News for today's 2018

Actor James Garner Died

1:58 PM Anonymous 0

<a href="http://www.fortodays.com/2014/07/actor-james-garner-died.html">Actor James Garner</a>, best known for the role of prime-time television as a frontier gambler hilarious on "Maverick" and as an ex-convict turned private detective on "The Rockford Files," has died at the age of 86, celebrity news website TMZ reported on Sunday.<br />
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Garner to build a career of six decades played a character who is rough but attractive, good-hearted, anti-hero. He had received the highest award from the Screen Actors Guild in 2004.<br />
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He was found dead on Saturday night by ambulance officers were sent to his home in Los Angeles.ral<br />
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<b>James Garner</b> (born <b>James Scott Bumgarner</b>; April 7, 1928 – July 19, 2014) was an American film and television actor. He starred in several <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">television series</span></span> over more than five decades, which included such popular roles as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret Maverick</span></span> in the 1950s <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">western</span></span>-<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">comedy</span></span> series <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Maverick</span></span></i> and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jim Rockford</span></span> in the 1970s <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">detective</span></span> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">drama</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Rockford Files</span></span></i>.</div>
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Garner starred in more than 50 films including <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Great Escape</span></span></i> (1963), <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Paddy Chayefsky's</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Americanization of Emily</span></span></i> (1964),<i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Grand Prix</span></span></i> (1966), <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Blake Edwards'</span></span> <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Victor Victoria</span></span></i> (1982), <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Murphy's Romance</span></span></i> (1985) for which he received an <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Academy Award</span></span>nomination, and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Notebook</span></span></i> (2004).</div>
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Garner, the youngest of three children, was born in <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Norman, Oklahoma</span></span>, the son of Mildred Scott (née Meek) and Weldon Warren Bumgarner, a carpet layer.His two older brothers were actor <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Garner</span></span> (1926–2011) and Charles Bumgarner, a school administrator who died in 1984. His family was Methodist. His mother, who was of part <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cherokee</span></span> descent, died when he was five years old. After their mother's death, Garner and his brothers were sent to live with relatives. Garner was reunited with his family in 1934, when Weldon remarried.</div>
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Garner grew to hate his stepmother, Wilma, who beat all three boys, especially young James. When he was fourteen, Garner finally had enough of his "wicked stepmother" and after a particularly heated battle, she left for good. James' brother Jack commented, "She was a damn no-good woman" Garner stated that his stepmother punished him by forcing him to wear a dress in public and that he finally engaged in a physical fight with her, knocking her down and choking her to keep her from killing him in retaliation. This incident ended the marriage.</div>
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Shortly after the breakup of the marriage, Weldon Bumgarner moved to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Los Angeles</span></span>, while Garner and his brothers remained in Norman. After working at several jobs he disliked, at sixteen years of age, Garner joined the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">United States Merchant Marine</span></span> near the end of <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">World War II</span></span>. He fared well in the work and with shipmates, but suffered from chronic<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">seasickness</span></span>. At seventeen, he joined his father in Los Angeles and enrolled at <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Hollywood High School</span></span>, where he was voted the most popular student. A high school gym teacher recommended him for a job <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">modeling</span></span> <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jantzen</span></span> bathing suits. It paid well, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">$</span></span>25 an hour, but in his first interview for the Archives of American Television, he said he hated modeling and soon quit and returned to Norman. There, he played football and basketball, as well as competing on the track and golf teams, for <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Norman High School</span></span>.He never graduated from high school, explaining in a 1976 <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Good Housekeeping</span></span></i> magazine interview: "I was a terrible student and I never actually graduated from high school, but I got my diploma in the Army.</div>
