Deadly Companions, The DVD

With its small cast, character-driven story, and modest production values, Sam Peckinpah's first feature film seems very like another of his TV Western dramas--just one that happened to get shot in Panavision. The director's favorite TV actor, Brian Keith, plays a surly loner named Yellowleg who ventures into Indian country with a dance-hall girl (Maureen O'Hara), the corpse of her little boy, and a pair of marginally human specimens (Steve Cochran and Chill Wills) who more than justify the title. Everybody has, or seems to have, a guilty or shameful secret: Why does Yellowleg keep his hat on? Was Kit (O'Hara) a widow, or a whore? Action, menace, and ethical dialogues come and go pretty much according to TV rhythms, and the visuals and editing are conventional. But there's enough quirky character work and offbeat mood-making to hint at the singular filmmaker soon to arrive big-time