Sam Peckinpah graduated from television to features with The Deadly Companions (1961). Straightjacketed by domineering star Maureen O'Hara, he struggles to inject grace notes into a routine Western.Yellowleg (Brian Keith) accidentally kills a young boy during a shootout in Hila City. The boy's mother, saloon madam Kit Tilden (Maureen O'Hara), plans to bury him at Siringo alongside his father. Yellowleg offers to transport Kit overland in penitence. The two overcome their initial antipathy while traveling through Apache territory, avoiding violent Indians and Yellowleg's treacherous partners, Turkey (Chill Wills) and Billy (Steve Cochran).
The Deadly Companions was Maureen O'Hara's show from conception. She tapped her brother Charles Fitzsimons to produce, tapped Parent Trap costar Brian Keith as leading man and even sung the title song! Keith suggested Peckinpah, for whom he'd worked on The Westerner, but O'Hara didn't take with Bloody Sam. Resisting his direction while overruling his creative decisions, O'Hara shot a promising Western in the foot.
It's a credit to Peckinpah that The Deadly Companions works at all. Writer A.S Fleischman (adapting his novel) provides a fair set-up, but meanders between disparate strands. The interesting villains - Turkey's a shambling megalomaniac who robs banks to recreate the Confederacy; Billy's a silky slimeball who tries raping Kit - drift in and out of the story, supplanted by cardboard Apaches. There's little narrative cohesion, forcing Companions to fall back on a predictable romance.
Peckinpah enjoyed outcast antiheroes, and Yellowleg's a nice example. A Union veteran who survived betrayal and scalping, his quest for vengeance conflicts with his guilt over Kit's son. It's further complicated by his maimed hand, which renders him nearly useless in a gunfight. Kit's established as a tougher version of Clare Trevor in Stagecoach, but her character arc seems flatter. The heroes initially spark but it's all killing time until they fall in love.
But Companions is entertaining enough. Helped by veteran photographer William Clothier, Peckinpah provides visual flair through gorgeous Arizona vistas and well-played action scenes. He already has an eye for bizarre imagery: the opening features Turkey hanging from the ceiling with cards pinned to his chest; another scene has Indians drunkenly reenacting a stagecoach robbery. But executive meddling sabotaged the ending, rendering a key character death near-incoherent.
Maureen O'Hara is a commanding screen presence, alternately haughty and tragic, overcoming her weak character. Brian Keith's taciturn toughness makes a nice foil. Chill Wills provides memorable scenery chewing but Steve Cochran's a one-note sleaze. Strother Martin makes an early appearance as an obnoxious priest.
Sam Peckinpah spent his entire career butting heads with obnoxious producers and domineering studios. If The Deadly Companions provided a rocky transition to film, it at least offered some hints of masterpieces to come.
