Our story begins, not at the beginning, but at the end, kind
of. In the mid-1930s, a young boy is
wandering around a carnival wearing a Lone Ranger outfit. Eating a bag of peanuts, he finds himself in
the Wild West exhibit. Pictures of the
Southwest, a stuffed American Bison in the foreground, the boy is not impressed. Dime store Westerns were big around this time. What does catch the boy’s eye is a figure of
a Native American in his natural habitat.
Stereotypical of displays of the time, the engraved title is "The
Noble Savage.” Growing up in the late
60s and the 1970s, I watched "The
Lone Ranger" on television, reruns of course. At no time growing up and watching the series
did I ever think of Tonto as a noble
savage or a savage of any sort. In
my mind, Tonto was his friend and partner.
I grew up on the West Coast, and perhaps the social implications didn't
hit me. As far as I knew, Tonto was the
Lone Ranger's equal. The very old,
wrinkled, wooden Indian comes to
life scaring the boy. The old Indian mistakes the boy for his Kemo Sabe.
At this point the audience is aware that the narrator telling this story by an
extremely aged Tonto, that his memory may not be all there, and the tale we are
about to hear, may not be entirely reliable.
But hey, this is Disney, the land of the Magic Castle. The story slips into the AMC's television
series "Hell On Wheels" in
atmosphere and tone. The time is the
late 1860s, the civil war is over, and the expansion west is in full force. The First Transcontinental Railroad is
underway and moving deep into "Indian Territory.” Tom Wilkerson plays a Thomas Durant type of
character named Cole as he announces the "good" that the railway will
bring in united the East with the West. The
subtext of "what about the natives" and the fact that history shows
that the railroad was done at the expense of the Native Americans and Chinese
labor is not lost on Bruckheimer and Verbinsky.
As in the radio show, the origin of “The Lone Ranger” has to do with Tonto saving the younger brother
of Texas Ranger Dan Reid. James Badge
Dale has been busy lately, from playing a soldier in "World War Z," to a bad guy in "Iron Man 3," and a cancer patient in last year's "Flight.” Here he plays John's older brother and
seasoned Texas Ranger. He's married to
Rebecca (Ruth Wilson) and has a young son, Dan (Bryant Prince).
However, before we get to the fateful ambush, there is a
cursory introduction to Armie Hammer as Dan's brother John. He is the county's new District Attorney and
doesn't believe in guns. He is arriving
on a train riding in the train car with a group of Presbyterian churchgoing
folks. In a rear car, is the dastardly
villain, Butch Cavendish (William Fichtner), in chains, and on his way to his
hanging. Next to him, we find our star,
Depp, in a ridiculous white war paint and a dead crow on his headdress. There would be no movie without Butch
Cavendish, and keeping with a sacred rule that the original show creators held
to was that adversaries are never other than American; this was to keep the
radio sponsors happy and minority groups.
Of course, Cavendish's outlaw gang rescues him, leaving John Reid and
Tonto chained together to figure out how to save the train before it hits the
end of the line. Fortunately, for all,
big brother Dan is there to save the day.
In saving the passengers on the train, we get an idea of what
type of action that director Verbinsky has in store for us. The scene that features an unreal train wreck
and the fact that both John Reid and Tonto survive shows that screenwriters Justin
Haythe, Ted Elliott, and Terry Rossio are not afraid to break the rule that "The Lone Ranger" never wins
against hopeless odds. Throughout the
film, the writers have Reid and Tonto in ridiculous, but fun predicaments, and
"magically" they escape. Remember,
that this is a Disney picture with magical horses. We pause for a scene that sets up that John
and Rebecca (Dan's wife) were once romantically involved when they were much younger. Rebecca, played by Ruth Wilson reminds me of
character Lily Bell from the aforementioned "Hell On Wheels.” John accompanies his brother as he goes after
the escaped Butch Cavendish, and his gang.
Along with them is a tracker by the name of Collins, played by Leon
Rippy ("The Alamo,” "The Patriot"). Looking suspiciously like character actor
Jack Elam, from the old westerns, he is supposedly a good friend to the Reid family;
he leads them into an ambush.
Between intercutting between the young kid at the carnival
talking to the aged Tonto, we start to pull together a plot that puts Western
tropes and the legend of the Lone Ranger back into place. The mask, which Reid is not supposed to take
off, Hammer's Reid, takes it off. Never
shooting to kill but to disarm his opponent is largely in place. Espousing both Lock's philosophy on justice
and Bentham's thoughts on Utilitarianism, that one must do what's best for the
greatest number. The names of most of
Butch's gang have single names, keeping with carefully choosing the names of
unsympathetic characters, and keeping them to a single name. There is a scene in a saloon of ill repute
(bordello) that supplies the railroad workers with drink and entertainment that
is run by Helena Bonham Carter. Depp, of
course has worked with Carter many times before, as part of the recurring cast
of actors that Tim Burton uses frequently.
