Beyond the Law (1975)

Just perfect...

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

A different kind of Spag Western that tries to mix in a bit of light-hearted drama that draws the film out a lot longer than it should, but is ultimately saved by the charisma of the actors involved. Actually, it plays out more like one of those Western Westerns that are made in the West, with John Wayne in them!Lee Van Cleef is a stinking, thieving homeless bastard with a heart, drifting through America with his equally smelly but much more wonky eyed sidekicks Lionel Stander and the other guy. Between them, they steal a bunch of miner's wages from under the nose of Czech immigrant Antonio Sabato, which gets him into stick with the mine's owner, Bud Spencer without a beard! Thing is, Lee's ended up striking up a huge Bromance with the naïve but resourceful Sabato and feels kind of guilty for robbing him, but not enough to try and rob him again. Somehow he ends up fending off some much more violent would be robbers, and ends up sheriff of the town (and mine) (!). This doesn't bode well with his mates, who are in two minds, and four different eye directions, about whether to steal all that lovely silver that's being dug out of the mine.Throw in big-faced evil bad guy Gordon Mitchell (with sidekick Romano Puppo) who also want the silver and are willing to kill kids and women for it, and also throw in the romance with the girl who makes Van Cleef take a bath and put some decent clothes on. He's so scummy he doesn't know how to dunk a rich tea biscuit in some tea! That's a lot of plot up there, and that doesn't leave time for gun fights and what not. There's a fairly big one at the end, but we're talking at the end of a nearly two hour long film. Luckily Van Cleef's conflicted personality carries the film whenever he's around, as he's torn between a life of being poor and free or being settled with a roof over his head. I guess the ending is kind of sad when I think about it.Nice looking film too, I guess if you're looking for more character development this film might be for you. If you want endless shoot outs, you might want to try something else.

Here's an example of the spaghetti western genre at its finest, with a complex and twisting plot, multiple characters, good action, and some of the finest actors that the genre has to offer. The combined result makes for watchable and entertaining viewing with a movie that always has something interesting going on. Things start off predictably enough as we are introduced to the eminently likable Lee Van Cleef, as a cheeky thief who steals the payroll belonging to a mining corporation which is brought to town by a very young-looking Antonio Sabato. Van Cleef finds himself on the right side of the law for a change as he befriends Sabato and helps fight off a gang of ruthless bandits who are also after the money. He even finds himself made the town sheriff. However, when the bandits turn up, led by the ruthless Gordon Mitchell, and kidnap the town's womanfolk, Van Cleef finds himself leading a full-scale battle against the enemy.The biggest fault is probably with director Giorgio Stegani, who is at the opposite end of the talent spectrum from master director Sergio Leone. His film totally lacks style or charm so it lies on the actors to make things entertaining. Thankfully, Fernando Di Leo's script is fairly complex with some degree of characterisation and there are lots of interesting people in the tale who interact with each other in different ways. The plot is fast-paced and while there are no really impressive or memorable shoot-outs or gun-downs, a wealth of action-orientated scenes keep things moving and the full-scale battle at the film's close is both well-shot and exciting.The cast is what makes this film really good. First of all we have genre icon Lee Van Cleef in the likable leading part of a character who begins the film as a ruthless bad guy and undergoes a complete transformation into becoming a good-natured heroic sheriff! Van Cleef is excellent in the part and really sympathetic, especially in his doomed relationship with the exceptionally pretty Graziella Granata. Secondly we have Antonio Sabato as the fresh-faced European stranger who comes to take care of the town's mining operation; you can't help but like his character and he does well with what is a rather underwritten and one-dimensional part. There's solid comic support from Lionel Stander and Herbert Fux as a pair of greedy robbers who figure in the film's surprise twist ending and the aforementioned Graziella Granata is fine as the female romantic interest. However, stealing the show is one Gordon Mitchell who has a really impressive and sinister entrance as the scary chief villain, Burton. It's surprising how much he resembles Peter Cushing in TWINS OF EVIL in his part and he relishes the opportunity to kill innocent folk and snarl orders at his men - a really nasty role. The casting and the story combine to make this a must-see for spagwest fans.

I'm a huge Lee Van Cleef fan and he is awesome as always in this one. This film has a decent story line which is very easy to follow (unlike plenty of other Westerns). There's a few good plot twists along the way and also has a little comedy in some parts, which I found myself chuckling at so hats off the people who made this film. It doesn't have the real seriousness that the Man With No Name trilogy and many other Westerns have, but some times you just want to watch a Western that's a little bit more laid back. A real fun watch with plenty of action and I found the ending to be really nice. The copy I watched didn't have the greatest picture quality but the film is old now so I can deal with that. I'd be interested in trying to find a better copy some where to give this another watch and enjoy even more.

Contrary to popular belief, the American west wasn't some lawless prairie/desert where only the strong like John Wayne's Rooster Cogburn and Clint Eastwood's man with no name could survive. While the likes of Jesse James and Butch Cassidy made the headlines, the average day in the life of an American westerner was pretty dull. The majority of people who lived west of the Mississippi lived in urban areas, not out in the boonies. Gun violence was actually less common in the western territories than back east and the majority of those who went out west were first generation immigrants, not idealistic white folk provoked by called for manifest destiny. Beyond the Law (1967) is a movie that may not dispel the myths of the wild, wild west, but like many Spaghetti Westerns it does put a new spin on things.Lee Van Cleef stars as Billy Joe Cudlip, a craven thief who steals the payroll of a mining community from a naïve Czechoslovakian payroll clerk named Ben (Antonio Sabato). He is of course helped by his gang of thieves and conmen, Preacher (Lionel Stander), who dresses like his name to get rubes to trust him and James (Bud Spencer) a black man with a friendly face. Things go according to plan until Billy befriends Ben and is shoved into helping the locals recover the money. Preacher and James see this as an opportunity to steal more loot but things get further complicated when a rival gang of thieves led by Burton (Gordon Mitchell) comes into town.Now Beyond the Law is far from a perfect movie. The acting ranges of the supporting characters range from okay to terrible and the cinematography is simplistic. Directed by Italian director Giorgio Stegani, Beyond the Law or The Good Die First brings to mind less severe Spaghetti Westerns. Rather than go the path of A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Stegani and his international crew made a movie closer to My Name is Nobody (1973) and My Name is Trinity (1970). It has the tendency to be funny and even unintentionally goofy at some points with Lee Van Cleef showing he can make the best out of a paycheck that bills him with non-English speakers.If you're a western buff who's easy to please then Beyond the Law may be a perfect little surprise for you. It's a movie that is comfortable in its own banality. The story itself is strong, partially written by prolific Italians writers Mino Roli and Fernando Di Leo and the feel of the film is small but unique. The film was made only a year after Van Cleef's appearance in The Good the Bad and the Ugly (1966) and helped make Bud Spencer a star in his own right. It should at the very least be considered a decent B-movie.If you're interested, try finding the 105 minute version through Diamond Entertainment and look to avoid imitators with bad digital transfers. There is a colorless butchered version that you can likely find at a bargain bin somewhere and there's a decent letterbox version you can find online. Go check it out before the ghost of Red Ryder comes back to re-mystify the west.http://www.theyservepopcorninhell.blogspot.com