Pardners (1956)
7/10
One of the boys' better efforts
1 July 2013
Warning: Spoilers
This Martin & Lewis film is beautiful in full-color Vista-Vision! It's set in the Old West, where Dean is managing a ranch and Jerry wants to be a cowboy...like their fathers, who were pals in the Old West at the same ranch. Of course, in the old days and the new days there's a villain attempting to take over the ranch, and it's up to the boys to save the day.

Dean has several great songs here. "The Wind! The Wind!" is probably one of his best recordings during the Capitol years, and "Me 'n You 'n the Moon" is a very nice up-temp love song. For Jerry there's "Buckskin Beauty", and for the boys together there's the title song...which is very nice, though ironic since this film was playing in theaters just about the time the duo had split up. By the way, the songs were composed by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy VanHeusen.

I found Jerry a little more tolerable here...the screechy voice mostly gone...a bit more mature acting (mature?). Dean was very laid back and fit the role. In terms of supporting actors, Agnes Moorehead is good as Jerry's mother, and Lori Nelson fine as Dean's love interest (though this is not big speaking part). There are a number of familiar faces among the cowboys -- Jeff Morrow, Lon Chaney, Jr., Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam, and Bob Steele.

Incidentally, if you have a chance to watch "The Caddy" and "Pardners" in succession -- which I did yesterday and today -- wow, what a difference in Dean's body language and facial expressions. In the earlier film, there's a look that sort of says, "I'm having fun". You don't see that in "Pardners".

All in all, a rather pleasant effort, and in my view one of the better of the Martin & Lewis pics.
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