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Later, he joined the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">National Guard</span></span> serving seven months in the United States. He then went to Korea for 14 months in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Regular Army</span></span>, serving in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">5th Regimental Combat Team</span></span> in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Korean War</span></span>. He was wounded twice, first in the face and hand from <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">shrapnel</span></span> fire from a <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">mortar</span></span> round, and second on April 23, 1951 in the buttocks from <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">friendly fire</span></span>from U.S. fighter jets as he dove headfirst into a foxhole. Garner was awarded the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Purple Heart</span></span> in Korea for the first injury. For the second wound, he received a second Purple Heart (eligibility requirement: "As the result of friendly fire while actively engaging the enemy"), although Garner received the medal in 1983, 32 years after his injury.Garner was a self-described "scrounger" for his company in Korea, a role he later played in <i>The Great Escape</i><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; white-space: nowrap;">[</span></span>16]</sup> and <i>The Americanization of Emily</i>.</div>
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In 1954 a friend, Paul Gregory, whom Garner had met while attending Hollywood High School, persuaded Garner to take a non-speaking role in the <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Broadway</span></span> production of <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Caine Mutiny Court Martial</span></span></i>,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; white-space: nowrap;">[</span></span>17]</sup> where he was able to study actor <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Henry Fonda</span></span> night after night. Garner subsequently moved to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">television commercials</span></span> and eventually to television roles. His first movie appearances were in <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Girl He Left Behind</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Toward the Unknown</span></span></i> in 1956.</div>
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<span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">He changed his last name from Bumgarner to Garner after the studio had credited him as "James Garner" without permission. He then legally changed it upon the birth of his first child, when he decided she had too many names.</span></span><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 11.666666030883789px; white-space: nowrap;"> </span></span><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">His brother Jack also had an acting career and changed his surname to Garner, too. His non-actor brother, Charlie, kept the Bumgarner surname.</span></span></div>
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<span class="mw-headline" id="Acting_career">Acting career</span></h2>
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<span class="mw-headline" id="Maverick"><i>Maverick</i></span></h3>
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With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Louise Fletcher</span></span> in 1958</div>
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Garner as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret</span></span> and<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span> as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bart Maverick</span></span></div>
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Garner was closely advised by financial adviser <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Irving Leonard</span></span>, who also advised <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Eastwood</span></span> in the late 1950s and 1960s. After several feature film roles, including <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Sayonara</span></span></i> with <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Marlon Brando</span></span>, Garner got his big break playing the role of professional gambler <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bret Maverick</span></span> in the comedy Western series <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Maverick</span></span></i> from 1957 to 1960. Garner was earlier considered for the lead role in another Warner Brothers Western series,<i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cheyenne</span></span></i>, but that role went to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Walker</span></span> because the casting director couldn't reach Garner in time (according to Garner's autobiography), and Garner wound up playing an Army officer in the pilot instead.</div>
