The Lone Ranger's Missing Virtue

Really? Did he think that throwing in the cute kid at the Wild West Exhibit would appeal to children and the villain who eats his victim's heart would appeal to the sadism in the rest of the audience? That's the very kind of miscalculation that arises from a lack of chastity. That's what went wrong. Cross those boundaries and treat them with disregard often enough, and both the shock and entertainment value ebbs away. What is left is the kind of boredom that comes from an artistic world that shouts, "nothing matters." Indeed it doesn't, not even enough to bother crossing the theater's threshold. 

Near the end of Disney's flop the Lone Ranger cries, "Hi-yo, Silver, away!"

Tonto cautions, "Don't do that again." 

Thankfully, he probably won't.