Don't Believe the Critics

Went to see The Lone Ranger and loved it. The critics panned it, what could be wrong with Trains, the West, and Johnny Depp? And, while I don't do well with 2-1/2 hour movies, this one kept me rapt.

Bass Reeves, the original
lone ranger.

Couldn't resist looking up where the story of where the Lone Ranger came from: it was a radio show out of Detroit in the 1930's. Based on an African-American law man, Bass Reeves, the first black man appointed to the post of Deputy US Marshall in Oklahoma, his territory spanned 75,000 square miles. Now that's a beat. What got him the job was said to be his ability to speak several Native American languages, a skill he picked up when he ran away from his slave owner while in Texas. He was said to be so righteous that, in addition to apprehending over 3,000 felons, he arrested the minister who baptized him and brought his own son to justice for murder. 

bit.ly/16QOqJC.

Reading further, my eyes fell on the name of unrelated Western character called "Liver-Eating Johnson", whose legend may have contributed to flesh-foraging tendencies of Butch Cavendish in The L.R. Couldn't resist this one, either. Johns(t)on earned his name according to the rumor that he cut out and ate the liver of every Crow Indian he killed to avenge for the murder of his pregnant wife. His cannibalistic tendencies didn't end there, however, since, when captured by a different tribe and faced with being returned to the Crow for reward, he wrestled himself free, scalped his guard, cut off his leg and snacked on it in the trek to meet up with his trapping partner 200 miles away. His life is documented in many sources and throughout the media (the film character Jeremiah Johnson is said to be based on his life), and even scholarly documents exist to correct the legend with facts. [See bit.ly/18ylcTP ]

The questionable homage is the statue to his memory that scars the American landscape. 

Onward to the reason behind bringing the Lone Ranger to this blog: The original budget for the film was $260 million dollars. Disney's producers put the breaks on until $45 million was shaved off.  According to the June 25, 2013 issue of Variety, senior writer Marc Graser: "Bruckheimer and his longtime collaborators, director Gore Verbinski and Depp...made a number of clever financial and creative concessions to get the movie made. They re-engineered the entire production plan: switching to shoot in locations with more favorable tax incentives; shrinking the crew; laying off makeup artists, visual-effects workers and extras. To further save money, Bruckheimer, Verbinski, Depp, Hammer, post-production vendors and other crew members agreed to defer their payments and take 20% cuts in their fees. Disney also held back producer fees from Bruckheimer, who contributed his own development funds to finish the picture."

Says Bruckheimer, “When you’re spending other people’s money, you want to give them back a return on their investment. Every time you go out there, you have to swing for the fences.”

bit.ly/17NxSmS

A lesson or two to be learned here about the drive and the desire to realize your vision, though I wonder if any of the Disney execs took a 20% deference on their fees or ever contributed any of their funds to finish a project.