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Only Garner and series creator <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roy Huggins</span></span> thought <i>Maverick</i> could compete with <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Ed Sullivan Show</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Steve Allen Show</span></span></i>. The show almost immediately made Garner a household name. Various actors had recurring roles as Maverick foils, including <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Efrem Zimbalist, Jr</span></span> as "Dandy Jim Buckley," <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Richard Long</span></span> as "Gentleman Jack Darby," <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Leo Gordon</span></span> as "Big Mike McComb," and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane Brewster</span></span> as "Samantha Crawford" (Huggins' mother's maiden name) while the series veered effortlessly from comedy to adventure and back again. The relationship with Huggins, the creator and original producer of <i>Maverick</i>, would later pay dividends for Garner.</div>
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Garner was the lone star of <i>Maverick</i> for the first seven episodes but production demands forced the studio, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Warner Brothers</span></span>, to create a Maverick brother, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Bart</span></span>, played by <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span>. This allowed two production units to film different story lines and episodes simultaneously. The series also featured popular cross-over <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">episodes</span></span> featuring both Maverick brothers, including the famous "<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Shady Deal at Sunny Acres</span></span>", upon which the first half of the 1973 movie <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">The Sting</span></span></i> appears to be based, according to <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roy Huggins</span></span>' <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Archive of American Television</span></span> interview. Garner and <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Clint Eastwood</span></span> staged an epic fistfight in an episode entitled "<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Duel at Sundown</span></span>", in which Eastwood plays a vicious gunslinger. Critics were positive about Garner and Jack Kelly's chemistry, but Garner quit the series in the third season because of a dispute with Warner Brothers.</div>
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The studio attempted to replace Garner's character with a Maverick cousin who had lived in Britain long enough to pick up an English accent, played by <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Roger Moore</span></span>, but Moore quit the series after filming only <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">14 episodes</span></span> as <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Beau Maverick</span></span>. Warner Brothers also dressed <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Robert Colbert</span></span>, a Garner look-alike, in Bret Maverick's outfit and called the character Brent, but <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Brent Maverick</span></span> did not have a chance to catch on with viewers since Colbert made only two episodes toward the end of the season, leaving the rest of the series run to Kelly (alternating with reruns of <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">episodes with Garner</span></span>).</div>
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When <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Charlton Heston</span></span> turned down the lead role in <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Darby's Rangers</span></span></i> before Garner's departure from <i>Maverick</i>, Garner was selected and performed well in the role. As a result of Garner's performance in <i>Darby's Rangers</i>, coupled with his <i>Maverick</i> popularity, <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Warner Brothers</span></span> subsequently gave him lead roles in other films, such as <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Up Periscope</span></span></i> and <i><span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Cash McCall</span></span></i>.</div>
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<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="/" data-file-height="963" data-file-width="767" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/James_Garner_Jack_Kelly_Maverick_1959.JPG/239px-James_Garner_Jack_Kelly_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="185" /></span></span></div>
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With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jack Kelly</span></span> in 1957</div>
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<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="731" data-file-width="572" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/James_Garner_Maverick_1960.JPG/235px-James_Garner_Maverick_1960.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="182" /></span></span></div>
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With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Suzanne Storrs</span></span> in 1960</div>
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<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="829" data-file-width="595" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Connie_Stevens_James_Garner_Maverick.JPG/215px-Connie_Stevens_James_Garner_Maverick.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="166" /></span></span></div>
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With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Connie Stevens</span></span> in 1959</div>
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<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="897" data-file-width="719" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/Diane_Brewster_James_Garner_Maverick_1957.JPG/240px-Diane_Brewster_James_Garner_Maverick_1957.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="185" /></span></span></div>
