Lone Ranger

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Just read that the new Lone Ranger movie will commence filming in February of 2012 and be released in May of 2013. Johnny Depp and others have reduced their salaries to make this film change from an on again, off again project to a full blown "on again" project. New Mexico will be the first filming location. Unknown what else is planned at this time. Depp indicates that the character of Tonto will not be portrayed as a second class person and looks forward to what he thinks will be a fun movie. Guess all of that remains to be seen and hopefully the finished product won't be something to make most or all of us groan. Bullfrog Bill

Davy, I'm watching Night of the Grizzly (see my other post). That cost about 75 cents at the theater and the drinks and popcorn was maybe another dollar. (Leo Gordon just showed up. Awsome!) Ah, the good old days. :-)

Davy: Now don't get all emotional. Just be careful, the usher is walking down the aisle and you better get your feet off the seat in front of you. That'll get you "86'd" out of theater just like throwing your flattened popcorn box at the screen. We must behave. Bullfrog Bill

I was six years old or so when a group of us went to see Shane. I went to the bathroom too many times, according to this 6 foot + usher, so he kicked me out of the theater. I stood outside crying until one of my parents friends drove by and saw me. They took me home and my Mom took me back to the theater. She found the usher and reamed him a new one. I got some more respect for Mom seeing this 5 foot tall woman break down this big 'man'. This to me is the type of thing missing today in life and movies. Humanity and the part of community that was so important to our parents. Night of the Grizzly so reminds me of those days when family meant something good.


Oh yeah, in the interview Clint Walker talks about how actor Mickey Simpson (from here in Rochester) was the man inside the bear suit.

Ron,
You have cracked it Pard,that wee post about Grizzly/Mum/Usher says it all!!!!!
COMMUNITY!!!!!!!!
Now,we all know we cant talk politics on our Forum,quite rightly so,but we can talk about a diffirent age/era,there,s no getting away from the fact that us "boomers" had a GREAT time growing up.
Now,I,m not getting "sentimental/slushy" here,of course everything wasn,t rosy/honeypie,but jeez we had a TIME!!!!!!!
Night of the Grizzly "captures" that time perfectly,it,s a good honest decent film,it,s not The Searchers,it,s pure entertainment,in every sense of these words.
Now,I have to ask,HOW would Night of the Grizzly be seen TODAY as a new release???????
It would probably be laughed at,and not in a nice way either,yet for us it,s a simple good story,great scenery,great cast,good performances,and,Clint Walker!!!!!if ever anyone personified HERO/GOOD/INTEGRITY/DECENCY it,s Clint Walker,aye I,m biased,what John Wayne was to me on the big screen is exactly what Clint Walker was on the small screen HONOUR/INTEGRITY/HERO.
Strangely these are words that aren,t used much Today,and we see very very few examples,well,I better stop there,gettin too near to the dreaded "politics"!!!!!
We can sit down and watch Night of the Grizzly right now,and thoroughly enjoy it,50 YEARS after it was made,how many of Today,s films can we say that about?????????
Aye Pards,you,re right,ha!westernnut is away on a sentimental trip AGAIN,rose-tinted glasses as usual,but it was Ron,s fault,he shouldn,t have written that great post Clint/Grizzly.
See Ron,the TROUBLE you get me into,ha!
as Bill/Cole says,LEST WE FORGET.
Davy,westernnut.

Howdy Davy and Nightlinger!!

