Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara
Two of my favorite stars (Brian Keith and Maureen O’Hara) teamed up for several films – one being 1961 western The Deadly Companion. Westerns are a personal obsession of mine, so this one has a very special place in my heart – two favorites AND a great Western… I am SO there.
This particular western has a wonderful cast and is beautifully, beautifully directed. The scenery is gorgeous and nearly everything about it is perfect. It’s of my western-loving, downright obsessed mind that this film would be much better known and loved if only the plot had not involved the shooting and death of a child. Had the plot centered around, say, the young boy being shot and driven to a doctor rather than his burial spot, more would have seen (and loved) this Western.
In fact, it’s this dark (miserably dark!) part of the story that made me wait so long to watch it. It was much better than I expected and the grisly part was handled well. To be perfectly honest, I still wish the plot had involved the boy needing a doctor (they’d have still needed to make the journey, after all).
If you’ve never seen this very well-done Western, I hope you’ll find it soon.
You can find The Deadly Companions on dvd (Amazon link) or watch on Prime Video.