Pardners (1956)

A rich momma's boy returns west with the son of his murdered father's partner to foil a gang trying to gain control of his family ranch.

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

Sidney Sheldon (screenplay), Jerry Davis (screen story)

Stars:

Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lori Nelson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dean Martin	...	Slim Moseley Jr. / Slim Moseley Sr.
Jerry Lewis	...	Wade Kingsley Jr. / Wade Kingsley Sr.
Lori Nelson	...	Carol Kingsley
Jeff Morrow	...	Pete Rio
Jackie Loughery	...	Dolly Riley
John Baragrey	...	Dan Hollis / Sam Hollis
Agnes Moorehead	...	Mrs. Matilda Kingsley
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Whitey (as Lon Chaney)
Milton Frome	...	Hawkins, the Butler
Richard Aherne	...	Chauffeur
Lee Van Cleef	...	Gus
Stuart Randall	...	Carol's Cowhand
Scott Douglas	...	Salvin
Jack Elam	...	Pete
Bob Steele	...	Shorty

Storyline

Martin and Lewis are sons of former ranch partners. Lewis, raised by his millionaire mother, follows visiting Martin back to the old West to learn how to be a cowboy. The ranch where Martin is foreman is in financial trouble, and with Lewis's unorthodox help, the good guys win out.

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Plot Keywords:

singing | 1910s | slapstick comedy | cattle ranch | remake | 

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Taglines:

DEAN MARTIN AND JERRY LEWIS SHOOT THE WORKS with LAUGHTER...and bullets, ballads and beauties!

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Music | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Where Men Are Men?

Filming Locations:

Old Tucson, Arizona, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$7,920,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

York Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Perspecta Sound encoding) (Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Remake of the 1936 Bing Crosby/Martha Raye musical Rhythm on the Range.

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Goofs

Towards the end of the movie, the gun on the right side that Dean pulls out to shoot the "THE END" sign falls out as he and Jerry fall off the wagon, and magically Dean has his gun again.

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Quotes

Slim Mosely Jr.: [to Wade Jr] Wade Kingsley Junior? That's what they mean by a family skeleton, huh?

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Connections

Referenced in Martin and Lewis (2002)

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Soundtracks

The Wind! The Wind!
Music by Jimmy Van Heusen (as James Van Heusen)
Lyrics by Sammy Cahn
Sung by Dean Martin

User Reviews

Considering when this was released, Pardners was an ironic title for this Martin & Lewis picture

After years of just seeing parts of this Martin & Lewis movie, I finally watched the whole thing on YouTube. As you can discern from the title, Dean & Jerry are in the old west. First, as their fathers from the previous century. Then, as their sons with the mother of Lewis (Agnes Moorehead) raising him back in New York to marry some Amazon woman but that son will have none of it. I'll stop there and just say that while I enjoyed Pardners, I did feel that some of the plot points and characterizations seemed rushed in order to parody certain clichés. Still, Jerry's as funny as he can be doing what he does here and Dean seems quite comfortable in his first of many times he would wear cowboy duds. The leading ladies of Lori Nelson and Jackie Loughery sure look good and nothing more. The villains of Jeff Morrow and John Baragrey provide good enough menace. So on that note, I recommend Pardners. P.S. Despite the team mentioning at the end they plan to stay together in movies for years, by the time this was released in August of '56, they had already done their last performance in tandem the previous month. It would be 20 years before they would publicly reunite on Jerry's telethon with Frank Sinatra doing his bit...