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.

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.

"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.

(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.

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!