sol-
Forced to ride for days through the desert after a daring bank robbery, a group of outlaws arrive at a foreboding ghost town in this atmospheric western from Lamar Trotti and William Wellman - who wrote and directed 'The Ox-Bow Incident'. While not as well known as the 1943 Henry Fonda western, 'Yellow Sky' offers an almost equally compelling tale of greed, trust and betrayal. The first few scenes are particularly striking with the outlaws ruing how they "can't even buy {themselves} a drink of water" despite lugging all their gold across the desert. The film benefits from some excellent, wide open exteriors too that emphasise just how lost they are before coming across the ghost town. Their experiences at the town prove even more interesting as they find that the two remaining residents are sitting on a fortune in gold, which they ironically still want, forgetting their earlier regrets of lugging gold across the desert minus water. There is a romantic angle that does not really gel; the fact that none of gang leader Gregory Peck's colleagues are fleshed out in much depth also lessens the impact of the rift that develops between them, but generally speaking, the film remains compelling right to the end. Anne Baxter makes for a surprisingly feisty female lead, James Barton offers solid support as her grandfather, and the tale benefits greatly from the dilapidated ghost town sets.
writers_reign
Ann Baxter puts a nice spin on her standout performance in Billy Wilder's Five Graves To Cairo, which featured, of course, a desert setting with Baxter and Akim Tamiroff playing reluctant hosts to German invaders. This time around the desert is surrounding the ghost town where Baxter and her grandaddy, James Barton, are equally reluctant hosts to Gregory Peck and five other outlaws. This is an excellent and sadly neglected western shot towards the demise of the 'studio system' with, in this case, 20th Century Fox wheeling out its A-team of writer, director, and acting talent and winding up with a very satisfactory viewing experience.
utgard14
Band of bank robbers led by Gregory Peck head into the desert to escape. After wandering for days they arrive at a ghost town, dehydrated and exhausted. There they meet tomboy Anne Baxter and her kooky prospector grandfather. It doesn't take long before the outlaws get ideas, both about the old man's gold and pretty Baxter.Excellent western from William Wellman with a first-rate cast. Peck is a great bad-guy-who's-not-so-bad. Richard Widmark is a great bad-guy-who-IS-so-bad. Baxter has one of her best roles as the spunky tomboy. She fills out a pair of jeans quite nicely, too. John Russell plays a particularly repulsive member of the gang with only one thing on his mind. The rest of the cast are good, as well. Beautiful cinematography and direction. The story is simple but effective. Remade as the vastly inferior The Jackals with Vincent Price. It's pretty much a scene-for-scene remake except the location is moved to South Africa. Avoid that one.
Alex da Silva
Gregory Peck (Stretch) leads his band of outlaws to rob a town before being forced to take exile through the desert until they come upon the ghost town of Yellow Sky. Here they come across Anne Baxter (Mike) and her grandfather James Barton (Grandpa). The gang soon work out that these two have a fortune. Greed takes over.The film is a slight let-down in the action and tension department. Peck and Baxter are the best of the cast while outlaw Richard Widmark (Dude) is wasted. His character seems to be half missing and just about sparks into some kind of interest right at the end of the film. Too late – we don't connect with him anymore because he has been so boring and disappointing up to that point. Fellow outlaw John Russell (Lengthy) gives more of a performance as an adversary to Peck.It is a well made film and there are some quality moments of dialogue but the film cried out for more action and more involvement from the Apaches. They were sorely missed.
AD
