April 03, 2008

New Lone Ranger movie?

'Pirate' Duo Tackles 'Lone Ranger'

Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio will write with Jerry Bruckheimer producingAccording to The Hollywood Reporter, Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio are taking a shot at a live-action big-screen version of "The Lone Rangers."

The scribes, who are best known for their work on the blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, will be reuniting with producers Jerry Bruckheimer and studio Disney on the "Lone Ranger" project.
Comment:  For my review of the previous Lone Ranger movie, see The Lone Ranger, WB-Style.

5 comments:

dmarks said...

They've done so many "Lone Rangers". Why not just call one "Tonto" and outright center on him this time.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Something like that was done once: MAN FRIDAY in 1976, starring Peter O'Toole and Richard Roundtree, which told the Robinson Crusoe story from Friday's POV. Rob wouldn't have liked it, as EuroMan Crusoe was shown to be a racist, a hardcore Christian, and a homophobe...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

I wouldn't like a movie that reiterates what I say constantly? How stupid can you get?

What I think you mean is that you wouldn't like the movie. Because it would implicate all the EuroMen (Gene Roddenberry, John Fusco, Mel Gibson, Dick Wolf, Larry McMurtry, et al.) you've chosen to defend.

Anyway, I've added Man Friday to my Netflix queue. I'll tell you what I think when I see it.

Of course, it sounds problematical to begin with. Richard Roundtree (Shaft) plays Friday, a Caribbean Indian. Oops.

Rob said...

You have the right idea, DMarks. Maybe they could call it Tonto and the Lone Ranger so poor white audiences wouldn't feel totally neglected.

It could have a plot similar to the one in Tim Truman's LONE RANGER AND TONTO comic. You know, the comic I haven't read yet? ;-)

A more daring approach would be to make Tonto the masked avenger and John Reid his subservient sidekick. Someone should write that version of the legend.

dmarks said...

@writerfella: "Rob wouldn't have liked it, as EuroMan Crusoe was shown to be a racist, a hardcore Christian, and a homophobe..."

I too, tried to parse any sense out of that statement. Quickly gave up.

@rob: Getting closer to finding that comic book again. I unearthed a stack of Zorro's last night, and I know it is around there somewhere.

"A more daring approach would be to make Tonto the masked avenger and John Reid his subservient sidekick. Someone should write that version of the legend."

Even more daring: make this part of a race-reversal movie (a la "White Man's Burden"). But yes, I like your idea too. Just like I was one of the few (I guess) who cut John Byrne some slack when he overhauled "Superman". I figured the old continuity had been overdone in 3000 or so comics, so why not do something fresh?