Carter plays Red Harrington, she acts more of a distraction in helping
the dynamic duo in getting out of trouble.
In radio, television, and in the couple of films that Clayton
Moore starred in, the character of "The
Lone Ranger" was played seriously, and was meant to be taken seriously. These were the days before the Vietnam War when
the Western Film was about good and bad, black and white, and no gray in
between. We are long past those days now. We live in a world of ever-increasing gray. The difference between right and wrong is probably
now more of a slippery slope than it ever was.
The real old west was never black and white. The lawmen of the old west were usually known
for the lawless shenanigans in other states or territories, and that didn't
matter, as long as the cash flowed and the towns were peaceful. In today's version of "The Lone Ranger," we have Tonto, who has more comical,
but leading role. We have a Lone Ranger
character, which by all standards has the foundation of lawfulness, but is a
bit naive, and needs a Tonto to guide him, no matter how insane Tonto seems. Speaking of which, we get a very good back-story
of Tonto, and what his motivation is all about.
Depp's Tonto speaks in halting, but complete sentences,
tells Reid, the importance of not taking off his mask, that "Kemo Sabe means
“wrong brother,” rather than” trusty scout.” As silly as Tonto is with the Spirit Warrior talk
and of the cannibalistic spirit windigo, he is an important part of the story. I don't think I would trust the job, of
bringing that type of lunacy, pulled together by logic, and held together by
sheer charisma to any other actor. Armie
Hammer, on the other hand, holds his own, as the naive lawyer from the East in
a land no longer his own. Hammer's
characterization of Reid is not necessarily comical, but more fun. He is not mean, condescending, and his look
of wonder is amazing. Although he wears
a black suit (which suits him), he does, however, wear a white hat. The bad guys play their parts in tune with
the stereotypes that the Western film genre is known for. Tom Wilkinson embodies the greedy railroad
baron. William Fichtner is greasy,
grimy, and just plain ugly as Cavendish, black hat and all. While most of the comedy comes from the
interplay between Depp and Hammer, Cavendish's bad guys provide some of the
comedy as well, somewhat reminiscent of a couple of pirates in the "Pirates of the Caribbean"
franchise. A running gag throughout the
film is “What’s with the mask?” rather than “Who was that masked man?” The US Army Captain, played by Barry Pepper ("Snitch," "True Grit"), is somewhat reticent in throwing in with
the bad guys, but eventually, does so while made up to look like Colonel George
A. Custer getting ready to massacre the natives. Various Deppisms appear throughout the film,
I guess, as Easter Eggs for the audience to catch, a spinning paddle illusion
of a bird in a cage for one.
Historically the film is kind of out of whack. They filmed in Utah, giving the scenery of
the classic old west that never was in Texas.
Picking a time in Ranger history right before the Rangers were disbanded
and replaced by Union called the Texas State Police, rather than in the mid
1870's when the Ranger myth was on the increase. The age of the ancient Tonto, leads the
viewer to believe that with evidence from the storyline that he is over 100
years-old. As much as that is possible,
it sounds more improbable.
Musically, like Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," the compositions are anachronistic. Between a blend of songs written by Jack White, to music that was composed by John Phillip Sousa in 1898, the music goes nicely on film however, giving us that are aware of the music and the history a bit of nervous tick. We do get to hear the familiar
Musically, like Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," the compositions are anachronistic. Between a blend of songs written by Jack White, to music that was composed by John Phillip Sousa in 1898, the music goes nicely on film however, giving us that are aware of the music and the history a bit of nervous tick. We do get to hear the familiar
In some magical sense, Disney is trying to bring back the
traditional Western film genre by injecting adventure, and reinventing iconic
characters and giving them a new look. Disney
maintains some of the old lessons of the original legend of "The Lone Ranger.” Lessons of “The Lone Ranger” have been and always will be of equality, justice,
which the bad guys will not prevail, and good always triumphs in those magical
and mythical days of yesteryear. While
using older stereotypes and believing that society has moved on from the old
belief system that created them, we look forward, not into the past for a
newer, more modern and less serious look at a past that never was. At the end,
Tonto, like Pi, from “The Life of Pi,”
asks which story you prefer to believe, Tonto asks the young boy does he choose
to believe. I choose to believe.
Look for the "The Lone Ranger" in theaters now.
Related
Movie Data
Genre: Action, Adventure, Western
Year: 2013
Staring: Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer, Helena Bonham Carter
Director: Gore Verbinski
Producer(s): Jerry Bruckheimer, Gore Verbinski
Writer: Justin Haythe, Ted Elliott
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 149 minutes
Release Date: 7/23/2013
Running Time: 149 minutes
Release Date: 7/23/2013
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