I suppose there are good things and bad things about any of the previous generations and most likely future generations. I , for one, am quick to point out things that seemed better about my generation to members of the younger generation. Like the movie theaters were much smaller then. They only seated about 100 or so folks back then and the seats weren't mounted on such a steep angle that you worried that if you fell out of your seat, the resulting fall would kill you. Course, if you set down behind a tall person or a lady with a hat, you had to learn to look between them, if you were a kid. I don't recall the volume blasting my eardrums, like it did, when I went to see the remake of True Grit. It actually sounded like someone was firing off live rounds in the theater, when Jeff Bridges shot his ole Colt S.A.A. Buttered popcorn and chocolate covered raisins were propably 5-10 cents per box and I don't recall being asked what size coke I wanted then. It was just a great big cup with a straw and it probably cost 5 cents in 1950. The first movies I saw were the original Frankenstein with Boris Karloff and Dracula with Bela Lugosi in 1950 and these films were made in the late 30's, SO there weren't as many films to watch back then, or maybe it was just Halloween. It's difficult to remember every little detail, when you're 5 years old. One thing that has changed, comes to mind and it happened in either Bessemer or Birmingham Alabama, when I was about 4 years old in 1949. My Mother and I were downtown shopping and I slipped away momentarily. When I looked up, she wasn't in sight. There was a Police Officer( a beat cop) in close proximity and either I saw him or he saw me and the situation was remedied in short order. This was his "beat" and he knew every merchant on the block that he walked daily, whacking the parking meters with his nightstick for the bad guys to hear and the merchants to know he was close. He carried an ole model 10 S&W .38 pistol, not the .45 auto or the .357 magnum or 18 round 9mm most cops carry today. There wasn't a squad car with a .30 caliber full auto or 12 gauge pump shotgun inside. Just HIM, the neighborhood beat cop, that everybody knew. NOT THE SQUAD CAR, marked To Protect And Serve, with a couple of guys inside you don't know and only see when they stop you and give you a ticket. He took his coffee breaks and his lunch there on the block he watched daily. He was one of the good guys and I miss that in towns today. He was a figure of authority, that stood for good, in his black or blue suit with his officers cap and his shiny Police badge. In our efforts to make things better, sometimes it seems we've lost the human touch. That close knit connection that makes us a better species.
Sorry about the reminiscing bout the good ole days, but it's all Nightlinger and Davy's fault.

Ed

Sure, blame it on me! :-)

I don't remember telling this on the forum before but here goes. At twelve in 1960 I was finally allowed to go to the movies again with my peers. We went to an all cartoon Saturday morning show. If you got a star on the bottom of your popcorn cup (made with real butter) you got a free pass to the next feature. The following Saturday I went to a Japanese science fiction double feature. There I saw a preview for a movie about 'Seven who fought like Seven hundred'. The next week I was there for, you guessed it, The Magnificent Seven and a western movie fan was solidified.

Check out the pictures from The Lone Ranger in the IMDB:


http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1456909824/tt1210819


So far it looks like the only thing I may have a problem with is Johnny Depp wearing the crow throughout the whole movie.

Howdy Pards!!

So we got the Lone Ranger in a 3 piece suit and Johnny Depp looks like something off of the series, The Walking Dead, with a crow on his head!! Is that Right?????

Is everybody sure this isn't Cowboys And Aliens II ?????

If it were possible, Jay Silverheels would roll over in his grave!!

I never thought I'd want to shoot Tonto, stone dead!!

Ya kno, there's sumpthin to be said fer directors like John Ford, who told stupid actors "listen dummy, this is how the novel reads, this is how the script reads, don't try to improvise". You didnt write the book or the script, so, just do your job and try to act!!

Ed

If you think just having the bird on his head and the Ranger in a 3 piece is bad....Depp talks to the bird and feeds it bird seed thru the movie...it also changes appearance thru the movie as well....like it is alive.....wonderful....

Howdy Rocky!!

Well, I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I think this glass is only half full and there's a leak in the bottom of it!! Judging by what I've seen, with a budget of around 300 million, this is gonna be a bigger flop than the 1980 version and Cowboys And Aliens put together, and deservedly so!!

The downside of that, is that after a huge financial flop in Hollywood, studios and producers tend to steer away from that particular genre!! This might explain, why after the 1980, Klinton Spillsbury debacle, no one has tried to revive these western characters in over 30 years!!

On a brighter note, I watched your namesake in a 1958 episode of Gunsmoke, yesterday, titled Texas Cowboys!!

