After her young son is killed in a bank robbery, the widowed dance-hall hostess Kit Tilden is determined to bury him beside his father in Siringo, now deserted and located in Apache territory. Yellowleg, the ex-army Northern sergeant who accidentally killed her son, decides to help take the body across the desert to be buried, whether Kit wants help or not. He forces the other two bank robbers - Turk, a Confederate deserter; and Billy, a gunslinger - to accompany them. After Billy attacks Kit, Yellowleg throws him out of their camp. Turk then deserts. Yellowleg and Kit become closer during the journey to Siringo. After arriving at the long abandoned settlement, they discover that Turk and Billy have followed them, leading to a gunfight between the three men.
After the cancellation of his 1960 television seriesThe Westerner, Brian Keith was cast as the male lead inThe Deadly Companions. He suggested Sam Peckinpah as the director for this film, and producer Charles B. Fitzsimons accepted the idea. By most accounts, the low-budget filmshot 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. In her memoir 'Tis Herself, Maureen O'Hara complained about Peckinpah's behavior on-set, saying that he "didn't have a clue how to direct a movie" and was "one of the strangest and most objectionable people I had ever worked with".
Cast and crew
Charles B. Fitzsimons, 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". Another younger brother, Jim O'Hara, played the seventh-billed role of Cal. 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.
