Ranger Returning

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Borys Kit-Carl DiOrio wrote a story for last Thursday's Hollywood Reporter about Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio being signed to write a Lone Ranger movie for producer Jerry Bruckheimer. The news about the project itself, however, was revealed almost a year ago by Collider's Steve Weintraub.

I wrote in response that the idea is "an obvious non-starter for the simple fact that westerns haven't mattered for decades." Open Range showed that one could make a good solid western that stood on its own two feet, but the genre lost its cultural vitality back in the '60s. Boomers in their late 50s and 60s have a sentimental thing for the classic TV series with Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels ("What you mean, we?"), but GenXers and GenYers, I would think, are completely uninvested. It just boils down to being a title that has a certain marketability because it's vaguely "familiar" in the dead-head sense of that term.

The other thing I wrote is that If Bruckheimer is really and truly married to the idea of reviving a 1950s-era western, he should remake Shane.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 30, 2008 at 9:05 AM

comment #1

George Prager says ...

Someone should make a movie about Klinton Spilsbury instead.

Posted by George Prager at March 30, 2008 9:47 AM

comment #2

Rothchild says ...

They said the same thing about pirate movies.

Posted by Rothchild at March 30, 2008 9:55 AM

comment #3

Craig Kennedy says ...

Yeah, what Rothchild said. I'm not saying I'm for it, just don't underestimate the power of Suckheimer. Wait until they cast Will Smith as the Lone Ranger or something.

It'll probably be huge overseas which is increasingly the target audience for this kind of thing anyway, isn't it?

Posted by Craig Kennedy at March 30, 2008 10:07 AM

comment #4

Howlingman says ...

"They said the same thing about pirate movies."

And fantasy movies ...

Posted by Howlingman at March 30, 2008 10:21 AM

comment #5

CinemaPhreek says ...

There was much unexplored territory in pirates however. Not to mention, pirates were multicultural, fighting pasty-faced English types which I'm sure didn't hurt overseas either.

Posted by CinemaPhreek at March 30, 2008 10:21 AM

comment #6

Howlingman says ...

I'd imagine they'll go the same route with this -- something supernatural, much like the Joe R. Lansdale Lone Ranger revamp in the 1990s.

Posted by Howlingman at March 30, 2008 10:22 AM

comment #7

JoeGreenia says ...

Didn't the WB try to resurrect this as a series three or four years ago? It seems to me they did and it cratered.

Of course there's no reason this couldn't work. If they got lucky with the casting it could be something.

Posted by JoeGreenia at March 30, 2008 10:34 AM

comment #8

Edward says ...

When I was a kid I loved the Lone Ranger and Superman, but are either of these icons of our more innocent past relevant today? Both characters are so earnest and pure. The Lone Ranger never got dirty and I don't think he ever killed anyone. Hard to see this working on any level except parody and satire.

Posted by Edward at March 30, 2008 10:44 AM

comment #9

CinemaPhreek says ...

Show me someone who thinks fantasy films have gone out of favor at any point in motion picture history and I will show you complete fucking idiot.

Posted by CinemaPhreek at March 30, 2008 10:48 AM

comment #10

Terry McCarty says ...

If it's a Bruckheimer production, guessing Josh Hartnett will put on the mask.

Posted by Terry McCarty at March 30, 2008 11:49 AM

comment #11

actionman says ...

If this gets made, it will be fucking huge. The Bruck has ALWAYS wanted to make a big, epic western and this will be it.

Everyone said the pirate film was dead and then look what happened...

With guys like Elliot and Rossio, still two of the coolest guys I ever dealt with out here, writing the script, it will be a lot of fun. That's what they do.

I hope Gore Verbinski is still attached to direct it.

Posted by actionman at March 30, 2008 12:27 PM

comment #12

corey3rd says ...

One pirate movie worked. and the next two were complete dogs (although the people showed up). Yet I don't see every studio cranking out their pirate movie for the summer box office.

I'd only see this film if the Lone Ranger and Tonto were forbidden lovers.

Posted by corey3rd at March 30, 2008 12:52 PM

comment #13

York "Budd" Durden says ...

>Someone should make a movie about Klinton Spilsbury instead.

Prager owns the thread with this remark.

Posted by York "Budd" Durden at March 30, 2008 2:49 PM

comment #14

ROTC says ...

"If it's a Bruckheimer production, guessing Josh Hartnett will put on the mask." I don't get that at all. Since it's Bruckheimer, I'm going to assume he'll be reaching out to his ol' reliable: Nicolas Cage.

Posted by ROTC at March 30, 2008 3:22 PM

comment #15

D.Z. says ...

Rothchild: I doubt POTC being a hit means we'll be seeing more pirate movies any time soon. No one wants another Cutthroat Island on their hands.

Howlingman: Narnia and LOTR are about the only hits there, too.

Hell, even Shanghai Noon and Knights were more minor hits.

corey: I don't consider Brokeback to be a cowboy movie, unless two guys who talk about their relationships using bad Southern accents are suddenly considered cowboys. Sure, one of them rides in a rodeo, but anyone who lives in a trailer can do the same thing.
Now, I'm not saying that, because they're gay, but because when I see a cowboy flick, I imagine them running people out of town while they're having sex on the side, not just trying to find work or run a business.
That South Park joke did it better than the actual movie.

But yeah, the Western is dead. They tried bringing it back with the Shanghai series, and it only did moderate numbers. Ironically, a movie with Tom Cruise pretending to be a samurai did better than all of them combined.

Posted by D.Z. at March 30, 2008 5:10 PM

comment #16

storymark says ...

Well, there you go. DZ thinks it's a bad idea, so it's sure to work.

Posted by storymark at March 30, 2008 10:44 PM

comment #17

Rich S. says ...

It would be nice if kids could have one unironic, non-cynical hero to look up to. But, sadly, that's probably not in the cards these days. They get reality right between the eyes from birth and never get a chance to simply be kids. It's one of the reason Singer's Superman failed (and I'm only talking partially about box office). I think a new, properly done Lone Ranger movie could be great, but I'm probably in the minority.

Go ahead: tell about about the exploitation of Native Americans, how cowboys really talked like they did on Deadwood, how they murdered indiscriminately like in Blood Meridian, etc., etc.

Posted by Rich S. at March 31, 2008 6:24 AM

comment #18

Sean says ...

Elliott or Rossio were spitballing this concept on their site a few years ago, with the general trailer-voiceover approach of, "We know why he wore the mask ... we know why he rode his trusty steed ... but why did he shoot silver bullets?" With the implication being that there would be some supernatural beasties involved. But that was a long time ago ....

Posted by Sean at March 31, 2008 7:01 AM

comment #19