is about to hang Tonto and then rides up and carries him off with a dazzling display of gunfire, and of course, all to the rousing William Tell overture. This is touching because you remember how Tonto found The Lone Ranger left for dead after the Butch Cavendish attack and nursed him back to health. I can't believe that it was not a hit. No, it wasn't perfect, but it certainly deserved a lot more respect than it got. And Jason Robards performance as Ulysses S. Grant was charming. I just hope I can find a copy somewhere as soon as possible.