Customer Reviews

The Legend of the Lone Ranger

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

First of all, indeed -- amazon.com has the reviews section wrong. Most of the other reviews are referring to the old television show, NOT the 1981 movie starring Klinton Spilsbury.

Now that we have that out of the way, there's little else to defend about this movie. Klinton Spilsbury (who looks like a more chiseled version of Rick Springfield), just isn't very good in the part. Admittedly, his voice was dubbed by actor James Keach, and I think this makes his performance even more wooden. It's way too monotone. I would love to hear Klinton's real voice some day.

The movie does have some saving graces. John Barry's score is absolutely terrific (the Waylon Jennings "songs" are quite the opposite though -- any time his one man "Greek chorus" comes from the speakers, it's flat out embarrassing). Jason Robards is quite good (although with limited screen time) as Ulysses S. Grant). Christopher Lloyd is actually pretty good as the bad guy (although I don't know how people SO familiar with his "Taxi" character could not laugh when they saw him in this.

What makes this a one-star review is the HORRIBLE DVD transfer of this film. It literally looks like they took a VHS copy and made the DVD out of it. It's 2 channel Dolby Digital (and sounds as flat as could be) and the picture is 4 x 3 and not formatted for 16 x 9 screens. It's embarrassing. This is 2008 -- I KNOW they could have done better than this.

As another reviewer said, "don't waste your money on this."

Who was that masked man? Why, it was Klinton Spilsbury! "Who the hell is Klinton Spilsbury?" you're probably asking. Well, it's a good question, coz no one really knows it seems.
To me, there's something fascinating about the concept of an actor making his film debut as the leading man in a major film, winning a Razzie award for the lousy performance, then never starring in a movie again. To this day, no one really knows where Spilsbury is, what he's doing, or if he's even alive. Rumor has it he was difficult to work with, and Wikipedia states that there is a rumor he was working at Subway for awhile!
Well, he had his 15 minutes(actually more like 98) as the iconic Lone Ranger in the 1981 bomb, The Legend Of The Lone Ranger-a movie considered so bad that it was swept under the rug and pretty much forgotten about. Even people I know who are into westerns are surprised to learn that a Lone Ranger film was made. Is it really as bad as it's reputation? No, of course not. It's got it's moments, but I thought it was more boring than anything. The film shows how John Reid becomes the Lone Ranger, following him from his childhood where he meets his lifelong friend, Tonto, up to the moments he slips on the black mask(which is almost an hour into the film). Reid comes back to his hometown, now as a lawyer, and finds himself tagging along with some Texas rangers as they go out after the evil Butch Cavendish and his gang. Reid is the sole survivor of the massacre of the rangers by the Cavendish gang. The gang manage to kidnap President Grant(Jason Robards), giving Reid the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone by saving the president and getting his own revenge. So now, teamed up with his buddy Tonto and his newly acquired horse, Silver, Reid dons the mask and outfit and becomes The Lone Ranger.
Like I said, the movie is a bit on the boring side. It's not nearly as epic as it would like to be, and the friendship between Reid and Tonto isn't fleshed out enough(though they try). Tonto is played by Michael Horse, who folks may remember as Deputy Hawk in Twin Peaks. He's easily one of the best parts of the film. In fact, his character is played out as equal, if not superior to Reid. Christopher Lloyd is great as the cold Butch Cavendish. Is Spilsbury as bad as they say? Nah. He's wooden, but I've definitely seen worse. He looks quite a bit like an American Fabio Testi. The movie also has a musical type narration by Merle Haggard, which is unintentionally humorous, but amusing nonetheless.
All in all, this film isn't as bad as they say, but I doubt it'll make your top ten westerns list. Now if we could only track down Klinton Spilsbury!

I remember watching The Lone Ranger with my Father and when the movie came out, I was excited to relive that feeling. I thought the movie was a good retelling of the origion story and that it gave John Reid/Lone Ranger more of a human feel and that I could relate with him. I know that others didn't like the film, but I can still watch the film and feel like a kid again with it. I almost feel like yelling "High-Yo Silver, Away" everytime I hear the William Tell Overture. It's one of my personal favorites.

Firstly, I'm a Clayton Moore/Jay Silverheels fan... That being said, I saw this film on cable with new folks in the title roles and considered it interesting. Ordered the dvd. THAT was a disappointment.. full frame when it should have been wide screen. A really lousy, grainy transfer... more like a bootleg vhs copy. No excuse for that these days. If this ever gets released in wide screen with a new transfer, I might buy it again... THIS particular DVD was not worth even the low price.