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With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane Brewster</span></span> in 1957</div>
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<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="921" data-file-width="701" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/James_Garner_Diane_McBain_Maverick.JPG/228px-James_Garner_Diane_McBain_Maverick.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="176" /></span></span></div>
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With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Diane McBain</span></span> in 1959</div>
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<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="910" data-file-width="708" height="231" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b8/James_Garner_Jean_Willes_Maverick_1960.JPG/233px-James_Garner_Jean_Willes_Maverick_1960.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="180" /></span></span></div>
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<div class="gallerytext" style="font-size: 13px; overflow: hidden; padding: 2px 4px; word-wrap: break-word;">
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With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Jean Willes</span></span> in 1960</div>
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<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="908" data-file-width="758" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/19/James_Garner_Connie_Stevens_Maverick_1959.JPG/250px-James_Garner_Connie_Stevens_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="167" /></span></span></div>
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With Connie Stevens in 1959</div>
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<span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-file-height="856" data-file-width="688" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/James_Garner_as_Pappy_Maverick_1959.JPG/241px-James_Garner_as_Pappy_Maverick_1959.JPG" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: none; display: block; margin: 0px auto; vertical-align: middle;" width="161" /></span></span></div>
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With <span style="color: #0b0080;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Kaye Elhardt</span></span> in 1</div>
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Actor James Garner, best known for the role of prime-time television as a frontier gambler hilarious on "Maverick" and as an ex-convict turned private detective on "The Rockford Files," has died at the age of 86, celebrity news website TMZ reported o…

The Lone Ranger: The mild, mild West

6:00 PM Tukiyooo 0

<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><i>The Lone Ranger</i> </b></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>(2013) • <a href="http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/disney/theloneranger/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">View trailer</a></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b> </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b>Two stars. Rating: PG-13, for intense action violence and suggested gore</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #5e5e5e; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"><b>By <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/12885694730612878577" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">Derrick Bang</a> • </b></span>Originally published in <i><a href="http://www.davisenterprise.com/" style="color: #27a9c5; text-decoration: none;">The Davis Enterprise</a></i>, 7.5.13</b></span></span></span></span></span><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>            <br /><div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The best that can be said for this fiasco, is that it’s marginally superior to director William A. Fraker’s leaden, charmless 1981 film, <i>The Legend of the Lone Ranger</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But that’s damning with <i>very</i>faint praise.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwU1YzZ7KG-TtIWqjB5Zx-is2ZYgbMKz-PvSW8BRmZw9vo-e0fY5sb8rO2wf3v3u1jNC9zZV-JCPXMkiMjqkoYPEjRIlp9RMyVUwEO1BAl9mSb59EAuIg9EwwZeNl1VvjKpXAcklLKLg/s504/Lone+Ranger+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDwU1YzZ7KG-TtIWqjB5Zx-is2ZYgbMKz-PvSW8BRmZw9vo-e0fY5sb8rO2wf3v3u1jNC9zZV-JCPXMkiMjqkoYPEjRIlp9RMyVUwEO1BAl9mSb59EAuIg9EwwZeNl1VvjKpXAcklLKLg/s400/Lone+Ranger+blog.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Having failed to persuade a Comanche tribe that war with the neighboring white-man<br />settlement is a bad idea, Tonto (Johnny Depp, left) and the Lone Ranger (Armie<br />Hammer) are left in a painfully vulnerable position. And it's about to get worse, when<br />scorpions come calling...</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chief among that earlier film’s many flaws was the block-of-wood “performance” from no-name star Klinton Spilsbury, in (thank God) his only big-screen appearance. Michael Horse, as Tonto, acted circles around him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But pretty much everything else was wrong, as well; even the usually dependable John Barry turned in a listless score that was marred further by a pokey, half-speed rendition of “The William Tell Overture” — the Lone Ranger’s iconic theme — that brought the already sluggish drama to a dead stop.