The Legend of the Lone Ranger

The Legend of the Lone Ranger is a 1981 American Western adventure film directed by William A. Fraker and starring Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse and Christopher Lloyd. It is based on the story of The Lone Ranger, a Western character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Producers outraged fans by refusing to allow previous Lone Ranger actor Clayton Moore to wear the character's mask during public appearances, and created further bad publicity when it became known that the voice of leading man Spilsbury was dubbed by another actor, James Keach. The film was a critical and commercial failure, and Spilsbury has not appeared in any films since. Plot In 1854 in Texas, the outlaw Butch Cavendish (Christopher Lloyd) and his gang of outlaws are chasing a young Comanche boy. He rides into a thicket and falls off his horse and down an embankment. A boy who was already there hides him and the outlaws turn their attention to a small village, and kill everyone except the boy, John Reid (Marc Gilpin). The Indian boy, whose name is Tonto, takes John to his reservation, where Tonto (Patrick Montoya) teaches him to shoot a bow and arrow with precision, how to fight, and overall the way they live. The two eventually become blood brothers, and John later leaves the reservation for Detroit, grows up to become a lawyer, and takes a stagecoach to a town to set up his law practice. The coach is robbed by Cavendish’s gang, with the shotgun rider getting killed and the driver wounded. John stops the coach and the outlaws take a mailbag containing property deeds. At the town, John meets the uncle (the owner of the local newspaper) of a beautiful young woman named Amy who was on the same stagecoach as John. John tells them he is going to the Texas Rangers station to visit his brother Dan. During his visit, word reaches them about the whereabouts of Cavendish after some of the gang ride into town during a festival and kill Amy’s uncle. Collins, one of the Rangers, rides ahead to scout for signs of Cavendish, unbeknownst to the Rangers that he is part of Cavendish’s gang. Cavendish and his gang ambush the Rangers (Reid among them), killing all except Reid, who is rescued by Tonto. When John recovers from his wounds, Tonto teaches him to shoot with silver bullets, and he captures and tames a white horse, which he names Silver. He dedicates his life to fighting the crime that Cavendish represents. To this end, John becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger.