The Lone Ranger Week: "War Horse" (October 20, 1949)

Circus owner Barlum (think P.T. Barnum) decides that he needs a new attraction at his famous circus and settles on paying 10,000 dollars to "acquire" the horse of Indian war chief Lame Bear (Chief Yolatchie), named Black Cloud.

To this end, Barlum sends the criminal Madrigo (Leonard Penn) into restricted Indian territory to get the animal, who is known as "a fiery veteran of a hundred campaigns."  Once on Chief Lame Bear's land, however, Madrigo captures both the chief's steed and his son, White Eagle.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto arrive and attempt to prevent all-out war as Chief Lame Bear goes on the war-path to retrieve his stolen family members.  Meanwhile, the U.S. Army also braces for the Indian to begin a reign of terror...should he leave his land.

This early episode of The Lone Ranger recycles some key ingredients from earlier series installments. For one, there is a captive -- the son of an important character -- and much of the story involves rescue and escape.  Viewers had just seen this narrative set-up in the previous tale, "Rustler's Hideout."

Aside from that repetition, however, this episode again reveals aspects of the Lone Ranger's sterling character and moral barometer.  Here, he clearly recognizes that the rule of law should protect everyone, Indian and white man alike.  He is just as concerned for Chief Lame Bear's nation and people, as he is for the members of the cavalry.  Bloodshed is bloodshed, despite the color of your skin; despite your point of origin. 

Again, this was once a widely-cherished American ideal, but in recent years we have seen politicians, nativists, and media pundits dividing people into groups like "illegals" or even "real Americans" (namely the ones who live in small towns, apparently).  Those folks might benefit from a re-watch of The Lone Ranger, a series about a character as American as apple pie.

Another aspect about this episode that I appreciated involves the Lone Ranger and Tonto attempt to warn Madrigo away from entering Indian territory, but, finally, don't stop him from his act of "trespass."  They've done all they can, but -- in the final analysis -- they can't substitute themselves for another man's conscience.  Nor can they shoot a man in cold blood.  They merely have to let events play out...

The Lone Ranger Week: Lone Ranger 1950s Movie Trailers

The Lone Ranger Week: Lone Ranger Poster Art

The Lone Ranger Week: "Rustler's Hideout" (October 13, 1949)

The Pete Madden gang is on the loose and wreaking havoc on the frontier, even though Madden himself is incarcerated in jail.  However, his gang abducts young Jim Patrick (Dickie Jones), son of the powerful local rancher, Tom Patrick (Joseph Crehan), and offers to make an exchange: the boy for Madden.

This act of kidnapping infuriates Patrick, and he forms a posse to take on the Madden gang.  He refuses, however, to permit a new settler, Fred Vance (Harry Lauter) join-up because Fred was convicted of cattle-rustling in his last neighborhood, and Patrick feels he is just as bad as the Madden gang.  He refuses to give the man a chance, or to let him prove himself.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto arrive on the scene, and realize that Fred Vance is indeed the very man who can help get Jim released from captivity.  The Lone Ranger also describes how Vance was "convicted on mighty slim evidence" and that his actions now "give him a chance" at redemption.

Vance takes that chance, and with the Lone Ranger's help, gets to prove to his new neighbors that he is an "honest man."  The Lone Ranger and Vance rescue Jim, and return him to his father. They also, at long last, bring down the Madden gang.

This fifth episode of The Lone Ranger is all about second chances, and how even those who have done bad things deserve the benefit of the doubt.  

In this case, Vance proves eminently trustworthy, and by episode's end, Tom, Jim, and the posse have arrived at the Vance homestead to help him and his wife construct their new home.  It's a positive view of mankind, and like the previous episode, a reflection of The Lone Ranger's morality.  He doesn't judge people based on gossip, or even based on a past crime.  Instead, he sees the possibility for redemption as something that every man is owed.

I especially enjoyed the scene in "Rustler's Hideout" in which the Lone Ranger rides into the camp of the Madden gang (at Vasquez Rocks?) and the gang mistakes him for a criminal.  The Lone Ranger answers every question, interrogative and comment with honesty and absolute integrity.  He doesn't ever lie to his enemies.  Instead, they simply interpret his answers as lies.  I love that dynamic.  The Lone Ranger maintains his "white hat" mystique, and the criminals are hoisted by their own petard.

I realize that the movie update of the character (releasing tomorrow...) has a responsibility and duty to speak to our times, today, but I hope the new movie remembers that the Lone Ranger is a man of remarkable moral fiber and clarity, and not either a "campy" joke, or an angsty-broody revenger. 

We'll see...

Theme Song of the Week: The Lone Ranger (1949)

The Lone Ranger Week: Lone Ranger Commercials, Cartoon Intros, and Guest TV Spots

The Lone Ranger Week: "Legion of the Old Timers" (October 6, 1949)

At the Circle-K Ranch in Mesa County, the notorious criminal Red Devers (Norman Willis) is up to no good. 

Devers has taken the job of ranch foreman at the Circle-K after framing kindly old Banty (Emmett Lynn) for stealing the monthly pay-roll.  Worse, he takes advantage of the young and naive new owner, Bob Kittredge (De Forest Kelley), whose father has just passed away.  Dever captures Kittredge, beats him, and plans to sell the ranch out from under him.

The Lone Ranger and Tonto have been pursuing Devers for some time, and they learn from Banty that he is up to his old tricks at the ranch.  They ask Banty to gather up all the local "old timers" who have worked at the Circle-K, and prepare to battle Red's men.

Meanwhile, The Lone Ranger dresses up as an old-timer himself to pretend to be an agent for a rich man who wants to purchase the ranch from Devers.  

When the old-timers are worried that they can't defeat Devers' young gang, the Lone Ranger reminds them that the critical quality "is not strength...it's courage."

At the end of the day, the ranch is returned to Kittredge's hands, and he re-hires all the old-timers, thus proving -- in the words of the Lone Ranger -- that "nobody's ever washed up if they don't want to be."

In my earlier posts today, I talked about all the ingredients of the Lone Ranger myth coming together for the series' first three episodes.  I think I made a mistake in stopping there.  This fourth episode, "Legion of Old Timers" adds one final and indispensable ingredient to the mythos: moral uplift.

In this case, the Lone Ranger and Tonto come to the aid not only of inexperienced young Kittredge, but to a group of heroic old folks who think that they aren't worth anything anymore. In the episode's final battle, the Lone Ranger and Tonto humorously stand in the background, and help the old timers only "invisibly" -- intentionally stepping in when there is serious danger -- but otherwise letting the "legion" do the work.  This way, in the end, the group feels good about defeating Devers.

It's a lesson on old age, and dignity, and courage, and it's a perfect addition to the Lone Ranger canon.

The episode is a whole lot of fun for other reasons, too.  Clayton Moore is rarely seen without his mask as the Lone Ranger, but this episode plays around with that rule a little bit.  Here, the series' lead actor is made up with thick beard and moustache -- as well as old-age make-up -- to fool Devers.  So, we get to see the Lone Ranger's face...in a way.

Finally, this is a great Lone Ranger selection for Star Trek fans because a very, very young  (and handsome) DeForest Kelley (Dr. McCoy) plays a crucial role as Kittredge.  I have never seen the beloved actor on-screen looking so young (some 17 years before he was on Trek...), but he does a great job playing a young man trying to play catch-up as Devers exploits his innocence and naivete.

The Lone Ranger Week: "The Lone Ranger's Triumph" (September 29, 1949)

In “The Lone Ranger’s Triumph,” the opening arc of the series comes to a climax.

Here, Cavendish (Glenn Strange) escapes from Doc Drummond and Sheriff Taylor’s custody and orders his men to take the Lone Ranger “dead or alive.”

Meanwhile, Tonto (Jay Silverheels) attempts to get help from the police deputies at Colby, only be treated in disrespectful, bigoted fashion.  The deputies, In fact, are working with Cavendish and have been planted in Taylor’s department.

The Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) and Tonto join up one more, and begin taking down Cavendish’s installed stooges in Colby.  They have the time to do this because Cavendish overheard some disinformation from the Lone Ranger, namely that the U.S. Cavalry was nearby, and was going to be recruited to stop the outlaw.  As Cavendish prepares for the cavalry, literally, the Lone Ranger and Tonto re-take Colby.

Taking down one villain at a time, the Lone Ranger and Tonto capture the town jail, and then proceed to stop the bad guys in their tracks.  Finally, after a long and intense chase, the Lone Ranger captures Cavendish and delivers him to the city jail.

When Tonto asks if their quest has ended with the capture of Cavendish, the Lone Ranger answers in the negative:  “Our job has just begun.  We have a lot of trails to follow.”

Although the episode title “(The Lone Ranger’s Triumph”) effectively gives away the narrative outcome, this is nonetheless a satisfactory resolution to the Cavendish arc.  The final chase scene does not disappoint, and it’s a pleasure to see a hero dispatching a villain without resorting to murder.  Here, Cavendish ends up in jail, pending trial.

Without belaboring the issue, it strikes me as especially important that The Lone Ranger does not count himself above the law, or feel that it his personal right to exact revenge.  He doesn’t mishandle Cavendish, or otherwise abuse him.  He does only what the law requires and permits…he brings a criminal to justice.  Once upon a time, this outcome was a given in our American entertainments, but somehow in recent years we have become afraid that by giving “bad guys” like terrorists a trial, we are somehow “weak.”  On the contrary, submitting villains to trial and justice is a real sign of strength. It shows that we believe in the rule of law, and that our principles are not mere things we talk about but representative of our actions.

In terms of the Lone Ranger mythos, all the final pieces fall into place here.  Once captured, Cavendish asks a variation of the famous line: “who was that masked man?” as the Lone Ranger and Tonto ride off into the sunset, bound for more adventures.  

And the Lone Ranger kicks off his departure with his  immortal radio sign off: "Hi-yo Silver, away…”

Perhaps of more genuine interest, at least by today’s standards, is the discriminatory way that Tonto is treated by virtually every Colby official he encounters.  “The redskin’s getting a little ornery,” one deputy notes dismissively, and it’s impossible not to parse the phrase in anything other than racist terms.  

What’s great about The Lone Ranger, however, is that this ugly talk comes from a certified bad guy, and thus equates racism and bigotry with the behavior of outlaws and other men of disrepute.  I must admit, I didn’t realize that programs as early as 1949 had taken this viewpoint regarding race in America, but it’s rewarding to see Tonto treated as true blue, while his dismissive enemies are, rightly, treated as ignorant thugs.  Late in this episode, Tonto proves his worth again, leading the cavalry into battle against Cavendish.

Next up: "The Legion of the Old Timers"

The Lone Ranger Week: "The Lone Ranger Fights On" (September 22, 1949)

The second episode of The Lone Ranger (1949 – 1957) is called “The Lone Ranger Fights On” and it picks up at the cliffhanger ending of “Enter the Lone Ranger.” 

Tonto and the Lone Ranger battle the treacherous Collins (George Lewis), and shoot him down off his perch atop a cliff.  Afterwards, however, they express remorse that he too has died on this day:  “No one should have his life end like that.”

Then, the duo of Tonto and the Lone Ranger head to the Valley of Wild Horses, where they spy a buffalo about to stampede and kill a badly-wounded (and gorgeous) white stallion.  The Lone Ranger shoots the buffalo, and with Tonto’s help nurses the horse back to health.

After a time tending to the animal, the horse -- who Tonto has named Silver -- is healthy  and robust once again, and back on his feet.  The Lone Ranger notes: “I’d like that horse more than anything in the world, but if he wants to be free, he should go…”

They free Silver, and indeed, the animal returns, choosing to be the Lone Ranger’s steed.  The voice-over narrator announces: “Here is a partnership…the Lone Ranger and Silver accept each other, as equals.”

With a magnificent steed (or “dream horse” in the terminology of the episode), the Lone Ranger and Tonto head to the troubled town of Colby, where Cavendish (Glenn Strange) has launched a campaign to murder public officials and replace them with his own corrupt minions.  

A friend of the Lone Ranger’s named Jim Blaine (Ralph Littlefield) is framed by Cavendish as the murderer of a local judge, and Tonto and The Lone Ranger decide to hide him at a nearby silver mine that the Lone Ranger once discovered.

At the silver mine, one more piece of the legend fits into place. Tonto and The Lone Ranger settle on creating silver bullets as a “sort of symbol…which means justice for all.”

Outfitted with horse and silver bullets, The Lone Ranger decides it is time to take the fight directly to Butch Cavendish in Colby.  He enlists the services of the town doctor, Doc Drummond (George Chesebro), and the local Sheriff “Two Guns” Taylor (Walter Sande)...

As the preceding synopsis makes plain, a good portion of this sophomore episode, “The Lone Ranger Fights On” involves the Lone Ranger’s first encounter with Silver, his famous white horse. 

First the Lone Ranger shows Silver a kindness, by saving his life, and then freeing him.  And then Silver returns that kindness by becoming the lawman’s steed.  The scenes involving Silver's training are really wonderful, and it’s great to see a story in which an animal’s needs are not considered secondary to tertiary to the demands of humans.  As the dialogue I excerpted above makes plain, the Lone Ranger considers himself and Silver a pair, a team.  Call me mushy, but I love that.  I love that a sixty-year old something TV series understands the special bond that can be created between a human and an animal.

Silver bullets are also a key part of the Lone Ranger’s mythos -- even though the hero doesn’t fight werewolves -- and this episode shows Blaine refining silver for the lawman’s immediate needs, namely “money and bullets.”  Essentially, the silver bullet becomes the Lone Ranger’s calling card in the lawless West.  He leaves them behind in his enemies as his signature.  Therefore, lawmen know he has been involved, and outlaws know...fear.  

In terms of the overall arc, most of the ingredients for the series are now firmly in place.  The third and next episode “The Triumph of the Lone Ranger” involves the final take-down of the fiendish Butch Cavendish, and the climactic elements of each Lone Ranger televised adventure, but we’ll get to those in the next review...

The Lone Ranger Week: "Enter The Lone Ranger" (September 15, 1949)

In the Southwest Territory of the Old West, a team of six Texas Rangers are betrayed by their guide, Collins (George Lewis), and led into a deadly ambush at the bottom of a canyon.  The Cavendish gang led by Butch Cavendish (Glenn Strange) is waiting for them, and kills all the brave men, save for one lucky survivor.

That lucky survivor manages to survive in the hot desert sun for a time, until rescued by an Indian scout, Tonto (Jay Silverheels).  Tonto remembers the wounded man from his youth, when the ranger saved his life, and decides to return the favor.

Once nursed back to health, the survivor of the canyon massacre puts on a black eye-mask and adopts the name “The Lone Ranger” (Clayton Moore).  He swears that “for every one of those men” (the rangers in their graves…) he is going to “bring a hundred law-breakers to justice.” 

When Tonto asks the Lone Ranger if he intends to commit murder to further his cause, the hero explain:.  “I’m not going to do any killing…If a man must die, it’s up to the law to decide that,” he says.

Following those honorable words, the Lone Ranger and Tonto team up to track down Collins, in hopes that the treacherous scout could lead them to the departed Butch Cavendish.  But Collins is armed and dangerous, and eager to take out the canyon massacre survivors…

The Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore) is born.

After watching “Enter the Lone Ranger,” the first episode of the TV series, I realized again how much that modern superhero lore owes to this character, and this beloved and popular TV incarnation of the character. 

In brief, this is the story of a man left for dead, who takes a personal tragedy (the death of his brother…Captain Reid) and transforms it into a galvanizing force for good in his life and the lives of others.

The Lone Ranger swears not revenge, but to bring law to a realm of lawlessness.  He acts not out of rage or anger, but out of the steadfast belief that he was lucky to be spared, and now must make a positive difference in the world.

As you may be able to detect, there are strong echoes of Batman here, obviously, but also of other modern superheroes who are “born” in tragedy and darkness and despair.

The great thing about The Lone Ranger -- much like Superman -- is that he doesn’t use the fact that something terrible and unfair happened to him to immediately abandon his values and beliefs.  Instead, the tragedy actually strengthens those moral beliefs, as we see here.  The Lone Ranger -- even though he was nearly killed -- refuses to kill in kind.

Thus the Lone Ranger understands that the response to rampant lawlessness can’t simply be…more lawlessness.  It’s a notion that, in many ways, our country is still learning in this post-War on Terror Age.

I also appreciate this episode’s stance on heroism.  The Lone Ranger begins as an entirely anonymous figure.  “Enter the Lone Ranger” commences with that team of six Rangers heading to the canyon (to face tragedy) and we don’t meet the Lone Ranger, or even see his face.  

