User Reviews

I think I sold this movie short the first couple of times through -- It is an odd mishmash to be sure, and may be the last of the Italian 'Cowboy Movies' made just before the Spaghetti Western chic had completely taken over. It is an Italian movie made by Italians with a few Gringos in the leads (Lee Van Cleef, Lionel Stander and Bud Spencer, who was a Brother, but never mind) just like a Spaghetti, yet is decidedly traditional in it's nature. If it wasn't for the comparatively excessive violence & lack of Native American characters, this could have been made with Randolph Scott and Robert Mitchum on the Universal backlots over a few weekends.

There was a period of time when Italy was making films that were an obvious attempt to compete with the "B-fare" Westerns coming out of the states, and BEYOND THE LAW sort of straddles the divide between that time of Italian made Cowboy Movies (SHOOTOUT AT RED SANDS, the overlooked FURY OF THE APACHES, GRAND CANYON MASSACRE and MINNESOTA CLAY) and when the Spaghetti mystique took over in the wake of successes like THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, DEATH RIDES A HORSE, not to mention the SARTANA and DJANGO films -- All of which come from a different cultural sensibility that stressed style and delivery rather than trying to mimic John Ford. It was really with the walloping masterpiece of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST that the Yanks were forced to sort of sit up & take notice of people like Sergio Leone, Ennio Moriconne, Antonio DeTeffe, Gianni Garko, Franco Nero, and Enzo G. Castellari. After about 1970 European made Westerns didn't concern themselves much with square dance scenes, romance/comedy subplots, and scenes where dozens of riders chase a stagecoach.

So BEYOND THE LAW is a sort of throw-back film to 1965 or so, with the great Lee Van Cleef excellently cast as a scruffy two bit chicken thief who turns lawman to help an utterly square, uncorruptable and interminably cheerful young mining executive just off the boat from Europe (Antonio Sabato, also very well chosen for his role) protect the payroll and silver from a mining community from ... himself. And his two crony con men (Stander and Spencer, both excellent), plus a pack of hyenas led by a caped madman (Spaghetti legend Gordon Mitchell) obsessed with stealing the loot that inconveniently turn up to give Van Cleef a chance to not only be selected as the community's new sheriff, but allow Van Cleef a chance to finally "find himself" in the role, even if he was first handed the star as part of a put-on in an elaborate swindle that just didn't work out the way it could have.

So BEYOND THE LAW is not just a Euro Western but a Caper Movie about a Heist, an Action/Adventure Buddy Film, with touches of Comedy/Romance as Van Cleef finds himself responding to the admiration of the local burlesque queen (gorgeous Graziella Granata, who even gets time to belt out a rowdy stage number), and a Fish Out of Water "dramedy" as Antonio Sabata goes from a cultured immigrant to a cold-blooded if unusually polite killer: It is his sheer, earnest cluelessness that finds itself eating away at Van Cleef's otherwise rotten heart, who goes from an unwashed dirtbag to the hero of the community in 90 minutes whether or not he wanted to -- Sabato simply charms him over and makes his character realize that destiny has oddly thrust itself upon him, and he takes up the mantle of lawman with a grim chagrin that is actually quite amusing and sort of gets you right there (thump) when all is said and done: Some law is better than no law, even if it comes from the strangest places.

Such is the lesson learned by Van Cleef, and it's interesting to view his character here as sort of a "prequel" to the jaded, disillusioned & cynical lawman/bringer of justice he would play in so many movies afterward, and a couple before even. This is no Douglas Mortimer, but a totally different person -- A fine testament to his qualities as an actor, which is something that most folks overlook in favor of a black clad "total badass" who is the best shot in the Carolinas or whatever. Fans of his work are hereby admonished to seek this movie out and give it three or four screenings if that's what it takes. Yeah it's trying to look and sound like Hollywood, not Cinematalia, but after ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST Italian Pasta directors stopped trying to prove they could do John Ford, and this film stands of a relic of when that was still an ongoing proposition.

