Watch The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold For Free

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Let's be realistic.

I'll tell you why so serious

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Clayton Moore returns for one last big screen adventure as legendary vigilante The Lone Ranger, who attempts to uncover who is behind a series of murders and figure out why the villains are only interested in the medallions worn around the victims' necks.As a fan of The Lone Ranger, and of movies that feature long lost civilisations and legendary cities, I figured I couldn't really go wrong with The Lone Ranger and The Lost City of Gold; sadly, the film fails to live up to its promise, thanks to a weak script that gives our masked hero very little to do except to gallop from one location to another (accompanied by faithful sidekick Tonto, played by Jay Silverheels), occasionally taking time out to pose as a Southern gentlemen in order to fool femme fatale Frances Henderson (Noreen Nash) into revealing her plans. Meanwhile, respectable town physician Dr. James Rolfe (Dean Fredericks), who wears one of the much sought after medallions, struggles to choose between his job and his sweetheart, redskin Paviva (exotic beauty Lisa Montell).As for the fabled city of gold, it stays lost until the very end of the movie, when we are treated to a few seconds of a disappointing matte painting.5.5 out of 10, generously rounded up to 6 for the surprisingly nasty demise (for a family film) of Henderson's partner in crime Ross Brady (Douglas Kennedy).

Like "My Pal Trigger", "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold" is a kiddie Western far better than it has any right to be. It isn't as good as "Trigger" (which Roy Rogers said was his favorite among all his films), but "Lost City" won't (much) offend the taste of adults watching it. Indeed, they'll almost certainly enjoy the adult elements.It's far superior to the series, which was decidedly simple-minded and formulaic. Tonto is fully the Masked Man's equal, taking a major role in events. Indeed, the story is respectful to aboriginals, and makes explicit the hatred and violence they were subjected to.The biggest surprise comes when the town's doctor "comes out of the tepee" (sorry!) and reveals he's part Injun! The town's fat, vicious sheriff does not like that at all, and when Tonto speaks up in defense of the doctor, the loyal companion takes a bullet for his trouble.This is a surprisingly violent film, with the Masked Man (who normally shoots only to disarm) killing at least one bad'un. The chief villain is a woman (which presumably plays on little boys' hatred of girls). When it's time to do away with her no-longer-useful co-conspirator, she does it by throwing a largish tomahawk across the room! It imbeds itself in the guy's back, and he falls to the ground in front of the Masked Man. It's a delightfully gory (and Goreyish) moment one does not expect in a kiddie film.I'm a Herrmann/Goldsmith fan, so when I praise the outstanding score -- by Les Baxter -- you know I mean it. It's good even by the standards of A films, and largely sidesteps the clichés of B Westerns. And when Baxter needs something "primitive-exotic", he (naturally) steals from Stravinsky. Someone should arrange a concert suite of the best parts -- it's //that// good.Oh, they //do// find the Lost City of Gold, the Cibola of legend. It's not geologically plausible, but who cares?

