The Deadly Companions (1961)

Director:

Sam Peckinpah

Writers:

Albert Sidney Fleischman (screenplay)
Albert Sidney Fleischman (novel)

Release Date:

16 March 1962 (Finland)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

Ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son, tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.

Plot Keywords:

Dead Child | Single Mother | Boy | Shootout | Death Of Child

Cast

Maureen O'Hara	...	Kit Tildon
Brian Keith	...	Yellowleg
Steve Cochran	...	Billy Keplinger
Chill Wills	...	Turk
Strother Martin	...	Parson
Will Wright	...	Doctor Acton
James O'Hara	...	Cal, General Store (as Jim O'Hara)
Peter O'Crotty	...	Mayor of Hila City
Billy Vaughan	...	Mead Tildon Jr.
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hank Gobble	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Big John Hamilton	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	...	Card Sharp (uncredited)
Riley Hill	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Buck Sharpe	...	Apache Indian (uncredited)
Robert Sheldon	...	Gambler (uncredited)

Directed by
Sam Peckinpah

Writing credits
Albert Sidney Fleischman		(screenplay) (as A.S. Fleischman)
Albert Sidney Fleischman		(novel "The Deadly Companions") (as A.S. Fleischman)

Produced by
Charles B. Fitzsimons	....	producer

Original Music by
Marlin Skiles

Cinematography by
William H. Clothier

Film Editing by
Stanley Rabjohn		(as Stanley E. Rabjohn)

Makeup Department
James R. Barker	....	makeup artist (as James Barker)
Fae M. Smith	....	hair stylist (as Fae Smith)

Production Management
Lee Lukather	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Lee Lukather	....	assistant director

Art Department
Tom Coleman	....	prop master (uncredited)

Sound Department
Robert J. Callen	....	sound recordist
Kurt Hernfeld	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)
Gordon Sawyer	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Dave Koehler	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Chuck Hayward	....	stunt coordinator (uncredited)
Jack N. Young	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Bert Lynch	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Frank Beetson Jr.	....	costumes
Sheila O'Brien	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Leonard Kwitt	....	assistant editor (as Leonard Kwit)

Music Department
Laurindo Almeida	....	musician: solo guitar (as Laurindo Almeido)
Robert Bain	....	musician: solo guitar
Raoul Kraushaar	....	conductor
Peter Zinner	....	music editor (uncredited)

Other crew
Dixie McCoy	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Carousel Productions

Distributors

• Pathé-America Distributing Company (1961) (USA) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. Films (1962) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Warner Bros. (1962) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Motion Picture Investors (1963) (USA) (theatrical) (as "Trigger Happy")
• Motion Picture Investors (1965) (USA) (theatrical) (re-titled) (re-release)
• New World Home Video (1987) (USA) (VHS) (pan/scan)
• Platinum Disc (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Unicorn Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (video)
• St. Clair Vision (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Koch Media (2010) (Germany) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• St. Clair Vision (2008) (USA) (DVD)
• Astor Pictures Corporation (1961) (USA) (theatrical)
• International Film Distributors (1961) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Another World Entertainment (2007) (Denmark) (DVD)
• Future Film (2007) (Finland) (DVD)
• Liberty Home Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Screen Life (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• TV3 (1992) (Finland) (TV)
• United Productions of America (UPA) (197?) (USA) (TV)
• Westlake Entertainment Group (????) (USA) (DVD)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1983) (Finland) (TV)

Also Known As:

"Trigger Happy" - USA (reissue title), USA (reissue title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Pathécolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (re-rated) | West Germany:16 | Germany:12 (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/12 | Denmark:16 | Finland:K-12 | USA:Approved (PCA #19933)

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Carousel Productions

Trivia:

"Yellowleg" is likely to be a reference to the yellow strip down the trousers of Union cavalry troops.

Quotes:

Yellowleg:You don't know me well enough to hate me that much. Hating is a subject I know a little something about. You got to be careful it don't bite you back. I know somebody who spent five years looking for a man he hated. Hating and wanting revenge was all that kept him alive. He spent all those years tracking that other man down, and when he caught up with him, it was the worst day of his life. He'd get his revenge all right, but then he'd lose the one thing he had to live for.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Sam Peckinpah's West: Legacy of a Hollywood Renegade (2004) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Title Song

Peckinpah's First

This film is best seen as an apprentice work, falling neatly between Peckinpah's TV work (The Rifleman etc), and the string of Western masterpieces that began with Guns in The Afternoon/Ride the High Country. For the only time in the director's work there is no sense of the 'old West' passing, as Peckinpah still works broadly within the established Western tradition - one which he would shortly transform and make his own.

Brian Keith and O'Hara work surprisingly well together, even though in the light of the director's later work the insistance upon a strong and sympathetic female co-lead seems uncharacteristic. Apparently Maureen O'Hara's role in producing the film influenced the emphasis and development of her role.

The film suffers from a poverty of budget (most noticeable in the opening scenes where the bar room appears cramped and two dimensional), as well as over-insistent musical score - one which occasionally detracts from the rhythm of the film. The trademark Peckinpah montage editing has yet to make itself felt and, very unusually for this director, the first few moments of the film seem (to this viewer) slightly rushed and confusing - almost as if Peckinpah is just finding his feet, sketching on a larger canvas than he had previously been used to.

Peckinpah fans will find much to enjoy here, though: the character of 'Turkey' (played by Chill Wills) is as colourful and as rounded as any of the minor low-life characters that appear in the later films. He even hides a 'Major Dundee' military cap under his coat, - in retrospect one which can be seen as an appropriate cinematic "embryo". Even with a limited budget, the film is always in safe hands, the story intriguing and ironic. Riding into town, the desperate trio see a group of children playing and mildly tormenting each other - another Peckinpah trademark. When the desperadoes are confronted by a frontier prayer meeting, the anticipation of the grander meeting at the beginning of 'The Wild Bunch' is obvious. The preacher is in fact the first in a long line of religious failures and bigots featuring in Peckinpah's films.

Perhaps the biggest surprise to those used to Peckinpah's work is the lack of violence (even the end shoot out, although effective, is somewhat muted). Peckinpah, it seems, had yet to discover the stylistic hallmark which later was to mark his career in controversy.