The Deadly Companions

The Deadly Companions (1961)

ALONE... IN AN UNTAMED LAND -- WITH THREE MEN WHO FORCED THEIR WAY INTO HER LIFE!

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

Date of release
1961-06-06
TMDB
5.6 / 10 (72)
Runtime
1h 33m
Genres
Western
Director
Sam Peckinpah

Casting

Interesting facts

The Deadly Companions is a 1961 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah, in his feature directorial debut. It stars Maureen O'Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran, and Chill Wills. Based on the 1960 novel Yellowleg by Sid Fleischman, the film is about an ex-Union 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.

Production

The Deadly Companions was born out of the end of Peckinpah's television series The Westerner. After the series was cancelled due to low ratings in late 1960, its star Brian Keith was cast as the male lead in The Deadly Companions. He suggested Peckinpah as the director, and producer Charles B. Fitzsimons accepted the idea. Fitzsimons was the younger brother of actress Maureen O'Hara.

By most accounts, the low-budget film 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. 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".

Filming took in Arizona, on-location and at Old Tucson Studios.

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