Yellow Sky (1948)

Gregory Peck is Stretch, leader of a seven-man gang of outlaws who rob a bank and flee, only to encounter a cavalry patrol. In order to escape, they’re forced to flee across salt flats with barely enough water to survive.

Finally, they stumble across Yellow Sky. Once it was a booming silver town — the fastest growing in the West, a welcome sign proclaims.

No more. Now it’s a ghost town with just two occupants, a gun-toting young woman named Mike (Anne Baxter) and her grandfather (James Barton).

But there is a water hole in Yellow Sky, so the gang decides to rest for a spell while their horses recover.

During that resting, a couple of the gang members, including Dude (Richard Widmark), start wondering what’s keeping the old man and his granddaughter in a ghost town. They’ve discovered fresh diggings in the hills outside town. Could it be gold?

And once they confirm that’s indeed the case, they demand 50 percent of the $50,000 the old man has stashed away; otherwise they won’t leave very peacefully.

Stretch is determined to keep his word. The other gang members have no qualms about breaking theirs.

Gregory Peck as Stretch, tired and thirsty after a trek across the salt flats in Yellow Sky (1948)

Anne Baxter as Mike, trying to convince her grandpa not to give up his secret in Yellow Sky (1948)

Review:

An overlooked delight, especially once the gang reaches Yellow Sky, where the pretty but tomboyish Mike inadvertently initiates some infighting among gang members. But it’s Stretch who stirs the womanly feelings in her, even though she head butts him the first time he tries to kiss her, then fires a six-shooter at him, purposely nicking him in the head.

Peck and Widmark turn in their usual solid performances. You’ll spot Russell Johnson and Harry Morgan — one of the future stars of the TV hit MASH — as members of the outlaw gang.

And the film features a wonderful double ending, including a final shootout in a ghost town saloon we see only through the eyes of Mike, as she cautiously enters to survey the carnage, and find out whether Stretch survived.

Richard Widmark as Dude, desperate to learn the location of grandpa’s gold in Yellow Sky (1948)

James Barton as Grandpa, ready for trouble after a falling out among Stretch’s gang in Yellow Sky (1948)

Directed by:
William Wellman

Cast:
Gregory Peck … Stretch / James Dawson
Richard Widmark … Dude
Anne Baxter … Mike / Constance Mae
James Barton … Grandpa
John Russell … Lengthy
Harry Morgan … Half-Pint
Robert Arthur … Bull Run
Charles Kemper …Walrus

Runtime: 98 min.

John Russell as Lengthy, after yet another dispute with Stretch in Yellow Sky (1948)

Harry Morgan as Half-Pint, a member of Stretch’s gang in Yellow Sky (1948)

Memorable lines:

Gang member Lengthy, upon seeing a painting of a lovely woman riding a horse in a bar: “Wonder if she’s got any plans after riding that horse?”

Bull Run, as the gang rides into the salt flats: “Those garrison soldiers just can’t take country like this.”
Dude: “Maybe they’ve got sense.”

Dude, watching Stretch give water to Walrus’ horse as they cross the salt flat: “Kind of noble, aren’t you?”
Stretch: “A horse is a useful animal. No use letting him suffer because he belongs to a jackass.”

Sign as the gang rides into a ghost town; “Yellow Sky. Fastest growing town in the territory.”

Stretch to Mike: “You might as well be comfortable while you’re being robbed.”

Walrus, as he watches the Apache ride into Yellow Sky: “We’re sure gonna be mighty rich corpses.”

Lengthy: “Maybe you guys are giving up on that gold, but I ain’t. I want it now out of pure ornery meanness.”

Charles Kemper as Walrus, holding a special hat during a visit to the bank in Yellow Sky (1948)

Robert Arthur as Bull Run, about to jump to a woman’s defense in Yellow Sky (1948)

Anne Baxter as Mike, welcoming strangers to a ghost town with rifle in hand in Yellow Sky (1948)

Gregory Peck as Stretch, trying to negotiate with Mike and her grandpa in Yellow Sky (1948)