Yellow Sky
starring: Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark, Robert Arthur, John Russell
directed by: William A. Wellman
directed by: William A. Wellman
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Product Description:
Studio: TcfheRelease Date: 05/13/2008Rating: Nr
Amazon.com:
It seems no one has ever had an unkind word for Yellow Sky, yet somehow this handsome, hard-edged, and very well-made late-'40s Western remains little-known.That may change with its release on a DVD so crisp and luminous, one wants to swear off Technicolor and luxuriate in the frosty glow of its highlights, the velvet blackness of its shadows, and the electric silver-gray of its desert skies.
Story's pretty good, too.Seven men led by Gregory Peck ride into a small Southwest town, wet their whistles at the saloon, then hold up the bank with a minimum of fuss.Escaping should be a cinch, except for a troop of cavalry who reduce their number to six and watch the survivors ride off into a desert they probably won't live to cross.Unexpected salvation looms in the form of Yellow Sky, a ghost town where the bandits find water, an old man (James Barton) and his tomboy granddaughter (Anne Baxter)--and the tempting rumor of gold.That's when the real trouble starts.The criminal partnership is severely strained by greed, several varieties of lust (for the girl as well as the treasure), the troublesome onset of conscience in some breasts and its total absence from others--notably Richard Widmark's.
Yellow Sky re-teams director William A. Wellman and writer-producer Lamar Trotti, who five years earlier had made The Ox-Bow Incident, an authentic but rather pretentious Western classic.Yellow Sky's opening scene is all but lifted from Ox-Bow (along with two character actors), but this time around, Wellman eschews self-importance and just concentrates on spinning a gritty yarn (from a novel by W.R. Burnett).Apart from sequences shot in Death Valley, the principal location is Yellow Sky itself, a grand ruin set against the timeless backdrop of the Alabama Hills.And oh yes, the man responsible for those awesome whites, blacks, and silver-grays is Joe MacDonald, the cinematographer of My Darling Clementine.--Richard T. Jameson
Studio: TcfheRelease Date: 05/13/2008Rating: Nr
Amazon.com:
It seems no one has ever had an unkind word for Yellow Sky, yet somehow this handsome, hard-edged, and very well-made late-'40s Western remains little-known.That may change with its release on a DVD so crisp and luminous, one wants to swear off Technicolor and luxuriate in the frosty glow of its highlights, the velvet blackness of its shadows, and the electric silver-gray of its desert skies.
Story's pretty good, too.Seven men led by Gregory Peck ride into a small Southwest town, wet their whistles at the saloon, then hold up the bank with a minimum of fuss.Escaping should be a cinch, except for a troop of cavalry who reduce their number to six and watch the survivors ride off into a desert they probably won't live to cross.Unexpected salvation looms in the form of Yellow Sky, a ghost town where the bandits find water, an old man (James Barton) and his tomboy granddaughter (Anne Baxter)--and the tempting rumor of gold.That's when the real trouble starts.The criminal partnership is severely strained by greed, several varieties of lust (for the girl as well as the treasure), the troublesome onset of conscience in some breasts and its total absence from others--notably Richard Widmark's.