Ed

Yep...ole Kin Tilliny....I think was the name.....Ol' Rocky turned up here and there in the TV western land from time to time.....always on the look out to see him....can't miss his voice.

I just watched the first, as they call it, "legitimate" trailer for "The Lone Ranger." Short, only 1:38 and I'm sure many more trailers are in the works as we get closer to the yet unannounced official release date of the movie. Watching the trailer reveals very little about what we're going to see but nothing that will prevent me from attending the film. Despite the mind boggling budget, despite Depp's outfit (costume ?), I'm not thinking in terms of "The Lone Ranger" being the movie that will make or break the western genre. I'll take a wild guess and estimate that 90% of the box office will be created by the fact Johnny Depp is in the movie and 99+% of that 90% will not think one way or another about the movie being a western. Even though I was neutral to okay with the remake of "True Grit," I believe the success of that film was a combination of star power, i.e., Bridges, lovers of westerns and maybe a big segment of 50+ age wanting to compare the film to the original and have a say about "how dare Hollywood step on John Wayne's sacred ground." I know lots of pards loved "Cowboys / Aliens," but for my part, that was a genre killer (of course it wasn't in reality) and I'll be bold enough along with uneducated enough about "The Lone Ranger" to say I might buy "The Lone Ranger" DVD at some point in time but "Cowboys/Aliens" will never be in my collection. Now, let me hit my dream and time machine button and go back to the mid 50's and visualize John Ford directing Johnny Depp smack dab in the middle of Monument Valley. Doubt Depp would be invited to play poker after hours by Mr. Ford. Bullfrog Bill

Howdy Bullfrog!!

It's a shame your dream, time machine isn't real. If it was, we could do what you proposed. I seem to recall Tom telling us about Mickey Simpson and Henry Fonda having to deal with sharpshooters, using REAL bullets on some of John Ford's sets. As I recall, Simpson had to fall in a horse water trough,while they shot a hole in the trough close to his head. If your time machine were real, we could beam Johnny Depp back to that set and all stand around with our fingers crossed and hope the sharpshooter missed!! The water trough, that is!!

Ed

I will wait to see how The Lone Ranger turns out before I condemn it, my expectations are kind of low. I did like Cowboys and Aliens and will own it when the price comes down. I like Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig was fine as a western lead. It's kind of a shame that most of the men men in movies these days are mostly British or Australian. Clive Owen, Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, et al maybe work because of our close past association with England. They said that was one of the reasons that Cary Grant could play an American, because his accent was from a part of England that contributed heavily to the Pilgrim population that came here and our ancestral ear felt comfortable hearing that accent.

Still puzzling over a Tonto with a dead crow on top of his head.

Won't that get a little stinky after a while?

Howdy Cole!!

Glad to see you back on the forum again!!!!!!! We've missed your input!!

As to your question about the dead crow, I would have to say, probably no more than Depp's role as Tonto!!

Ed

Bill,
Absolutely GREAT to hear from you Pard,I completely agree with Ed,your input has been missed.
Now,if you dont mind me asking,How are you Pard,very well I hope,I speak for EVERYBODY in saying that we,re delighted to hear from you,LONG may it continue,"lest we forget".
Davy,westernnut.
ps,Pards,see this "getting older" thing,it really bugs me,I actually got a wee bit "weepy" writing this post to Bill,ha!is that a sign???jeez emotional doesn,t go well with me,I actually shed a tear watching Yellowstone Kelly dvd for the first time!!!!!!

