History Trivia / TheLoneRanger

* MissingEpisode: Almost all of the episodes prior to January 1938, with a few exceptions, do not exist. Most of these were never recorded since the program went out live, and it was only after the program began to be syndicated that episodes were recorded for distribution to other radio networks. The vast majority of episodes after recording began still exist, with a few gaps here and there. That means there are a few years worth of Earle Graser episodes, meaning a listener can get a good sampling of his performance. Pretty much all of Brace Beemer's episodes exist, apart from a few missing ones here and there.

* ActorExistenceLimbo: After Earle Graser'a fatal car accident, the writers of the radio serial had to quickly do revisions to the show's storyline in order to avert TheCharacterDiedWithHim (some newspapers treated Graser as inseparable from the Lone Ranger, so much so that their headlines implied it was the death of the character. [[note]]This was largely the producers' own fault, as they never credited the actors for playing the roles, and they contractually forbade Graser and his successors from either pursuing other roles while playing the Lone Ranger or from making public appearances without the mask on.[[/note]]) and provide a smooth transition to his new actor, Brace Beemer. This necessitated the Ranger becoming incapacitated and unable to speak for a few weeks. (Graser's "Hi Yo, Silver' continued to be heard long after his death, however, and this extended into television and movies as well.) Beemer's voice was deeper and richer than Graser's, suggesting that the Ranger had got his HeroicSecondWind.

* CreatorKiller: William A. Fraker hadn't directed a movie for eight years. After this movie flopped, he moved to television, but continued to work as a Director of Photography on feature films.

* IAmNotLeonardNimoy: Clayton Moore absolutely loved the part and so fully embraced the role of the Lone Ranger that he did his best to live up to [[https://loneranger.fandom.com/wiki/Lone_Ranger_Creed the Lone Ranger Creed]] and spent the rest of his life visiting fairs and hospitals to encourage young children to do the same, which endeared him to the public. When film producers tried to get him to stop in UsefulNotes/TheEighties, public backlash against them was so great that it played a sizeable part in their film reboot tanking, as seen below ExecutiveMeddling.

* TroubledProduction: As detailed in [[http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/07/02/lone-ranger-klinton-spilsbury/ this article]]. For starters, the producers hired Klinton Spilsbury, a male model with minimal acting experience, for the lead, hoping that casting an unknown would pay off like it had with Creator/ChristopherReeve. But even before filming began the production became a PR disaster when the producers sued Clayton Moore, the star of the 1950s TV adaptation, for making in-character personal appearances. Once filming started, Spilsbury exhibited SmallNameBigEgo tendencies, stunt man Terry Leonard suffered a near-fatal injury, respected cinematographer William Fraker proved to be too inexperienced as a director, post-production issues pushed the film's release date back six months, and concern over Spilsbury's lackluster performance led the studio to hire Creator/JamesKeach to [[LoopingLines loop all of his dialogue in post-production]]. The film died at the box office in a summer dominated by ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'', gaining a reputation as FranchiseKiller. Spilsbury left Hollywood and has never appeared in another movie.

* IAmNotLeonardNimoy: Clayton Moore absolutely loved the part and so fully embraced the role of the Lone Ranger that he did his best to live up to [[https://loneranger.fandom.com/wiki/Lone_Ranger_Creed the Lone Ranger Creed]] and spent the rest of his life visiting fairs and hospitals to encourage young children to do the same, which endeared him to the public. When film producers tried to get him to stop in UsefulNotes/TheEighties, public backlash against them was so great that it played a sizeable part in their film reboot tanking.

* YouSoundFamiliar: Before taking over for Earle Graser, Brace Beemer served as the show's announcer. He also played the Ranger in public appearances, as his 6-foot-3 and thin frame and expert horse riding and marksman skills made him feel more like the Ranger than the shorter, chubbier Graser, who had never ridden horses and had only shot a pistol once in his life. The horse who played Silver in these events really belonged to him, and was in a stable near his house when Beemer died. He was 27 years old, and Mrs. Beemer took care of him for the rest of his life.

* IAmNotLeonardNimoy: Clayton Moore so fully embraced the role of the Lone Ranger that he did his best to live up to [[https://loneranger.fandom.com/wiki/Lone_Ranger_Creed the Lone Ranger Creed]] and spent the rest of his life visiting fairs and hospitals to encourage young children to do the same, which endeared him to the public. When film producers tried to get him to stop in UsefulNotes/TheEighties, public backlash against them was so great that it played a sizeable part in their film reboot tanking.