Now, finding the RIGHT version of this film may take a couple tries: Brentwood Home Video and a couple others of those 'Bargain Bin Box Set' issuers of Public Domain Movie fare DVDs are circulating an almost colorless 85 minute version, which is too bad: Diamond Entertainment and some outfit known as "Quality Digital Productions" both have a digitally color-restored 105 minute version that, while fullframe & "squishy" in spots from the improperly lensed transfer, contains every last minute described for an English language presentation -- Almost twenty minutes longer, including the burlesque scene and a good old knock down drag out barroom brawl that has more in common with THE WAR WAGON than it does with THE FORGOTTEN PISTOLERO. But that's sort of the charm: Seeing all those guys scurrying around dressed in those silly outfits, trying to be Cowboys rather than just existing as the larger than life iconic figures we usually think of in reference to Spaghetti Westerns ... Thank God for Franco Nero, I guess.

*** out of ****

Not really a conosieur of the spaghetti western to compare this to the more classic ones, I found that by watching this on its own merits, I easily enjoyed it. This certainly isn't anything new in the western genre in general but several individual moments stuck out to me to provide an interesting perspective of the director's vision. It's right after the Civil War and a stagecoach filled with people is aghast when a black man is picked up. European Antonio Sabato inquires about the whole point of the civil war, his liberal attitude giving others on the stage an eye roll.

Later on, Sabato becomes part of a plot to steal a fortune in silver, joining Lee Van Cleef who has covered up his bandit past in order to become sheriff in Silvertown and commit one last heist. Lionel Stander is also involved, as is Al Hoosman, the black man ridiculed on the stage but turning out to be his partner. Graziella Granata provides a love interest for Sabato but thankfully doesn't distract from the main plot. A bouncy music score adds to the pacing, and aided by the memorable characters ends up being better than I expected.

No one seems to have reviewed Wild East's DVD of Beyond the Law (which also includes Lee Van Cleef's The Grand Duel) so I guess I'd better take up the challenge. Unlike all previous American video releases, Wild East's disc is correctly letterboxed and includes some scenes previously only available on European prints, which immediately renders all the bootlegs and pan and scan sell-throughs redundant. The film itself is a modest affair involving Van Cleef, Lionel Stander, Bud Spencer, and the still active Herbert Fux in a caper to abscond with a silver shipment. Though the film was rather blandly shot by cinematographer Enzo Serafin--whether intentionally or otherwise, it's drenched in browns and yellows, lending it a rather dusty appearance--the proceedings are immensely improved by Riz Ortolani's majestic score. Though Beyond the Law is overlong and drags at times, a spectacular finale involving caped villain Gordon Mitchell enlivens the third act and will leave spaghetti fans satisfied.

Billy Joe Cudlip (Lee Van Cleef) is not a good man. But he's conflicted. Sure, he's just robbed a stagecoach of $12,000, but he feels like he owes something to the man his crimes have hurt the most, a Czech immigrant named Ben Novack (Antonio Sabàto) who was supposed to deliver that money to hard working miners.

When another gang attacks the next shipment of money - led by Gordon Mitchell - and the sherrif is killed, things change for Cudlip. He's offered the job of lawman, which his partners Preacher (an astounding Lionel Stander, trapped in Europe thanks to the blacklist) and freed slave Al (Al Hoosman, an amateur heavyweight boxer who fought in World War II and then settled in Germany, where he became an actor in thirty films) think will be quite helpful when it comes to taking all the town's silver.

Except that the gangs that come to town are way worse people than Cudlip. He now feels compelled to protect the men, women and children of Silvertown, which goes against everything he believes in. Sooner or later, he's going to have to choose between Ben and the town or Preacher and Al.

In a genre made up of loners who disappear after they get their bloody revenge or save a town, this is a rare Italian western with a hero who finds that he belongs. As the film closes, with his star cast aside, Ben stops him and says, You are not alone, Cud. You have us - you always did. You are our friend. And our sheriff."

Director Giorgio Stegani only made nine movies, but he wrote one that made a major impact: Cannibal Holocaust.

This is also worth watching just to see Bud Spencer without his beard.

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.