The Lone Ranger

[DWF]

Anyhow, funny you should mention Mask. Stephen Greydanus writes:

The main plot of The Lone Ranger steals from the original Mask of Zorro: White men plot to exploit and murder natives in order to steal the wealth of their land (silver rather than gold). There’s another corrupt General Custer cavalry type (Barry Pepper). Oh, and the patrician villain carries a torch for the hero’s woman (though in this case our hero himself is also carrying a torch for her, because she’s actually his brother’s woman).

Needless to say, the comparison only accents The Lone Ranger’s glaring deficiencies. The Mask of Zorro took nobility, honor and heroism as seriously as villainy: Anthony Hopkins’s Don Diego was a skilled, classy and cunning warrior, and Antonio Banderas played a scruffy rogue undergoing a grueling tutelage to become worthy of the mask of Zorro.

The Lone Ranger laughs at all this. John’s moral scruples make him ridiculous and naive, not admirable. His defining trait is not his morality, but his cluelessness.

Sounds almost Wild Wild West bad... and 43 minutes longer!

Seeing as how The Lone Ranger and The Mask Of Zorro had the same writers it's that unusual that there are simularities between the two.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Just saw it. Wasn't worried about a packed theatre either.

I would have loved to have seen a proper, big budget Lone Ranger movie, but the way the critics describe it makes it sound WAY too much like the Pirates sequels for my taste-- bloated, way too long, unnecessarily convoluted with too many boring subplots and side characters, and cartoonish, over the top action you don't believe a second of.

And the way they turned the Lone Ranger himself into a bumbling idiot just makes me want to punch someone.

Saved me the trouble. Actually, I didn't think it was bad, but what you just described is pretty accurate.

Does Tonto even say "Kemo Sabe" once during this thing?

Yeah I heard some clips on the radio where he uses the term. Although apparently they changed the meaning from "trusty scout" or "faithful friend" to.... "wrong brother." Because now it's supposed to be a derogatory thing I guess.

The way it played out made it seem like Tonto had a sense of humor and was just messing with Reid when he told him what it meant.

And apparently Tonto also makes fun of the "Hi-yo Silver" line as well, which is just... ugh.

Yep.

...Depp is playing Jack Sparrow as Tonto...

Yep.

 

[Agent Richard07]

Yeah I heard some clips on the radio where he uses the term. Although apparently they changed the meaning from "trusty scout" or "faithful friend" to.... "wrong brother." Because now it's supposed to be a derogatory thing I guess.

They way it played out made it seem like Tonto had a sense of humor and was just messing with Reid when he told him what it meant.

I should also add that Reid has a good follow-up line when he says… "Do you know what 'Tonto' means in spanish?" Look it up.

Despite the movie's problems, I do like the updated costume designs…

Fun Fact: Early Texas Rangers didn't have official badges. Some had them but they were custom made. Source. The one Reid wears was used by his father, who almost certainly had it made by a professional.

Depp's look was based on a painting called "I Am Crow" by Kirby Sattler.

The horse was one of the movie's highlights with its friendly look and amusing behavior…

 

[Gaith]

Despite the movie's problems, I do like the updated costume designs…

Three layers, including a jacket, is quite a lot for boiling desert sunlight...

 

[Agent Richard07]

^ True, but maybe that's good attire for the colder months.

 

[Gojira]

^ I also like the updated look of the costumes in the movie and I think Depp's Tonto does look very authentic.

 

[Gojira]

Yeah, I wouldn't consider him a superhero. I'd consider him more of a folk hero, similar to Zorro and the Four Musqueteers.

I always figured Zorro to be one of the first superheros too. Maybe folk hero is a more accurate term. But I do know both the Lone Ranger and Zorrow were inspirations for other superheroes.

 

[davejames]

^ I also like the updated look of the costumes in the movie and I think Depp's Tonto does look very authentic.

I agree it's a cool look, but actual Native Americans say it would be ridiculous (not to mention uncomfortable) for anyone to walk around wearing war paint day after day. And they think the eagle on the head is just idiotic.