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I give composer Hans Zimmer credit for his spirited, cheer-inducing handling of “The William Tell Overture” during this new film’s climax, and I credit director Gore Verbinski for knowing how best to use it. Kudos, as well, to Verbinski and special-effects supervisors Tim Alexander and Gary Brozenich, for two audacious train chases: a good one to open the film, and a dog-nuts-sensational one to close it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But pretty much everything else is wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For openers, this clumsy, overcooked mess runs a butt-numbing 149 minutes: a “privilege” Verbinski apparently earned because his similarly bloated <i>Pirates of the Caribbean</i> entries have made a gazillion bucks for Disney. Mind you, length is fine if the script demands it, but that’s far from the case here; as my watch’s illuminated dial ticked off the minutes — depressingly slowly — toward the two-hour mark, I desperately hoped we were about to wrap things up ... but no, the slog continued, mercilessly, for another half-hour.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The major problem is that Verbinski and his scripters — Ted Elliott, Terry Rossio and Justin Haythe — can’t decide what sort of movie to make. On the one hand, they more-or-less attempt to honor the existing Lone Ranger mythos, as established by the popular radio series (1933-54) and TV series (1949-57). I appreciate the effort, half-hearted though it may be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the other hand, they blend this often grim drama with the sort of jokey, slapstick tone that marked the <i>Pirates</i> series ... no surprise there, since Elliott and Rossio wrote all four entries in that franchise. No surprise, as well, that Johnny Depp’s Tonto is the same sort of mincing, scowling, alternate-reality caricature that the actor made of Capt. Jack Sparrow. The only difference is that Tonto isn’t ever drunk ... although the film’s scripters flirt with that notion, as well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><a name='more'></a><br />  <div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These two extremes of tone simply don’t work; at times, the mix becomes deeply offensive. The film’s low point — and it’s a ghastly, horrifying miscalculation — comes when an entire Comanche tribe is slaughtered by a corrupt U.S. Cavalry captain and his Gatling gun-toting soldiers. Moments later, our heroes crack wise as usual, and events proceed in that farcical fashion, as if nothing significant has occurred.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Comanches aren’t mentioned again, despite their relevance to Tonto’s back-story. Hey, what’s a few hundred dead Injuns, right?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thoroughly, reprehensibly tasteless.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Enduring that sequence and its aftermath, in the moment, I couldn’t believe Disney had signed off on it. Days later, I <i>still</i> can’t believe it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Heinous though it is, that’s merely an isolated incident. The bigger, ongoing problem concerns this film’s depiction of John Reid — the Lone Ranger — who is played by Armie Hammer as a prissy fop, idealistic far beyond the point of absurdity, and utterly incapable of doing or saying the right thing. He is, in short, an irredeemable fool: a clown who exists solely to serve as a foil for Depp’s Tonto.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No fault of Hammer’s; he was directed this way. Indeed, he’s quite convincing as an imbecilic, bumbling, starry-eyed näif.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until, that is, he has to shift gears so that Reid can truly, seriously mourn the loss of a brother who is murdered — and has his heart cut out and <i>eaten</i> — by this story’s key villain. Suddenly, Hammer’s otherwise dainty performance doesn’t seem so amusing. Nor is it as successful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I simply cannot understand why modern filmmakers find it necessary to defecate on the carefully cultivated legacy — sometimes generations in the making — of characters who mean a great deal to fans who grew up with them, back in the day. Why irritate the people who care — the acolytes who will recognize the name, and expect a certain fidelity toward folklore — when it would be easier, and safer, to simply invent <i>new</i> characters, and establish <i>new</i> traditions?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The notoriously campy big-screen revivals of <i>I Spy</i> and <i>Wild, Wild West</i> — as two examples — were shameful financial duds, driving a stake through the possibility of any serious remakes. This new debacle — call it Verbinski’s Folly — is equally disgraceful, and I hope Disney posts a whopping financial loss on its (reported) $250 million budget.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To cases, then:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film unfolds in the fashion of <i>The Princess Bride,</i> as a fable related to an impressionable young listener. We begin in San Francisco, during the Depression, as a young boy (Mason Cook, suitably wide-eyed) visits the “Wild West” exhibit in a large carnival. Pausing at a display case showing a wizened Native American “in his natural habitat,” the boy is astonished to see the statue’s eyes flicker. Indeed, this is a very, <i>very</i> old Tonto, who is deeply moved by the kid’s cowboy outfit and black domino mask.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, so, Tonto tells his story.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We move backward to 1869, as residents of the small Texas town of Colby cheer when railroad baron Latham Cole (Tom Wilkinson) enthusiastically proclaims that the “iron horse” soon will connect their community — and the entire United States — from sea to shining sea. First, though, there’s an old matter to deal with: the proper hanging of notorious outlaw Burch Cavendish (William Fichtner, grimy down to his blackened teeth), soon to arrive by train.