Friday, April 29, 2016

Beyond the Law

Ah, Lee Van Cleef! We love you so! Beyond the Law is a 1968 spaghetti western. I swear I don't know why Lee Van Cleef is not more universally acknowledged as the treasure he is. In this he plays an outlaw determined to turn over a new leaf.




A Fistful of Pasta says, "Van Cleef actually breaks out of the steely-eyed persona we're accustomed to and does some pretty decent acting, but his character is so wishy-washy, he can't save it." DVD Talk says,
This is a fun film that has developed a bad reputation amongst genre fans over the years. That bad reputation was largely due to the film's shocking presentation on home video. Poor quality pan and scan presentations that were indiscriminately edited to shorten the film's running time made the show look like a real mess. Add to this some fans' reluctance to accept Lee Van Cleef in such a different role and you have a film that became unjustly neglected.
10K Bullets calls it "above average" and says, "Lee Van Cleef really steals the show as Billy Joe Cudlip as he evolves from cold hearted bad guy into an honorable man."

2 comments:

  1. It's too bad it got such a bad rep, because I think I saw this on one of the old western channels I get. Not sure, because I paid only a little attention, but it looks familiar. thanks for the review.

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    1. I love Lee Van Cleef, but some of the video presentations are hard to watch. This online version is fine.

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