Hell on the Border

Some have postulated that Bass Reeves was an inspiration for The Lone Ranger, the fictional (white) hero who was first created in the 1930s for a long-running radio serial and who continued via popular TV shows, movies, and comic books. This notion was largely promulgated by a single historian, Art T. Burton; in his Reeves biography "Black Gun, Silver Star," Burton wrote, "Bass Reeves is the closest real person to resemble the Lone Ranger" and listed a number of similarities between the real-life Reeves and the Lone Ranger character. However, many other historians have since argued that the similarities between them are too generalized and circumstantial to authoritatively state that the Lone Ranger was definitively based on Reeves. For example, a 2019 Texas Monthly article by Sean O'Neal says that Burton's argument rested on only a few similarities, but "it remains pure speculation; there's never been any conclusive evidence linking the two." O'Neal also argued that the insistence on a possibly spurious folk linkage between Reeves and the Lone Ranger also condescends to Reeves by "eclipsing" Reeves's real-life accomplishments with "the tall tales of an imaginary white man."

As Bass carries Ron Perlman out of the mud pool and hand can be seen feeding the horse to keep it standing still in the mud.

Referenced in A Captain's Log: Manu Intiraymi: Insights into Icheb and more as an actor and producer, Part 2 (2024)