The Deadly Companions

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Nick F Sam Peckinpah directed many fine films including one of the all-time great Westerns, The Wild Bunch. But this film, The Deadly Companions (1962), was his first in the director's chair and it shows he was still learning his craft. The storyline is fairly simple - army veteran Brian Keith and cohorts Steve Cochran and Chill Wills are down on their luck and decide to rob a bank. During the raid, a stray bullet from Keith's gun kills a small boy, whose mother (Maureen O'Hara) is a saloon girl. She wants her son to be buried alongside his dead father in a town in Apache territory and Keith agrees to escort her, and his hench-men tag along too. What follows is a a dangerous journey with the men falling out over the wisdom of the trip. Keith is a taciturn character of few words, Cochran a leering and dangerous gunman who wants O'Hara for himself. But there tends to be too much talking, too many facial close-ups and not enough action, at least until the fairly predictable ending. This is a solid but undistinguished Western, with little evidence of the directorial greatness which Sam Peckinpah would later reveal. Reviewed by NICK FLETCHER Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/27/25 Full Review Blu B Ummm it's ok I guess. Very forgettable. None of Sam P.'s trademarks are here besides it being a Western and the characters aren't exactly clean cut. The acting isn't bad. O'Hara is beautiful in this as always and everyone is giving effort but man Keith & O'Hara just don't really have any chemistry together and they end up being most of the runtime together. The accordion soundtrack is different but it just gets repetitive and ear draining eventually. It feels like once they go on the journey to bury the kid stuff just sort of happens. chased by Indians, seperated from the other two of the bunch, chased by more indians, and it just feels like filler. The pacing isn't that good because of it. There isn't much character in this that is worth caring about, none of Sam P.'s action is here and it's very limited action in general, and the direction is just ok. It's a Western adventure that doesn't stand out with any style, the characters despite being interesting at first glance just don't add up to much, and this just meanders throughout despite just being over 90 minutes. Nothing is that broken it just doesn't excel at anything or go anywhere. Skip This. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/12/25 Full Review Madam D Cast is pretty interesting, Peckinpah is the director (his 1st) & plot is a little better than some old westerns. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/06/25 Full Review Audience Member Brian, Keith in Maureen O’Hara Really did a good job in this one. It’s very good Wester highly recommend it James Welch, Henderson, Arkansas April 21, 2023. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/21/23 Full Review Martin B First rate movie with a terrific cast of accomplished actors. Suspence, twists and fixated on a place we heard so much about we had to see know what the big deal was. Sure it took an impossible set of circumstances and dogged determination beyond reason to get to the place they we seeking. And yes the ending also spectacularly fortunate for the good guys to deliver us a satisfying ending. But really that's what westerns are all about anyway right? Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Ian G Sam Peckinpah's debut in the director's chair, and it shows. Fromstart to its sorry finish, this thing is dire in every way that counts, Sometimes it helps to have the originating book's author write the screenplay, but if the book was his first book (Feels like a believable suggestion to me) then I'm guessing this was also his inaugural screenplay. It is truly terrible. And every other insulting word used for such purposes, consider them all applied here. Peckinpah should never have been put in charge of this, as his directorial skill as seen in The Wld Bunch is noticeable here, but only by its absence. The cast's leading members are tried and more than tested elsewhere, but I think they should have spoken up more than they seem to have done at some of the terrible continuity errors, the ridiculously extended pauses that kill all traces of flow of the laughable "plot", such as it is here. At a runtime of 103.5 minutes, it's way over time. Some merciless editing might shave off at least 10 minutes of what can only be said to be dead screen time, maybe more. This thing is so outright dreadful that I can't be bothered giving it any more of my time. Best to ignore the favourable reviews, god alone could understand what drove those people to like this pathetic picture, By my reckoning, watch something else. Watch ANYTHING else. TV ads have more class and entertainment value than does "The Deadly Companions". Rated 0.5/5 Stars •  Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/22 Full Review Read all reviews

The Deadly Companions

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