Main Cast: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Beverly D'Angelo, Ruth Gordon
Release Year: 1978
Country: US
Run Time: 119 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Clint Eastwood's first comedy feature proved to be one of his most profitable vehicles. Eastwood plays Philo Beddoe, a bare-knuckle boxer who travels from fight to fight in a beat-up truck, accompanied by his "pal" Clyde, a orangutan with a mean right hook, and his human buddy Orville (Geoffrey Lewis). During a stopover, Philo meets and falls in love with would-be country & western singer Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke). After a while, she wants to break off the relationship, but he doesn't -- a shaky plot peg upon which to hang several reels' worth of zany car chases and confrontations with such opponents as a gang of bikers and a battalion of hostile lawmen. Adding to the fun is Ruth Gordon as Eastwood's don't-mess-with-me octogenarian mother, and Beverly D'Angelo as an ace sharpshooter. The enormous box-office success of Every Which Way But Loose yielded an equally wacky -- and equally lucrative -- sequel, Any Which Way You Can. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Clint Eastwood's entry into the school of "good ol' boy" action comedies that Burt Reynolds popularized with Smokey and the Bandit is far from his best work but doesn't deserve the critical vilification it has received over the years. It's one of Eastwood's less consistent films from this era, primarily due to Jeremy Joe Kronsberg's script; the characters are fitfully amusing but the pacing is too slack and the storytelling too episodic to generate the electric charge of a top-notch slapstick comedy. It also gets bogged down in an array of subplots that are never integrated in a thoughtful or interesting way. Despite these key story flaws, Every Which Way But Loose remains an engaging affair for a few reasons. The first is its lack of pretension: director James Fargo keeps viewers from pondering the weak storyline by treating the film like a live-action cartoon and piling on car chases, bloodless bar brawls, and slapstick with vigor and gusto. The second is the skilled comic performances of the cast: Geoffrey Lewis makes a great deadpan comic foil for Eastwood, Sondra Locke brings the right intensity to her "lady of mystery" character, and Ruth Gordon is a total scene-stealer as the foul-mouthed, ill-tempered Ma. The final and most important reason is Clint Eastwood's performance: his work here reveals a skill for dry comedy that had only been touched on in his other films and his amiable performance reveals a star who is not only willing to act funny but is also capable of poking fun at his own "macho" image. In the end, Every Which Way But Loose is too much of a mixed bag to be given an unreserved recommendation, but it is well worth a look to fans of cartoonish comedies and anyone seriously interested in Eastwood's career. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Walter Barnes - Tank Murdock; Jerry Brutsche - Street Sweeper Driver; George Chandler - Clerk at DMV; Cary Michael Cheifer - Kincaid's Manager; Jeannette Louise Cole - Palamino girl; Chuck Hicks - Truck Driver; Timothy P. Hirvin - MC; Tim Irwin - Musician; Billie Jackson - Better; Joyce Jameson - Sybil; Richard Jamison - Harlan; Roy Jenson - Woody; Jackson D. Kane - Man at Bowling Alley; James McEachin - Herb; Bill McKinney - Dallas; Lloyd Nelson - Bartender; Thelma Pelish - Lady Customer; John Quade - Cholla; Tom Runyon - Bartender at Palomino; Dan Vadis - Frank; Ken Wahl; Gregory Walcott - Putman; George Wilbur - Church; Jerry Wills - Biker; Hank Worden - Trailer Court Manager; Sam Gilman - Fat Guy's Buddy; Fritz Manes - Bartender at Zanzabar; William O'Connell - Elmo; George Orrison - Fight Spectator; Bruce Scott - Schyler; Chuck Waters - Biker; Hartley Silver - Bartender; Jan Stratton - Waitress; Jeremy Kronsberg - Bruno; George Dockstader - Double; Guy Way - Bartender; Michael Mann - Church's Manager; Al Silvani - Tank Murdock's Manager
Credit
Elayne Barbara Ceder - Art Director, Jeremy Joe Kronsberg - Associate Producer, Fritz Manes - Associate Producer, Al Silvani - Consultant/advisor, Glenn Wright - Costume Designer, James Fargo - Director, Joel Cox - Editor, Ferris Webster - Editor, Steve Dorff - Composer (Music Score), Rexford Metz - Cinematographer, Robert Daley - Producer, Robert de Vestel - Set Designer, Chuck Gaspar - Special Effects, Bert Hallberg - Sound/Sound Designer, Wayne Van Horn - Stunts, Wayne Van Horn - Stunts Coordinator, Jeremy Joe Kronsberg - Screenwriter
