BA_Harrison 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).

gerdeen-1 The Lone Ranger and Tonto have a long, complex history on the screen, but Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels became forever identified with the roles thanks to the hugely popular "Lone Ranger" TV series, which ran from 1949 to 1957. That series inspired two full-length feature films, of which this is the second. A stretched-out version of a typical "Lone Ranger" episode would have been unbearably cornball, but this movie avoids that trap. Shot in color at some beautiful desert locations, it has a reasonably intelligent plot, plus action that's a bit more adult (i.e. violent) than in the TV series. It even has a theme: prejudice against American Indians.The story is about a series of killings of Indians by a gang known as the "Hooded Raiders." As in the TV series, the identities of the villains are clear to the audience fairly early, but in this movie their ultimate motive is not obvious at first. That allows the two heroes to do a bit of sleuthing, and the Lone Ranger gets a chance to doff his mask and don one of his trademark "disguises." (Even as a kid, I could see through these disguises easily, but the bad guys were always fooled.)Considering that this film was intended mostly for youngsters, its treatment of racial prejudice is pretty powerful for the 1950s. Two of the characters are especially interesting -- a bigoted lawman who abuses the people he's supposed to protect, and a doctor who conceals his partial Indian heritage in an attempt to "pass" as white. The Hooded Raiders are probably meant to suggest the Ku Klux Klan, though they don't really wear their hoods that much. (Their lax attitude toward their disguises strains credibility at times, but it's a forgivable flaw.)This is a better Western than I expected, and it's a fitting farewell for the Moore-Silverheels team. Though they later appeared in character for personal appearances and at least one commercial, this was the last time they played the Lone Ranger and Tonto in a real screen production.To cap it all off, "The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold" has two of the great Hollywood beauties of the 1950s: Noreen Nash, as a wealthy schemer, and Lisa Montell, as an Indian maiden. For a lot of dads who were dragged to the theater in the 1950s, the sight of these two ladies must have been a pleasant surprise.

Mike Newton 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.

Space_Mafune The Lone Ranger & Tonto set out to bring to justice a band of hooded raiders who have killed three Indians for what appears at first to be no apparent reason..that is until the Lone Ranger discovers from a conversation with the Indian Chief Tomache that each man possessed a medallion. The five medallions given by Tomache to his friends as gifts we later learn when combined will provide the mastermind behind the hooded raiders with a map to a legendary lost city of gold. Can the Lone Ranger protect the remaining two individuals in possession of the medallions before the hooded raiders get their hands on it? Is there really a lost city of gold somewhere upon native land? Watching this, I kept knowing what was going to happen beforehand and everything seemed really familiar until eventually I realized I had seen this exact same movie when I was but a little kid..suddenly the memories flooded back and I remembered having quite a fun time as a child enjoying this one with a bunch of my friends. As an adult though, the plot is somewhat predictable but you know this, while not quite in the same league as the 1956 film, remains a lot of fun to watch. Clayton Moore is perfect as the Lone Ranger and Jay Silverwheels as Tonto steals a lot of this movie as he's probably in more action scenes than even the Lone Ranger. There's some very familiar faces on hand here including Douglas Kennedy as Ross Brady, headman of the Hooded Raiders gang, Charles Watts as a bigoted Sheriff, and Ralph Moody as a kindly Padre.