Sam Peckinpah

Early film career


The Deadly Companions

After cancellation of The Westerner Brian Keith was cast as the male lead in the 1961 Western film The Deadly Companions. During the 1930s and 1940s Coarsegold and Bass Lake were still populated with descendants of the miners and ranchers of the 19th century. Critically praised the show ran for only 13 episodes before cancellation mainly due to its gritty content detailing the drifting laconic cowboy Dave Blassingame (Brian Keith).

His characters are often loners or losers who desire to be honorable but are forced to compromise in order to survive in a world of nihilism and brutality. He was given the nickname "Bloody Sam" owing to the violence in his films. He was known for the innovative and explicit depiction of action and violence as well as his revisionist approach to the Western genre.