Yellow Sky re-teams director William A. Wellman and writer-producer Lamar Trotti, who five years earlier had made The Ox-Bow Incident, an authentic but rather pretentious Western classic.Yellow Sky's opening scene is all but lifted from Ox-Bow (along with two character actors), but this time around, Wellman eschews self-importance and just concentrates on spinning a gritty yarn (from a novel by W.R. Burnett).Apart from sequences shot in Death Valley, the principal location is Yellow Sky itself, a grand ruin set against the timeless backdrop of the Alabama Hills.And oh yes, the man responsible for those awesome whites, blacks, and silver-grays is Joe MacDonald, the cinematographer of My Darling Clementine.--Richard T. Jameson
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- Western ahead of its time
In the late 1940s when many westerns still had the good guys in white taking on bad guys in black, William Wellman's Yellow Sky came along.After robbing a bank in a little town, Stretch Dawson and his gang hightail it out of town with a cavalry troop hot on their trail.But the gang rides out into the desolate salt flats, 70 miles until the next town, and the cavalry lets them go.After days of riding, Dawson's gang stumbles upon a ghost town, Yellow Sky, where there's only two residents, an ... Read More
Rating: 
- WILLIAM A. WELLMAN, OPUS 62
***** 1948. Directed by William A. Wellman. 1867. A gang of bandits, led by Gregory Peck, must cross the desert in order to escape the army after their last hold-up. They finally arrive to a ghost town where they meet an old prospector and his granddaughter. After three or four screenings of YELLOW SKY during these last years, what striked me the most yesterday was the religious references scattered throughout the film by the screenwriter and the director. The crossing of the desert, numerous allusions ... Read More
Rating: - Western Film Noir
YELLOW SKY(1948) is a black-and-white, almost noirish western from director William A. Wellman.
Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark star as the leaders of an outlaw band that robs a bank, then makes their escape over a vast, deadly desert.They reach the ghost town of Yellow Sky, only populated by crusty old prospector James Barton and his daughter, Anne Baxter.
When the outlaws discover than Baxter and Barton are hiding a cache of gold, they decide to take it for themselves, but ... Read More
Rating: - One of the greats!
I do not know how I ever missed this movie, being the movie buff that I am.Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark were great. Gregory Peck was such a magnificent actor, and you add to that the the talents of Richard Widmark, with his trademark smile and laugh, along with the beautiful Anne Baxter and a good story; and you cannot lose.
Rating: - Really great movie
Yellow Sky is definitely a classic black and white western and well written and acted. Gregory Peck does a great job and plays his role well. Ann Baxter is also really wonderful in her part. Realism is added by the fact that she is not heavily made-up as was Marilyn Monroe in The River of No Return. Her natural and almost rugged look is refreshing. I especially like the ending and the good moral values that come out there.I highly recommend this movie.
- Western ahead of its timeIn the late 1940s when many westerns still had the good guys in white taking on bad guys in black, William Wellman's Yellow Sky came along.After robbing a bank in a little town, Stretch Dawson and his gang hightail it out of town with a cavalry troop hot on their trail.But the gang rides out into the desolate salt flats, 70 miles until the next town, and the cavalry lets them go.After days of riding, Dawson's gang stumbles upon a ghost town, Yellow Sky, where there's only two residents, an ... Read More
- WILLIAM A. WELLMAN, OPUS 62***** 1948. Directed by William A. Wellman. 1867. A gang of bandits, led by Gregory Peck, must cross the desert in order to escape the army after their last hold-up. They finally arrive to a ghost town where they meet an old prospector and his granddaughter. After three or four screenings of YELLOW SKY during these last years, what striked me the most yesterday was the religious references scattered throughout the film by the screenwriter and the director. The crossing of the desert, numerous allusions ... Read More
- Western Film NoirYELLOW SKY(1948) is a black-and-white, almost noirish western from director William A. Wellman.
Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark star as the leaders of an outlaw band that robs a bank, then makes their escape over a vast, deadly desert.They reach the ghost town of Yellow Sky, only populated by crusty old prospector James Barton and his daughter, Anne Baxter.
When the outlaws discover than Baxter and Barton are hiding a cache of gold, they decide to take it for themselves, but ... Read More
- One of the greats!I do not know how I ever missed this movie, being the movie buff that I am.Gregory Peck and Richard Widmark were great. Gregory Peck was such a magnificent actor, and you add to that the the talents of Richard Widmark, with his trademark smile and laugh, along with the beautiful Anne Baxter and a good story; and you cannot lose.
- Really great movieYellow Sky is definitely a classic black and white western and well written and acted. Gregory Peck does a great job and plays his role well. Ann Baxter is also really wonderful in her part. Realism is added by the fact that she is not heavily made-up as was Marilyn Monroe in The River of No Return. Her natural and almost rugged look is refreshing. I especially like the ending and the good moral values that come out there.I highly recommend this movie.