* FollowTheLeader: The film was greenlit after ''The Magic of Lassie'' brought Franchise/{{Lassie}} back to the big screen.

* StarDerailingRole: Klinton Spilsbury made his film debut and film farewell here. It didn't help that his voice was dubbed by Creator/JamesKeach. Not helping matters was the decision by Creator/{{ITC}} to sue Clayton Moore (who had played the character on the TV series and related films, and to many, ''was'' the Lone Ranger) for making public appearances as the character, something he had done for decades. The suit greatly offended the American public, who rallied around Moore and stayed away from the film. Moore won the suit, but the film was irreparably damaged from the bad press and negative reviews, resulting in an all-around disaster.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/BruceBoxleitner, Creator/StephenCollins, Creator/NicholasGuest and Creator/KurtRussell were considered for the Lone Ranger.

* ActorExistenceLimbo: After the death of Earle Graser in a car accident, the writers of the radio serial had to quickly do revisions to the show's storyline in order to avert TheCharacterDiedWithHim (some newspapers treated Graser as inseparable from the Lone Ranger, so much so that their headlines implied it was the death of the character. [[note]]This was largely the producers' own fault, as they never credited the actors for playing the roles, and they contractually forbade Graser and his successors from either pursuing other roles while playing the Lone Ranger or from making public appearances without the mask on.[[/note]]) and provide a smooth transition to his new actor, Brace Beemer. This necessitated the Ranger becoming incapacitated and unable to speak for a few weeks. (Graser's "Hi Yo, Silver' continued to be heard long after his death, however, and this extended into television and movies as well.) Beemer's voice was deeper and richer than Graser's, suggesting that the Ranger had got his HeroicSecondWind.

* YouLookFamiliar: More like "You Sound Familiar". Before taking over for Earle Graser, Brace Beemer served as the show's announcer. He also played the Ranger in public appearances, as his 6-foot-3 and thin frame and expert horse riding and marksman skills made him feel more like the Ranger than the shorter, chubbier Graser, who had never ridden horses and had only shot a pistol once in his life. The horse who played Silver in these events really belonged to him, and was in a stable near his house when Beemer died. He was 27 years old, and Mrs. Beemer took care of him for the rest of his life.

* [[YouLookFamiliar You Sound Familiar]]: Before taking over for Earle Graser, Brace Beemer served as the show's announcer. He also played the Ranger in public appearances, as his 6-foot-3 and thin frame and expert horse riding and marksman skills made him feel more like the Ranger than the shorter, chubbier Graser, who had never ridden horses and had only shot a pistol once in his life. The horse who played Silver in these events really belonged to him, and was in a stable near his house when Beemer died. He was 27 years old, and Mrs. Beemer took care of him for the rest of his life.

