The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)
When the young Texas Ranger, John Reid, is the sole survivor of an ambush arranged by the militaristic outlaw leader, Butch Cavendich, he is rescued by an old childhood Comanche friend, Tonto. When he recovers from his wounds, he dedicates his life to fighting the evil that Cavendich represents. To this end, John Reid becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. With the help of Tonto, the pair go to rescue President Grant when Cavendich takes him hostage.
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Simply Perfect
A Masterpiece!
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
For a movie to cost $18 million in 1981 would translate into approx. $50 million today. The movie The Hateful Eight people are talking about cost $65 million in comparison. So at the point it was a big budget movie and it failed miserably.I do not understand why. Did the filmmaker take liberties? Named him John? etc? Of course and today that happens ALL THE TIME. This is a far better movie than how it is portrayed. I love to watch it whenever I can and it sure beats the hell out of that Disney/Johnny Depp attempt thats for sure.I still get chills and John Ried kneels at his brother's grave..... stands up and turns.... and for the first time we see the mask and the William Tell Overture hits... damn if that isn't a great scene. Reminds me of the original Superman when we first see Superman and he flies by the lens and his music plays.What I am saying is... if you have not seen this movie watch it. Watch it with an open mind and not with all the bashing some would give it.
As the Johnny Depp/Gore Verbinski iteration moves towards the cinema screen, this 1981 version - now over 30 years old - merits revisiting. Savaged at the time, how does it stand up now? To be frank, the reasons why it was savaged are all still there. The Lone Ranger's origin story is a good one, but it is helped immeasurably by having an actor of charisma in the role. With the best will in the world, the unfortunate Klinton Spilsbury demonstrates, in a career-destroying performance (this was his only film), that not he is a charisma-free zone, he is also an acting-free zone. Michael Horse, as Tonto, is a better actor, but doesn't command the screen any better.We need our heroes larger than life, not smaller.
I saw this when I was five. I liked it at the time and was too young to have heard about the politics and controversy with Clayton Moore or notice the dubbing of the title character's voice. Even watching it again the other day for the first time in almost thirty years, those things were not issues to the movie itself.It was entertaining. There are things I'd change here or there, but overall it was good. The handling of Tonto still holds up today in our hyper-PC world.It's not without its warts, but they can easily be seen beyond and the movie enjoyed. Definitely check it out.
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.