Yellow Sky (1948)

Thanks for the memories!

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

Don't Believe the Hype

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Producer: Lamar Trotti. (Thanks to U.S. Department of the Interior and its National Parks Service for permission to film in Death Valley National Monument.) Copyright 21 December 1948 by 20th Century-Fox Film Corp. New York release at the Roxy: 1 February 1949. U.S. release: December 1948. U.K. release: 27 June 1949. Australian release: 12 May 1949. 8,819 feet. 98 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Six outlaws plan to rob an old prospector. Setting: an Arizona ghost town.COMMENT: Superbly photographed against some awesome and unusually striking natural locales, this western starts off on a high plane of excitement with lots of hard riding and running inserts, horses galloping thrillingly close to the camera (thanks, "Wild Bill" Wellman) and a spectacular stunt fall. Once the atmospherically derelict town of Yellow Sky is reached, however, the pace starts to flag - despite the appealing presence of Anne Baxter and the efforts of the support players. Peck's delivery is too slow, a fault compounded by the fact that his scenes seem overloaded with dialogue. Some of these scenes merely slow up the plot and require drastic trimming. Fortunately, Peck is a rough man in a fight and shows off to advantage in a rugged rough-and-tumble with Russell in which Wellman used no doubles.The climax restores one's faith in the action western and has some nice twists of plot.Widmark, as usual, is menacing enough as the heavy. Although James Barton is a too-garrulous old prospector, the other characters are tautly written and expertly played. (In fact "MASH" fans will probably be disappointed that Morgan's part is not lengthier and more in the foreground.)Wellman's deliberately-judged direction and MacDonald's stark black-and-white photography illumine this fascinating if small-scale and somewhat derivative western.P.S. Trotti and Burnett were given an award from the Writers Guild of America for the "Best Written American Western of 1949".

I discovered Yellow Sky after watching the remake The Jackals. I was therefore unaware that The Jackals was a remake of Yellow Sky. On its own merit Yellow Sky is a very enjoyable Western even though I had recently seen the same story before in The Jackals. Gregory Peck and Anne Baxter makes for great leads of Yellow Sky. Richard Widmark also makes for a great antagonist of this movie and on-screen Peck and Widmark suits well together as adversaries. The standoff towards the end of the movie has been well played out. All this cap off well by a light hearted final scene.

Yellow Sky is a unusual, moody and magnificent western. I had never heard of it previously and I'm surprised it doesn't have a much higher profile. Six bank robbers on the verge of death after escaping a posse, stumble upon a ghost town inhabited by an old man and his granddaughter. They realise that they may have an opportunity to all make a fortune however group dynamics and greed take over. It makes a change from the usual western plot but this isn't the only thing that makes this film stand well above most of it's peers. The setting is great and the filming is top class with some great cinematography. The acting is excellent from all the cast. I'm not a massive fan of Gregory Peck but he is outstanding in this as the morally ambiguous leader of the gang. There is an early appearance from Richard Widmark and Anne Baxter is captivating as the feisty granddaughter. The brilliant and convincing script sparkles despite there not being an awful lot of gun play. The characters are all interesting and I liked the fact they weren't all clichéd, a failing of many westerns. Considering what has gone before the very ending is maybe a little too twee but this is a minor gripe as the rest of the film is so good. One of the best and most enjoyable westerns I've seen to date and one which is comparable to most of the perceived classic westerns.

Greed...is the first word that comes to mind when ever, I think about this film. It's a film that makes you think about (right and wrong) as the storyline continues to unfold. Stretch played by (Gregory Peck) and his gang stumble into a town that seems to be deserted. But as they soon learn, there is still a couple of people who still live there. A very lovely girl named Mike played by (Anne Baxter) and her grandfather (James Barton) still live in this ghost town. But why?....Is the question that haunts Stretch and his band of me. As the film unfolds, the truth is revealed about 'why' these two stayed behind. Stretch..begins to have a soft-spot for (Mike) and she also begins to fall for him. But, Dude..played by (Richard Widmark) and (Half Pint) played by Henry 'Harry' Morgan have other plans in mind. But as they come to find-out (Mike) is pretty good with a shot-gun. The expression on (Richard Widmark's face are priceless.) Stretch soon comes to realize that he must do the right 'thing' rather than the wrong 'thing' to safe the woman that he now loves. It's a great tale that any movie-buff will enjoy. And (Anne Baxter) really does a good job in this film. You'll enjoy...Yellow Sky.