“Hi-Ho Silver, away!”
A modern movie hero who doesn’t curse, doesn’t use slang, who doesn’t drink or smoke or visit saloons, who believes in God and country and a strict moral code, who only uses guns when he has to, and even then never shoots to kill? The American West is about to get a dose of reserved cowboy justice, as super producer Jerry Bruckheimer has confirmed to MTV News that he’s developing a “Lone Ranger” series of films.
“It’s being written, well it’s not being written now, but it’s about to be written,” he said of the rumored project. “We were just working out the story before the strike and hopefully that will end soon and we can continue on.”
We, in this case, means “Pirates of the Caribbean” writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. But don’t think that means the titular hero will be anything like Captain Jack, cautions Bruckheimer, who revealed that the story wouldn’t be an update, but instead something of an origin story. That means adhering to the strict moral code laid down by “Lone Ranger” creator Fran Striker.
“I wouldn’t say it’s an updating of the tale, I would say it’s kind of getting back to the roots of the tale,” Bruckheimer confessed. “Where it originated from — it’s about Texas Rangers, so we’re going to take it to how the characters are created.”
It would be a somewhat fitting next step for Bruckheimer and crew, considering that fifteen years ago the two genres that were universally acknowledged to be dead were pirate movies and westerns. When you’ve conquered one, why not go for the other?
On the future of that first lucrative franchise, meanwhile, Bruckheimer said the time isn’t yet right to discuss “Pirates 4.”
“Not yet, not yet,” he said, smiling. “We’re still counting the money from the last one!”
“The Lone Ranger” will soon begin his ride off into the sunset, but before he does what do you think of Bruckheimer’s pitch? Can audiences fall in love with a goodie-goodie? And if so, who should play the masked man?
Oh, yeah. The real villains are going to be Werewolves. The Lone Ranger needs silver bullets to kill werewolves, sort of like Hugh Jackman's mega-bomb with Kate Beckinsale. The audience loved the supernatural elements of POTC, and our favorite writing duo think that's the easiest way to make us love Westerns again.
First, lets look at history. Basically TV made The Lone Ranger. Who made it work? We all know that one, Clayton Moore. Ask anyone who ever knew or watched The Lone Ranger, Who is The Lone Ranger and the reply will be hands down Clayton Moore. Well, we all know we can't have Clayton Moore, God rest his soul. But the point here is, if it's not broken, don't fix it. They tried to fix it with John Hart. Failure. Klinton Spilsbury, failure, and that joke of a series that had a one time showing. Failure. Anyone who has tried to fill Clayton's shoes failed. They say everyone has a double. Find Clay's double. First you need a man, not some skinny wimp with a wimpy voice. You need someone with a unique manly
voice. You could always tell Clay in a dark room as soon as he spoke. You need a versatile actor with the ability to play any character. Clay had that ability. Any voice, any character, and best known for the old timer. If I remember, he even had the old timer on his answering machine. John Hart couldn't even do it. Find this man and you may have a hit. Anything short and you may as well forget it. Look at the history.
Tonto shouldn't be too bad. Find a real indian. Jay had an acting school if I remember.
Stick to the original concept. Need some hints, call Eric Friewald. He wrote enough of them.
Remember, Paladin was Richard Boone. Zorro will always be Guy Williams, Sugarfoot, Will Hutchins, Wyatt Earp, Hugh O'Brian, although I liked Kurt Russell too. I believe to make a remake, you must keep with the character that made it work in the first place. Or as close as possible. Anything less, and I for one could care less. Just for the record, I did not like Maverick with Mel Gibson. Maverick will always be Jim Garner. Check The Lone Ranger fan sites. There are millions of Lone Ranger fans out here. Clayton Moore fans. Another thing about us fans, we don't like %~*#% ups. Golden Books or Classic Media totally ruined 221 episodes of The Lone Ranger, never to be restored again. Ask the fans how they feel about their favorite hero being butchered beyond repair. There are a ton of fans that would like the series on disc, but no one wants their version.
Keep it original.
Robert Booth
Two things stand out in my mind -- his athleticism. The man could move -- and he gave the impression he could actually ride, shoot and fight like the character. In the early episode where he trains Silver, he rides up to Tonto and dismounts with the horse still in motion effortlessly. Wow.
The second is hard to name -- but it makes the character's "straight arrow/Boy Scout" ethic work -- he gave the impression of being a person who is unusually centered. There is an inner calm or comfort with himself. Without that -- whoever plays the Ranger may as well go for camp because all he that will be possible is parody.
My two cents -- and if we're dropping names, how about Joaquin Phoenix?
Another note, don't mess with the costuming. One of my biggest pet peeve when it comes to remakes and sequels is the constant need to recreate the costume when the characters hit the big screen. Powder blue works, and it works well.
Have to admit that I am PUMPED about a Lone Ranger movie series. I have all of the original movie posters (only two movies) but I also have the lobby cards and I got them all signed by Clayton Moore when he appeared at a state fair in 1985.