Pardners

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Norman Taurog directs. Daniel L. Fapp behind the camera. Frank De Vol scores. Archie Marshek cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 188 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
• 270 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Italian.
• 4Directed by Norman Taurog, shot by Daniel L. Fapp. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 5Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 6Editor Archie Marshek shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 7Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and Lori Nelson carry the top of the cast.
• 8Marketing tagline: "You'll Ride With 'Em! Shoot With 'Em! Laugh With 'Em! In The Biggest Bestest Funniest Most Musical Western Yet!".
• 9IMDB entry: tt0049593 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 10Only 65 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography

Daniel L. Fapp

Original score

Frank De Vol

Editing

Archie Marshek

Costume design

Edith Head

Makeup / hair

Wally Westmore

Runtime

88 min · 1h 28m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

IMDB

Pardners (1956) ↗

Also by

Norman Taurog

• 
  Fifty Roads to Town

  1937 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Yankee Spirit

  1923 · ★ 9.0
• 
  Aladdin

  1922 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Andy's Stump Speech

  1924 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Honest Injun

  1926 · ★ 8.0
• 
  The Way to Love

  1933 · ★ 8.0

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis 'Pardners' 1956 theatrical trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2017-06-24
  ★ 7/10

  Almost a buckskin beauty. Pardners is the 15th of the 16 feature length pictures that Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis made together. It'a a reworking of the 1936 Bing Crosby film, Rhythm On The Range, which just like this remake was directed by Norman Taurog. Plot sees the comedy duo playing sons of one time wild west partners. Brought together by accident 25 years later, the boys head out west and get into all sorts of scrapes; with Jerry even becoming sheriff! It was inevitable that Martin & Lewis would end up out west playing cowboys since all the comedy duos do it. The timing here was perfect since the 50s was the most prolific decade for the genre. On the list of their collaborations Pardners probably sits some where in the middle, it's a safe mix of songs and buffoonery, with pretty girls represented by Jackie Loughery & Lori Nelson. It's a VistaVision/Technicolor production and songs featured are "Me 'n You 'n the Moon," "The Wind! The Wind!" "Buckskin Beauty" and "Pardners," (music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Sammy Cahn). Safe & colourful comedy fare for fans of the successful duo. 7/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• YO

  York Pictures Corporation

  US

Key crew

• ScreenstoryJerry Davis
• MusicFrank De Vol
• Second Assistant DirectorClem Jones
• Art DirectionHal Pereira
• Art DirectionRoland Anderson
• Second Unit Director of PhotographyW. Wallace Kelley
• Special EffectsJohn P. Fulton
• Set DecorationSam Comer
• Set DecorationRay Moyer
• Assistant DirectorMichael D. Moore
• Costume DesignEdith Head
• EditorArchie Marshek
• Makeup SupervisorWally Westmore
• Sound RecordistGene Merritt
• Sound RecordistGene Garvin
• ProducerPaul Jones
• SongsSammy Cahn
• SongsJimmy Van Heusen
• ChoreographerNick Castle

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• prize cow

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1956-08-01

Also known as

International titles

• Le trouillard du Far WestFR
• Wo Männer noch Männer sindDE