What is a Western? Film Series: Yellow Sky (1948)

Date / Time: Saturday, May 9, 2015, 1:30 p.m.

Location: The Autry in Griffith Park: Wells Fargo Theater

Admission: Included With Museum Admission / Free for Autry Members

RSVP/Reservations: Reservation Recommended

Yellow Sky (1948)
Directed by William A. Wellman
Starring Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, and Richard Widmark
Screened in 35 mm

In a film loosely based on William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, a gang of outlaws on the run from a posse hide out in a ghost town whose only inhabitants are an aging prospector and his granddaughter (Baxter). The outlaws eventually turn on themselves when one (Peck) falls for the girl while another (Widmark) tries to rob the prospector.

Director William A. Wellman worked in multiple genres in a career that spanned thirty five years and almost eighty films. While he is not immediately associated with the Western, Wellman made several powerful films that examine the interconnectedness of violence, justice, and honor on the American frontier.

Artifacts related to violence and justice on the American frontier are on display in the exhibition Western Frontiers: Stories of Fact and Fiction.

What Is a Western? is an ongoing film series that examines a variety of movies about the American West. The majority of the films are traditional Westerns set in the nineteenth century; however, nontraditional Westerns and films outside of the Western genre that provide unique insights into the region are also featured.

The series is curated by Jeffrey Richardson, Gamble Curator of Western History, Popular Culture, and Firearms, who leads a discussion of the film’s history and its place within the Western genre prior to each screening.