Pardners

Pardners has Dean and Jerry playing dual roles. They are seen first as rugged cattlemen who meet a glorious (and funny) end fighting off raiders. Their wives rescue their infant sons and bring them up seperately, Slim (Dean) on the ranch and Wade (Jerry) on Park Avenue. Slim grows up a tall, daring cowpoke and Wade a socialite who yearns to be the man his father was.

When Wade finally rebels and joins Slim on the ranch, he unexpectedly gets his chance. The raiders are rampaging again and their undercover leader appoints Wade sheriff, figuring a tenderfoot will be no trouble to him.

He's disillusioned, however, as he bungles his way in and out of brawls, gun fights, bank robberies and dynamite plots ( a hilarious bit of business by both Dean and Jerry), managing with Slim's two-fisted help to come out on top each time.

Dean gets to sing some nice songs, including "Me n' you n' the moon" and "The Wind, The Wind". The title song, sung by both partners is memorable, in more ways than one, not only because it is a wonderful tune but also because everything they sang about, being partners, buddies and pals, all ended soon after.

The last scene in the movie has them both assuring audiences that they are planning on making many more movies together. Watching the movie today gives me a strange feeling knowing what the outcome was to be in the near future, although we must agree that breaking up was the best thing that could have happened because they both went on to bigger and better things. What would have happened if they had stayed together?

A Chickasaw Indian by the name of Rodd Redwing, reported that the fastest man on the draw among movie cowboys was Dean Martin. Redwing, who worked as technical advisor on Pardners said Dean could draw in just a shade over one-tenth of a second. Furthermore, Redwing insisted, Dean was a far better shot than the cowpoke of the Wild West. According to records, the wildest thing about the West was the marksmanship. The ordinary wrangler couldn't hit the Rocky Mountains at a hundred paces and in a showdown with a professional gunslinger he generally ended up in the cemetery.

Pardners also boasts the fact that the bad guys consist of some of Hollywood's classic snarlers including Jack Elam (who was shot clear off his horse by Charles Bronson at the beginning of Four For Texas), Lon Chaney, Jr. (of course known for his many horror movies, but also as Lenny in the movie Of Mice and Men), Lee Van Cleef (who went on to greater fame as The Bad in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), and Bob Steele (who was a regular on the TV series F-Troop...and also had the distinction of being the outlaw who Dean, as Dude in Rio Bravo, shoots the reins out of his hand as the outlaw band rides into town).

Sheet Music PARDNERS

The EP for PARDNERS has Dean and Jerry singing the songs from the film. Some of the words are changed from the movie versions.

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