The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) Universal Pictures/Western RT: 98 minutes Rated PG (language, violence) Director: William A. Fraker Screenplay: Ivan Goff, Ben Roberts, Michael Kane and William Roberts Music: John Barry Cinematography: Laszlo Kovacs Release date: May 22, 1981 (US) Cast: Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse, Christopher Lloyd, Matt Clark, Juanin Clay, Jason Robards, John Bennett Perry, Richard Farnsworth, Lincoln Tate, Ted Flicker, David Hayward, John Hart, Marc Gilpin, Patrick Montoya, David Bennett. Box Office: $12.6M (US)
Rating: ***
I’m going to go out on a limb here and admit that I kind of like The Legend of the Lone Ranger, a movie considered by many as especially bad. It’s definitely flawed- VERY FLAWED!- but I still enjoy watching it now and then.
I won’t argue that lead actor Klinton Spilsbury is the pits. He most definitely is! There’s a reason that The Legend of the Lone Ranger is his one and only acting credit. There’s a reason why all of his dialogue was re-dubbed by another actor. For the record, it was James Keach of The Long Riders fame. Spilsbury has zero talent, period. Does this completely ruin The Legend of the Lone Ranger? No, not completely, but it comes perilously close.
The western’s other major flaw is that it’s nearly an hour before the hero finally dons the familiar mask and jumps into action. I realize that the point of this movie is to tell his backstory, but the lack of pacing makes it feel slow and boring. It shouldn’t feel that way. The origin of the famous masked man should be more interesting than the filmmakers make it. I did find it interesting, but at the same time wished that The Legend of the Lone Ranger would just get on with the action and excitement promised in the ads.
Let me clear something up. Just because I like The Legend of the Lone Ranger doesn’t automatically make it a good movie. It’s actually a pretty bad movie, but the kind of bad movie that can be enjoyed in the right frame of mind. I wasn’t very impressed when I saw it opening weekend (Sunday May 24, 1981) with my best friend and his younger brother. I didn’t start to get into it until a couple of years later when I caught it on cable TV a bunch of times. It’s funny how you can get to like a bad movie simply by watching it (in part or in whole) every time it airs on cable TV. That’s how I came to love Grease 2 that same year. Anyway, against all better judgment, I like this movie.
Young John Reid’s (Gilpin, Jaws 2) journey begins after he witnesses the brutal slaying of his parents. His good friend Tonto (Montoya) takes him to live among his people and teaches him the ways of an Indian (i.e. Native America). Older brother Dan (Perry, Lipstick) finds him and sends him to Detroit to live with relatives. This is when Tonto first names John “Ke-mo Sah-bee” (it means “trusted friend”).
About 20 years later, John (Spilsbury) returns to Texas with law degree in hand to visit his brother. He plans to set up shop as an attorney in a small town being terrorized by the outlaw Butch Cavendish (Lloyd, the Back to the Future movies). It was some of his men who attempted to rob the stagecoach on which John and a few others were passengers. One of the passengers was a young lady named Amy Striker (Clay, War Games), the niece of local newspaper man Lucas Striker (Hart, Blackenstein). Reid helps thwart the attempted robbers and they all arrive in town safely.
Striker has been printing articles denouncing Cavendish and the former US Army officer retaliates by killing him in his own office. Captain Dan Reid of the Texas Rangers rides off in search of Cavendish with John and several of his men. One of the Rangers leads them right into an ambush in which they all get killed. Everybody except John, that is. His childhood friend Tonto (Horse, Twin Peaks) finds him near death and nurses him back to health on the reservation where he and his people were placed by the US government.
This is where we learn a few things about the masked hero like why he uses silver bullets and how he got his trusty horse Silver (as in “Hi ho, Silver! Away!”). This is also when he decides to dedicate his life to fighting crime. It’s better for all involved if everybody thinks John Reid is dead. He reinvents himself as a masked anonymous hero called the Lone Ranger. FINALLY, he puts on the mask and jumps into the saddle. His first order of business is avenging his brother’s murder. To this end, he goes after Cavendish who’s planning to kidnap President Ulysses S. Grant (Robards, All the President’s Men) from a train making its way across the country. BTW, who knew that Grant was the one who first asked the famous question “Who was that masked man, anyway?”
In my opinion, The Legend of the Lone Ranger is a fun movie that misses greatness by a very wide margin. Spilsbury is terrible and Horse isn’t much better as Tonto. He’s so wooden in the role that somebody should give him a handful of cigars and stand him in front of the general store. There isn’t much chemistry between the two leads either. However, Lloyd contributes a nice villainous turn as the former Army major with a personal vendetta against Grant. Like all great villains, he has an evil and greedy plan so far-fetched that it just might work.
The Legend of the Lone Ranger really picks up in the final moments when our heroes attempt to rescue the President. There’s plenty of shooting and a cool fist fight between the Lone Ranger and Cavendish. Of course it wouldn’t be a true Lone Ranger flick without his theme music playing over the soundtrack (“The William Tell Overture” by Rossini). Unfortunately, the rest of the movie isn’t this exciting. It has a few action scenes sprinkled throughout, but it moves at a snail’s pace.
It’s one of three theatrical films directed by cinematographer William A. Fraker and it’s a good thing that he didn’t quit his day job. He’s okay as a director, but something with this much cultural significance should have been entrusted to a stronger filmmaker.
Despite the movie’s many flaws, I really like The Legend of the Lone Ranger. Part of it has to do with it being a connection to my early teen years. I was 13 when I saw it at the movies, it was Memorial Day weekend and summer vacation was right around the corner. I was 15 when I watched it a bunch of times on cable TV, it was spring and summer vacation wasn’t too far away. It reminds me of a time when summer meant freedom and many days without responsibilities. Is that really such a bad thing?
The other thing I like about The Legend of the Lone Ranger is that is has a sense of purity and innocence missing from the big budget spectacles of today. It’s not some empty cinematic vehicle and it completely lacks the cynicism that defines many of today’s movies. It’s far more entertaining and enjoyable than many of today’s big budget, high-profile movies (e.g. the Transformers movies). I’m leery of the upcoming Gore Verbinski-directed remake starring Johnny Depp (Tonto) and Armie Hammer (Lone Ranger). It looks more Pirates of the Caribbean than it does Old West. I hope I’m wrong, but I have serious reservations about it. As for the 1981 version, I’ll say this. On the whole, it isn’t exactly legendary, but it does an adequate job at telling the story. Sometimes that’s all you can hope for.
Trivia fact: Co-star John Hart, playing newspaperman Lucas Striker here, replaced star Clayton Moore on the original Lone Ranger TV series for one year (1952-53). Look also for cameos by Ted Gehring and Buck Taylor (the TV series Gunsmoke) and Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack) as members of Cavendish’s gang.
