The Deadly Companions is a 1961 American Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Maureen O’Hara, Brian Keith, Steve Cochran, and Chill Wills. Based on the novel of the same name by A. S. Fleischman, the film is about an ex-army officer who accidentally kills a woman’s son, and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory. The Deadly Companions was Sam Peckinpah’s motion picture directorial debut.

Plot
After her young son is killed in a bank robbery, the widowed dance-hall hostess Kit Tilden (Maureen O’Hara) is determined to bury him beside his father in Siringo, now deserted and located in Apache territory. Yellowleg (Brian Keith), 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.

Cast
Maureen O’Hara as Kit Tilden
Brian Keith as Yellowleg
Steve Cochran as Billy Keplinger
Chill Wills as Turk
Strother Martin as Parson
Will Wright as Doctor Acton
Jim O’Hara as Cal, General Store
Peter O’Crotty as Mayor of Hila City
Billy Vaughan as Mead Tildon Jr.
Big John Hamilton as gambler (uncredited)