So, as others have said this DVD is Fullscreen (when I placed my order the product page still mistakenly said widescreen) and the video transfer is horrendous even for an 80's movie with many scenes out of focus and lots of dust and grain on the picture as if someone just video taped the movie for the DVD from a poor projection screen. The story on top of that is also pretty mediocre but I'm glad to finally have it again to show the kids.

I don't disagree with the reviews as they are written for the movie made from the television series. However, this movie was never part of the television series. This was a poor (extremely poor) attempt at telling the Lone Ranger story. Released in 1981, this movie forced Clayton Moore from his mask to dark sunglasses and made the one flop wonder Klinton Spilsbury a hated man among Lone Ranger fans. This movie gives all of the credit of creating the Lone Ranger to Tonto, even to the point of using a silver bullet, as the Lone Ranger could not shoot straight without silver in the bullets. In the end, even Christopher Lloyd as the bad guy couldn't save this movie. In the case of Amazon attaching all of the good reviews for the Clayton Moore movie to this poor attempt at story telling, Amazon has blown it big time. Do not waste your money on this movie.

If you're a die hard fan of the Lone Ranger series from the golden age of radio with Marcus "Brace" Beemer and John Todd, or the golden age of tv with Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels, or even the 2 big screen movies they made, you will be disappointed by this film. Not to mention that its star Klinton Splisbury was dubbed (by Jim Keach, brother of Stacy (Mike Hammer 80s and 90) for those who didn't know), and after that disappeared into obscurity. Despite all this, I saw this on the big screen and liked it, so much so I taped it off HBO many moons ago, and since copied that tape to disc. Let's look at some of the good things it has. 1) John Reid is made out to be a lawyer starting his practice rather than just a Texas Ranger along side his brother. 2) Jason Robards gives a performance of Grant that is believable. 3) Christopher Lloyd's Cavendish is not just an outlaw. Here he is an ex Union Army officer and he runs his band like a western day Godfather. Moreover Butch is only a nickname, his given name is "Bartholemew". 4) Collins, the double agent is more convincing, on radio I hear he was a half indian scout, here he is more the line of Benedict Arnold. 5) Michael Horse's Tonto speaks normal English even among his tribe while those who came before him did "injun talk" (even if they could speak normally when not acting like Silverheels or Todd). 6) For a time, John Reid has a love interest which makes you think that you may see more of Amy at a later time. It doesn't happen, but the idea is what counts here. Alright I agree, Merle Haggard's poor rhymes in his narration could have been improved, but they did help tell the story. As for John Barry's music, it's not Dances With Wolves, but still lively to keep you awake for the whole 1 hour and 40 minutes of the movie (the recording of William Tell however aka the main theme during the fight scene at the end is first rate). Finally you do see, the human side of Reid at the end. The radio show and tv show made him out to be someone who would just fight for justice and would NEVER take a life, but you see here in the end that he was ready to take Cavendish out as revenge for his brother's death. It shows that for a minute, his old self was still there. It's when he realizes that he would be no better than Butch himself that he spares him, and thus now the code we all know the masked man lives by is established. So look at this way, is the movie a turkey, YES. Is it a movie to be ignored, NO. There are many people were around from 1980 to the present who never knew "the legend" and this does tell a reasonably accurate version of it. It's taken nearly 30 years for hit to hit DVD, my advice, buy it and keep it with your rare treasures that come and go on DVD. The chances on us seeing its like again are rare.

The Legend of the Lone Ranger After reading many of the BAD reviews that this movie has received, I have come to the conclusion that I could probably make a better DVD given the proper technology (Digital Transfer).

Left up to me, I would begin by putting in a choice between 2 channel & 5.1 Dolby surround. The screen aspect would be preserved at a 2.35:1 [for the 16x9 fans]. Some of the extras would be outtakes, including the real voice track for Spilsbury. This is one film that could possibly do better if it were remade. I hope someone from the production companies reads this.

I wanted to give this much-maligned picture a shot and see if it offered the fun of Dino's underrated Flash Gordan picture. However, this full-screen DVD's transfer is so dreadful I couldn't even finish watching it. It's astonishingly cynical that this shameful product would be be sold at regular prices to the Ranger's huge fan base without even a cursory attempt to restore the image.

"The Legend of the Lone Ranger," the 1981 big-budget movie version of the famous TV series (The Lone Ranger: 75th Anniversary - Seasons 1 and 2), never had a chance. The studio enforced an extraordinarily stupid PR move forcing Clayton Moore - an elderly actor in 1980 making a small living with public appearances as the Lone Ranger, the role he made famous - to "ceast and desist" from wearing the trademark mask. The legal snafu made headlines and hotshot filmmakers became international villains. Did it not occur to them Moore's appearances served as free publicity for the upcoming movie? Anyway, the film was a major bomb at the box office.

