I recently got to thinking about the iconography of the cowboy, and it occurred to me how deeply ingrained in our culture the character of the Lone Ranger is. Interestingly, I know much of the mythos - Tonto, “Kemosabe”, Hi-yo Silver, silver bullet, “Who was the masked man?”, and of course the William Tell Overture (I believe it was on Rhea Perlman’s show that someone defined a snob as someone who can hear the William Tell Overture without the Lone Ranger being the first thing that comes to his mind)…but, having been born in 1971, I don’t think I ever saw a single episode of his TV show, much less hear any of his radio serials. So, commencing to the questions:
When was the most recent time that the Lone Ranger was published in any popular culture format? TV, Movie, even direct-to-video…have there been any recent Lone Ranger comic books or prose fiction? How old is the last original material that gives us this knowledge which I imagine many of us have?
Who currently holds the rights to the Lone Ranger character?
According to IMDB, the last Lone Ranger theatrical movie was The Legend of the Lone Ranger, released in 1981. There was a TV movie released in 2003.
Clayton Moore, the 1950s Lone Ranger, died some years ago. After the end of the series and the spin-off movies, etc., he made a good thing out of personal appearances and the like, until the 1981 movie was in production, when the studio got a restraining order against his appearing in Lone Ranger costume, including the mask (Moore at one point noted that he was the only person in the entire country who legally could not wear a mask!). Moore took to appearing in dark glasses that resembled a mask, while the lawyers fought it out in court.
If I recall correctly, he eventually prevailed in the courts and gladly took up the mask again to fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.
In 1993 Sherman Alexie wrote “The Lone Ranger & Tonto: Fistfight in Heaven” which is the latest reference I can find to a work featuring our guy.
And Brother Cadfael, I believe the producers of the movie caved and allowed Clayton Moore to continue to make personal appearances AND wear his mask, as long as he agreed to bill himself “Clayton Moore, who played the Lone Ranger.”
Thanks to the two animated series in the 70s and 80s (I only have faint memories of the 70s one, which apparently threw in some sci-fi elements, but stronger memories of the 80s one) the Lone Ranger is the only western I can say I really like.
The 80s Filmation series was neat (that was part of the Tarzan/LR Hour). It had William Conrad as the Ranger’s voice and worked in some real historical facts into each episode. Each one ended with the Ranger explaining who and what those facts were.
Last year, the WB network made a travesty of a TV movie that threw in modern elements right and left (Tonto knew martial arts) and not only made the Ranger a blond nancy boy, but changed the name! The Ranger’s name is supposed to be John Reid, the great-uncle of Britt Reid, the Green Hornet…so who’s this “Luke Hartman” guy?
I think the movie rights are still in someone else’s hands, so let’s hope that they can get it right.
I’d love to see a new Lone Ranger animated series. I’ve even got the Ranger’s voice all picked out…John M. Jackson, who plays the Admiral on JAG. (He’s even a Texan.) He’s got a deep voice that’s the perfect mix of sternness and compassion. Were I doing the updating, I’d try to deepen the character without going the Batman route of making him all dark and broody. Tonto, too would need some fine-tuning (no English broken here) and their friendship would be one of brotherhood (they did declare themselves blood-brothers, after all) rather than master/servant.
Classic Media, LLC, who inherited the Ranger from the now-defunct Golden Books Entertainment (along with some Rankin-Bass specials and all the Golden Book characters).
Legend of the Lone Ranger was such a notorious flop ($18M cost, $8M gross) that it probably scared people away from the property. Not only was there the ridiculous bad PR of trying to stop Clayton Moore from wearing a mask (any producer with an IQ of ten would have put him in the movie somehow, and used him to promote it), but they cast Klinton Spilsbury as the lead. Spilsbury literally couldn’t act – his entire part was redubbed by another actor.
Also, I’d say that, sadly, the LR is not attuned with what the movie audience is interested in. They don’t really want a guy who shoots only to wound; it’d be more popular if he just mowed down the bad guys.
