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Lone Ranger Fan Club |
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Ta-i Kemo Sabe, welcome!
You have reached the home
of the Lone Ranger Fan
Club. Click on the links
below to explore the best
source of information on the
Web about the Lone Ranger
and Tonto. Be sure to click
on the "Join the Fan Club"
button to learn how to
become a Lone Ranger
Deputy and receive The
Silver Bullet newsletter!
You have reached the home
of the Lone Ranger Fan
Club. Click on the links
below to explore the best
source of information on the
Web about the Lone Ranger
and Tonto. Be sure to click
on the "Join the Fan Club"
button to learn how to
become a Lone Ranger
Deputy and receive The
Silver Bullet newsletter!
The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
By Joe Southern
The Silver Bullet
Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a stranger retelling of the story of the Lone
Ranger. For the past 70 years the story of how John Reid becomes the mysterious
masked rider of the plains has been told and retold, first on radio, then t elevision and
finally on the silver screen. On Feb. 26, 2003, a completely "reimagined" telling of the
Lone Ranger was aired on The WB network.
"The Lone Ranger" stars teen heartthrobs Chad Michael Murray as the Lone Ranger and
Nathaniel Arcand as Tonto. The story, written by Stacy Title and Jonathan Penner, is
nothing like the original "imagining" of George W. Trendle and Fran Striker.
To compare what aired on The WB to everything that has gone before it would be the
proverbial apples to oranges analogy. It's easier to compare the Will Smith version of
"The Wild, Wild West" to the TV show than it is to compare Murray to Clayton Moore or
John Hart. At least in "The Wild, Wild West" they kept the characters names.
In the new version, Luke Hartman, a Harvard educated law student from Boston, comes to
Dallas to visit his brother, Harmon, and his family. Upon his arrival, he encounters some
bad guys attempting to rape a beautiful Indian girl. He make a humble attempt to rescue
her, only to be subdued and rescued himself by the leader of the band who calls off his
cronies. He first meets Tonto when he comes to "rescue" his sister, Alope, from Hartman.
Luke goes on to find his brother working in his store. The two stop to reminisce when they
are interrupted by Kansas City Haas, who informs Harmon that the outlaws known as the
Regulators have been found. But they need to ride quickly. Harmon, who reveals that he
is a Texas Ranger, mounts up with Haas and 10 other Rangers to pursue the bad guys.
He orders Luke to stay there, but Luke follows them instead.
Luke catches up to the lawmen at a camp on the trail. That night as Luke and the
Rangers settle down to sleep under the stars in a clearing, Haas leads the Regulators in
an ambush of the 12 men, plus one of their own. All of them are killed, except Luke.
Tonto arrives after they leave and finds Luke among the dead Rangers. He saves Luke's
life and buries the other lawmen. He creates a 13th empty grave to make the Regulators
believe they killed them all.
Tonto brings Luke to the Apache village, where the "white eye" is not widely accepted. A
shaman (Wes Studi) named Kulakinah agrees with Tonto that Luke's life should be saved.
They befriend the boy and heal his wounds. While Luke is healing and undergoing
training under Tonto's guidance, the Regulators continue their "job" of eliminating the
Rangers, ranchers, Indians and anyone else who stands in the way of the railroad.
As part of Luke's training, he is left on a mountainside with what appears to be peyote to
embark on a vision quest. His quest ends with the arrival of a "spirit guide," a great white
horse (a gelding if you look close enough), which he names Silver.
Once Luke has recovered and learns Apache ways, he is given his mask, made by
Kulakinah from Harmon's vest. Luke dons the mask and he and Tonto, wise to the plans
of the Regulators, go to the home of the last remaining ranchers, where they encounter
the outlaws and run them off. A key moment in character development comes when Silver
stops Luke from killing Kansas City Haas.
Determined to get the Regulators, Luke, in the mask, breaks into his brother's store and
takes items needed to make explosives. He has a brief but touching encounter with his
nephew, assuring him that everything will be OK.
Having trailed the bad guys to their camp, Luke and Tonto use the explosives to stir
things up. They go into battle, disarming Regulators as they go. Two of them capture
Tonto and nearly drown him in a lake. Luke rescues him, thus saving his life and earning
the right to call Tonto "Kemo Sabe."
Luke leaves Tonto to go find Haas. At that point one of the outlaws captures Tonto, but
this time he is rescued by his rival from the Apache camp. Luke goes on to make a
dramatic capture of Haas. Instead of killing him, he makes the decision to bring him to
justice instead.
Near the end of the show the shaman gives Luke his brother's Ranger badge and tells
him he is the last of the Rangers, the Lone Ranger.
