Great Americana Legends: Legend of the Lone Ranger

 Not many heroes from the wild west era of Hollywood have the staying power and respect as, The Lone Ranger, thanks in most part, to the incredible strength of Clayton Moore, who brought a level of credibility and trust to the character that nobody since has come close to.

In 1981 the masked avenger of the west took to the big screen with an unknown behind the mask, seems appropriate too bad it wasn't.  Klinton Spilsbury was a photographer and sculptor in New York when he was discovered for the role and looked good in the mask, but his acting was so bad (some claim intoxication, but no confirmation) it had to be dubbed over by actor, James Keach (National Lampoons Vacation) for the entire film. 

They did consider some experienced actors for the role; Stephen Collins (Star Trek The Motion Picture), Nicholas Guest (National Lampoons Christmas Vacation) and the more experienced Bruce Boxleitner (Tron) were all considered but they went with the tender foot. 

For the role of Tonto they wanted to make sure he was an American Indian, Michael Horse was cast, in one of his only two roles he ever had, but a silversmith by trade.

As a 10 year old kid, I was unaware of the dub and was awestruck by the film, especially with the incredible cast of characters.  President Ulysses S Grant (Jason Robards), Wild Bill Hickok (Richard Farnsworth), Buffalo Bill Cody (Ted Flicker) and General George Custer (Lincoln Tate) all appeared in the film, like a wild west version of, The Justice League.

One of the biggest concerns of producers was that the film not be seen as a spoof, in fact, one producer made sure to state to the media, "this isn't Blazing Saddles."

The writers seemed promising, Ivan Goff & Ben Roberts were part creators of Charlie's Angels and had worked together on the highly successful series, Mannix.  The film's story had a good foundation to it.  Villain Butch Cavendish (Christopher Lloyd, a COLD performance but still great) kidnapped the President and demanded the surrender of Texas to be reinstated to it's own nation.

Composer John Barry did an excellent job with the score, but had some amazing voice over help from Country Music legend, Merle Hagard as the narrator of the story.  Barry also worked on Goldfinger, Lion in Winter, Out of Africa and Dances with Wolves.  But it's Hagards haunting narration of the film that kept it from being a complete overall bomb. 

Even though the film was a critical failure with critics and audiences, many like myself, remember it with great fondness and I still get moved by the first look of Spilsbury in the mask, it brought back great memories of watching Moore in the role with my Grandad. 📺

The film did have the confidence of the studio at the time, they did  a massive advertising campaign with plenty of merchandise of figures, lunch box, coloring books, board game and even a Rangers Star belt buckle, yes I still have mine.  The figures still mounted on the original cards are worth quite a bit of 💲

The film is somewhat easy to find on Youtube and I think is still worth it if you can ignore the dubbed voice of the hero, it's a pretty decent film.  Like many in this era, it has, Superman The Movie to thank for the producers & studios enthusiasm for making it to the big screen.

In modern times, there is no more Americana than Superman, but when it comes to the old west, nobody compares to The Lone Ranger, that's why he would cameo on an episode of Happy Days as the childhood hero of, The Fonz, which can also be found online and worth the look, it's great. 👍

For the record, I absolutely LOVE this film and am not ashamed of it in any way at all, it's a great part of my childhood.  The Disney remake of 2013 on the other hand is an embarrassment to the legendary characters, it was absolutely awful.

Great Americana Legends : Superman The Movie

 

Very few fictional characters say, Americana like Superman, he seems to be the poster child for the term, even by real life standards at times, and in 1978 he came to life on the big screen and changed the world... we really believed that a man could fly...

Only three years earlier the world had been terrified by the original Summer Blockbuster, the Stephen Spielberg masterpiece, Jaws, then in 1977 George Lucas amazed the entire galaxy with Star Wars, but in 1978 the world was treated to the most iconic comic book hero of all time, brought to life and it took our breath away.

This was the first one, the big screen super hero film that all others have since, and will probably always be judged against, and rightfully so, because of the impact it had.  This film is the one that should always be the measuring stick for any other costumed crime fighter to hit the silver screen.

In 1974 producers Alexander and Ilya Salkind acquired the rights to the man of steel in a film, but Warner Brothers kept the distribution rights for the film.  It was an enormous gamble, like the one Lucas made with Star Wars and/or the one Disney made with, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  The Salkinds had to produce and make the film, the Warner Brothers, if it was worth it, would write a check to pay them back and distribute the film and both would share in the profits (not sure how they had that split).

They were going to shoot in Italy with James Bond veteran director Guy Williams but when they had to move shooting to England, Williams was out.  They cast Marlon Brando ($3.7M) as Jor-El, less than two weeks work and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor, both were in the absolute peak of their careers at the time, this gave the film acting credibiltiy.

The author of, The Godfather, Mario Puzo was brought in to develop the story, which he and Williams had come up with a 500 page script.

Alexander Salkind had been impressed with Richard Donner's work on, The Omen, so he called him to ask, Donner was on the toilet when he got the call.  Salkind said he would pay one million dollars (astounding for a director at that time) but for two films, Donner agreed, taking notes on the back of a business card from his hairdresser. 

One of Donner's first calls was to writer, Tom Mankiewicz (Live & Let Die, The Eagle Has Landed) to repackage the script, quite the task.  He decided to focus very heavily on the relationship between Lois & Clark and Lois and Superman, once the story landed in Metropolis, the remainder of the film and into the second revolved around that relationship.

All kinds of names had been tossed around to play Superman/Clark Kent, like Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Nick Nolte, and even Ilya Salkind's dentist came in and did a reading.  Reeve was passed over by the producers over and over until they gave in, and one screen test it all it took.  I'm going to do a whole other blog on Reeve later.