The casting of unknown Klinton Spillsbury in the lead, a man without a smidgen of acting experience and possessing the stoic presence of a Macy's mannequin, didn't help. Spillsbury has never worked again, so it's probably cruel to rub his face in the dust. But after watching the film (and he appears in just about every scene), it must be said his stiff portrayal sucks the film dry. Producers later dubbed his dialog with the voice of actor James Keach. Didn't casting directors listen to his voice before signing him to what was, at that time, a major role? The peculiar dubbing further contributes to an unusually lifeless performance.

"The Legend of the Lone Ranger" is a movie update to a popular 1950's TV series, a formula that struck gold in 1978 with Superman - The Movie. That film also cast an unknown in the lead role, in this case Christopher Reeve, but at least he had prior acting experience. In fact, Spillsbury bears a slight resemblance to Reeve, but just lacks charisma, presence and ability.

The film was directed by William A. Fraker, the talented cinematographer of Bullitt (Two-Disc Special Edition), Looking for Mr. Goodbar [VHS] and more recently Tombstone. Joining forces with Laszlo Kovacs, an equally gifted cinematographer, they created what is surprisingly one of the most beautiful Westerns ever made. Multiple shots show the Lone Ranger and Tonto as silhouettes on the horizon framed by the setting sun. A stagecoach robbery is filmed amidst the extraordinary vistas of Monument Valley. An ambush in a canyon where black-clad villains line the rocks firing rifles, is breath-taking in quality. Even the concluding dramatics where everything but the outhouse is dynamited, possesses great visual flair.

I like the pulp story they've written, where villain Bartholomew Cavendish, a sort of fiendish combination of John Chivington and Sam Houston, plans to kidnap President Ulysses S. Grant and force him to sign over Texas as an independent nation. But the casting of Christopher Lloyd is ill-advised. Largely a comedic actor with buggy eyes and cartoonish scowl, he lacks the necessary intimidation for such a role. Jason Robards has an extended cameo as Grant and is terrific, as usual, breathing life into a film desperately in need of acting chops.

"The Legend of the Lone Ranger" explores the origins of the masked crusader, known as John Reid during his formative years. Before the credits have barely rolled, young Reid's family is murdered and he spends the following decade living with Tonto and the Indians. Since this film takes place in Texas, one is to assume Tonto is Comanche or Apache. Dedicated childhood chums, Reid and Tonto sit next to campfires while listening to tribal elders discuss the importance of dignity and justice in the English tongue. Reid's uncle, a Texas Ranger, arrives to take him home, eventually sending him to college to become a lawyer. When Reid returns, Bartholomew is a mighty powerful presence, lynching the local newspaper editor and massacring Reid and the Rangers in a canyon before leaving them for dead. Naturally, Tonto (well played by unknown actor Michael Horse, but with little to do) appears out of nowhere and returns Reid to the Indian village to heal and learn the way of the gun.

Reid, burning with vengeance, decides he must wear the storied mask so he cannot be recognized by Bartholomew, which seems odd considering the caped villain was standing on a canyon edge hundreds of yards away without a clear look at our hero. Eventually the Lone Ranger and Tonto are riding very quickly across the plains to the chords of William Tell Overture (25 Thunderous Classics), shooting guns out of people's hands and spurring their storied horses with forced dramatic flair ("Go Silver!" "Go Scout!").

The beauty of "Superman" was that while it retained nostalgic touches of its origins, writers cleverly reworked the more dated aspects to give it a modern aura. "The Legend of the Lone Ranger," if anything, embraces the corny origins of its material, stubbornly refusing to acknowledge modern audiences. The film stumbles between cartoon fantasy and dusty grit, unable to decide whether its for kids or adults, with several scenes coming off as laughably dated even for 1981.

Matters are not helped by the apparently post-production idea to have Merle Haggard (40 #1 Hits) sing a theme song, a terribly clunky tune having zero appeal. The mistake is compounded by having Merle narrate the film with endless passages of unnecessary description. Who comes up with these ideas? The heavy use of William Tell Overture further contributes to the film's overall cornball infusion. Perhaps a touch early on, providing a link to the Lone Ranger tradition, but then filmmakers should have distanced themselves from that archaic touch. For multiple reasons, "The Legend of the Lone Ranger" never clicks, unable to overcome disastrous miscalculations, barely rising above the level of a made-for-TV film, albeit a pretty one.