The Good:
As different as this is from the original versions, it wasn't all bad. Universally, most all fans
that watched the show liked the expanded role of Tonto. No longer a sidekick, Tonto is
now a mentor, or at the very least equal to the Lone Ranger. Arcand did a superb acting
job, as did Studi (who was the Pawnee in "Dances With Wolves").
Making Silver a spirit guide was a great touch. It helps explain the bond between man and
rider better than the original version.
The acting sequences were outstanding, especially for television. The show maintained a
rapid pace which kept your interest (even through excruciatingly long commercial breaks).
It was nice to see the show delve into relationships as much as it did. The bond of
friendship was one of the prevailing themes played upon in the movie. It was one of the
few morals held over from the original version.
The Bad:
Where to begin? The fact that the story strayed so far from the original has got to be the
worst of it. You can't take 70 years of history and one of the most beloved icons of
Americana and throw it away like that. They didn't use the characters' names. There were
no silver bullets. In fact, the Lone Ranger wasn't even a Ranger at all!
In one scene we see the Hartman brothers sharing a drink. We later see Luke using
peyote. Later in the show he breaks into his brother's store and steals things he needs to
make the bombs. He's whiney and bent on revenge, not justice. He lusts after Tonto's
sister (more on that later). He even takes off the mask at the end and resumes being
Luke Hartman, in the fashion of Zorro.
The costume is horrid. It looks like a bad Halloween costume. The brown hat, brown mask,
V-neck shirt and bell-bottom blue jeans just don't cut it. Tonto looks like he just walked out
of a shopping mall with his short, well-coifed hair and Western cut shirt.
One of the twists to the story was to have Luke earn the right to call Tonto "Kemo Sabe."
Likewise, Tonto has to earn the privilege of calling Luke "Ranger." Their relationship was
somewhat adversarial at first with each having to gain the other's trust. While that is a
good thing, it is different from the original story where the friendship and trust was already
there from a previous boyhood encounter.
The acting, in general, was weak. Dylan Walsh as Kansas City Haas was terrible. He was
too happy, too positive and upbeat to be the vile outlaw he is supposed to be. If you
noticed, his whiskers changed length from scene to scene. He also wore sunglasses,
something that didn't exist in the 19th century.
Another thing that was bothersome was having the Dallas Tribune published by a teenage
girl. I know from years of journalism experience that the publication of a newspaper in
those days was not a task to be taken on by one woman, much less a girl.
And speaking of Dallas, Texas, I've been there before and I don't recall the terrain looking
so mountainous and hilly. The area around Dallas that I'm familiar with is flat. But then
anyone watching the old Lone Ranger would think that the whole West was mountain
country.
One does have to credit Nathaniel Arcand on his martial arts fighting style. He's good at it.
Unfortunately, that's not the way Apaches would have fought back then. He called it
"Indian wild fighting." I call it out of place in a Western.
Another really bad part was the dialog. The characters all spoke with modern
colloquialisms. Ugh, Injun' use modern talk, say good things bad way.
The Ugly:
Let's face it. There are two parts of the movie that are too shamefully bad to be called
bad. The first is the fantasy love scene between Luke and Alope. Even though it's just a
dream, seeing the Indian princess slip out of her buckskins and into a hot spring bath (I
didn't know they had those in Texas) with Luke was just too much. That kind of sex
doesn't belong in a Lone Ranger show. There is no call for it. It's a violation of the moral
code upheld by the Lone Ranger and legions of fans. The WB stooped to an all-time low
by presenting that scene. It did nothing for character development and could very easily
have been cut from the movie.
In fact, Anita Brown, as beautiful as she is, simply isn't an Indian. Outside of her costume,
there's no attempt to make her look like an Indian. Her whole purpose for being there is to
be a sex symbol. How unfortunate. The character had so much promise. It was
underdeveloped and over exposed.
The other ugly part was the music. It varied from rock to rap with a bit of country thrown in.
It was horrible. The young adult target audience might like it, but rap music has no place
in a Western. It violates the essence of what makes the West so appealing. Western
sounds set Westerns apart. This makes it seem like the rest of the pack. This is, after all,
the Lone Ranger, not the Urban Cowboy.
The only hint of the William Tell Overture comes at the end when the Lone Ranger and
Tonto ride off together. But even then it's done on an electric guitar to give it a rock-n-roll
feel.
It's too bad that this show had to go out under the good name of the Lone Ranger. It's
unfortunate that history, tradition , honor and legions of dedicated fans were all ignored
for the sake of making a buck. The saving grace to this is that at least Tonto was not a
woman! It was also not seen by very many people, which is a blessing in disguise.
