The Deadly Companions (1961)

Sam Peckinpah's first movie as a director starts off strong, loved that first scene and the whole attitude of the early part of the film, but settles into a slow and more conventional territory for far to long. Released the same month as its stars Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith's much better know film 'The Parent Trap', 'The Deadly Companions' stars Keith as a union veteran in obsessive persuite of  revenge against the confederate solder who partially scalped him, and O'Hara as a dance hall girl whose son Keith accidentally kills. Here's a major spoiler which doesn't work and I could hardly digest, but the two fall in love. With flashes of promise 'The Deadly Companions' would lead to much greater things from it's director, and thus is most notable for bringing him his start at calling the shots behind the big screen. **