Clayton Moore made his last cinematic appearance as the Masked Man in director Lesley Selander's epic adventure "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold," co-starring Jay Silverheels as his faithful Indian scout Tonto. Selander was an old hand at helming westerns during his 40 years in films and television with over a 100 westerns to his directorial credit. This fast-paced horse opera embraced a revisionist perspective in its depiction of Native Americans that had been gaining acceptance gradually since 1950 in Hollywood oaters after director Delmar Daves blazed the trail with the James Stewart western "Broken Arrow." Racial intolerance figures as the primary theme in the Robert Schaefer and Eric Freiwald screenplay. Having written 13 episodes of "The Lone Ranger" television series, Schaefer and Freiwald each were thoroughly familiar with the formula, but they raised the stakes for this theatrical outing. Our vigilante heroes ride to the rescue of Indians who are being murdered by hooded white hombres for no apparent reason. The mystery about the identities of these assassins and the reason behind their homicidal behavior is revealed fairly early so you don't have to guess what is happening.Although the violence in this Selander saga appears tame by contemporary standards, the fact that the Lone Ranger shoots a bad guy to kill in one scene rather than wound and that a dastardly dame slays a double-crossing accomplice by hurling a tomahawk that sinks into his back between his shoulder blades was pretty audacious. The television series never went to this length, and when the Lone Ranger wielded his six-gun, he shot the gun out of the villain's fist rather than blow him away. The other discrepancy here is the Indians lynch one of the raiders and torture him for information, but they are never brought up on charges for abducting this henchman. Douglas Kennedy didn't have the villainous statue of Lyle Bettger who menaced the Masked Man in director Stuart Heisler's "The Lone Ranger," but he acquits himself well enough as a cowardly outlaw who kills one of his own henchmen without a qualm when the miscreant threatens to divulge his name and the identities of his cronies to a band of vengeful Indians."The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold" opens with a recap of the masked protagonist's origins as an ambushed Texas Ranger and his transformation into the Lone Ranger with Tonto serving as his sidekick. This opening two minute refresher is an excellent way to get a series-oriented character off to a start so that everybody, including non-Lone Ranger fans, is on equal footing. The primary plot about a gang of ruthless white wearing hoods and called—not surprisingly—the Hooded Raiders begins with them killing Indians and stealing medallions worn around their necks. The Lone Ranger and Tonto arrive too late to intervene, but they find a baby hidden nearby. Taking the baby and the dead Indian, they ride to a nearby Spanish mission supervised by Padre Vincente Esteban (Ralph Moody of "The Outsider") and turn the infant and body over to him. Initially, the Padre has to assure an Indian maiden, Paviva (Lisa Montell of "Gaby"), that the masked man means them no harm and is their friend. Padre sends Tonto off to town to fetch the doctor, Dr. James Rolfe (Dean Fredericks of "Gun Fever"), and Tonto promptly runs into trouble in the form of the paunchy town lawman, Sheriff Oscar Matthison (Charles Watts of "Giant"), who abhors Indians. Tonto tries to see the doctor who is treating prisoners in the sheriff's jail and Matthison's men start to rough him up when Rolfe intervenes and rides back to the mission.Eventually, the Lone Ranger and Tonto are able to capture one of the Hooded Raiders, but an Indian Redbird (Maurice Jara of "Drum Beat"), and his fellow braves abduct the henchmen and take him back to their village. They stake him out and shoot arrows at him to loosen his tongue. Chief villain Ross Brady (Douglas Kennedy of "Hell's Crossroads") and his cohort William (Lane Bradford of "Devil's Canyon") ride out to the village and Brady uses his Winchester to kill his captured henchman. Little does Brady know that his henchman talked. The Lone Ranger and Tonto arrive not long afterward and reprimand Redbird for his perfidy. Redbird tells them what the man said before he died and the Lone Ranger decides to adopt a disguise so that he can learn more. He masquerades as a gentleman bounty hunter with a mustache and faux Southern accent.Despite its concise 83-minute running time, "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold" lacks neither excitement nor surprises. Selander keeps the action moving ahead at a full gallop. The dialogue is largely expository rather than memorable as Schaefer and Freiwald push the plot ahead more often than spring surprises, but there is one major surprise that ties in with the good Indian theme. There is also a scene where the Lone Ranger pushes his own credo about justice available for everybody under the law at a time when Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren had embarked on the high court's landmark decisions that recognized and mitigated against the conditions surrounding racial segregation, civil rights, separation of church and state, and police arrest procedure in the United States. One thing that differentiates "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold" from its predecessor is its epic scale with flashbacks to the age of the Spanish conquistadors with a slight bit of science fiction involved in the form of a destructive meteor. Generally, Lone Ranger stories confined themselves to the 19th century without dragging in European history. No, the Lone Ranger wasn't the first movie to deal with Spanish conquistadors. Robert D. Webb's "The Seven Cities of Gold" (1955) concerned the Spanish searching the southwest for the eponymous places, but Selander's western beat Gordon Douglas' "Gold of the Seven Saints" (1961) to the screen.

While I recall seeing the original Lone Ranger feature in 1956, I didn't see the second film, Lone Ranger and the City of Gold, until later on television. At the time of its release, I was in junior high school and had somewhat outgrown cowboy movies. However, when I did see it, I was astonished to see how violent it was as compared to the television version. First of all, you had Noreen Nash throwing a tomahawk into the back of Douglas Kennedy, who was running out on her. You may have seen that on television, but never on a show that featured a juvenile hero like the Lone Ranger. Also there is a scene, as depicted in the trailer on line, where the Lone Ranger turns and shoots a outlaw about ready to shoot him in the back. Ordinarily he (the Ranger) would have shot to wound, but not this time. The heavy takes a high dive off the roof. Tonto, although wounded, throws a knife right into the chest of an outlaw about to shoot the Ranger from ambush. It's true that the film helped to explain racial tolerance using a Indian doctor, posing as a white man, at a time when it would not have been feasible to take a stand against black and white relations, particularly since the film would have to be shown in the South. But these scenes of violence made one wonder where the censors were as far as protecting the image of the Lone Ranger. It was a very good film for its time and genre.