The Deadly Companions

The Deadly Companions

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Produced by Charles B. Fitzsimons
Written by A. S. Fleischman from
his novel The Deadly Companions
Starring Maureen O'Hara
Brian Keith
Steve Cochran
Chill Wills
Music by Marlin Skiles
Cinematography William H. Clothier
Edited by Stanley E. Rabjohn
Leonard Kwit (assistant)
Production
company
A Carousel Production
Distributed by Pathé-America Inc.
Release dates
  • June 6, 1961 (1961-06-06)
Running time
 93 minutes
Country United States
Language English
The Deadly Companions

The Deadly Companions is a 1961 American Western 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 officer who accidentally kills a woman's son, and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.[1] The Deadly Companions was Sam Peckinpah's motion picture directorial debut.[2]

Plot

After her young son is killed in a bank robbery, 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 sergeant who accidentally killed her son, decides to help take the body across the desert to be buried, whether Kit wants help or not.

Cast
  • featuring Strother Martin as Parson
  • Will Wright as Doctor Acton
  • Jim O'Hara as Cal, General Store
  • Peter O'Crotty as Mayor of Hila City
  • Billy Vaughan as Mead Tildon Jr.

Production

Directorial debut

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.

Cast and crew

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 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

Turner Classic Movies showing

Turner Classic Movies presented The Deadly Companions on November 20, 2015 as part of its 24-hour "TCM Memorial Tribute to Maureen O'Hara" [who died on October 24], with commentary by host Robert Osborne. Shown earlier was 1939's Jamaica Inn and, following The Deadly Companions, the tribute continued with 1963's Spencer's Mountain and McLintock!, 1965's The Battle of the Villa Fiorita, 1971's Big Jake, 1957's The Wings of Eagles, 1939's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1952's The Quiet Man and At Sword's Point, 1947's Sinbad the Sailor and 1945's The Spanish Main.

Introduction for the majority of the films in the Maureen O'Hara tribute

"Hi, I'm Robert Osborne. Right now, we're setting aside our previously scheduled programming in order to pay tribute to one of the legendary stars from the so-called "Golden Era of Hollywood"… beautiful Maureen O'Hara, who died last month at her home in Boise, Idaho at the age of ninety-five. Over the course of her six decades as an actress, Maureen divided her time between living in her native Ireland, also a home in Hollywood and, later, a residence in the Virgin Islands where she ran a commuter seaplane service with her third husband, a former Air Force brigadier general. In all, Maureen O'Hara appeared in some sixty-five films and television projects with a wide range of co-stars that includes everybody from John Wayne and Henry Fonda, to James Stewart, John Candy and Macaulay Culkin. Her final acting role was in a made-for-TV movie in the year two thousand, after which she retired from acting, was rarely seen or written about for several years… not until the spring of two thousand and fourteen when she agreed to make an appearance at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. Her appearance at the festival caused a really big to-do. Film fans were thrilled to see her again and everybody was reminded of what this spirited and talented Irish lady with the flaming red hair had contributed to so many classic films. Among those who were also paying attention were members of Hollywood's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The result of that was that Maureen was presented, later in two thousand and fourteen, an Honorary Oscar for being, and I quote, "one of Hollywood's brightest stars whose inspiring performances flowed with passion, warmth and strength". Well, in her honor, we now bring you another example of her beauty… and her talent."

See also

References

Citations
  1. ↑ "The Deadly Companions". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Sam Peckinpah". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Locations for The Deadly Companions". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
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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