There was a Lone Ranger cartoon in the late '60’s and/or early '70’s. I thought it was pretty cool, but I am unsure if this is the one to which Hermione is referring.
Gold Key also put out a Lone Ranger comic book in the late 1960’s.
I’ve watched some of the old serials, and I wish the Lone Ranger & Tonto would make a comeback. I thought they were pretty decent heroes.
Deosn’t actually have anything to do with the Lone Ranger, except in the most post-modern sense: Alexie is a native American, and the book is a collection of short stories about the lives of modern Indians. Great stuff, highly recommend it, but don’t expect any silver bullets.
Kevin Smith is currently working on a Green Hornet film; he’ll be writing and directing. He was asked on the View Askew message boards if there would be any reference to the Lone Ranger in the film, but, unfortunately, “we can’t refer to him without optioning that character as well.”
Also, I was born in 1976, but remember watching the live-action Lone Ranger show (obviously in repeats). I don’t remember any specifics, but I do know it was an integral part of my childhood. Is the show not being shown on any of those “classic TV” channels?
At least part of the problem, IIRC, in the 1981 movie/situation/lawsuit, was that Clayton Moore was lobbying like hell for the title role, which the producers thought he was much too old to play… and not without some justification.
On the other hand, they could hardly have done worse than Klinton Spilsbury. The guy makes Ashton Kutcher look like Robert Duvall.
I suspect at least part of the problem is:
(a) Westerns aren’t “commercial” these days unless they’re packed with expensive actors, at least as far as Hollywood’s concerned. They used to be the cheapest thing to make, filmwise. Are there still any of those “movie ranches” with little Western towns on them, out in the deserts of California?
(b) The Lone Ranger used those silver bullets of his to ice people left and right. Admittedly, he only killed BAD guys, but nowadays, a “clean-cut” hero simply doesn’t do these things. Unless they’re played by bodybuilders with odd European accents.
There’s a small one west of Phoenix, Arizona, around the Glendale area. I was there a couple of times for glamour photoshoots. (As a photographer, not a model, of course.) It’s kind of a cool place. You’ll be on a street with traditional wooden type western buildings, enter a building and when you exit through the back door, you’ll be in a completely different style neighborhood, such as “adobe” type buildings (actually painted stryofoam siding).
Only problem is with the urban sprawl happening in that area, I think there would be problems with traffic noise, etc. now. Not to mention a nearby airport. I remember being buzzed by a police helicopter while we were shooting pictures of women in various forms of undress there. Not that we were doing anything wrong, I think they were just sightseeing.
There was a short-lived TV series last year (i.e. this season) on, I think, the WB. I saw some stills for it, and authentic wardrobe was not a priority.
On some of the old radio shows, Tonto was portrayed as one smart dude – although apparently not smart enough to speak English well. The LR would regularly send Tonto into town to see what he could find out. The townspeople must have had an amazingly enlightened opinion of Native Americans, because Tonto would come back with at least 5 minutes worth of information.
Given the wildly inconsistent quality of old-time radio scripts, I might have only heard the few good episodes where Tonto wasn’t a moron/victim, but at least it happened sometimes.
It was only (thank og), a TV movie. Think "Tonto and Some White Kid go to Dawson's Creek" and you have a good idea of how badly it sucked. Such features as:
The main character was never in the Texas Rangers, he was just tagging along for the massacre.
For some unknown reason, the main character's last name is changed. Apparently the writers didn't bother to do enough (read any) reasearch to realize that the Reid name is supposed to be passed on to Britt Reid, the Green Hornet.
No silver bullets, or mention of them.
A REALLY BAD techno version of the William Tell Overture.
That quote long predates Rhea Perlman - I remember hearing it as early as the 1970s. It also often seems to be attributed to Dan Rather (as “an intellectual snob”), but he’s also too late to be the source. I found several references to the quote the way I first heard it (‘An intellectual is someone who can listen to the “William Tell Overture” without thinking of the Lone Ranger’) attributed to John Chesson, but I haven’t been able to find out who he was. Anybody heard of him?