Themes: Woman In Jeopardy, Cons and Scams, Monkeys
Main Cast: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Ruth Gordon, William Smith, Harry Guardino
Release Year: 1980
Country: US
Run Time: 116 minutes
Plot
This sequel to Every Which Way But Loose finds Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood) on the road, orangutan companion Clyde in tow, as he makes his way as a bare-knuckle fighter. The action begins with Philo punching out a new victim while Clyde relieves himself on the seat of a police car, setting the tone for the rest of the story. From there, Philo and Clyde return home, where Philo, who still lives with Ma (Ruth Gordon), is offered a contest with Jack Wilson (William Smith), the Mafia-sponsored East Coast bare-knuckle champ. Philo inadvertently saves Wilson's life, but then the Mafia kidnaps his girlfriend (Sondra Locke) to force him to go ahead with the match. Philo and Wilson team up to battle the Mob, but somehow they end up fighting anyway in a grueling climactic sequence. Country music, bikers, the Mafia, an orangutan, pick-up trucks, defecation jokes, fighting, drinking, and swearing -- it's all here in this lowbrow comic stew. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
Review
Hard as it may be to believe, this sequel and its predecessor, Every Which Way But Loose (1978), were major hits of the "good ol' boy" school of filmmaking dominated by stars Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds in the late '70s. Featuring car chases, rotund idiot cops or bikers in pursuit, some sort of goofy animal frolic, country tunes, and tee shirt-clad he-men good with their fists and CB radios but emotionally challenged by women, the type came and went (thankfully) in a flash, but wracked up some serious box-office coin. Gleefully embracing the conventions of its bizarre genre, this flimsy excuse for drunken brawling, pratfalls, and lowbrow monkey humor actually works almost as well as the film that preceded it. Director Buddy Van Horn and Eastwood don't pretend to make more of it than it is, and keep the pace taut, the jokes flying -- so that you don't notice the clunkers as much -- and wisely get scene stealer Ruth Gordon to re-up as the protagonist's salty mater. If it all seems a retread of the first flick, well, it is, but it's still funny to see an orangutan give a gang leader the finger and fun to shake your head in disbelief at the door-slamming sound effects every time Clint connects a punch to his opponent's jaw. The first film's weaknesses are all here again as well, notably Sondra Locke in an utterly pointless role as a stone-faced country singer delivering a less persuasive performance than the aforementioned primate. Strictly for fans of a strange, best-forgotten era of artistic drought in the cinema, Any Which Way You Can can nevertheless be enjoyed for its effectively stupid yuks and its status as a relic of its absurd times. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Geoffrey Lewis - Orville Boggs; Michael Cavanaugh - Patrick Scarfe; Barry Corbin - Fat Zack; Roy Jenson - Moody; Bill McKinney - Dallas; William O'Connell - Elmo; John Quade - Cholla; Al Ruscio - Tony Paoli, Sr.; Dan Vadis - Frank; Dan Barrows - Baggage Man; Michael Brockman - Moustache Officer; Jerry Brutsche - Black Widow; Glen Campbell - Himself; Rebecca Clemons - Buxon Bess; Reid Cruickshanks - Bald Headed Trucker; Michael Currie - Wyoming Officer; Dick Durock - Joe Casey; Michael Fairman - CHP Captain; James Gammon - Bartender; Lance Gordon - Biceps; Lynn Hallowell - Honey Bun; Peter Hobbs - Motel Clerk; Art La Fleur - Baggage Man #2; Ken Lerner - Tony Paoli, Jr.; George Murdock - Sgt. Cooley; Jack Murdock - Little Melvin; Ann Nelson - Harriet; Sunshine Parker - Old Codger; Anne Ramsey - Loretta Quince; Logan Ramsey - Luther Quince; Tessa Richarde - Sweet Sue; Jim Stafford - Long John; Michael Talbott - Officer Morgan; Mark L. Taylor - Desk Clerk; Charles Walker - Officer; Julie Brown - Candy; Gary Lee Davis - Husky Officer; Fats Domino - Himself; Robin Menken - Tall Woman; Jack Thibeau - Head Muscle; Larry Holt - Black Widow; Kent Perkins - Trucker; Dick Christie - Jackson Officer; Weston Gavin - Beekman's Butler; John McKinney - Officer; Bill Sorrells - Bakersfield Officer
