The Deadly Companions (1961)

Great! Movies Action, 2.35pm ★★★

Sam Peckinpah’s film debut is oldschool Western comfort-food (how could it not be when it was shot by William H Clothier, who worked on 22 films with John Wayne). Brian Keith stars as an outlawed ex-army officer who accidentally kills a young boy in a bank raid. To make amends, he escorts the boy’s coffin through dangerous “Indian territory”. Maureen O’hara co-stars as the youngster’s mother.