Bill,bullfrog that is,
I know where you,re coming from with Cowboys and Aliens,even though I have it in my collection,it was in a sale at our local Blockbusters for quite cheap,£5,the reason being it had that STUPID rental only sign on the front cover,WHY do they do that?????????anyway,I got the young assistant to "blot" it out,with a felt-tipped pen,and it looks really nice now.
Bill,I watched Cowboys and Aliens,for the first time,with great trepidation,I was prepared to give it a "chance",and surprisingly I enjoyed it,it was "made" very well,looked good too,and even though I,m not a big sci-fi fan I thought it "played" WELL,in saying all that I CANT REMEMBER THE LAST TIME I WATCHED IT!!!!ha!
I know where you,re coming from Pard,ha!
As far as Lone Ranger/Johnny Depp is concerned,well,I think we,ll just have to "wait and see"!!!!
I cant remember if I,ve mentioned this,Rango/Johnny Depp,it,s a "cartoon" but jeez is it FUN to see virtually all of our favourite western characters,most definitely recommended,as a rental first,you can sit and watch it with "the kids",and still get enjoyment "remembering" all our fave characters,truly brilliant wee cartoon.
Davy,westernnut.

Davy: I watched "Rango" and really enjoyed everything about the film. Johnny Depp brings out emotional and non-emotional responses, no matter what film he is in. "The Lone Ranger" will really bring out responses once it is viewed. I'm hoping, perhaps against hope, that "The Lone Ranger" will be a good movie, everything considered. I imagine the reviews will all be centered around Depp's take on Tonto, so there will be biased opinions on both sides of the fence. Watching today's rag tag assortment of actors and rag tag assortment of movies, I for one have never been less than pleased with the movies I've seen with Depp as the star or co-star. I may be setting myself up for a big downfall, but if indeed, "Tonto" turns out to be a bad joke, I'll join in giving it two thumbs down but bounce back with looking at Depp's film career as a whole. There are some movies he's made that I've not seen and never saw him in some tv show that my Mom talked about years ago and she thought he was great on the tv show and she told me she never saw him in a movie. Ah, ya can spin the wheel over and over again and never be certain exactly where the ball will fall, odd or even, black or red. Bullfrog Bill

Hi,
I saw The Lone Ranger teaser trailer and it looks pretty good to me. At least we know it'll have a decent budget and hopefully the shots won't sound like childrens cap pistols as they do in a lot of the low/no budget new Westerns.Bronc.

Pards, this is a Walt Disney movie. I can't imagine them making a low quality movie. Not a Disney picture. I think the trailer looks pretty good except for Tonto when he is under the train head up holding on looking up. He looked sort of stupid. Ha!

Time will tell all.

Pards,
I agree with Sandy here,Walt Disney does not make "low-budget" films,in general that is,and I have to say,Pirates/Carribean looked fabulous,whether one likes the series,or not,is down to personal opinion,so there shouldn,t be any "fears" for production.
I go along with Bill,I like Johnny Dep too,he,s a very good actor,when he wants to be,and his take on Tonto will be very interesting,remember this generation do not "know" much about The Lone Ranger,if it takes off,like Pirates,we could be in for a wee western rebirth,MAYBE.
Bill,I dont know if you,ve seen these two Dep films,Nick of Time and,especially,From Hell.Nick of Time is a thriller,and Dep plays the "ordinary guy" very well indeed,but,imo,his performance in From Hell is excellent,it,s a take on Jack the Ripper,the film itself is excellent,maybe the best take on JTR,quite gory,as you would expect,Dep plays an "eccentric" detective brilliantly,also,a wee mention for Finding Neverland,Dep does a Scottish accent very well,it,s a "hard" language to imitate but Mr Dep carries it very softly,and brilliantly.
Davy,westernnut.

I seem to recall that some of our members were sceptical about a remake of True Grit, and that turned out to have a happy ending. Let's reserve judgement until the finished product is released. Depp is an accomplished actor, and if the film is in the same league as the first Pirates film it could be a lot of fun.

Iain,
You are correct,I was one of the "sceptics" with the remake of True Grit,I was proved wrong,it was very good in it,s own right,and it proved that we can like both versions.
I also agree with Pirates,the FIRST one of course,like many other "firsts" the follow-up wasn ,t anywhere near the same quality as the original,but lets not forget that POTC was very good,and Johnny Dep was very good also,so,we,ll just have to wait and see.
IF The Lone Ranger/Johnny Dep is good,we might just see a wee revival in taking our fave 50,s western tv series heros and putting them onto the BIG screen?I for one would be interested in seeing that "modern take" on Cheyenne/Rifleman/Rawhide,lets not forget that Mel Gibson did a fair remake of Maverick,in my opinion,so,for me anyway,I would love to see a modern take on Cheyenne Bodie,by the way,we all know Johnny Dep is playing Tonto,but,WHO is playing The Lone Ranger?????have I missed out on that?
Davy,westernnut.