 

[Gojira]

^ I also like the updated look of the costumes in the movie and I think Depp's Tonto does look very authentic.

I agree it's a cool look, but actual Native Americans say it would be ridiculous (not to mention uncomfortable) for anyone to walk around wearing war paint day after day. And they think the eagle on the head is just idiotic.

I agree. I could see a Native American back in that time period wearing things like that, and they did, for a ceremony or a ritual, but not everyday usage.

 

[Agent Richard07]

It's easy to rationalize Tonto's attire if you watch the movie.

Spoiler: why Tonto wears war paint and a bird.

His village was wiped out due to something he did as a child and he's become mentally unhinged and has waged war against the man who actually killed everyone. His backstory is similar to Bruce Wayne's.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Does Tonto still ride a horse named Scout?

 

[Agent Richard07]

He gets a horse eventually, but I don't remember if its name was mentioned.

For much of the movie, they were either on foot or rode the white horse (later named Silver) together.

 

[JoeZhang]

They rode the white horse together

- Is that a euphemism?

 

[Maurice]

^ I also like the updated look of the costumes in the movie and I think Depp's Tonto does look very authentic.

I agree it's a cool look, but actual Native Americans say it would be ridiculous (not to mention uncomfortable) for anyone to walk around wearing war paint day after day. And they think the eagle on the head is just idiotic.

I agree. I could see a Native American back in that time period wearing things like that, and they did, for a ceremony or a ritual, but not everyday usage.

I believe in the painting, the crow is flying behind the man, not part of his headdress.

 

[Aldo]

Lol, I guess I wasn't paying very good attention to all the ads. But until this conversation I never realized he had an eagle on his head!

 

[The Wormhole]

You know, I actually enjoyed the movie. I thought as a reboot it was kind of clever in the way it acknowledged the original. In the movie's world, this is the tale of the real Lone Ranger while the Lone Ranger series we're all familiar with is a dramatization based on the real Ranger. At least that's how I interpreted it. That makes it easier for me to accept the changes they made, and to be honest it's a better way to reboot but leave a connection to the original than Abrams Trek going all alternate timeline with visits from Nimoy Spock.

The highlight of the movie was the final battle, especially the fact that they had the Lone Ranger theme going through the whole thing. Seriously, I thought it was pretty cool they used the original theme in the movie itself. Most modernizations of old franchises just use the original theme in the closing credits (if that) and the movie itself only has new music.

Still, the bad reviews and the fact that my theatre only had about ten people to see it pretty much guarantee this won't be the big money-maker it has to be and yet another of Disney's attempts to start a franchise have failed. They're going to need Star Wars.

 

[davejames]

Actually the 1981 movie used the theme as well (which is probably the only memorable moment IN that movie).

 

[Captain Craig]

Grade: C+

Too long. Took quirky.
Making John Reid a pacifist was a mistake, he had nearly no respect. Was seen as a joke. Tonto not being a skilled hunter and tracker let alone warrior also was a problem.
Basically making a western and slapping the labels TLR&Tonto on characters that clearly were not them was one of many problems.
Chop out the Old Tonto/kid sequences in '33 SanFran and that would help the runtime by about 12-15min easily.

Such a wasted opportunity.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Erm..........The Lone Ranger is SciFi? Did they change the concept so much that we're talking about it in the SciFi forum?

The Lone Ranger is considered a Superhero and this is where those movies are discussed. In the mythos of the Lone Ranger he is the great-uncle of the Green Hornet another masked crime fighting superhero with a side-kick.

Yeah, but the Green Hornet relationship was a retcon when TGH was created by Striker/Trendle. The history of the Lone Ranger up to that time was one of a western/adventure hero, but not of the fantastic, masked hero variety like other 1930s creations Batman (or The Phantom).

Even the Green Hornet was not a superhero, but a crime, post pulp hero. It was not until decades later when William Dozier's Batman TV series was linked to his GH series (and the merchandising based on it), that the latter was considered part of the superhero genre (still debatable).

The Lone Ranger was never removed from his native format, so he remains a western/adventure hero--not superhero.

 

[Gojira]

^ Thanks for the info...I do see it differently now. Thanks.