The Legend of the Lone Ranger (lost original Klinton Spilsbury audio of western film; 1980-1981)

Theatrical poster for the film.

Status: Lost

The Legend of the Lone Ranger is an American western film that was released on May 22nd, 1981, that was directed by William Franker and produced by Jack Wrather and stars prominent actors such as Michael Horse, Jason Robards, and Cristopher Lloyd with newcomer Klinton Spilsbury as the main role who will portraying John Reid (more predominantly known by his moniker, The Lone Ranger). The film was based on the known story of The Lone Ranger who first appeared in American media in 1933 and had a hit televesion series adaptation of it in ABC from 1949 to 1957 that stars Clayton Moore as the titular "Lone Ranger".

The film recieved critical and commercial failure at the box office due to production issues and boycotting over the film due to lawsuits happening around the "Lone Ranger" character. It was also known that the lead actor for the film, Klinton Spilsbury, had all of his lines re-dubbed by a different actor due to Spilsbury's delivery and tone for his lines being "wrong" and the crew behind the film being unhappy on Spilsbury's delivery. Therefore, his lines were later re-dubbed by a different actor named James Keach and all of the original audio for Spilsbury were entirely cut and has not been released to the public.

The Lone Ranger Lawsuit

One major issue around the film that led to its failure was not due to the production itself, but producer Jack Wrather's lawsuit against Clayton Moore (the actor for the the hit ABC television series, The Lone Ranger) for him to refrain to wear and portray the "Lone Ranger" character in public. This is due to Wrather having bought the rights to the character in 1954 and Universal Pictures felt that the "Lone Ranger" film that they were going to produce (which was "The Legend of the Lone Ranger") needed a new take and prevent the fans to expect the elderly Moore portraying the "Lone Ranger" over and over again.

In 1979, Moore then lost the legal case to the "Lone Ranger" character, which had caused thousands of support for Moore and thousands of outrage against Wrather which had caused audiences to boycott the film Wrather was producing due to spite for Wrather, which caused the film to fail

Spilsbury's Casting and Behaviour

In pre-production of the film, the lead role for the film after various options was given to an unknown newcomer named Klinton Spilsbury. Before this, Spilsbury was only known to have minor acting roles prior to the film. Due to his charming looks, many had believed that Spilsbury was born to play a Western lead role, an in Andy Warhol's words when Warhol met Spilsbury in 1980, Spilsbury's looks was "a cross between Warren Beatty and Clint Eastwood". However some people were not that amused of Spilsbury, such as casting director Mike Fenton who states that "Hello? Who cares how he looks in the mask!? You can make somebody into a hero, but you can’t teach him to act.".

The film started shooting in 1980 and is reported to have been shot in multiple locations such as Monument Valley in Utah, Valley of Fire in New York, and Santa Fe in New Mexico.

Reports by the cast and crew noted that Spilsbury was difficult to work with, as he had been causing troubles and fights in the set. Cristopher Lloyd, his co-star, narrates that:

"I don’t know whether it was an affectation that he chose to bring with him, or whether he sincerely felt that that’s what was called for. And this was a problem from beginning to end. He did things that simply hindered the production..".

Don Safran, the publicist for the production unit for the film, recalls that:

"He didn’t respond to his director very well. He would come to my office all the time, complaining about how Bill Fraker was trying to ruin him as an actor. He said he knew what he wanted to do and they just wouldn’t let him do it. I didn’t want to tell him, ‘Well, Klinton, this is your first time acting. You can’t possibly know what you want to do.".

Lastly, John Crosby, Spilsbury's agent from that time, recalls that Spilsbury was his own person and never listened to anyone but himself. Although Walter Coblenz, another producer for the film, may have thought that Spilsbury may have just been scared and anxious with the burden of resting the lead role onto him while working with prolific actors such as Cristopher Lloyd and cinematographer and director William Fraker due to Fraker's acclaimed filmography.

Change of Voice

The crew later realized that while Spilsbury looked great in his scenes, the delivery of his lines was a bit "off". DGA assistant director, Jim Van Wyck, states that: "You just never believed what he was saying because he memorized the lines but he had never internalized them; It was like he was reading the script, but the intonations were wrong.". After scrutiny and concerns about Spilsbury's delivery, the producers chose not to reshoot or recast Spilsbury but to re-dub his entire dialogue for the film. The actor who dubbed Spilsbury's lines, actor James Keach, had been paid for the voice role but remained undisclosed and uncredited for the film. While it was never revealed by the crew and staff that Keach had dubbed Spilsbury's dialogue, it was reported that most people in Hollywood knew of Keach's voice work on Spilsbury's dialogue.

Aftermath & Availability

The reception of the film was a critical and commercial failure, grossing over $12,000,000 dollars over its $18,000,000 budget, most of which were due to the boycotting of the audience beforehand.

Shortly after a few years, in 1985, after Jack Wrather's death, a thumbs-up was permitted to Clayton Moore to which he was eventually allowed to play and portray the character "Lone Ranger" in public despite a 5-year omission for him to not play as the character.

As of January 2024, Klinton Spilsbury's original audio has never been revealed nor shown in public. Additionally, Fraker and Spilsbury never worked in the film industry ever again, with Fraker having "The Legend of the Lone Ranger" being his last film before his death, and Spilsbury's only acting role in film.

External Links

• Wikipedia page for The Legend of the Lone Ranger