Pas de pitié pour les salopards

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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(1968) Beyond The Law/ Al di là della legge DUBBED SPAGHETTI WESTERN

I was somewhat involved with the movie for for the most part until the ending which really sucked. Lee Van Cleef as Billy Joe Cudlip he is one of a trio of thieving bandits who succeeded into stealing a small bag of money from a locked stagecoach compartment. The group also includes a pretentious preacher (George Sanders) and an African man (Al Hoosmann). Unsatisfied, the trio want to score a much bigger jackpot except that Billy is starting to build a rapport with a European dude named Ben who's general responsibility was to make sure money would be traveled safely to it's rightful owners. And things really become complicated as soon as Billy accepts a role as deputy of the small town with the only obstacle are another outlaw bandit named Burton (Gordon Mitchell) commanding a gang of outlaws who're also basically seeking for the same thing as the thieving trio which is undeserving amounts of riches. After seeing many Spaghetti westerns, there seems to be a trend where the general story lines demands spontaneous 'unpredictability' even if it doesn't make any lick of sense, and this is another example of another one of those movies where it doesn't feel the need to make any sense when it ends badly.

This especial Italian western blends violence, western action, plot twists, shoot'em up with high body-count , it is fast movement and that's why it results to be entertaining . This is the story of the ex-bandit who'd worn it -till he'd faced one gun too many...the young , novice engineer he had to teach to wear it- or watch to die and the young who lived only to wear one of his own ! .. and for some dollars a month -that's what they gave you for protecting people who ran like rabbits when the going got roguish ! ¨ . The picture deals with a beginner young engineer (Antonio Sabato , of course , father of known TV actor Antonio Sabato Jr.) who persuades veteran rogue (Lee Van Cleef) and his hoodlums (the veteran Lionel Stander) to help him to rid a little town of bandits who have robbed 12.000 dollars belonging to payroll of the miners . Then , the thief turns into sheriff of the little town called Silver City where is guarded the silver treasure from the mine and the baddies led by Burton (a particular performance by a Peplum-hero as Gordon Mitchell dressed in black with cloak and hat ) want to rob . Meanhile, the old gunslinger , nowadays an upright sheriff falls in love with a beautiful girl (Graziella Granata) . Outlaw Sheriff - Within the Law, Without the Law, Beyond the Law. A saddle tramp... a black hustler... and a preacher - all operating beyond the law .

It's an acceptable Spaghetti film with dazzling shootouts between the protagonists and the contenders . This meaty Western contains interesting plot , violence , crossfire and being quite entertaining , though drags, at times , in ups and downs . This average Western balances noisy action , suspense and drama with tragic final in which happens a sad , dramatic showdown . It's a classic recounting about teaching and learning between an unexperienced young finely played by Antonio Sabato who is in charge of a silver mine and a veteran roguish become marshal . Agreeable performance by Lee Van Cleef changing his usual characters , here as a honorable sheriff who defends the villagers and even confronts his friends at an amazing ending . Decent secondary cast formed by ordinary Spaghetti/Peplum players such as Carlo Gaddi, Romano Puppo, Herbert Fux, Enzo Fiermonte and including Bud Spencer in a serious role as a foreman . Enjoyable score by Riz Ortalani who composed lots of Spaghetti Western scores , it contains a sensitive musical leitmotif . There are many fine technicians and nice assistants as the cameraman Enzo Serafin who makes a nice photography with barren outdoors , dirty landscapes under a glimmer sun shot , of course , on location in Almeria , Spain , though is mostly filmed at Italy . However , being necessary a perfect remastering because of the original copy is washed-out . The motion picture was professionally directed by Giorgo Stegani , though with no originality . He's is an expert writer of Giallo and Western as ¨Blood of a silver dollar¨ and ¨ Beyond the law ¨ and occasionally Western director as ¨Gentleman killer¨and ¨Adios Gringo¨ . Rating : 5,5 , acceptable but mediocre Spaghetti that will appeal to Lee Van Cleef fans .

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.

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.