Trailer
Plot summary
In Texas in 1854, a gang of outlaws under Butch Cavendish chases Tonto, a Comanche boy. He falls from his horse into a thicket, where John Reid, a boy already hiding there, keeps him out of sight. Tonto takes Reid to the reservation and teaches him archery and the ways of the tribe, and the two become blood brothers. Grown, Reid leaves for Detroit, becomes a lawyer, then travels by stagecoach to open a practice of his own. Amy Striker is among the passengers. Cavendish's men rob the coach, and Reid hands over a mailbag of property deeds. At a Texas Rangers station his brother Dan tells him that gang members killed Amy's uncle Lucas, who owned the local newspaper. Reid rides out with a Ranger posse after the gang.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- In 1975 Wrather asked Moore to stop portraying the character and Moore refused, so in 1979 the producers obtained a court injunction barring him from appearing in public with his trademark black mask and permitting him to sign autographs only as The Masked Man. Moore responded by replacing the mask with similar-looking wraparound sunglasses and by cross-litigating against Wrather.
- The filmmakers were unhappy with Spilsbury's acting. Jim Van Wyck, a DGA assistant director trainee on the film, said he had memorized the lines but never internalised them, and the dialogue was eventually overdubbed for the entire movie by actor James Keach.
- Marvin Starger claimed the film cost $13 million rather than the reported $18 million, but said that with $10 million in advertising and prints it lost $10 million; in 1999 the loss was reported as $11 million. Fraker never directed a feature film again and Spilsbury never acted again.
