An ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.An ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.An ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son and tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral procession through dangerous Indian territory.
- Cal, General Store
- (as Jim O'Hara)
- Bartender
- (uncredited)
- Gambler
- (uncredited)
- Card Sharp
- (uncredited)
- Gambler
- (uncredited)
- Apache Indian
- (uncredited)
- Gambler
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaMaureen O'Hara, her brother Charles B. Fitzsimons and writer Albert Sidney Fleischman formed Carousel Productions in order to get the film made. Sam Peckinpah was hired for $15,000, Brian Keith was paid $30,000; the entire picture was done for $300,000. Another brother, James O'Hara, has a small role in the opening scenes.
- GoofsWhen the posse brings Turk out of the church at the end of the film he has a noose around his neck that is removed but it is never shown or explained how he ended up with a rope around his neck to begin with. It wasn't there when he was left in the church.
- Quotes
Yellowleg: You don't know me well enough to hate me that much. Hating is a subject I know a little something about. You got to be careful it don't bite you back. I know somebody who spent five years looking for a man he hated. Hating and wanting revenge was all that kept him alive. He spent all those years tracking that other man down, and when he caught up with him, it was the worst day of his life. He'd get his revenge all right, but then he'd lose the one thing he had to live for.
- Alternate versionsThe print distributed by UPA for television in the seventies was in black and white.
- ConnectionsEdited into Cynful Movies: Dangerous Companions (2019)
- SoundtracksRock of Ages
(uncredited)
Lyrics by Augustus Montague Toplady and music by Thomas Hastings
Sung in the church bar
Brian Keith and O'Hara work surprisingly well together, even though in the light of the director's later work the insistance upon a strong and sympathetic female co-lead seems uncharacteristic. Apparently Maureen O'Hara's role in producing the film influenced the emphasis and development of her role.
The film suffers from a poverty of budget (most noticeable in the opening scenes where the bar room appears cramped and two dimensional), as well as over-insistent musical score - one which occasionally detracts from the rhythm of the film. The trademark Peckinpah montage editing has yet to make itself felt and, very unusually for this director, the first few moments of the film seem (to this viewer) slightly rushed and confusing - almost as if Peckinpah is just finding his feet, sketching on a larger canvas than he had previously been used to.
Peckinpah fans will find much to enjoy here, though: the character of 'Turkey' (played by Chill Wills) is as colourful and as rounded as any of the minor low-life characters that appear in the later films. He even hides a 'Major Dundee' military cap under his coat, - in retrospect one which can be seen as an appropriate cinematic "embryo". Even with a limited budget, the film is always in safe hands, the story intriguing and ironic. Riding into town, the desperate trio see a group of children playing and mildly tormenting each other - another Peckinpah trademark. When the desperadoes are confronted by a frontier prayer meeting, the anticipation of the grander meeting at the beginning of 'The Wild Bunch' is obvious. The preacher is in fact the first in a long line of religious failures and bigots featuring in Peckinpah's films.
Perhaps the biggest surprise to those used to Peckinpah's work is the lack of violence (even the end shoot out, although effective, is somewhat muted). Peckinpah, it seems, had yet to discover the stylistic hallmark which later was to mark his career in controversy.
- FilmFlaneur
- Mar 20, 2001
- Permalink
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Trigger Happy
- Filming locations
- Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA(photographed at the town of "Old Tucson")
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 33 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1