The Deadly Companions (1961)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Albert Sidney Fleischman (novel)
Albert Sidney Fleischman (writer)

Release Date:

16 March 1962 (Finland)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son, tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.

Plot Keywords:

Shootout | Dead Child | Young Boy | Beautiful Woman | Single Mother

Cast

Maureen O'Hara	...	Kit Tilden
Brian Keith	...	Yellowleg
Steve Cochran	...	Billy Keplinger
Chill Wills	...	Turk
Strother Martin	...	Parson
Will Wright	...	Doctor Acton
James O'Hara	...	Cal, General Store (as Jim O'Hara)
Peter O'Crotty	...	Mayor of Hila City
Billy Vaughan	...	Mead Tilden Jr.

Also Known As:

Trigger Happy (USA) (reissue title) (USA) (reissue title)
Deadly Companions (UK) (DVD title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (re-rated) | West Germany:16 | Denmark:16 | Finland:K-12 | USA:Approved (PCA #19933)

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Carousel Productions

Movie Connections:

Featured in Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004) (TV)

Essential Peckinpah

It's time this movie took its rightful place in Peckinpah's career. Some discussions of the director don't even mention it, and I suspect that's partly because of its relative unavailability. At least it needs to be seen before making generalizations about his treatment of women, as O'Hara's character is his only strong dramatic female character (echoed later by Stella Stevens' good-time gal in the whimsical Ballad of Cable Hogue). It also shows his gentle, lyrical side in a serious context, which is an important counterweight to the brutality he's famous for. And it might provide a point of entry for those who otherwise find his work off-putting.

I wonder if some of the negative comments here were based on poor video copies of the film. I just saw the new UK DVD release of a beautiful widescreen print, and it shows Peckinpah already a master of the 'scope frame (one example: the angles on Wills and Cochran on horseback following Keith and O'Hara pulling the coffin, casually insinuating the interplay of threat and vulnerability in the midst of the harsh landscape). His distinctively offbeat editing rhythms are evident from the first scene, but of course they would be mangled into gibberish in a pan-and-scan version.