Pas de pitié pour les salopards

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.

3 rogues steal a mining company's payroll from Antonio Sabato's Czechoslovakian mining engineer at the beginning of this rather routine Spaghetti Western. They then spar with the black-clad villain Burton. The story of the transformation of Lee Van Cleef's Cutlip from criminal to marshal is interesting and could have made a really good film, but it is poorly executed with unimaginative direction and music. However, a few of the scenes, particularly those with the hostages, are effective. If you like SW, then you will find something in this film to enjoy. I did. But if you do not, then avoid. I saw a rather poor quality pan and scan VHS. The film would really benefit from widescreen.

Lee Van Cleef's performance is good, but as usual with SW there are some priceless dubbed lines like, "I never saw nor heard so many b*****ds in all my life. All you men got families that came from all over the world, right? The kid just got here and gets and little bad luck and you treat him like a dog. Who the hell do you think you are? You act like you all got hit in the head with a horse!"

Top spaghetti western list http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849907

Average SWs http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849889

For completists only (bottom of the barrel) http://imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21849890

this spaghetti western is not too bad.i though the story was interesting,and there are some good performances.Lee Van Cleef is the main star,and is quite good here.but he is overshadowed by a few others.Antonio Sabato(father of pseudo-actor Atonio Sabato Jr.)for one puts in a terrific performance,as does Lionel Stander(80'S TV show Hart to Hart.i also liked Bud Spencer(who acted in numerous spaghetti Westerns)though i wish his role had been bigger.but the real standout,in my mind,is Gordon Mitchell,for his "ice water in his veins' portrayal of Burton.the big negative for me though is the length of the film.i feel it is at least 30 minutes too long,and it moves fairly slow at times.but the performances overcome that weakness.for me,Beyond The Law (1968)is a 6/10

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.

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 .