Every Which Way But Loose (1978) Warner Bros./Action-Comedy RT: 114 minutes Rated PG (language, crude humor, violence, sexual content, lots of beer drinking) Director: James Fargo Screenplay: Jeremy Joe Kronsberg Music: Steve Dorff Cinematography: Rexford L. Metz Release date: December 20, 1978 (US) Cast: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Ruth Gordon, Beverly D’Angelo, John Quade, Roy Jenson, James McEachin, Bill McKinney, Walter Barnes, Gregory Walcott, Dan Vadis. Box Office: $104.2M (US)
Rating: ***
A movie starring Clint Eastwood and an orangutan? Okay, I’m in! One of the biggest box office hits of 1978 (it ranks fourth behind Grease, Superman and Animal House), the action-comedy Every Which Way But Loose is best described as cinematic junk food. You know it’s dumb and there’s nothing of intellectual value to be gained from watching it. It’s even likely that it will rob you of a few precious IQ points. Yet you watch it anyway knowing full well you’ll owe your brain an apology afterwards. Actually, it’s probably a good idea to shut off your brain altogether before turning it on. You’ll have more fun if you do.
Admittedly, I didn’t see Every Which Way But Loose until 20 years after its initial release. That’s really saying something because Clint is one of my favorite actors of all time. I guess I put it off so long because I wasn’t impressed with the bits and pieces I glimpsed of it over the years from showings on cable and network TV. I finally broke down and rented it from one of the local video stores (The Movie Company) on a particularly boring early summer afternoon. Much to my surprise, I ended up liking it. It’s a pretty good Clint movie (NOT a great one) on par with titles like City Heat and Pink Cadillac. To its credit, it’s much better than The Bridges of Madison County (highly overrated drivel!). With its country-western flavor, it’s reminiscent of the 1977 Burt Reynolds vehicle Smokey and the Bandit.
Clint plays Philo Beddoe, a tough guy trucker who lives in the San Fernando Valley (California) with his elderly mother (Gordon, Harold and Maude), best friend Orville (Lewis, High Plains Drifter) and pet orangutan Clyde. He makes money on the side by competing in illegal bare-knuckle fights. He’s so good that he’s often compared to champion bare-knuckle fighter Tank Murdock.
One night, Philo meets an aspiring young country singer named Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Locke, The Gauntlet) at the local honky-tonk (the Palomino Club). They appear to hit it off at first, but she turns out to be an incredible flake. She lives with her controlling boyfriend in a trailer park and claims he’s holding every penny of her money she’s saving to open her own bar. After the boyfriend makes an attempt on their lives, Lynn refuses Philo’s offer of help insisting she’s going to end this destructive relationship once and for all. Instead, she suddenly leaves town without explanation. Figuring that she’s heading back to her hometown of Denver, Philo decides to take a road trip to find Lynn and tell her how he feels about her. Orville and Clyde come along for the ride.
In keeping with the tradition of all great road trip movies, the journey itself matters more than the actual destination. That’s when all the fun stuff happens. Philo has a gift for pissing off the wrong people. He’s being trailed by some very angry folks who would love to put his ass in a sling. He has a run-in with a local motorcycle gang called The Black Widows after a couple of members insult Clyde. When Philo takes their bikes and sells them, the leader of the gang Cholla (Quade, High Plains Drifter) declares war on the guy. The motorcycle gang consists of incompetent buffoons so Philo has very little to worry about as far as they’re concerned. He also has a couple of cops on his tail. They’re angry about losing a barroom brawl to Philo and want to exact their own brand of justice. Along the way, Orville meets Echo (D’Angelo, the Vacation movies) at a roadside fruit stand and invites her to join them on their odyssey.
There’s plenty of bare-fisted action and hilarity in Every Which Way But Loose, so much that the audience barely notices that there’s no real plot to the movie. The climactic fight between Philo and Tank Murdock (Barnes, High Plains Drifter) seems like an afterthought as it really has little to do with anything else that happens throughout the course of the movie. It doesn’t really matter though; it’s such a good-natured movie that the audience will find themselves smiling through the whole thing. Personally, I love a good redneck comedy with a lot of fighting (which should include at least one major bar fight), a lot of beer drinking and a lot of good country music. In regards to the last thing, look for cameo appearances by Mel Tillis, Charlie Rich and Eddie Rabbit (who also sings the title track).
The whole cast does a good job, but Ruth Gordon is the human MVP in Every Which Way But Loose. Ma is a peppy old lady. A running joke has her taking and failing her driver’s license test multiple times. She’s convinced it’s because she keeps forgetting to wear her wig which she thinks makes her look younger. In one of the movie’s funniest bits, she single-handedly fights off the Black Widows when they come to the house looking for Philo. She pulls out a shotgun and open fires at the frightened bikers as they scramble for safety. She blows up several of their bikes, the whole time saying that her son never should have left a vulnerable old lady alone to fend for herself. Gordon turns in a funny performance here and I honestly wish the writers had given her more screen time.
Clint proves that’s he a good sport and has a sense of humor by co-starring alongside an orangutan. He can be funny when he wants to be, but it’s still hard to separate this actor from his iconic Dirty Harry/Man with No Name image. I like the way he interacts with Clyde. He sees him as more as a friend than a mere pet. He’s the bane of Ma’s existence with the way he steals her Oreos and craps all over the house. One of his best tricks is flipping the bird to inconsiderate drivers. Honestly, the primate is one of Clint’s better co-stars. The movie’s only real weakness is Sondra Locke (Clint’s girlfriend at the time). In short, she can’t act. She’s not too bad a singer though.
In general, I like Every Which Way But Loose. It’s good for a few laughs. Clint’s fights are pretty kick-ass and it has an orangutan. It’s a silly movie, but it’s also a lot of fun. I would say that it’s worth checking out if you’re looking for a movie that allows your brain to idle for two hours.