Yellow Sky

William Wellman’s Yellow Sky combines the isolation and desperation of Western bandits with a gorgeous, panoramic expressionism to create a deeply satisfying noir cross-over. “Stretch” (Gregory Peck) and “Dude” (Richard Widmark) vie for leadership of a gang of thieves hardened by the Civil War who rob a bank and flee to the desert where their desperate search for water leads them to an abandoned ghost town called Yellow Sky (the town’s fallen welcome sign ironically claims “Fastest Growing Town in the Territory”). A tough, young woman named Mike (Anne Baxter) and her grandfather (James Barton) still populate the town, which leads the bandits to conclude there’s gold nearby. This causes tension and ultimately forces Stretch, who has grown fond of Mike, to choose between the gold and the girl. The film is a feast for the senses — from the mountaintop fog and babbling brooks to the salty desert as white as snow to the town of Yellow Sky where barns and cabins gleam in the night. Stretch’s initial sexual assault of Mike (he wrestles her to the ground like a steer, then stands so her image appears between his legs) quickly turns to loving affection, the moon casting a romantic light on an otherwise dead town. From the thundering posse at the start to the final shootout in the evening wind, Yellow Sky paints beauty in the barbarity.