!! The Film:
* ActorAllusion:
** Tonto is dressed similarly to [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]]. [[http://wallpaperswide.com/captain_jack_sparrow__pirates_of_the_caribbean_on_stranger_tides-wallpapers.html He has a similar headband and beads in his hair.]] [[http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Johnny-Depp-as-Tonto.jpg He is even wearing the eye shadow.]]
** Tonto calls John a "Stupid white man." In ''Film/DeadMan'', which stars Johnny Depp, the Native American character repeatedly calls people "Stupid fucking white man."
* BigNameFan: Creator/QuentinTarantino named it as one of his favourite movies of 2013. Really.
-->"The first forty-five minutes are excellent…the next forty-five minutes are a little soporific. It was a bad idea to split the bad guys in two groups; it takes hours to explain and nobody cares. Then comes the train scene—incredible! When I saw it, I kept thinking, ‘What, that’s the film that everybody says is crap? Seriously?’"
* BillingDisplacement: Both the trailer and the poster show Johnny Depp's name first before Armie Hammer's. Beyond that, the masked face in the poster above is Johnny Depp's too.
* BoxOfficeBomb: With a production budget of $225 million ($400 million including marketing), the film needed to earn ''over $800 million worldwide'' to break even (more than the top 4 grossing westerns ever ''combined''). Instead, ''Ranger'' got blown out by ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe2'', the former earning only $48.9 million in its first five days (compared to about $143 million for ''Despicable''), ultimately pulling in around $260 million. This movie has not only surpassed ''Film/JohnCarter'' as Disney's most humiliating flop, it is in the top ten (adjusted for inflation) biggest box office bombs in movie history.
* CreatorKiller: Subverted; the film's failure had almost nothing to do with Disney's exclusive big-screen partnership with producer Jerry Bruckheimer being allowed to expire (which was more a result of creative differences, and Bruckheimer's still going to be making movies with Disney from time to time), but given the timing, you've gotta wonder. Played straight with former Disney Studio chief Rich Ross (who's now at Discovery Channel); he greenlighted this movie, but was terminated after ''Film/JohnCarter'' the year prior when that film's failure turned Ross into an enemy of director Andrew Stanton and CCO John Lasseter; this pair of flops will likely lock him out of Hollywood-level filmmaking for a while. And also, screenwriting duo Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who were heavily involved with the ''Pirates'' movies and ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', have yet to write another movie. Remains to be seen if this will apply to Gore Verbinski.
* DearNegativeReader: Creator/JohnnyDepp, Creator/ArmieHammer, Creator/GoreVerbinski and Jerry Bruckheimer responded to the negative reviews by saying that critics "conspired" to take down the movie. This lead to critic Alonso Duralde's quote that was once on the top of CriticProof.
* DubNameChange: In Spanish versions, Tonto is called Toro because “tonto” is Spanish for “idiot”.
* ExecutiveMeddling:
** [[http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/08/13/disney-halts-johnny-depp-lone-ranger/ Disney delayed production on their movie after the underperformance of]] ''Film/CowboysAndAliens''.
** When Jack Wrather bought the rights to the property in 1978, he sued Clayton Moore to stop him from appearing in public as the character, hoping to establish a new actor in the role for an upcoming movie. It ended up being an enormous PR disaster resulting in a successful countersuit and the film itself becoming a FranchiseKiller. Indeed, if there was a Razzie award for "Worst Publicity", ''The Legend of the Lone Ranger'' would've been the first recipient, by a unanimous vote.
* FranchiseKiller: Pretty much did for the Lone Ranger franchise what ''Film/BatmanAndRobin'' did for the Batman series. Needless to say, don't expect this series to pop up again anytime soon.
* GenreKiller: This and the aforementioned ''Film/CowboysAndAliens'', after ''Film/WildWildWest'' got the ball rolling at the end of the 90's, have ensured that the genre won't have any superfluous sci-fi/fantasy/camp elements in it for a LONG time (though the western genre itself rolls on).
* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: It appeared at one point in time that the film would never be made due to its budget coming in at well over $200 million, in part due to the poor performance of ''Film/CowboysAndAliens''.
* StarDerailingRole:
** Many people noted how after the release, critics began crapping on Creator/JohnnyDepp's recent career choices. Combined with ''Film/{{Transcendence}}'', ''Film/{{Mortdecai}}'', and ''Film/AliceThroughTheLookingGlass'', and many point to this as the tide turning against him, though he got a reprieve as James "Whitey" Bulger in ''Film/BlackMass'' (this was before his nasty divorce from Amber Heard began).
** To a lesser extent, the film threatens to derail Creator/ArmieHammer's career, compounded by the disappointing box office performance of ''Film/TheManFromUNCLE2015''. He's since found more success as a character actor in smaller projects.
* StillbornFranchise: The film's critical thrashing and expensive failure sent the prospects of a 21st century revival of ''The Lone Ranger'' for Disney, copyright holder Creator/DreamWorksAnimation AND future copyright holder Comcast/Universal right over the cliff, though Disney ended up having to foot the writedown for the project (that price tag was much larger than what DWA paid for the company that had a boatload of rights including ''The Lone Ranger'').
* TroubledProduction: Originally pitched in 2007, it changed hands several times and had the script rewritten at least twice. Then in 2011 Disney delayed the start of production due to concerns about the budget and greatly frustrated Creator/GoreVerbinski, though in the end Disney's concerns [[JerkassHasAPoint turned out to be quite founded]]. Once filming actually began in 2012, it was delayed repeatedly by inclement weather, wildfires, a chickenpox outbreak and the death of a crew member who was working in a water tank, and at one point Creator/JohnnyDepp was nearly trampled to death by a horse. And to top it off, it lost between 95 and 120 million dollars putting it in ninth place in the list of the biggest box office flops ever.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Reportedly the original script for the 2013 film had more of a full blown fantasy feel to it, with Cavendish being an actual Wendigo.
** Before failing at the box office, there were discussions for one or more sequels that never happened.
** Seeing as how Creator/DreamWorksAnimation got the rights to ''The Lone Ranger'' as part of their Classic Media package, Disney would have likely needed to discuss further licensing with them for the series's future. The film becoming one of the biggest bombs of all time and earning a lot of derision for its fantasy take on the series made any talks between the two studios over future films meaningless [[note]] Disney lost more money on the movie than what [=DreamWorks=] Animation had shelled out to get the rights along with other franchises in 2012 [[/note]], though Disney still had the characters in their ''VideoGame/DisneyInfinity'' series at the same times (ironically, the other side of Creator/DreamWorks that Jeffrey Katzenberg is not really a part of was partially responsible for the other Western killer, ''Cowboys and Aliens'', which almost convinced Disney to not let ''The Lone Ranger'' see the light of day). Any more attempts to keep Disney's ''Lone Ranger'' universe uphill through other means (primarily merchandising) were put down for good when [=NBCUniversal=], perhaps Disney's biggest rival in the mass media, bought [=DreamWorks=] Animation several years later, giving ''them'' the rights to ''The Lone Ranger'' (plus ''Disney Infinity'' was discontinued altogether and won't receive any further updates past the summer of 2016).

