The Deadly Companions is a 1961 Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Maureen O__APOS__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__APOS__s son, and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory. The Deadly Companions was Sam Peckinpah__APOS__s motion picture directorial debut.