Le mariage est pour demain

John Payne plays Tennessee, a very successful gambler in the old west. It seems he's made some enemies and one of them tries to have him shot in the back. Fortunately for Tennessee, 'Cowpoke' (Ronal Reagan) is in town and sees the murder about to occur...and he intervenes. The two soon become friends. However, Tennessee can't believe Cowpoke is going to marry Goldie, as she's a cold-hearted money grubber and prostitute. But his new friend will hear none of it, so Tennessee decides to expose her for what she is by offering to marry her instead and take her to San Francisco...where he promptly dumps her. Naturally Cowpoke is angry. What will this do to their friendship? And how does Duchess (Rhonda Fleming) fit into all this? And why is there a lynch mob trying to hang them later in the movie?

Overall, this is a modest little western. Not great by any standard but it's different enough to make it worth your time.

Nice but unexceptional Western adapted from a story by Bret Harte and script from Milton Krims and Beauchamp .Featuring Ronald Reagan as a stranger who steps into the middle of a fight between gamblers and ends up befriending one : John Payne . The latter is a card player who gets turned around by Reagan . Along the way , Payne romances Elizabeth Farnham : Rhonda Fleming who is keeper of a peculiar boarding house called Marriage Market that is inhabited by young ladies : all able to Cook all desirous of finding decent husbands ( no others need apply). When rhe West was a shameless young Hussy !. All the guts and gusto of the West .. as it really was !

A good little drama with thrills , loves stories , emotion , crossfire and better than the title suggests . Displaying colorful cinematography by John Alton, as well as thrilling musical score by Louis Forbes . Fine acting from John Payne and Ronald Reagan , in fact , this is one of Payne's best characters . While Ronald Reagan is pretty well as the cowboy who intervenes in an argument and becomes Payne's pal . Both of whom well accompanied by two gorgeous girls : Rhonda Fleming and Coleen Gray . Along with a notorious plethora of secondaries such as : Anthony Caruso , Morris Ankrum, Leo Gordon , Fred Aldrich , uncredited Angie Dickinson and Chubby Johnson . It results in an agreeable buddy movie in which two friends develp a kind , likeable friendship .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Allan Dwan . He was a prolific filmmaker who made all kinds of genres , directing acceptable films , outstanding the following ones : "Three Musketeers" , "The Iron Mask" , "Heidi" , "Sands of Iwo Jima" , "Pearl of South Pacific" , "Brewster's Millions" , "Enchanted Island" , "Gorila" , "Escape to Burma" and the Westerns : "Cattle Queen Montana" , "Passion", "Montana Belle" , "The Restless Breed" , and "Tennesse's Partner" . Rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable Western.

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.

The come on for this film was the boast that the West was like this film. I somehow do not believe that, but this is pure Hollywood at its best and its worst. Allan Dwan has a reputation among film buffs and clearly he directs well, but the plot is mainly set in a house for girls who want to get the best out of men. Rhonda Fleming looks her beautiful self and her acting is not bad either. Gamblers congregate there including John Payne who doesn't seem to like women very much in this role. His partner is someone who got him out of a dodgy situation, and that is Ronald Reagan who in my opinion cannot really act. Coleen Gray is bland as Reagan's love interest, and of course she is no good. This foursome play out the fantasy of the West and no doubt many lapped it up. A film for those who want to see glamour and a little violence and no one has a speck of dirt on them.

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.