EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE (USA, 1978) **
Distributor: Warner Bros. (USA), Columbia-Warner Distributors (UK); Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures / The Malpaso Company; Release Date: 20 December 1978 (USA), 21 December 1978 (UK); Filming Dates: 19 April–early July 1978; Running Time: 114m; Colour: DeLuxe; Sound Mix: Mono; Film Format: 35mm; Film Process: Spherical; Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1; BBFC Cert: 12.
Director: James Fargo; Writer: Jeremy Joe Kronsberg; Producer: Robert Daley; Associate Producer: Jeremy Joe Kronsberg, Fritz Manes; Director of Photography: Rexford L. Metz; Music Supervisor: Snuff Garrett; Film Editor: Joel Cox, Ferris Webster; Art Director: Elayne Barbara Ceder; Set Decorator: Robert De Vestel; Costumes: Glenn Wright; Make-up: Don Schoenfeld; Sound: Bert Hallberg; Special Effects: Chuck Gaspar.
Cast: Clint Eastwood (Philo Beddoe), Sondra Locke (Lynn Halsey-Taylor), Geoffrey Lewis (Orville), Beverly D’Angelo (Echo), Walter Barnes (Tank Murdock), George Chandler (Clerk at D.M.V.), Roy Jenson (Woody), James McEachin (Herb), Bill McKinney (Dallas), William O’Connell (Elmo), John Quade (Cholla), Dan Vadis (Frank), Gregory Walcott (Putnam), Hank Worden (Trailer Court Manager), Ruth Gordon (Ma), Jerry Brutsche (Sweeper Driver), Cary Michael Cheifer (Kincaid’s Manager), Janet Cole Notey (Girl at Palomino), Sam Gilman (Fat Man’s Friend), Chuck Hicks (Trucker), Timothy P. Irvin (M.C. at Zanzabar), Tim Irwin (Bandleader), Billy Jackson (Bettor), Joyce Jameson (Sybil), Richard Jamison (Harlan), Jackson D. Kane (Man at Bowling Alley), Jeremy Joe Kronsberg (Bruno), Fritz Manes (Bartender at Zanzabar), Michael Mann (Church’s Manager), Lloyd Nelson (Bartender), George Orrison (Fight Spectator), Thelma Pelish (Lady Customer), William J. Quinn (Kincaid), Tom Runyon (Bartender at Palomino), Bruce Scott (Schyler), Al Silvani (Tank Murdock’s Manager), Hartley Silver (Bartender), Al Stellone (Fat Man), Jan Stratton (Waitress), Mike Wagner (Trucker), Guy Way (Bartender), George P. Wilbur (Church), Gary Davis (Biker), Scott Dockstader (Biker), Orwin C. Harvey (Biker), Gene LeBell (Biker), Chuck Waters (Biker), Jerry Wills (Biker), Manis the Orangutan (Clyde).
Synopsis: An easy-going trucker and great fist-fighter travels the San Fernando Valley with his promoter and an orangutan, he won on a bet, in search of cold beer, country music and the occasional punch-up.
Comment: Eastwood looked for a change of pace with this lowbrow action comedy. The film is an excuse for a series of set-piece fist fights, coarse jokes, chaos and destruction. There is little in the way of plot to maintain interest, leaving the character interaction to give the movie its core. Clyde, the dysfunctional orangutan sidekick of Eastwood, steals the show and there is a feisty performance from Gordon as Eastwood’s long-suffering mother. Locke is the love interest and she also gets the chance to sing. The production chugs along without any real heart, relying on gags that are only sporadically funny and performances that are all too knowing.
Notes: The film and its soundtrack featured several country-and-western songs including tracks sung by Mel Tillis, Charlie Rich and Eddie Rabbitt. Followed by ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN (1980).