SpuffyWeb
Sadly Over-hyped
Softwing
Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??
Smartorhypo
Highly Overrated But Still Good
Phonearl
Good start, but then it gets ruined
Luke
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.
John Seal
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.
tassilovp
This is a somewhat curious movie, an odd mixture between Italo western, comedy and drama (even melodrama at times!).The main problem is that it isn't quite sure about what it is supposed to be on the whole. The shooting and fighting scences are pretty trashy. Lee van Cleef and Lionel Stander save some of the scenes although it becomes obvious that van Cleef is the wrong chap for the role of Cudlip: He's too talkative and witty in a conventional way. In the end he's torn apart between his new duty as a sheriff and his former life as a thief. You cannot even remotely compare his role to that of Sentenza or Col. Mortimer in the Dollar-trilogy.When nothing better is on, you can probably watch this movie and get a little bit of entertainment out of it. Also see whether you can reckognize Bud Spencer. He's playing a quite untypical role which does not involve his fists.
Wizard-8
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!