Review of Every Which Way but Loose (1978) by Dan D — 02 Sep 2011
Everyone told Clint Eastwood it would be financial suicide for him to an action-comedy, where his co-star would be an orangutan. However, he went with it, and it became at the time one of his most financially successful films.
It's a fun film, similiar to the Smokey and the Bandit films, but with punch-em-ups instead of car chases. Philo Beddoe (Eastwood) is a trucker who has a knack for getting into bar-room brawls, he lives with his Ma (Ruth Gordon), and his business associate/manager Orville Boggs (Geoffrey Lewis).
Oh, and he also has a pet orangutan called Clyde. :P Philo makes a bit of money on the side as a bare-knuckle fighter, and he's challenged to fight Tank Murdock (Walter Barnes) who has a reputation as an undefeated fighter on the West Coast.
Meanwhile, Philo has fallen for Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke), a country and western singer hoping to make it big, but Philo goes out to Colorado to fight tank, running into Lynn again, and he has the police on his tail and a biker gang known as The Black Widows on his tail, wanting to get him for past brawls.
It's a very silly film, but it was good to see Clint showing he has a sense of humour. It's Ruth Gordon as his mother who steals the film, along with Clyde. The success of this guaranteed a sequel 2 years later.
This review of Every Which Way but Loose (1978) was written by Dan D on 02 September 2011.
Every Which Way but Loose has generally received mixed reviews.
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