THE DEADLY COMPANIONS

The New York Times critic Bosley Crowther criticised this 1961 Western, Sam Peckinpah's directorial debut, for moving "at the pace of a hearse".

Which is only as it should be given that the story centres on the transportation of a corpse, that of a young boy, who is shot dead accidentally during a shootout in the middle of town (an occupational hazard in those days, I guess).

His mother Kit (played by Maureen O'Hara) arrived in the town a few years earlier, pregnant and without a husband.  Despite her claims that her husband had been killed, she's a single mum of dubious morals as far as the town is concerned, and so she's ostracised and has had to make a living in the music hall.

Due to her treatment from the town she rejects the idea of a funeral for the boy there, and instead she's going to take him to be buried with his father.  There's one small problem: it means a journey through Apache country and none of the townsfolk feel like escorting her.  

Never mind, she angrily sets off anyway, and is soon joined by a motley crew of three men who themselves had recently arrived in the town.

They are led by a guy known somewhat derisively as 'Yellowleg' (played by Brian Keith), due to the yellow stripe on his trouser leg, marking him out as a Union soldier from the Civil War.  Due to a wound that affects his shoulder, and therefore his ability to shoot straight, he is the person who accidentally shot Kit's son.

He wants to atone for his mistake but understandably Kit is not at all keen to have him around, or indeed Billy, a gunslinger who fancies himself as a ladies man and who makes no secret of his lecherous designs on her, or Turkey, an unsavoury slob and card cheat.

Eventually she is obliged to let them tag along, although after a while Billy and Turkey leave, in order to try to rob the town's bank.

The main focus of the film then becomes the relationship between Kit and Yellowleg, which slowly blossoms into love, in a believable and touching way.  

The other important element of the story is revenge.  Yellowleg has spent the last five years seeking the Confederate soldier who tried to scalp him, and at the start of the film he catches up with him.  It's Turkey, and Yellowleg latches on to him and Billy whilst he decides how to exact his revenge, before the shooting incident somewhat derails his plans.

Inevitably Billy and Turkey return at the end of the film so that we get some climactic action, which all ends happily.

It's an unusually restrained film by Peckinpah's standards, probably because he had no control over the script, but it has a few quirky touches in it, and overall I enjoyed it.  The cast give solid performances, especially O'Hara and Keith.

Although Crowther is right in that even though it has a relatively short running time there are a few points at which it does drag a bit, accentuated I felt by a rather downbeat and repetitive score which outstayed its welcome long before the end.

On a very minor point of trivia, at one point Turkey uses the phrase "from Tucson to Tucumcari" at which my ears pricked up because I recognised it as a line from a song.  Thanks to the internet I was able very easily to identify the song as "Willin'", one of Little Feat's best and a personal favourite.