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.

weezeralfalfa My review title sums up the final conflict between the plans of fellow outlaw gang members Dude(Widmark) and Stretch(Peck) in regard to the bags of gold dust that Grandpa and wildcat gunslinger granddaughter Mike have been saving up for many years. Actually, I'm only assuming , from the friendly gathering on horses in the last scene, that Stretch, and probably his partners Half Pint and Walrus, have made amends with grandpa and Mike, and have decided to stay and participate in the hard rock mining of probably a moderate amount of gold near this otherwise ghost town of Yellow Sky. Also, I'm assuming that Stretch and Mike will probably get 'hitched'.At it's peak, this outlaw gang boasted 7 men. One was shot dead by the cavalry that chased these bank robbers to the edge of a vast salt flats, hemmed in by a high mountain range on either side(filmed in Death Valley). The commander remarked that if they tried to cross this waterless hellishly hot flats and then sand dunes, that would save the justice system the trouble of hanging them. He was very nearly correct in this assessment. The men and their horses were near death when they chanced upon Yellow Sky at the far edge. At first, they assumed there was no water in this apparent ghost town. But soon, a tough-talking , rifle-totting, young woman(Mike) decided to show them a spring. This decision would come to haunt her, as soon Dude, who was jockeying with Stretch for leadership of the gang, correctly guessed that the two were surviving here by finding some gold. After a powwow with the two, Stretch offers a deal. The gang would split the gold 50-50 with the two. Grandpa decided to accept this deal as the best way out, despite Mike's objection. But, the outlaws had to dig through the rubble of a collapsing mine shaft to get to it. After finding it, the outlaws disagreed as to whether to take it all or stick to their bargain. Only Stretch voted for the latter. A shootout ensued, with Mike eventually joining Stretch. Later, Dude decides he will try to run off alone with all the booty. When the others find out about this, Half Pint and Walrus switch sides, and the others try to kill Dude before he disappears. You can more or less guess how things turn out from then. Just before the final scene, there is a rather humorous scene where Stretch, Half Pint and Walrus enter the bank they robbed, pull out their guns, and return all the money they stole(presumably using some of the gold dust to replace that which had been lost or spent.) I would have included some substantial 'interest' to mitigate any lingering hostility about the robbery. Just before this scene, we have Mike discovering Stretch unconscious and barely breathing, from a bullet wound. Seems like he should have soon died, but obviously she revived him.This B&W film was mostly shot on location in the Alabama Hills , near Lone Pine, CA, which provided the ghost town and lots of big boulders and arches to play hide and seek among. Death Valley provided the extensive salt flat and probably the sand dunes. The name Yellow Sky may be derived from Stephen Cranes story "The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky": the latter being a town in frontier Texas.Death Valley also provided the extensive salt flats and rugged country seen in the Technicolor John Ford western "3 Godfathers", starring John Wayne, also released in '48. Again, it's a tale of an unlikely opportunity for redemption, after a small gang of bank robbers ride onto the salt flats to escape a posse, and die or nearly so before reaching help.Veteran vaudevillian and actor James Barton made an excellent 'Grandpa', with 'Santa' charisma. Otherwise, I've seen him in a few musicals. John Russell, as horny badman Lengthy, went on to star in some TV serials, including "Lawman". Charles Kemper, as rotund Walrus, often played a sheriff in westerns. But I most remember him as the head of the sinister Clegg gang in "Wagon Master". Anne Baxter makes a convincing tomboy wildcat, knocking Stretch off his feet with a punch, after he grabbed her rifle. Widmark is OK as the wannabe leader of the pack, often at odds with Stretch. In contrast to the others, he seems to know this country intimately. Stretch is from the frontier Midwest, where he has participated in pre and actual Civil War violence. What about the character of Stretch? When it comes to protecting the virtue of the leading lady, he's clearly a hypocrite. He emphasized that the gang, including him, should not mess with her. Yet, on the sly, he grabs her, rolls around with her, lands on top of her, extracting a couple of hard kisses before she brushes him off as "stinking worse than Apaches", and grazes his head with a bullet for good measure. Eventually, she becomes accepting of his advances. In contrast, handsome Lengthy wears his horniness on his sleeve, beginning with that revealing cartoon on the saloon wall,Viewable on YouTube, at present

thinker1691 This original story was written by W. R. Burnett which was later directed by William R. Wellman. The story as it appeared on the silver screen tells of a gang of bank robbers led by none other than Gregory Peck, who ride into a small town, Rob the local bank and escape with a Posse in pursuit. Unfortunately, they also ride onto the Salt Flats without a sufficient supply of water and nearly die of thirst. Instead they discover a Ghost Town with two people still living there. An old Prospecter and his granddaughter. For many fans, the selection of Gregory Peck as James 'Stretch' Dawson the leader of the bad men, was a miscasting. In addition, other notables that usually wear white hats, such as John Russell (Lawman) and Harry Morgan (MASH) played bad guys. Still they did their best to fill the scripted parts and put together an unlikely and unusual film. The only actor who did a good job with his role was Richard Widmark who played 'Dude.' The female lead was played by Anne Baxter. The story is slow to assemble and the 'gang' is ill formed with dual leaders. Indeed, with the pretty girl becoming a secondary goal and wild marauding Apaches never becoming a definite threat, the movie makes for a poor Western. Still it was interesting to watch top stars making the best of it. ****

AaronCapenBanner William Wellman directed this effective, starkly filmed western that stars Gregory Peck as James 'Stretch' Dawson, leader of a small gang of bank robbers who are fleeing a pursuing cavalry posse when they are forced to traverse an arid salt plains, which severely tasks their resources. When they stumble out of this desert, in dire straits, desperate for water and food, they come into a ghost town called Yellow Sky, where they meet a beautiful but feisty young woman named Constance, or 'Mike'(played by Anne Baxter), who is staying with her grandfather, guarding a gold mine they have been excavating. This gives the robbers(among them actors Richard Widmark as "Dude" and Harry Morgan as "Half Pint") the idea of stealing the gold for themselves, though Stretch refuses, since he has fallen for 'Mike', which leads to a winner-takes-all showdown.Impressive and atmospheric western is quite stylish and well acted, even if the plot is familiar and predictable, it doesn't really take away from this underrated western.