In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I wonder if director Pekinpah didn't find himself in a liminal state when he directed this first feature -- somewhere between the strictures of the television Western series like "The Rifleman" and the wildly expressive feature films that were to come.A trio of would-be bank robbers ride into an uptight little Western town and the leader, Brian Keith, shoots and kills Maureen O'Hara's little boy. O'Hara, despised as a "dance hall girl", is determined to see her boy buried with his father in a crumbling and deserted adobe village on the other side of Apache country. Out of guilt, Keith decides to accompany her, dragging his two reluctant, low-life compañeros along. One of them, Steve Cochran, dressed in black and accessorized in red and white, is a cocky gunslinger. The other, Chill Wills, in a bulky, ratty buffalo robe, is completely daft.Brian Keith is the leader and the hero but he smacks of the small screen. He's taciturn, determined, grim, dignified, decent. Just like Chuck Connors in "The Rifleman" or Marshal Dillon in "Gunsmoke." That's the pattern that Pekinpah was leaving behind. Other hallmarks appear briefly -- cruel children, a community ritual interrupted by hooligans, residual Civil War resentments.The Pekinpah that was to come is represented by Cochran and Wills. Cochran is a little treacherous, but Wills, having gotten his hands on that bank money, is determined to establish his own kingdom in Apache country, just like those Texas fellers at the Alamo or the Fredonian Rebellion. "I got me this general's cap to wear and we'll have lots of gold braid." He's entirely serious, just like the the Hammond brothers, who believe in polyandrous marriages, in "Ride the High Country." Keith can be an appealing actor but he's not given much to do except play the stereotype. And he's not a convincing drunk. Cochran is as slimy as he usually is, and Wills looks positively flea ridden, a big, shaggy, cheerfully lunatic dog. Maureen O'Hara -- whose brothers appear as producer and undertaker -- was forty and mostly miscast. She's all gussied up at the beginning as a whore, and looks not so hot. And for the first hour or so, her character is angry and bitter, and that's not Maureen O'Hara's shtick. She's marvelous when she plays herself, chipper, unpretentious, and no nonsense. Later, on the trail, she's dusty and disheveled. The war paint is gone. Her mature but fresh beauty is more evident and she gets to deploy an enthralling smile.Overall, the story has a lot of loose ends and meanders all over the place. It's pretty dull until the climax finally brings about some resolutions. When the duo are alone, buggylugging that coffin across the desert, the movie looks like a dramatization of someone preparing a Swanson's frozen dinner.

The Deadly Companions is directed by Sam Peckinpah and written by Albert Sidney Fleischman. It stars Brian Keith, Maureen O'Hara, Chill Wills and Steve Cochran. Music is by Marlin Skiles and cinematography by William H. Clothier. Plot finds Keith as an ex-army officer who accidentally kills the son of Kit Tildon (O'Hara) and tries to make amends by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.Historic in the context that it was Peckinpah's first feature film, The Deadly Companions has interesting themes of revenge, redemption and grief, all played out in a road movie formula. It's often pretty as well, as ace cinematographer Clothier photographs out of Old Tuscon, Arizona. Yet the trouble behind the scenes does show.Peckinpah, starting where he meant to go on, argued with producer Charles FitzSimons about Fleischman's script, the director constantly offering up rewritten passages to put zest and energy into a screenplay he felt was plodding. Keith was in agreement with his director, Clothier, too, was firmly on Peckinpah's side, even branding FitzSimons an idiot, while O'Hara naturally stayed loyal to her brother, one Charles FitzSimons! The film is often lifeless and silly, even reliant on too many convenient set-ups, dialogue is hackneyed and the musical score is infuriatingly intrusive. While the performances are in keeping with the sub-standard material they worked from. The director's cut turned in was tampered with by FitzSimons, leaving the film with an ending that quite frankly is bizarre. It has the odd fleeting moment of worth, mostly when Keith is reacting to Wills and Cochran, or with the small screen time afforded Strother Martin, but ultimately it's a damp squib, very much only half a Peckinpah movie and far removed from the original vision he had for the project. 4/10

Maureen O'Hara gloriously beautiful movie star and fine actress produced 'The Deadly Companions'. ( Know the credits claim Maureen's Brother produced the film but reading her book, one realizes Maureen O Hara is one "take charge" woman). Maureen O Hara had rejuvenated her career with a hit in Disney's 'The Parent Trap'. Ms. O'Hara hired Sam Peckinpah to direct and no matter what one thinks of a Peckinpah film it is never boring. "Deadly Companions" has some great camera setups and action scenes and Ms. O Hara does well as always; Professional. In her book 'Tis Herself' Maureen O Hara said she had a hard time dealing with the free wheeling Sam Peckinpah and it shows in this film. Some parts of the 'Deadly Companions' seem disjointed. (Sam Peckinpah would lose final cut on another Western Charlton Heston's 'Major Dundee' at Columbia because of his clashes with Columbia Pictures management, but in that case Mr. Heston was a supporter of Peckinpah's). If memory serves me correctly this film was not distributed all that well and was quickly forgotten. Only due to cable and the interest in works of Peckinpah ( and of O'Hara) has it been re discovered.'Deadly Companions' is the last film Maureen O Hara produced, however the great Irish-born star kept busy in movies as co star to John Wayne, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, Rosanno Brazzi and Jackie Gleason. Now retired, Maureen O Hara has a great body of work: 'Hunchback of Notre Dame', 'How Green Was My Valley', 'Miracle on 34th Street', 'The Parent Trap'. Maureen OHara's films with John Wayne, i.e a John Ford masterpiece 'The Quiet Man' and Andrew McLaglen's 'McClintock' are movie magic.

Yellowleg is a veteran Civil War Yankee officer.He saves the cheater Turk in a card game.Together with a gunslinger Billy Keplinger they ride to Gila City with a bank robbery in mind.There some bandits rob a store and Yellowleg accidentally kills the son of the cabaret dancer Kit Tilden.She has determined to bury her son in the Apache country Siringo, where her husband is buried.Yellowleg has determined to take her and her son there, even though she doesn't want his help.The Deadly Companions (1961) marks the directorial debut of Sam Peckinpah.This is also the least known of his movies.But it is a good movie nevertheless.I enjoyed watching the work of Maureen O'Hara, who turned 90 last month.Her role as Kit Tilden, the mother who has lost her child, is memorable.There's a lot of depth in Brian Keith's acting and his character Yellowleg.Steve Cochran is terrific as Billy.And so is Chill Wills as Turk.Strother Martin does great job as Parson.James O'Hara (Maureen's brother) plays Cal, General Store.Billy Vaughan is Mead Tilden Jr.One of the finest moments in this movie is when Yellowleg shows his scar under his hat, the scar he got when a man tried to scalp him during the war.Also a great moment is when the Apache soldier is causing some trouble.A good start for Sam Peckinpah.