Davy: Armie Hammer is playing the Lone Ranger. 26 years old and his work portfolio is primarily made up of a variety of tv episodes. www.imdb.com will give you the details. RE: Johnny Depp - Last week I spent a couple of nights in Moab, UT. Wife and I took the Canyonlands By Night boat tour and the guide was talking about one scene being shot on what I believe is called highway 128. Depp is riding on the back of some type of pick-up truck but in the movie you'll be seeing Depp riding on the top of a train. Not sure how that works, but Hollywood has its way of doing things. Like I've heard numerous times before, Depp was the complete gentleman when dealing with the locals whether working on the film or just relaxing. The movie and Depp's "Tonto" might be the biggest thing in modern times for the western genre or might be the total implosion of the genre. I can't pass judgement until I see the movie but I'll keep my frog fingers crossed that the movie will stir up interest to make more westerns. I heard many moons ago that some studio was thinking about making a "Hopalong Cassidy" movie, but that rumor has died on the rumor vine. Yes Davy, I did see "Nick of Time" but haven't seen "From Hell." Of course while visiting Moab, I had the common decency to drive through Monument Valley with about a 30 minute pause at John Ford Point. While there I reflected on the movies Ford made in Monument Valley and the surrounding areas of Utah. What a wonderful feeling to be where, in my humble opinion, John Ford set the bar so high in movie making, nobody will ever attain that height again. After reading several books about John Ford and his way of dealing with various people, actors being verbally brutalized, Navajos being treated fair and square and admired, I still daydream about Ford directing and Depp starring in a western. I kinda thing that crow's head on Depp's Tonto might have been hit with a sledgehammer by Ford, while Depp was wearing it. Of course the finished product would have made a great movie, Depp's performance would be held in high regard and everyone would say, "Ford does it again, another classic."

Davy, the guy playing the Lone Ranger is an actor named Armie Hammer (Armie is short for Armand Douglas Hammer, and he is the great-grandson of oil tycoon Armand Hammer). He been in a couple TV series: Veronica Mars, Gossip Girl, and Desperate Housewives. He also appeared in J. Edgar, the movie about FBI founder and director J. Edgar Hoover, directed by Clint Eastwood, and The Social Network, the movie about the founding of Facebook. He relatively unknown, and Davy, you're right. With all the hooplah about Johnny Depp playing Tonto, and the weird get-up he's wearing, I think young Armie will still be unknown after this movie comes out.

Bill,Tinhorn,
THANKS for the info Pards,much appreciated,even though I dont know who Ammer is,maybe after the film I will,fingers crossed.
Bill bullfrog,my ole Friend/PARD,I agree completely with your "appraisal" of John Ford,I,ve got the greatest admiration/respect for other great western directors,John Sturges/Gordon Douglas and "the rest",but it,s FORD who gives me MAGIC,I know some people will say that Ford,s WEST was "make-believe" and certainly not "real"?????
WHO CARES?????Bill,for guys like you and I,Ford,s WEST is what we WANT,it,s as simple as that,
John Ford is still THE MAN!!!!!!!
Davy,westernnut.

On making new from old, with Clint Walker still with us, who could replace his Cheyenne? Kevin Sorbo is the only actor around I can think of who could pull it off. He's the right size height wise and has proven himself believable in the saddle. Keeping with my thoughts on keeping the old fans with the new ones, if they hurry up, you could have Clint as the original and there would still be enough time in the West to have Sorbo as his son, getting help from Dad when he needs it. And as with Maverick, grab what's left of the 'old timers' for cameos.