!!The Franchise As A Whole
* ChannelHop:
** The franchise went through a plethora of owners throughout its existence. First, George W. Trendle continued to own the intellectual property for ''The Lone Ranger'' until 1954, when he sold the company who administered the property to Jack Wrather. After his death, the property then went to his widow, then Southbrook International Television, then Creator/LorneMichaels, Golden Books, Classic Media, and ultimately Creator/DreamWorksAnimation (along with its parent company Creator/{{Universal}} Studios since August 2016).
** The two ''Lone Ranger'' films of the 1950's, the first titled simply ''The Lone Ranger'' and the sequel titled ''The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold'', were originally distributed by Creator/WarnerBros and Creator/UnitedArtists, respectively, but their rights later reverted to Wrather Productions. Universal (through [=DreamWorks=]) now owns and distributes the films.
** 1981's ''The Legend Of The Lone Ranger'' was first distributed theatrically by Universal through its deal with co-producer Creator/ITCEntertainment. Following the end of its theatrical run, ITC reclaimed distribution rights and licensed them to Creator/MagneticVideo, then CBS/Fox Video. Creator/{{ITV}} Global Entertainment, ITC's successor-in-interest, currently licenses the film to Creator/{{Lionsgate}}, but Universal's purchase of [=DreamWorks=] Animation gave them a portion of the copyright to the movie (the film was copyrighted by both ITC and Wrather Productions, the latter of which is now part of Universal/[=DreamWorks=]) and still collects royalties for any release of the film.

** 1981's ''The Legend Of The Lone Ranger'' was first distributed theatrically by Universal through its deal with co-producer ITC Entertainment. Following the end of its theatrical run, ITC reclaimed distribution rights and licensed them to Creator/MagneticVideo, then CBS/Fox Video. ITV Global Entertainment, ITC's successor-in-interest, currently licenses the film to Creator/{{Lionsgate}}, but Universal's purchase of [=DreamWorks=] Animation gave them a portion of the copyright to the movie (the film was copyrighted by both ITC and Wrather Productions, the latter of which is now part of Universal/[=DreamWorks=]) and still collects royalties for any release of the film.

* [[YouLookFamiliar You Sound Familiar]]: Before taking over for Earle Graser, Brace Beemer served as the show's announcer. He also played the Ranger in public appearances, as his 6-foot-3 and thin frame and expert horse riding and marksman skills made him feel more like the Ranger than the shorter, chubbier Graser, who had never ridden horses and had only shot a pistol once in his life. The horse who played Silver in these events really belonged to him, and was in a stable near his house when Beemer died. He was 27 years old, and Mrs. Beemer [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming took care of him for the rest of his life]].

* BoxOfficeBomb: With a production budget of $225 million ($400 million including marketing), the film needed to earn ''over $800 million worldwide'' to break even. Instead, ''Ranger'' got blown out by ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe2'', the former earning only $48.9 million in its first five days (compared to about $143 million for ''Despicable''), ultimately pulling in around $260 million. This movie has not only surpassed ''Film/JohnCarter'' as Disney's most humiliating flop, it is in the top ten (adjusted for inflation) biggest box office bombs in movie history.

** The two ''Lone Ranger'' film of the 1950's, the first titled simply ''The Lone Ranger'' and the sequel titled ''The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold'', were originally distributed by Creator/WarnerBros and Creator/UnitedArtists, respectively, but their rights later reverted to Wrather Productions. Universal (through [=DreamWorks=]) now owns and distributes the films.