"Beyond the Law" (as it is also known as) is a poorly made Spaghetti Western starring Antonio Sabato who portrays an immigrant from Europe named "Ben Novack" who has journeyed out west to lend his knowledge to a silver mining company. Lee Van Cleef plays a thief named "Billy Joe Cudlip" who, along with his partners, "Preacher" (Lionel Stander) and "Al" (Al Hoosman), conspire to rob the payroll from the stagecoach and the silver from the mine. Bud Spencer (who later gained fame in the "Trinity" movies) plays the mine owner named "James Cooper". Additionally, bandits led by "Burton" (Gordon Mitchell) come along and rob, kill and create chaos in general. Anyway, having given the basic details of the plot I would just like to say that this is one of the worst westerns I have ever seen. The acting (for the most part) was abysmal, the script was weak, the character interactions were disjointed and the scenes had no rhythm or flow. Now, it could very well be that one reason for the incoherence between scenes was due to extreme editing after the film was shot. But even so, this was a dreadful movie completely lacking direction and expertise. For example, in one scene the townsmen have set up an ambush for the bandits. Yet the ambush is conceived so sloppily that they leave a hill open with plenty of cover and concealment for the bandits to take up a defensive position and return fire. If that wasn't bad enough, both sides prefer using pistols at long range rather than rifles. Even more incredible is the astounding accuracy all the main characters seem to have shooting these pistols at moving targets who are running and scampering all over the place. It defies common sense. Anyhow, in spite of the major flaws in this film there were a couple of elements which were slightly positive. I thought Lee Van Cleef and Bud Spencer gave decent performances in their respective roles. Likewise, Graziella Granata ("Sally Davis") was very good-looking. But other than that I see nothing worthwhile in this film.
Review of Beyond the Law
