Spidersecu
Don't Believe the Hype
Robert Joyner
The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one
Lachlan Coulson
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
JLRVancouver
"Deadly Companions" is an early western directed by the legendary Sam Peckinpah. Brian Keith plays a former Union soldier who has taken up with a grizzled old Reb (Chill Wills) and a young gunsel (Steve Cochran), ostensibly to rob a bank. A shootout occurs when someone else hits the bank, during which Keith's character misses his target and kills a young boy. When the boy's mother (Maureen O'Hara) announces that she is going to transport the body to a cemetery in an abandoned town in the middle of Apache country, Keith's character decides to accompany her as a form of atonement. The movie starts out strongly, establishing Keith's and O'Hara's characters and setting up the 'road trip' to the cemetery, but falters somewhat as the group trek through the desert. The conclusion is good, albeit it somewhat predictable, and more 'realistic' than the typical Westerns climax. Although far from Peckinpah's best work, the film presages his masterpiece "The Wild Bunch", particularly in Keith's partially disabled veteran, the realistic gunplay, the suddenness of death, and the general melancholy of the story. All in all, a bit uneven but the good outweighs the bad (IMO), making this a watchable film from the man who, over the next decade, would direct some of the best Westerns ever made.
Uriah43
After accidentally killing the son of a dance-hall woman named "Kit Tildon" (Maureen O'Hara) a former union soldier known only as "Yellowleg" (Brian Keith) decides to escort Kit (along with the body of the young boy) to another small town in Arizona so that the boy can be buried next to the grave of his father. Unfortunately, this small town happens to lie in the path of warring Apaches. To further complicate matters Kit doesn't want Yellowleg coming along and Yellowleg insists that his two companions named "Billy Keplinger" (Steve Cochran) and "Turk" (Chill Wills) accompany him. Billy complies because he wants Kit in the worst possible way and Turk simply agrees to go because of Billy. What Turk doesn't realize is that Yellowleg wants to enact vengeance upon him for something that happened 5 years earlier. Anyway, rather than reveal the rest of the story and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was an interesting western with an equally interesting plot. Certainly not great by any means but interesting just the same. As far as the acting was concerned I thought everyone did an adequate job with the rather odd scripts they were given. Slightly above average.
MartinHafer
When you watch "The Deadly Companions", you'd be hard pressed to realize it was a Sam Peckinpah directed film unless you knew it. While it does bear some similarity in style to "Ride the High Country" and "Major Dundee", it lacks the excessive violence most people associate with Peckinpah today. It is far quieter and subtle than a typical Peckinpah films, that's for sure.The film begins with three low-lifes traveling together. This is by far the weakest part of the film, as the three really are way too disparate characters to be together. While Yellowleg (Brian Keith) acts mean, he's decent down deep and why he's with two scum-bags is a perplexing thing. Soon, there is a bank robbery in town and in the the process, a fallen woman's (Maureen O'Hara) son is killed by Yellowleg. Of course, it was an accident--he was trying to stop the robbery. And, the fallen lady really is NOT bad--the townsfolk just assumed the worst about her and her son since they didn't care to know he died before the child was born and before the lady came to town. Because the town treated her so badly, the lady vows never to bury her child in this crappy town but sets off across Indian territory to a town where she and her husband married. It's an insane trip and Yellowleg vows to accompany her--even though she hates him and refuses his help. Unfortunately, his two associates follow as well and you know sooner or later, it's them or Yellowleg.This is a decent film--not great. I liked the character study and quiet moments in the film, though a few plot points simply were confusing and made little sense (such as the identity of the man Yellowleg was pursuing for all those years). Still, the good far outweighs the bad and it's worth seeing.
dougdoepke
The beginning scenes in town made me think this would be first-rate Peckinpah. A demented Turk (Wills) balances atop an unsteady barrel while he hangs by a noose from the ceiling. All the time, the rest of the barroom plays cards. That strikes me as pure Peckinpah and it's a heckuv an audience hook. And soon after, flawed hero Yellowleg (Keith), mistakenly shoots a boy, an unconventional twist typical of Peckinpah's sense of irony. Then there's the church service in the barroom where our three roughnecks look on in curious discomfort. Now I don't know if Peckinpah originated these unorthodox episodes, but he definitely got them on screen. But once Yellowleg and Kit (O"Hara) leave town with the boy's body, the pace and inventiveness come to an unhappy halt. I understand that the ad-hoc production company interfered with the final cut, which may be the reason the second part dissipates. But it was also a low-budget production, causing me to think they may have improvised events along the trail. Certainly there's little costly dialog, plus Yellowleg's dubious raid on the Indian camp would have trouble withstanding serious second thoughts. Then too, the mercurial Peckinpah is not the most appropriate personality to work with a diva like O'Hara, especially when her brother is the producer. In short, I don't blame the director of the Wild Bunch (1969) for generally dismissing this as his first film. It's flawed in ways that would not be repeated.(In passing—for fans of Peckinpah, be sure to catch up with his brilliant but little-known TV series The Westerner (1960), starring the always low-key Brian Keith as an itinerant cowboy. It was clearly too unconventional to last beyond its 13 weeks. Now it can be seen as unfortunately ahead of its time. I caught up with it on The Western Channel.)
