Beyond the Law

Aftermaths the smashing success in IL BUONO, IL BRUTO, IL CATTIVO the leading power trio Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef, it open the gates of Italian profitable market to Van Cleef for good, it was the fourth movie sequentially often as leading star in a pulpy salary instead at America whereby was a mere adjunct on those countless western TV series, he reaches at stardom which he owes to Leone exposition as the legendary Sentenza.

Al di là Della Legge (Beyond the Law) is an above average spaghetti, having the Sicilian actor Antonio Sabato as co-star, the summarized plot is about a trio gang, led by the mastermind chief Culdlip (Van Cleef), El Niegro (Al Hoosnan) and the Preacher (Lionel Stander), they used to make small scams, although this turn they got a higher 12 thousand dollar took by stagecoach's foreigner engineer passenger Novak (Antonio Sabato) who was travelling with silver mining company's payroll money.

Aside be a successful heist something going wrong forcing an upcoming meeting of all them in city mining area where will have a large shipping of silver estimated nothing to sneeze at 100 thousand dollar in matter a month, it triggers the interest of the trio, also a menacing Burton's huge gang lurking nearby portrayed by the legendary Gordon Mitchell from those peplum and sandals Italian pictures.

Oddly enough in the casting has the forthcoming star Bud Spencer on a supporting role, the offering has many gorgeous girls around as the eye-candy Graziella Granata which Culdlip has a romantic interest, nonetheless who steal the show is the funniest Preacher Lionel Stander with tons of bible's notable lines in prophetic meaning whereby lifts an ordinary spaghetti in high path, easily perceived by a keen viewer.

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First watch: 1994 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-Youtube / Rating: 7.

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.

Ostensibly harmless thieves Van Cleef and his partners in crime (ex-boxer Hoosman and veteran supporting actor Stander) find themselves unwitting protagonists in the plight of a mining town when no-nonsense bandit Mitchell (in Zorro-esque garb) takes the town's women and children hostage in exchange for the town's rich silver deposits.

Essentially a lighthearted buddy-picture until the darker turn emerges late in the story when Mitchell's thugs emerge as the real villains, and conscience gets the better of Van Cleef's character.

In addition to the aforementioned trio, Sicilian heart-throb Sabato plays a young mining official trying to convince Van Cleef of his innate goodness, the attractive Granata is the town's most-eligible bachelorette and prospective future wife to Van Cleef if he can stay clean, and a bare-faced Bud Spencer also appears as the mining boss, momentarily unrecgonisable sans his trademark beard.

Aside from the sometimes melodramatic pace, I personally wasn't a fan of the rather gloomy conclusion which seemed a mean-spirited way to resolve matters when a more sympathetic ending beckoned. But it wasn't meant to be, and consequently this uneven spaghetti western is hard to like in spite of its initially good intentions.

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.

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The basic story was very interesting, and parts of it were well executed. Especially the GREAT ending, which gives Van Cleef a chance to do some excellent acting without having to say a word.

The problem with the movie is that (uncut) it's too long, and way too drawn out. It could have been edited down by twenty minutes or so. Also, the movie does not explore Van Cleef's character's transformation enough, with is a serious mistake.

The more you like spaghetti westerns, the more chance there is you'll like it. You also get to see Bud Spencer without his beard!