Al di là della legge

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.

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.

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!

"Beyond the Law" 1968 PG 1h 30m Original title: Al di là della legge.

It's a typical spaghetti western; filmed in Italy; in Italian; and now has English dubbing.

It has decent action, with a cookie cutter plot.

Lee Van Cleef stars as Billy Joe Cudlip, criminal turned sheriff! Van Cleef is awesome, as always.

Lionel Stander as Preacher, stands out (pun intended) and provides great comic relief. Bud Spencer is noticable as the money grubbing owner of the silver mine. And, Ann Smyrner is cute and bouncey, and provides the T&A.

Romano Puppo plays Burton, the leader of the bandits, and he is awesome. He wears this black, flat brimmed hat and a long, black, silk cape and he looks like Bela Lugosi playing Zorro. It's makes me think, A. That this is really good, but weird, costuming for 1968, and, B. He really really looks creepy. I can just imagine that in a theater, when Puppo finally gets winged, and falls to his death, the whole audience cheers! The director does a shot from above, showing Puppo lying face down in the dirt, with his cape artistically spread out. Great scene.

Overall, the picture and the sound are pretty bad. Partly because they waited too long to transfer this one from the old film. Still, it's a romp.

And guess what? Noflicks does not carry this one. LOL The Bushwacker 12/24/2021.

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.

Thanks for reading.

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