Not even once.

Instead, he is just one of the team, an anonymous law man doing his job.  After he survives the battle, and is left wounded, we still don’t see his face.  His visage is obscured by a bandanna, and by careful camera-placement on the part of the director.  Only when he puts on the mask -- and thereby accepts his destiny -- does The Lone Ranger take center stage in the drama. 

The explicit message seems to be not that men are born heroes, but that events and experience lead them to that juncture of heroism.  Certainly that is the case for this man.

In terms of style, “Enter the Lone Ranger” is a fast-paced, action-packed series indeed, and this episode displays those qualities fully.  There are lots of on-screen wipes deployed as transitions, a technique also used in Star Wars (1977) to suggest speed, velocity, and accelerating excitement.  One thing is for certain: this episode moves fast, and is filled with shoot-outs and other intense action (and violence).  “Enter the Lone Ranger” holds up remarkably well today, and proves incredibly entertaining.  

I’ve said before that I use my wife, Kathryn, as a kind of barometer from time-to-time, to see whether entertainments are working as I believe they are.  She was quite surprised to find herself thoroughly engaged by the three episodes she watched with me. It's hard to believe that these episode are over sixty years old, at this point.

A film style that has not aged quite as gracefully as the visual flourish of the wipe is the overuse of voice-over narration.  Throughout this episode (and ensuing episodes), a baritone-voiced narrator explains the action as it occurs on-screen, even though the well-mounted visuals make the story abundantly clear.

“A lone figure moves painfully…he alone of the six Texas Rangers lives…” the narrator notes, for instance.  One could make the argument that such narration distances one from the action, or, contrarily, perhaps, that the narration makes the adventure into something longer-lasting than a TV show episode: a legend re-told and repeated.  I’m on the fence about the technique, I suppose.  It could be used less frequently.

Tonto (Jay Silverheels)

The scoundrel, Butch Cavendish (Glenn Strange).

The first several episodes of The Lone Ranger tell an entire tale, in toto, and “Enter the Lone Ranger” is only the first piece of it.  This segment establishes the diabolical trap which kills the Rangers and gives birth, after a fashion, to the character of The Lone Ranger.  The episode also introduces Tonto and his name for the Ranger, “kemosabe,” meaning “trusted scout” or, alternatively, “faithful friend.”

The next episode, “The Lone Ranger Fights On,” adds additional elements of the legend, and we’ll get to that episode soon…

The Lone Ranger Week: An Introduction

When I was just a little kid -- five or six, perhaps -- one of the local TV stations in the New York market played an afternoon of unforgettable, heroic programming.  This schedule bloc consisted of the 1960s Batman, the 1950s Adventures of Superman, and last but not least, The Lone Ranger (1949 - 1957).

I still vividly recall hurrying my Mother -- even on fun trips to Brookdale Park -- to get home in time to watch these three delightful, exciting, and very different TV adventures.  Oddly enough given my penchant for superheroes as an adult, as a kid I remember liking The Lone Ranger the best of all those programs.

My appreciation for The Lone Ranger probably makes some sort of sense, since my youthful years bridge the gap between “Western” cowboy kids and the Star Wars generation.  In kindergarten, my friends and I happily played “Cowboys and Indians” as often as we played Batman or Star Trek, and I still remember owning a great collection of Lone Ranger action figures from Gabriel, a gift from my Texan Granny, “Tippie.”

This Friday, the brand new feature-film version of The Lone Ranger goes into wide release across America.  Accordingly, this week I’ll be celebrating the long-lived character’s TV and movie appearances, as well as the memorable toys stemming from those productions.

I’ve discovered, on a re-watch of the original series (1949 – 1957) that The Lone Ranger episodes are just as exciting, dynamic, and action-packed as I remember them.  They are good fun, and yet also feature a hero who lives by a strict (and legal) code of justice.   He is born out of betrayal and tragedy, but he doesn’t use his tragedy to justify atrocities or murder.

There is more, it seems, that it is admirable about The Lone Ranger than I realized as a kid in New Jersey all those years ago.  Let’s hope the movie remembers these qualities…

Return with me to Yesteryear, won’t you?  Hi-yo, Silver, away…