Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

The Legend of the Lone Ranger Blu-ray Movie Review

Hi oy, Silver.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 14, 2015

Who was that masked man? If your answer was Clayton Moore, you may still be carrying a grudge over the way the then aging actor, one who had built his career largely on playing The Lone Ranger on the much beloved television series, was barred from donning the iconic black mask and western attire that typified the famous character, after a lawsuit was brought against Moore by The Legend of the Lone Ranger’s producers. They were concerned that the AARP aged Moore’s personal appearances as The Lone Ranger at such “heady” events like state fairs and the like would give potential audiences the wrong idea about the reboot they were trying to get off the ground, one that would not feature Moore reprising his most famous role. Unfortunately, these same producers obviously didn’t think about the potential backlash they were going to get from this selfsame audience, many of whom were Baby Boomers with almost genetically imprinted memories of Moore galloping across their tiny television screens atop his magnificent white stallion whilst proclaiming, “Hi-yo, Silver!” at the top of his lungs. Divorced from the controversy which surrounded it at the time of its release, and judging solely by the rather impressive “below the line” talent assembled for its production, The Legend of the Lone Ranger would seem to have been gifted with a rather incredible crew. The screenplay was written (in part at least) by the storied (sorry) duo of Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts, a team which had been responsible for other decent historical outings like Captain Horatio Hornblower and Man of a Thousand Faces. The cinematographer was the wonderful László Kovács, a legendary director of photography responsible for such films as Easy Rider (also available in America Lost and Found: The BBS Story from Criterion) and New York, New York. Multiple Oscar winner John Barry (Born Free, Dances with Wolves, Goldfinger) handled the music chores, which included one of the most patently odd theme songs of all time, warbled by country music superstar Merle Haggard. Editing was Thomas Stanford, another stalwart with an Academy Award to his name for his outstanding work on West Side Story. William A. Fraker, a well regarded cinematographer in his own right with several Oscar nominations in that category (Murphy's Romance, WarGames, 1941, Heaven Can Wait, Looking For Mr. Goodbar), had already proven himself a director of some considerable talent in the western milieu with the somewhat underappreciated Monte Walsh. And yet, it really wasn’t the negative publicity surrounding the Moore fiasco which probably firmly sank The Legend of the Lone Ranger as much as it was some inherent story structuring issues and some really lamentable performances, especially by newcomer Klinton Spilsbury in the title role (Spilsbury never made another picture).

Part of the storytelling issues with this version of the venerable tale reside with the fact that the film takes a long time to actually get to the point where orphaned John Reid (Klinton Spilsbury) becomes the Lone Ranger. That drawn out prelude includes a pre-credits sequence which details the killing of little John’s parents, with a somewhat odd bit of business where the young tyke runs to his “ma,” who has just been shot in the head by a bad buy and asks her repeatedly, “Why’d you have to die, Ma?” One might think the more appropriate question would be, “Why’d he have to kill ya, Ma?,” but I digress. Immediately prior to that tragedy little John had come to the rescue of a Native American tot who of course turns out to be Tonto.

Little John and Tonto bond as kids, though John has a hard time matriculating with the Comanche. He is at least privy to the acquired wisdom of the tribal elders, wisdom which instills in John a deep love for justice and doing right. Later, as a Texas Ranger, he is involved in a skirmish with notorious bad guy Butch Cavendish (Christopher Lloyd), a battle which has some tragic consequences and which finally propels John into his role as the masked Lone Ranger.

By the time the film wends its way to what proves to be its central conflict, it involves the kidnapping of President Grant (Jason Robards) in a gambit which may unintentionally recall old reruns of The Wild Wild West, albeit with Jim West as a masked man and Artemus Gordon weirdly decked out as Tonto. Robards and Lloyd (along with a few other supporting players) bring a bit of curmudgeonly authenticity to their roles, but the film is hampered by Spilsbury’s uncertainness (he was dubbed in post) as well as some surprisingly inartful framings during some of the set pieces. The film unsurprisingly tanked at the box office, and was considered the final nail in The Lone Ranger’s coffin until The Lone Ranger came along in 2013. And we all know how that turned out.

The Legend of the Lone Ranger Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Legend of the Lone Ranger is presented on Blu-ray by Timeless Media Group, an imprint of Shout! Factory, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The "curse" of The Lone Ranger evidently extends to this transfer, for this is one of the more problematic offerings we've seen from Shout! recently. It has to be understood, though, that this film is awash in opticals (including the lengthy prologue and credits sequence), elements which tend to produce the really clumpy, ugly yellow tinged grain which is frequently on display here. However, just take a look at some of the screenshots accompanying this review, almost all of which are not opticals, and you'll begin to see recurrent issues with grain resolution, noise and other anomalies like chroma bleeding and pixellation. Even putting aside these far from transitory issues, the overall look of this transfer is decidedly on the soft side, though to be fair it does seem like Kovacs was going for a somewhat gauzy ambience at least some of the time. Less than ideal contrast also tends to add murk even to some relatively well lit scenes. On the plus side, the color space is well resolved and accurate looking, with blue skies (when they can emerge from the swarms they encounter) popping rather nicely.

The Legend of the Lone Ranger Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Much less problematic is The Legend of the Lone Ranger's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix, one which provides good if a bit anemic support for the film's glut of sound effects (occasional explosions are a bit less fulsome than some might expect). Dialogue and score are both presented cleanly and clearly, which some may see as a detriment (sorry, couldn't resist). Fidelity is fine throughout the presentation, and there are no issues with damage of any kind to report.

The Legend of the Lone Ranger Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:27)

The Legend of the Lone Ranger Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Having never read the original Lone Ranger outings by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, I can't authoritatively address whether this version "restores" content to the franchise or simply invents it out of whole cloth. That said, the film would have been much better had it cut to both the figurative and literal chase a lot sooner than it does. Backstory is fine, but it shouldn't comprise the bulk of the film. Even without the structuring issues, this is a lumbering attempt at reinventing an iconic character, one which frequently plays dangerously close to self parody. Even fans of the film (and there evidently are fans of this film) should probably take a good look at the screencaptures accompanying this review before deciding whether or not to purchase this title.