Out West: more trouble for Tonto
Blame it on the curse of the kemo-sabe.
History has never been very kind to Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s famously beleaguered sidekick, and it looks like Western culture has come gunning for him once again.
What was supposed to have been one of the summer’s biggest movie blockbusters, The Lone Ranger, with Johnny Depp’s flamboyant Tonto subversively taking the leading role, has instead been declared one of the year’s biggest flops. Walt Disney last week predicted losses of almost $200 million on the film.
Cast and crew have complained critics had it in for the movie even before it was released. It is true the North American reviews have been scathing, but the reception wasn’t any warmer when the film opened in the U.K. this past weekend. The Daily Mail’s Christopher Tookey said he couldn’t really blame the leads for wearing a mask and face paint. “If I’d had anything to do with it I’d be wearing a balaclava and writing under an assumed name.”
Anyone who has followed Tonto’s controversial pop culture career won’t be terribly surprised that he’s being roughed up yet again. As the Lone Ranger’s loyal but subservient partner, the character of Tonto has long been a polarizing stereotype among Native Americans. Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto in the 1950s TV series, once drew laughs while recounting his employment history on an episode of Johnny Carson: “Worked 30 years as faithful sidekick for kemo-sabe. Hunt, fish, make food, sew clothes, sweep up, stay awake all night to listen for enemies for kemo-sabe. Risk life for kemo-sabe. Thirty lousy years.”
In one of his early standup routines, Bill Cosby rode the bitter joke a bit further, lamenting that every time the Lone Ranger would send Tonto to town, “the bandits would beat the snot out of him.”
Coming off another Folk Fest weekend here in Edmonton, it’s only fitting we give the final word to a singer-songwriter. Another notable Texan, Lyle Lovett, dedicated a sympathetic verse to Tonto in his song If I Had a Boat: “The mystery masked man was smart; he got himself a Tonto / ’Cause Tonto did the dirty work for free. / But Tonto he was smarter; and one day said kemosabe / Kiss my ass, I bought a boat, I’m going out to sea.”