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The local rangers, led by Dan Reid (James Badge Dale), ride out to meet the train. Conveniently, its passengers include Reid’s younger brother, John, returning after years of absence, during which he has become an idealistic, big-city lawyer.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Also on the train, locked up alongside Cavendish: Tonto ... for reasons of his own.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cavendish manages to escape, with help from his outlaw gang. Dan mounts a posse that John insists on joining, much to the consternation of Rebecca (Ruth Wilson), married to Dan but apparently still carrying a torch for John. Her son, Danny (Bryant Prince), is understandably confused by his mother’s behavior.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(We wonder, throughout this entire film, if Danny actually is John’s son. The question remains unresolved.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things subsequently go very, very bad; there’s a reason John Reid subsequent adopts a new identity as the <i>lone</i>ranger. He owes his rescue to Tonto, whose generosity comes reluctantly, and only because a wild white stallion — regarded as an intelligent, mystical spirit — “chooses” John for greater things.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This majestic beast steals the film (not all that difficult, considering). Silver, far more intelligent than either John or Tonto, has a disconcerting tendency to appear in treetops, or on the roof of a burning barn. Reid’s new mount also is utterly fearless, whether galloping amid gunfire or (ahem) atop a moving train, leaping from one car to the next.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When Tonto mutters “Something very wrong with that horse,” we can’t help laughing ... because, actually, something is very <i>right</i>. Silver’s various antics are masterminded by horse-wrangler Bobby Lovgren, who worked similar magic in <i>Seabiscuit</i> and <i><a href="http://derrickbang.blogspot.com/2011/12/war-horse-truly-incredible-journey.html">War Horse</a></i>. As a result, Silver displays far more personality than his two-legged co-stars.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway, the chase is on, and on ... and on. Tonto and the Lone Ranger get caught, escape, get caught again, escape again. They bicker, make up, bicker again. Cavendish gets caught again, and <i>he</i> escapes again. Over and over and over. Meanwhile, Cole makes smarmy advances toward Rebecca, who is understandably wary.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sidebar characters enter the mix: Barry Pepper, as the morally challenged Cavalry officer; and Helena Bonham Carter, actually quite amusing as Red Harrington, a peg-legged madam whose scrimshaw-adorned false limb conceals a rather lethal gun. We’re told that Red lost her leg to Cavendish, with a further implication that he may have eaten it. (<i>Such</i> palatable details, in this story.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No question, Depp’s shifty-eyed performance can be quite funny at times. His double-takes are superbly timed, and he gets considerable mileage from a variety of scowls: doubtful, bewildering, angry, playful. We wait for Tonto to crack a smile; I’m not sure it ever actually happens ... and that, too, is amusing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Far less amusing — indeed, tedious — is the amount of time Tonto spends “feeding” the dead crow that adorns his headpiece. Not even the Monty Python gang would have beaten a pallid joke to death so relentlessly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fichtner is memorably nightmarish: every inch a loathsome villain. Wilkinson is sinister in his own right, on the level of a slow burn; we wonder, throughout, what he’s actually up to. Dale’s Dan Reid is the story’s most credibly “real” character: a decent man whose passing we mourn deeply.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bonham Carter’s Red Harrington is a hoot, but Pepper can’t begin to navigate the ethical extremes assigned to his character. The members of Cavendish’s gang aren’t allowed to display much personality, and therefore remain anonymous blobs. Rebecca is similarly ill-defined; Wilson’s performance is so muted that she seems to be in a drug-induced haze (actually true only once).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Things are pretty bad when the stand-out characters are a horse and the kid listening to this saga unfold. And they can’t begin to sustain a 149-minute movie.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nobody can. Nobody does. <i>The Lone Ranger</i> is a clumsy, badly directly and atrociously scripted slog.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When radio audiences heard the Lone Ranger shout “Hi-yo, Silver ... away!” — back in the day — they knew an exciting riding sequence was about to take place. It’s too bad this film’s Silver couldn’t have dragged Verbinski, the writers and most of the cast far, far away ... thus sparing us the need to sit through this dud.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>

2013 Armie Hammer Barry Pepper fantasy Helena Bonham Carter James Badge Dale Johnny Depp Ruth Wilson Tom Wilkinson Western William Fichtner The Lone Ranger: The mild, mild West

The Lone Ranger (2013) • View trailer Two stars. Rating: PG-13, for intense action violence and suggested goreBy Derrick Bang • Originally published in The Davis Enterprise, 7.5.13 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false …