Pardners

This is a great Martin and Lewis Comedy from 1956, which is the same year that they broke up as a Comedic Duo, and this film "Pardners," was the second to their last that was made. Jerry's father and Dean's father were the best of friends, and died together in the hopes of saving their land. And of course, the story picks up with the children fully grown and ready to go back get some justice in the western town in which they were both born. Dean has some great singing numbers in this film, and Jerry's special brand of physical comedy is very effective in a number of saloon fight scenes. A very entertaining comedy!

The plot is quite simple: Dean Martin is the rodeo riding, singing cowboy, and foreman of a ranch. Jerry Lewis is a rich kid who wants to become a real cowboy, and hence he becomes the clumsy (unwanted) sidekick of Dean Martin. Oh, and for good measure there's some bad guys trying to take over the ranch, as well...

If you expect "Cat Balou", don't watch this. This is no comedy for adults, as its slapstick humour is horrendously outdated, and the set-pieces are all too cliched. This movie is fun for kids, because it is so naive and harmless, and the violence is never serious. Also, the characters are just as simple as Stan and Ollie, just as loveable if you're a kid.

As adult, I'd recommend to grab a "Cat Balou" tape instead, for a good classic western comedy.

Martin and Lewis are seen as old men in the beginning of the film.They are these ranch partners who are brutally murdered.Their sons ought to revenge for their death.In 1910 their sons are fully grown men, at least Martin's character Slim Mosely Jr. is.Lewis' Wade Kingsley Jr. is a rich momma's boy.But together they head back for the old west where they meet a gang of outlaws called "masked raiders".Norman Taurog is the director and Sidney Sheldon is behind the screenplay of Pardners (1956).It's a western comedy that stars the comedy team Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.Actually this was the second last picture they made together before their break-up.The collaboration between them still works even though this isn't the best picture they did together.But still pretty funny.Just watch Jerry Lewis learn how to be a real cowboy.And how he's in the saloon acting tougher than he actually is.The rest of the cast does good job, too.Lori Nelson plays Carol Kingsley.Agnes Moorehead is Mrs.Matilda Kingsley.Jeff Morrow plays Pete Rio and John Baragrey is Dan/Sam Hollis.Lon Chaney Jr. is Whitey.Lee Van Cleef plays Gus while Jack Elam is Pete.I became an admirer of Jerry Lewis movies, with and without Dean 10 years ago.They showed all these great and funny movies during the summer that made me laugh.Lewis and Martin worked great together.Just like Laurel and Hardy did, or Hope and Crosby and the Marx brothers.What ever happened to great comedy teams?

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...

This is the second to last film starring Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis--and so the title does seem a bit ironic! The film begins with Dean and Jerry's fathers (played by them with powdered hair) dying in a shoot out with baddies. However, both men had sons. One was a capable and manly cowboy (Martin) and the other a pampered mama's boy (Lewis) and they grow up not knowing each other. However, when Martin meets with his old partner's widow (Agnes Moorehead) to try to get money for a prize bull, she refuses but her son (Lewis) decides to go west with Martin and learn to be a real he-man. Plus, his mother has plans for him that include marriage to an amazon--and he wants no part of it. The rest of the film consists of Jerry acting wimpy and very goofy (perhaps too much so at times) and Martin being exasperated but loyal to his new friend who makes everyone (including Jerry) think he's a lot more rugged and brave than he really is.

If you think about it, this plot is basically "That's My Boy" (an earlier and better Martin & Lewis film) all over again. The locale is different, but the rest is basically the same formula. It's a pleasant formula, but also shows lazy writing as well and the film could have benefited from more originality. Plus, in a few scenes Jerry really does ham it up too much (even more than normal) and there are just too many "ooooo, oooohs" and "whoo-oooaa" moments in the otherwise pleasant but unremarkable film. And, as a result of so much screen time for Jerry, Martin is mostly relegated to the background--and you can see how films like this ultimately pushed them to their dissolving their pardner-ship.

By the way, this film also bears a strong similarity to the Bob Hope films "The Paleface" and "Son of Paleface". See them all and you'll probably agree.