1960 film
The Deadly Companions
is a 1961 American
Western
and war film directed by
Sam Peckinpah
and starring
Maureen O'Hara
,
Brian Keith
,
Steve Cochran
, and
Chill Wills
. Based on the novel of the same name by A. S. Fleischman, the film is about an ex-army soldier who accidentally kills a woman's son, and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.
[2]
The Deadly Companions
was Sam Peckinpah's motion picture directorial debut.
[3]
Plot
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After her young son is killed in a
bank robbery
, the widowed dance-hall hostess Kit Tilden (
Maureen O'Hara
) is determined to bury him beside his father in Siringo, now deserted and located in
Apache
territory. Yellowleg (
Brian Keith
), the ex-army
Northern
sergeant who accidentally killed her son, decides to help take the body across the desert to be buried, whether Kit wants help or not. He forces the other two bank robbers ? Turk, a
Confederate
deserter; and Billy, a gunslinger ? to accompany them.
After Billy attacks Kit, Yellowleg throws him out of their camp. Turk then deserts. Yellowleg and Kit become closer during the journey to Siringo. After arriving at the long abandoned settlement, they discover that Turk and Billy have followed them, leading to a gunfight among the three men.
Cast
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Production
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Directorial debut
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After the cancellation of his 1960 television series
The Westerner
, Brian Keith was cast as the male lead in
The Deadly Companions
. He suggested Sam Peckinpah (the producer and director of
The Westerner
) as the director for this film, and producer
Charles B. Fitzsimons
accepted the idea. By most accounts, the low-budget film shot on location in
Arizona
was a learning process for Peckinpah. Unable to rewrite the screenplay or edit the picture, Peckinpah vowed to never again direct a film unless he had script control.
The Deadly Companions
passed largely without notice and is the least known of Peckinpah's films.
In her memoir
'Tis Herself
(2004), Maureen O'Hara complained about Peckinpah's behavior on-set, saying that he "didn't have a clue how to direct a movie" and was "one of the strangest and most objectionable people I had ever worked with".
[4]
Cast and crew
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Charles B. Fitzsimons (1924?2001), a former actor, was Maureen O'Hara's younger brother. In addition to his listing as producer, the film's opening credits indicate "song by
Marlin Skiles
& Charles B. Fitzsimons; sung by Maureen O'Hara" (the title of the song, which is heard through the entire length of the opening credits, is not specified). Another younger brother, Jim O'Hara (1927?1992), played the seventh-billed role of Cal (the family surname is Fitzsimons, also rendered as FitzSimons).
Leading man Brian Keith who was the star of Sam Peckinpah's 1960 TV series
The Westerner
, was also Maureen O'Hara's co-star in
The Parent Trap
which they completed immediately before
The Deadly Companions
and which premiered on June 12, 1961, six days after the
Tucson
premiere of
The Deadly Companions
. They re-teamed for one additional film, 1966's
The Rare Breed
, which top-billed
James Stewart
. Cinematographer
William H. Clothier
also worked on
The Rare Breed
as well as two other films with Maureen O'Hara, 1963's
McLintock!
and 1971's
Big Jake
, both starring
John Wayne
.
Filming locations
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See also
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References
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- Citations
- Further reading
- Bliss, Michael (1993).
Justified Lives: Morality and Narrative in the Films of Sam Peckinpah
. Southern Illinois University Press.
ISBN
978-0809318230
.
- Dukore, Bernard F. (1999).
Sam Peckinpah's Feature Films
. University of Illinois Press.
ISBN
978-0252024863
.
- Engel, Leonard, ed. (2003).
Sam Peckinpah's West: New Perspectives
. University of Utah Press.
ISBN
978-0874807721
.
- Evans, Max (1972).
Sam Peckinpah: Master of Violence
. Dakota Press.
ISBN
978-0882490113
.
- Fine, Marshall (1991).
Bloody Sam: The Life and Films of Sam Peckinpah
. Donald I. Fine.
ISBN
978-1556112362
.
- Hayes, Kevin J. (2008).
Sam Peckinpah: Interviews
. University Press of Mississippi.
ISBN
978-1934110638
.
- Seydor, Paul (1996).
Peckinpah: The Western Films, A Reconsideration
. University of Illinois Press.
ISBN
978-0252022685
.
- Simons, John L. (2011).
Peckinpah's Tragic Westerns: A Critical Study
. McFarland.
ISBN
978-0786461332
.
- Weddle, David (1994).
If They Move ... Kill 'Em! The Life and Times of Sam Peckipah
. Grove Press.
ISBN
978-0802115461
.
External links
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