Credit
Glenn Wright - Costume Designer, Tom Joyner - First Assistant Director, Buddy Van Horn - Director, Ronald Spang - Editor, Ferris Webster - Editor, Robert Daley - Executive Producer, Snuff Garrett - Musical Direction/Supervision, Joe McKinney - Makeup, William J. Creber - Production Designer, David Worth - Cinematographer, Fritz Manes - Producer, Ernie Bishop - Set Designer, Chuck Gasper - Special Effects, Bert Hallberg - Sound/Sound Designer, Jeremy Joe Kronsberg - Screenwriter, Stanford Sherman - Screenwriter
After throwing his fight with Tank Murdock at the end of Every Which Way But Loose, Philo Beddoe is still fighting in underground bareknuckle boxing matches to make money on the side. Philo decides to retire, however, when he realizes that he has started to enjoy the pain. Philo and Orville decide it's time to end his career.
The problem is Jack Wilson—a new breed of East Coast brawler who mixes martial arts with boxing and is so effective at maiming his opponents that his handlers cannot book him a fight. During a conversation after a fight between a mongoose and a rattlesnake, one of the handlers realizes that Philo, the king of the West Coast brawlers, might not only agree to the fight with Wilson—it would be the biggest draw in the history of modern bareknuckle fighting. The Handlers, in conjunction with the mafia kidnap Philo's former love interest Lynn Halsey-Taylor in order to coerce Philo into agreeing to the fight.
Philo and Clyde share a happy moment together
Wilson is a prize fighter with a sense of right-and-wrong, however. After learning of the plot and helping Philo and Orville in rescuing Lynn, he decides that they really need not fight to prove who is the best. On the other hand, the personal pride of both fighters cause them to wonder who actually would have won the fight. The long brawl between the two characters does end up taking place, but it is punctuated by pauses and personal reflections on their mutual admiration for each other. Near the end of the fight, Wilson breaks Philo's arm and offers to end the fight, but the two men end up continuing the brawl. At the end, Philo knocks Wilson out long enough to qualify for a win. Wilson helps Philo to the hospital to have his arm looked at, and the fighters and their friends end up sharing beer at a bar.
As for the Black Widows, a biker gang that has a grudge against Philo, they make their return in a row with Philo, still wanting revenge for the destruction of their bikes last time. However, Philo bests them when they, in an effort to chase him, run through an asphalt machine during a road paving project, resulting in them losing their hair and wearing wigs and penciled-on eyebrows to camouflage their appearance, which is so galling that rather than scare people, they end up getting laughed at and ridiculed.
Despite the rivalry, the Black Widows bet everything they have on Philo as they know he is the better fighter. When the mobsters decide to kill Philo once he gains the upper hand, the Black Widows protect their investment by beating up the mafia men. After collecting their winnings, the Black Widows declare a truce with Beddoe.
Clyde is much physically different in the film than in Every Which Way But Loose. This is because the original orangutan, Manis, had matured too much since the first film and was too large and possibly dangerous. The ape who played Clyde in the second film died of a cerebral hemorrhage two weeks after the film wrapped.[1]
Glen Campbell performed the "Any Which Way You Can" title song track in the final scene of the movie, but while the song was a Top 10 hit on the country music charts, the song never reached the pop charts the way the previous "Every Which Way But Loose" title song track did earlier, which was performed by the late Eddie Rabbitt.
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 20% of critics gave the film a positive review based on a sample of 10 reviews, with an average score of 4.9/10.[2] In the film's opening weekend, it grossed $8,024,663 in 1,541 theaters. Any Which Way You Can has had total gross receipts of $70,687,344 in the U.S. and Canada.[3]
