Here's how you know you're a loser. It's the spring of 1981. You're a high school senior, and you've never kissed a girl. You've never been on a date. You have no friends. Your mother tries to cheer you up by taking you to a movie, and you pick . . . the Lone Ranger. This was the night when I finally accepted the fact that I was a loser. What kind of 18 year old boy goes to the movies with his mother? The movie was so awful, and the worse it got the more it became clear to me . . . I deserved this. I deserved it for being a loser with no friends. But still the movie wouldn't stop! Now, as horrible as the movie was, I do remember a couple of good moments. There was a big battle early on, where a whole Ranger troop gets wiped out. And there's an old timer who tells the young Lone Ranger, "don't worry, kid . . . I've been a Ranger longer than you've been alive!" And he talks about some real life battles of the Texas Rangers, while calmly loading and firing and bringing down several bad guys. It's a nice moment. But then he dies. Just like all my high school hopes and dreams!Oh, and later on, the cowardly villain Butch Cavendish meets Ulysses S. Grant, and tries to explain why he became a villain. "I deserted my men -- I ran from the field of battle -- I was accused of cowardice -- it wasn't my fault!" And Grant just looks at him quietly, and says, "It never is." That line really stuck with me over the years. Because I mean, I came up short in high school, I had to face it that night. No good times. No dates. No happy memories. But you know what? Maybe Grant wasn't just putting Butch down. Maybe Grant understood that some guys just don't have what it takes, in combat or in high school. Maybe some guys just don't get the right break, or they only get one chance and they blow it. Over the years I've spent a lot of time thinking about what Grant says in this movie. In a way it's given me a certain kind of strength. But the movie still sucks.

For a movie to cost $18 million in 1981 would translate into approx. $50 million today. The movie The Hateful Eight people are talking about cost $65 million in comparison. So at the point it was a big budget movie and it failed miserably.I do not understand why. Did the filmmaker take liberties? Named him John? etc? Of course and today that happens ALL THE TIME. This is a far better movie than how it is portrayed. I love to watch it whenever I can and it sure beats the hell out of that Disney/Johnny Depp attempt thats for sure.I still get chills and John Ried kneels at his brother's grave..... stands up and turns.... and for the first time we see the mask and the William Tell Overture hits... damn if that isn't a great scene. Reminds me of the original Superman when we first see Superman and he flies by the lens and his music plays.What I am saying is... if you have not seen this movie watch it. Watch it with an open mind and not with all the bashing some would give it.

I liked this movie - the critics went nuts on it before its release because of the treatment that 50s TV Lone Ranger actor Clayton Moore received at the time. Clayton should've thanked them - he became a household name again and was featured on countless TV shows because of the legal actions of the films producers barring him from wearing the mask. The film is really quite good - what makes it a little lame is the music - not the score, the score is great - the campy, old fashioned songs sung by Merle Haggard - don't get me wrong Merl is great - but this 80s western came off like a B western with songs similar to "Branded" over the top of otherwise great color vistas and action - making them seem lame. The lead actor's voice was dubbed - apparently his own voice wasn't macho enough. Jason Robards, John Hart (another Lone Ranger actor from the 50s), Christopher Loyd, Richard Farnsworth, Jaunine Clay and others make some great scenes come to life. Great locations and scenery. Tonto is a much stronger character - but they did that without dumbing down the Lone Ranger as they did in the latest movie which in comparison is a complete failure. Watch the movie -keep in mind when it came out - ignore the stupid music with singing - you'll just might say, - "you know what, that wasn't too bad."

I saw this when I was five. I liked it at the time and was too young to have heard about the politics and controversy with Clayton Moore or notice the dubbing of the title character's voice. Even watching it again the other day for the first time in almost thirty years, those things were not issues to the movie itself.It was entertaining. There are things I'd change here or there, but overall it was good. The handling of Tonto still holds up today in our hyper-PC world.It's not without its warts, but they can easily be seen beyond and the movie enjoyed. Definitely check it out.