Leslie Ann Warren and Anne Archer read for Lois, but when Morgot Kidder literally tripped into the audition, she had the part.

The rest of the cast was stacked, Hollywood names hat nobody could ignore, Jackie Cooper & Glenn Ford were a couple of screen legends, Ned Beatty was seen as an up and coming but already known character actor, plus a man who would have a connection to the man of steel for decades, Terence Stamp.

The crew was like the cast, between them, there were over 80 Academy of Motion Picture Oscar nominations for those working on the sets, costumes and special effects.

Then there was the soundtrack, to this day, the measuring stick for a super hero sound, John Williams, who had/has done so many amazing soundtracks created a theme that still brings so many emotions to so many people, including myself, I can't hear that theme without tearing up or feeling a lump in my throat.  When Hans Zimmer would write the new Superman soundtrack, he purposely made parts of it, like his new twist on the theme, match up to the beat and tempo of Williams great masterpiece.

This film has stood the test of time, to this day it still amazes

children who see it for the first time and gives them about as positive a role model style Superman as you can get.

When you line them up, this one still has to go into first place because it was the first one to really bring the magic to life in the character.  Superman was created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster with influence from Wayne Baring but at that time, Superman didn't fly, he leapt over what was in his way.  It wasn't until the Max Fleischer cartoon short, The Mad Scientist, that Superman took flight in 1941 and still took several months before it was worked into the comic stories themselves.

The film was made with a $55M budget and brought in $300M just in its first release, it was another mega-blockbuster for Hollywood.  It built bridges and opened doors for other super hero films to follow, and in the 80s and 90s, we saw some spectacular ones, films that today's hero films could learn a lot from.

In 2006, what I thought at the time was a horrible film (that has since moved up to, watchable) Superman Returns, supposedly took over where Superman II left off, completely ignoring the existence of III and IV, an insult to Reeve, no matter what you think of those two films.  But then in 2013, Man of Steel, really hit bottom of the barrel with a hollow and dreary performance that was followed by two more appearances of the same horrible actor from Man of Steel, the DCEU is in dire need of a reboot.

Of his role, Christopher Reeve said, "I was temporary custodian of a classic part of an essential piece of American mythology."  "I took this as if it was a bible."  It was that kind of commitment and deep hearted love & respect for the character that I believe made the film what it is, because if Reeve didn't believe it, he couldn't have made us believe it.

I was one of those starry eyed kids in the theater when Superman came out in the Christmas season of 1978 and to this day, the film made me believe that a man could fly.

We love you and miss you, Chris.

Another Icon of Americana is Gone

 While the, Washington Football Team is still trying to figure out a new team name and logo, the Cleveland Indians have jumped into the stanky pool of "political correctness" and done away with one of the most iconic logos in American Sports history... what's next, banning the film, Major League?

This decision comes with a flood of foolishness and infantile whining from leftists (most of which are whiter than a major league baseball) in something that is called, "virtue signaling" a made up term that basically means, "we know better than the people we are claiming to be protecting" but really just means, "we're a bunch of dumbasses who are ignorant of accurate history and the basics of the English Language".

Baseball, and sports in general, used to be the last great refuge away from political nonsense (for the most part), a way to get away from the nonsense in the public and just enjoy America's Pastime with family and friends.  A day at the ball park, hotdog in one hand, beer in another, ready to drop both if a foul ball comes your way.  Or a day in the hammock, radio on, cold beer, burgers on the grill, family and friends enjoying the sun & breeze... but no more of that nonsense 😡 (am I still allowed to use that emoji?).

Speaking of the Washington Football Team, I agree with the

name change on that, but there was and remains nothing wrong with the logo, it was actually designed by an American Indian (shut up, there is nothing wrong with that term).  They should have been done in 24-48 hours going from the old name to the, Washington Warrior and that would be that, but you had all the pale faces whining and crying about a logo they hadn't even bothered to research at all.

"The Redskins primary logo used today was first designed in 1971 in close consultation with Native American leaders. Among those who unanimously approved and voiced praise for the logo was Walter "Blackie" Wetzel, a former President of the National Congress of American Indians and Chairman of the Blackfeet Nation."

Cleveland's decision to change it's name and logo make no damn sense at all, none, zip, zilch, nada... especially with a major motion picture backing up the teams heritage and iconic standing in American sports.

This is the man behind the name, Indians, his name is Louis

Francis Sockalexis and was known as, The Deerfoot of the Diamond, a member of the Penobscot Tribe, he played 3 years of professional baseball, all for the Cleveland Spiders.  He played outfield, had 3 home runs and 55 RBI’s in his career with a .313 batting average.

The logo of Chief Wahoo, as we see it here, has been a part of Americana since 1951 and before that still that of an American Indian Warrior swinging a baseball bat rather than a weapon of war.  It

was only made more iconic and beloved in the 1989 sports classic, Major League, starring Charlie Sheen, Tom Beringer & Wesley Snipes.  The Indians logo became a symbol of the Underdog Team, it brought fans to the team and the game, a lot of new ones.

The bottom line is this, "political correctness" is an intellectual disease, robbing the individual of any and all trace of Common Sense, Logic and Reason, thus why they always act like such petulant children, screaming at the top of their lungs and/or name calling rather than engage in rational debate with substance and facts.  "Virtue Signaling" is the latest political weapon that is used like a blunt object, based in inaccurate history, guilt trips and false feelings of entitlement.

History is riddled with things  like this, “oh it’s only a baseball team”… that’s how it starts, little things that don’t seem to matter on the grand scale of life but have always ended with it being taken to extremes and creating some of the darkest times in human history, despite what it’s called in the beginning.

I will always proudly wear my Cleveland Indians baseball hats and anything else I own with that historical and logo based in pure Americana, it's an icon and deserves to be treated better than banishment based in ignorance.