On the other hand, this is the first new Lone Ranger film in more than 20 years. Perhaps
when Columbia Pictures gets around to making its Lone Ranger movie it will learn from
the mistake of "reimagining" and produce a new story without having to relive the story
that's already so well established. Then again, if this is the best Hollywood can remember
of the tale, perhaps it does need to be told again -- the right way!
By Joe Southern
The Silver Bullet
Nowhere in the pages of history can one find a stranger retelling of the story of the Lone
Ranger. For the past 70 years the story of how John Reid becomes the mysterious
masked rider of the plains has been told and retold, first on radio, then t elevision and
finally on the silver screen. On Feb. 26, 2003, a completely "reimagined" telling of the
Lone Ranger was aired on The WB network.
"The Lone Ranger" stars teen heartthrobs Chad Michael Murray as the Lone Ranger and
Nathaniel Arcand as Tonto. The story, written by Stacy Title and Jonathan Penner, is
nothing like the original "imagining" of George W. Trendle and Fran Striker.
To compare what aired on The WB to everything that has gone before it would be the
proverbial apples to oranges analogy. It's easier to compare the Will Smith version of
"The Wild, Wild West" to the TV show than it is to compare Murray to Clayton Moore or
John Hart. At least in "The Wild, Wild West" they kept the characters names.
In the new version, Luke Hartman, a Harvard educated law student from Boston, comes to
Dallas to visit his brother, Harmon, and his family. Upon his arrival, he encounters some
bad guys attempting to rape a beautiful Indian girl. He make a humble attempt to rescue
her, only to be subdued and rescued himself by the leader of the band who calls off his
cronies. He first meets Tonto when he comes to "rescue" his sister, Alope, from Hartman.
Luke goes on to find his brother working in his store. The two stop to reminisce when they
are interrupted by Kansas City Haas, who informs Harmon that the outlaws known as the
Regulators have been found. But they need to ride quickly. Harmon, who reveals that he
is a Texas Ranger, mounts up with Haas and 10 other Rangers to pursue the bad guys.
He orders Luke to stay there, but Luke follows them instead.
Luke catches up to the lawmen at a camp on the trail. That night as Luke and the
Rangers settle down to sleep under the stars in a clearing, Haas leads the Regulators in
an ambush of the 12 men, plus one of their own. All of them are killed, except Luke.
Tonto arrives after they leave and finds Luke among the dead Rangers. He saves Luke's
life and buries the other lawmen. He creates a 13th empty grave to make the Regulators
believe they killed them all.
Tonto brings Luke to the Apache village, where the "white eye" is not widely accepted. A
shaman (Wes Studi) named Kulakinah agrees with Tonto that Luke's life should be saved.
They befriend the boy and heal his wounds. While Luke is healing and undergoing
training under Tonto's guidance, the Regulators continue their "job" of eliminating the
Rangers, ranchers, Indians and anyone else who stands in the way of the railroad.
As part of Luke's training, he is left on a mountainside with what appears to be peyote to
embark on a vision quest. His quest ends with the arrival of a "spirit guide," a great white
horse (a gelding if you look close enough), which he names Silver.
Once Luke has recovered and learns Apache ways, he is given his mask, made by
Kulakinah from Harmon's vest. Luke dons the mask and he and Tonto, wise to the plans
of the Regulators, go to the home of the last remaining ranchers, where they encounter
the outlaws and run them off. A key moment in character development comes when Silver
stops Luke from killing Kansas City Haas.
Determined to get the Regulators, Luke, in the mask, breaks into his brother's store and
takes items needed to make explosives. He has a brief but touching encounter with his
nephew, assuring him that everything will be OK.
Having trailed the bad guys to their camp, Luke and Tonto use the explosives to stir
things up. They go into battle, disarming Regulators as they go. Two of them capture
Tonto and nearly drown him in a lake. Luke rescues him, thus saving his life and earning
the right to call Tonto "Kemo Sabe."
Luke leaves Tonto to go find Haas. At that point one of the outlaws captures Tonto, but
this time he is rescued by his rival from the Apache camp. Luke goes on to make a
dramatic capture of Haas. Instead of killing him, he makes the decision to bring him to
justice instead.
Near the end of the show the shaman gives Luke his brother's Ranger badge and tells
him he is the last of the Rangers, the Lone Ranger.
The Good:
As different as this is from the original versions, it wasn't all bad. Universally, most all fans
that watched the show liked the expanded role of Tonto. No longer a sidekick, Tonto is
now a mentor, or at the very least equal to the Lone Ranger. Arcand did a superb acting
job, as did Studi (who was the Pawnee in "Dances With Wolves").
