Tennessee's Partner

"Tennessee's Partner" has a considerably different plot and variety of characters than a typical Western film. I don't recall having seen it as a youngster in the theater, or ever seeing it on late night TV movie broadcasts. It has a good cast of actors for the day. John Payne ("Miracle on 34th Street") had top billing with Ronald Reagan and Rhonda Fleming in major roles and a cast of well-known supporting actors of the day - Anthony Caruso, Morris Ankrum, Leo Gordon and Coleen Gray.

The story is set in the gold rush foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in northern California. But the plot varies from the usual frontier town with bawdy bars and wild goings on. The area already has taken on a start of respectability, even with the ladies' establishment with its hostesses, drinks and fine eats, as well as gambling tables. Indeed, one wonders how many places in those days had poker games with $5,000 bets and raises.

But the film has a fair share of fighting and shooting as well. It's something of a strange film about friendship. Here are some favorite lines from the movie.

Tennessee, "I don't have any friends." Cowpoke, "Well, that's somethin' you don't know until the time comes. Then you find out."

Cowpoke, "What's wrong with women?" Tennessee, "They act like women." Cowpoke, "Now, that's one thing I've always liked about 'em."

Cowpoke, "A man can take about anything. Except being made a bigger fool than he already is."

Tennessee's Partner is directed by Allan Dwan and collectively adapted to screenplay by Milton Krims, D.D. Beauchamp, Teddi Sherman and Graham Baker from a short story written by Bret Harte. It stars John Payne, Rhonda Fleming, Ronald Reagan and Coleen Gray. Music is by Louis Forbes and cinematography by John Alton.

We are in a gold mining town in California and Tennessee (Payne) is an excellent poker player operating out of Elizabeth 'Duchess' Farnham's (Fleming) bordello. But when you are so good at cards you make enemies fast and Tennessee is only saved from being killed by the intervention of a stranger named Cowpoke (Reagan). The two men quickly become friends, but that friendship is sorely tested when Cowpoke's intended bride to be turns out to be a no good gold digger whom Tennessee knows well.

Producer Benedict Bogeaus once again assembles the principals that made the excellent Silver Lode the previous year. Dwann directs Payne while Alton photographs and Forbes drips his Western flavoured music over the top of things. Although this is not in the same league as Silver Lode, it's a hugely enjoyable movie in spite of adhering to a formula so rife in B Westerns of the 50s. The plot has enough going for it to keep it from ever feeling lazy, at its heart is a friendship under pressure from matters of the heart, but there is also gold in them thar hills, and with that also comes greed and irrational behaviour. With all hostile roads leading to Payne's gambling anti-hero.

The friendship between Tennessee and Cowpoke is very engaging. Tennessee has no friends, his line of work and his womanising ways have ensured that is the case, but Cowpoke is an amiable fella who only judges what he sees at first hand, and Tennesse welcomes this with open arms. But Cowpoke is gullible as well, especially where viper in the nest Goldie (Gray) is concerned. With Payne making Tennessee calm and slick, and Dwan able to get a very human aw-shucks performance out of Reagan for Cowpoke, they are interesting polar opposites, but still it's very easy for the audience to care what happens to them. While Fleming's Duchess is beautiful and brainy, and she's the glue holding firm while the town comes apart.

The French Region 2 DVD is not a perfect print, but it has transfered well enough to see the benefit of having John Alton on photography. Filmed out of Iverson Ranch, the film barely sets foot out of the confines of the town, so this is all about close character filming and sumptuous Technicolor lenses, and here Alton excels. The costuming (Gwen Wakeling) is first rate, especially for Fleming, who gets to don a number of knockout dresses, with a red one eye poppingly gorgeous, and the set design for the bordello/gambling den is wonderfully ornate. So with a good blend of quality aesthetics and weighty plotting, Tennessee's Partner easily shakes of its "B" budget beginnings to become a safe recommendation to the Western lover. 7.5/10

Alan Dwan does a good job of directing, glorious color photography by John Alton and editing by James Leicester, and a twisty script, all further buoyed up by strong acting from Payne, Reagan, Fleming, Gray and Leo Gordon as sheriff.

The friendship between the two male leads is particularly convincing.

Certainly deserves watching - and not just once! 7/10.

There's a lot of eye candy in Tennessee's Partner, with John Payne, Rhonda Fleming, and Ronald Reagan. John is well cast as the tall, powerful, cowboy who rules the roost. No one dares to cross him, until someone does. Up against a barrel, his life is only spared by a visitor in town, Ronnie. There's an understandably instant friendship, but they do disagree on one thing: romance. John has kept Rhonda at bay for years, and Ronnie is anxious to marry his sweetheart as soon as he can. Ronnie suggests to John that he get also married, to which John balks: "You'd have to marry a woman!" It's very funny and has a totally different meaning today; but in 1955, all he meant was that he liked his bachelor lifestyle and didn't want to have to alter it for a woman's habits and tastes.

This is not a very spectacular western, but if you like the cast you can try it. Rhonda's character is pretty funny; instead of being a madam of a group of saloon girls, she's the "mother" to a group of virtuous girls who are looking for husbands. It's the height of the gold rush, and the women hope to stake their claims on men who have staked theirs. Will Rhonda wear John down and get a ring on her finger? Will someone finally topple John from his pedestal? Will anything destroy the friendship and loyalty Ronnie feels for his hero? All mediocre questions, and you can find all the answers in this mediocre movie.

Tennessee's Partner is very loosely based on a Bret Harte story. The story takes place in a gold mining town in California where gambler John Payne finds it easier to make money at the poker table than digging for gold. Payne's who's name is Tennessee is probably no better than he ought to be, but the place is full of rough characters.

One of them is Anthony Caruso, another gambler who's got a bad case of jealousy. He eggs on another poker loser to bushwhack Payne, But a stranger riding into town played by Ronald Reagan saves Payne. He's simply known as Cowpoke. And he becomes Tennessee's partner.

Reagan is in town to marry Coleen Gray who's name Goldie implies what she's really after. Payne's known her in the past and knows what Gray is all about. He romances her again and leaves her on a boat to San Francisco.

Of course that's bitter medicine for Reagan and it puts a strain on the partnership.

Payne has another partner in town, Rhonda Fleming who's the local madam. They're partners in a combination bordello/gambling establishment. Payne takes the customer's money downstairs at the poker table and Fleming's girls do the same upstairs.

This marked the fourth film during the Fifties that Ronald Reagan and Rhonda Fleming appeared together in. They were good friends professionally and politically. Ms. Fleming's politics were quite compatible with the 40th president of the United States.

Tennessee's Partner is a nicely crafted B western and good entertainment even if we never do learn the real names of both Tennessee and Cowpoke.