Who Was That Masked Man?
And so this week's John Barry trilogy comes to a close... 
One of the biggest box office duds of its decade, The Legend of the Lone Ranger was intended as a big prestige summer release to appeal to the action crowd in 1981; unfortunately, a different kind of nostalgia piece called Raiders of the Lost Ark quickly trounced it. Many laid the blame on newcomer lead Klinton Spilsbury, a football player whose performance had to be redubbed in post by James Keach; however, it did earn some loyalty among afternoon HBO viewers thanks to constant screenings for years afterwards. Always willing to give his all even when the movie's a flop (see: The Scarlet Letter, Mercury Rising, etc.), John Barry cooks up a series of rousing action cues with a pleasant western feel, kind of a dry run for his later work on Dances with Wolves. The occasional spoken bits by Merle Haggard are jarring but kind of work in the actual film.
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
1. The Man In The Mask (Main Title) (Vocal: Merle Haggard)
2. The Legend Begins
3. John And Amy Meet
4. The Valley Chase
5. Brothers
6. The Cavandish Gang Strikes
7. The Man In The Mask (Instrumental)
8. The Breaking Of Silver
9. Ambush
10. Dynamite
11. The Final Attack
12. William Tell Overture
13. The Man In The Mask (End Title)
One of the biggest box office duds of its decade, The Legend of the Lone Ranger was intended as a big prestige summer release to appeal to the action crowd in 1981; unfortunately, a different kind of nostalgia piece called Raiders of the Lost Ark quickly trounced it. Many laid the blame on newcomer lead Klinton Spilsbury, a football player whose performance had to be redubbed in post by James Keach; however, it did earn some loyalty among afternoon HBO viewers thanks to constant screenings for years afterwards. Always willing to give his all even when the movie's a flop (see: The Scarlet Letter, Mercury Rising, etc.), John Barry cooks up a series of rousing action cues with a pleasant western feel, kind of a dry run for his later work on Dances with Wolves. The occasional spoken bits by Merle Haggard are jarring but kind of work in the actual film.The Legend of the Lone Ranger
1. The Man In The Mask (Main Title) (Vocal: Merle Haggard)
2. The Legend Begins
3. John And Amy Meet
4. The Valley Chase
5. Brothers
6. The Cavandish Gang Strikes
7. The Man In The Mask (Instrumental)
8. The Breaking Of Silver
9. Ambush
10. Dynamite
11. The Final Attack
12. William Tell Overture
13. The Man In The Mask (End Title)
Labels: 1980s, John Barry
posted by 7 Black Notes at 11:00 AM
7 Comments:
I had almost completely forgotten about this, and I didn't know James Keach redubbed the performance.
Thanks for a great run of odd Barry scores!
www.newtexture.com
Thank you for the OST.
You are mildly wrong on the reason for the solid thud this poor excuse of a film got.
The producers, in a stroke of Hollywood genius, got the rights to the character, then sent their legal posse out to trounce CLAYTON MOORE, THE Lone Ranger from the TV days. He had been doing a stellar job of keeping the image of the Lone Ranger alive in guest appearances at State Fairs, etc. The producers took him to court to stop him from wearing the mask. Bold move against a beloved charecter.
This left such a bad taste in all our mouths that it doomed the picture from the start.
True, the Clayton Moore mistreatment didn't help and certainly doomed the film from the start, but Klinton's Razzie wins for Worst Actor and Worst New Star must have been the final nail in the coffin. :)
Many thanks! I've seen this movie as a child many many times.
Very nostalgic. Thx!
Many, many, many thanks for posting The Legend of the Lone Ranger. Was a kid when this came out and had the LP to get the William Tell Overture... I still recall "The Man In The Mask" bits a little, and am downloading to see how they stack up to my memory.
The childhood LP was ruined by a wayward humidifier... yeow! Thanks very much for springing this one back to me some 30 or so years later.
Cheers,
Rupe
This in one of my all time fav. movies growing up love it to death sorry to hear that it was such a flop but I still love it watch it all the time
I'm late knowing your blog and miss chance to have my childhood's favour soundtracks. Most of the download links were deleted by storage host. for examples, the legend of lonely rider, pyscho III, etc... :~(
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