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 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 ****

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 .