Partners (1932) Review - A Silly, Dusty Old B-Western That Is Actually Fun

If you have an hour to spare and a soft spot for dusty, old-school horse operas, Partners is a surprisingly decent watch. Modern action fans will hate it because the plot moves slower than a tired mule, but classic B-Western nerds will find a lot of comfort here. 🤠

The setup is as old as the hills. Tom Keene plays a rancher who gets framed for murdering his young partner's grandpappy.

Instead of waiting for a trial, he does the only logical thing: he breaks out of jail to find the real killer himself. Because of course he does.

Honestly, the best part of the whole thing is Tom Keene's smile. The man has this incredibly bright, shiny grin that he wears even when things are going terribly wrong.

His shirt is also impossibly white. Seriously, he escapes from a dirty jail cell and rides through the dust, yet his outfit looks like it just came from the dry cleaners. 🧼

The villain is played by Slim Whitaker, who has one of those great, sneaky faces from early cinema. You can tell he is evil just by the way he holds his teacup.

It is definitely not as grand or exciting as something like The Michigan Kid. The budget here was clearly about twelve dollars and a bag of apples.

There is this one scene where a horse in the background just stares directly at the camera for like two minutes. I felt a spiritual connection to that horse during some of the longer talking parts.

The sound is pretty rough too. It sounds like everyone is shouting their lines into a rusty tin can. 🎙️

But there is a short, sweet simplicity to it that I really enjoyed. It does not try to be anything more than a quick Saturday afternoon distraction.

If you like old westerns where the good guys wear white hats and the plot is resolved with a quick fistfight, give it a go. Just do not expect any mind-blowing twists.