The Deadly Companions (1961)

Synopsis: Maureen O’Hara and Brian Keith bicker with each other in this 1961 classic…no, that’s the Synopsis for The Parent Trap. Um… Mysterious dude searches for the man who wronged him years earlier…no, that’s Angel Heart. Um… Grizzled tough guy and respectable, yet hot-tempered lady venture into dangerous territory…no, that’s Rooster Cogburn. 

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “Sam Peckinpah established himself as master of the Western genre with The Deadly Companions, his first film.”

What Did I Learn?: There’s a very good chance that if you carve up a man’s forehead with a Bowie knife without finishing him off, he may seek you out for some payback. 

You Might Like This Movie If: You would gladly accept Brian Keith's assistance in a tough situation. 

Really?: 1) See: “Synopsis.” Seriously, Yellowleg (Keith) mistakenly kills Kit’s (O’Hara) son, and he follows her to Siringo even though she clearly doesn’t want his help? I don’t think that would happen. 2) I hate to sound gruesome, but I imagine the corpse they’re transporting would smell pretty bad after a couple of days of travelling through the desert, and common sense (burying the kid along the trail and then high-tailing it to the nearest town, ASAP) would ultimately prevail. 3) Wait - Turk (Chill Wills) doesn’t remember the man whose face he carved up a few years earlier, even though the man is wearing the remnants of a (Union) Civil War uniform, and Turk was such a Southern partisan that he still dreams of creating his state based on “Indian slave labour?” And ok, I realize Turk and Billy are interested in Yellowleg’s talk of robbing a bank, but I can’t imagine why they feel compelled to accept him as the leader of their group, or follow him when he tries to assist Kit. 

Rating: I understand that neither O’Hara nor Peckinpah were all that fond of The Deadly Companions (or each other, for that matter), and I can see why - it’s a somewhat compelling Western that’s marred by a terrible musical score, and a narrative that becomes increasingly difficult to take seriously as Yellowleg and Kit make their way to Siringo. 6/10 stars. 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054795/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0