It should be no surprise that William "Wild Bill" Wellman, an experienced director contracted to MGM who turned out the classic Ox-Bow Incident a few years earlier, should have repeated the trick with Yellow Sky. It's far more odd that this should be so little known, given its quality. All but one elements of the movie are excellent. The exception is the very last scene, one of redemption, which is jarringly sentimental. This is easily forgiven, however, in view of the rest.

The movie announces that it will take place in the great outdoors from the very start (despite a brief interlude in town immediately after this involving a semi-nude woman painted on a bar wall, copied directly from An Ox-Bow Incident). We then have a wonderfully filmed horseback chase leading on to a striking but harrowing trek across the flats of Death Valley - great sourcing and use of location - to a ghost town where the rest of the picture takes place. Events, boiling down to the irruption upon an unusual lonely scene of ill-meaning outsiders, build up to a stunning final reckoning at night between the outlaws, beautifully planned and managed by Wellman; everything is seen obliquely or by inference, with great use of chiaroscuro, through the eyes of the shocked Anne Baxter.

The photography makes brilliant use of sun, shade and night throughout, and I particularly appreciated the almost complete absence of music from the soundtrack - I take that as a sign of confidence by the director in his product.

There is fine ensemble support acting here from the outlaws. As to the principals, though he made a number of westerns, Gregory Peck is somehow too noble and dignified a figure to make a convincing outlaw, even one with a claim to basic decency, as here. On the other hand he always had great screen presence, and that carries him a long way. Richard Widmark is a sinister, brooding presence throughout, and it's a pity he's underused in the second half of the film. Anne Baxter is lively and shows hints of her quality. Anyone wanting to see her at her peak (and it's a very high peak) should watch her in the magnificent All About Eve (1950).

A western that's small-scale in cast but large-scale in landscape, and big in achievement. Highly recommended!