Making Silver a spirit guide was a great touch. It helps explain the bond between man and
rider better than the original version.
The acting sequences were outstanding, especially for television. The show maintained a
rapid pace which kept your interest (even through excruciatingly long commercial breaks).
It was nice to see the show delve into relationships as much as it did. The bond of
friendship was one of the prevailing themes played upon in the movie. It was one of the
few morals held over from the original version.
The Bad:
Where to begin? The fact that the story strayed so far from the original has got to be the
worst of it. You can't take 70 years of history and one of the most beloved icons of
Americana and throw it away like that. They didn't use the characters' names. There were
no silver bullets. In fact, the Lone Ranger wasn't even a Ranger at all!
In one scene we see the Hartman brothers sharing a drink. We later see Luke using
peyote. Later in the show he breaks into his brother's store and steals things he needs to
make the bombs. He's whiney and bent on revenge, not justice. He lusts after Tonto's
sister (more on that later). He even takes off the mask at the end and resumes being
Luke Hartman, in the fashion of Zorro.
The costume is horrid. It looks like a bad Halloween costume. The brown hat, brown mask,
V-neck shirt and bell-bottom blue jeans just don't cut it. Tonto looks like he just walked out
of a shopping mall with his short, well-coifed hair and Western cut shirt.
One of the twists to the story was to have Luke earn the right to call Tonto "Kemo Sabe."
Likewise, Tonto has to earn the privilege of calling Luke "Ranger." Their relationship was
somewhat adversarial at first with each having to gain the other's trust. While that is a
good thing, it is different from the original story where the friendship and trust was already
there from a previous boyhood encounter.
The acting, in general, was weak. Dylan Walsh as Kansas City Haas was terrible. He was
too happy, too positive and upbeat to be the vile outlaw he is supposed to be. If you
noticed, his whiskers changed length from scene to scene. He also wore sunglasses,
something that didn't exist in the 19th century.
Another thing that was bothersome was having the Dallas Tribune published by a teenage
girl. I know from years of journalism experience that the publication of a newspaper in
those days was not a task to be taken on by one woman, much less a girl.
And speaking of Dallas, Texas, I've been there before and I don't recall the terrain looking
so mountainous and hilly. The area around Dallas that I'm familiar with is flat. But then
anyone watching the old Lone Ranger would think that the whole West was mountain
country.
One does have to credit Nathaniel Arcand on his martial arts fighting style. He's good at it.
Unfortunately, that's not the way Apaches would have fought back then. He called it
"Indian wild fighting." I call it out of place in a Western.
Another really bad part was the dialog. The characters all spoke with modern
colloquialisms. Ugh, Injun' use modern talk, say good things bad way.
The Ugly:
Let's face it. There are two parts of the movie that are too shamefully bad to be called
bad. The first is the fantasy love scene between Luke and Alope. Even though it's just a
dream, seeing the Indian princess slip out of her buckskins and into a hot spring bath (I
didn't know they had those in Texas) with Luke was just too much. That kind of sex
doesn't belong in a Lone Ranger show. There is no call for it. It's a violation of the moral
code upheld by the Lone Ranger and legions of fans. The WB stooped to an all-time low
by presenting that scene. It did nothing for character development and could very easily
have been cut from the movie.
In fact, Anita Brown, as beautiful as she is, simply isn't an Indian. Outside of her costume,
there's no attempt to make her look like an Indian. Her whole purpose for being there is to
be a sex symbol. How unfortunate. The character had so much promise. It was
underdeveloped and over exposed.
The other ugly part was the music. It varied from rock to rap with a bit of country thrown in.
It was horrible. The young adult target audience might like it, but rap music has no place
in a Western. It violates the essence of what makes the West so appealing. Western
sounds set Westerns apart. This makes it seem like the rest of the pack. This is, after all,
the Lone Ranger, not the Urban Cowboy.
The only hint of the William Tell Overture comes at the end when the Lone Ranger and
Tonto ride off together. But even then it's done on an electric guitar to give it a rock-n-roll
feel.
It's too bad that this show had to go out under the good name of the Lone Ranger. It's
unfortunate that history, tradition , honor and legions of dedicated fans were all ignored
for the sake of making a buck. The saving grace to this is that at least Tonto was not a
woman! It was also not seen by very many people, which is a blessing in disguise.
On the other hand, this is the first new Lone Ranger film in more than 20 years. Perhaps
when Columbia Pictures gets around to making its Lone Ranger movie it will learn from
the mistake of "reimagining" and produce a new story without having to relive the story
that's already so well established. Then again, if this is the best Hollywood can remember
of the tale, perhaps it does need to be told again -- the right way!
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