Any Which Way You Can (1980)

Dreadfully Boring

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Continuing my plan to watch every Clint Eastwood movie in order, I come to Any Which Way You Can (1980)Plot In A Paragraph: All the gang are back as Philo (Eastwood) is blackmailed in to one last fight, against an opponent who killed a man in his last fight. It was inevitable that following the success of a Every Which Way But Loose that a sequel would follow. It's another Burt Reynolds type movie, after reinventing himself as a tough guy cop, after the dollars trilogy, It almost seems like Clint was trying to reinvent himself as a Reynolds-esque good old boy. Thankfully it didn't last longer than a few years, as despite their charm, these are not some of Clint's best movies. Fun to watch every couple of years and huge money makers, but not good movies.I'll give the movie credit for not spending much time on the relationship between Eastwood and Locke!! Unlike Smokey & The Bandit 2 (released the same year) which focused too much on Burt Reynolds and Sally Fields failing relationship. In fact Locke is at her most appealing here since The Outlaw Josie Wales and her singing is much improved too.I'd probably rank this above the first movie, the final fight giving it the edge.Any Which Way You Can grossed $70 million at the domestic box office to end the year as the 5th highest grossing movie of 1980.

The story goes that Burt Reynolds was friends with Clint Eastwood in the late 70s and Burt suggested that he would do a serious cop thriller if Clint did a comedy akin to Burt's numerous good ol' boy flicks (e.g 1977's "Smokey and the Bandit"). So Clint did 1978's "Every Which Way But Loose" and 1980's "Any Which Way You Can" while Burt eventually did "Sharky's Machine" in 1981, which he described as "Dirty Harry in Atlanta." Burt lost the challenge because, not only are most of Eastwood's cop thrillers superior to "Sharky's Machine," both of the "Which" films are superior to Burt's good ol' boy flicks, particularly the first one.Eastwood stars as easy-going truck driver Philo Beddoe who fist-fights on the side for extra money. His buddy Orville (Geoffrey Lewis) promotes unofficial prize-fights for him while his pet orangutan, Clyde, assists them. San Fernando Valley, CA, is their stomping grounds as they enjoy cold beer, country music, bars, women and the occasional fight. While Philo is an expert when it comes to fights he's not so expert when it comes to women, particularly a little country and western singer, Lynn (Sondra Locke). They're relationship ended badly in the previous film, but it may or may not be rekindled in this one. Philo, Orville and Clyde are still pestered by a gang of witless bikers (John Quade, Bill McKinney, etc) as Philo considers squaring off with the best fist-fighter on the East coast (William Smith). Ruth Gordon is on hand as Ma.Like the title blurb says, this is almost as good as the previous film, which IMHO is the best of the good ol' boy movies of that era. Many like it better, so it's a matter of opinion. Regardless, "Any Which" is consistently entertaining from beginning to end and, while it's too zany to take serious (even zanier than the first movie), the characters are decidedly human and there's a lot of warmhearted-ness mixed with the laughs and thrills. Add Clyde's amusing & amazing antics (and, less so, Ma's) and you have a worthy sequel to the eminent good ol' boy movie.Since this is a sequel and plot threads are carried over from the first film, it's best to watch that one first to fully appreciate this one. The original orangutan featured in "Every Which" had matured too much and was possibly dangerous so they used a different ape. Glen Campbell performs the title song at the end, which was a Top 10 hit on the country music charts.The film runs 114 minutes and was shot in San Fernando Valley, CA (and nearby areas, like Bakersfield), and Jackson,Wyoming.GRADE: B+

It's hard to offer up too much of a defense for this movie, but I'm going to try. It's not high art, but it's still more fun than a lot of what's going on these days. Of course, this is the sequel to Clint Eastwood's big hit, Every Which Way But Loose, and it's just the continued story of a bare knuckle prize fighter and his orangutan, Clyde. The first one was actually pretty good as lightweight entertainment, but there's hardly enough meat there for a really good sequel. However, with that being said, if you enjoyed Every Which Way But Loose, you'll probably enjoy this one as well. It looks and feels mostly the same as the first one. Big Bill Smith is on board as a professional fighter brought in by the mob to take on Phyllo Beddoe. He's usually great to watch, and this movie is no exception. There's some good fisticuffs, and the Black Widows are back as well. I've seen better sequels, but then again, I've seen a lot worse as well.

Crude, sophomoric, irreverent, silly, stupid, overly macho, etc., etc. - yet, an endearing and very enjoyable film for a lot of people. I wouldn't put myself in that category any more, calling it "endearing," but when I was a lot younger and more less discerning, I laughed a lot at this. I enjoyed this as much, if not more, than the original film, "Every Which Way But Loose." Now, it's a bit too seedy and I don't care for all the abuses of the Lord's name in vain, especially in comedy. However, this is an entertaining film. No one falls asleep watching the antics of the orangutan or Clint Eastwood and his fighting opponent or the irascible Ruth Gordon. The villain in here - Eastwoood's boxing opponent "Jack Wilson" (William Smith) was a good guy and the bare- knuckle was something to see!It's low brow stuff, but a lot of that kind of humor was big in the '70s and early '80s.