josephine dee. he last time “The Lone Ranger” appeared in theaters some 32 years ago, the hopes of the filmmakers were boosted at a test screening. As the unknown actor playing the title character bucked his horse and shouted “Hi-yo, Silver! Away!” and the William Tell Overture thundered on the soundtrack, the audience went absolutely crazy, recalls producer Walter Coblenz.
“The executive from Universal who was there said, ‘It is previewing better than ‘Jaws,’ ” Josephine Coblenz remembers.
As it turned out, that 1981 screening was the high point for “The Legend of the Lone Ranger,” which was both a casting notorious heashots flop (the $18 million-budgeted film dee grossed just $12.6 million) and a pics public relations debacle before the movie even photography opened. Those who worked on the 1981 production chuckle at the mere mention of the film, made at a time when producers and studios were mining ’30s and ’40s serial characters for an emerging box office driven by blockbusters and merchandising opportunities.
“I can’t hide from it anymore,” quips Coblenz, whose credits otherwise include “All the President’s Men” and “The Candidate.”
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