Sure, it's a silly movie. But for those of us who remember the disappointment of the original release, the movie ages extremely well. Watching Clint at his physical peak, fighting and drinking his way across America's southwest, the real fun is on seeing so many familiar character actors of the '70's in one movie. The plot, while unimportant, is also inoffensive, just a means of watching Clint be Clint, while. enjoying performances by familiar country western stars of the time, Mel Tillis, Charlie Rich, and Phil Everly.

The most popular of all Clint Eastwood films must be the two series of movies that featured an orang-utan called Clyde that steals the show as his co-star. The first being this one and Every Which Way You Can that appeared two years later. Despite its cult status and it might be comedy with usual cool Eastwood humour and dialogue, I don't really think its the most impressive of all Eastwood films mainly due to Eastwood sometimes losing his cool and there should be other films that are more superior than this one.Sometimes its a bit boring and its "reel let-down" must be the violence with the bare-knuckle punch contest in slight twirling dust, hence they should know better to Eastwood's discomfort and frenzied confrontation from his leading lady and regular co-star Sondra Locke whom would strangely enough re-appear in the next "orang-utan" film that doesn't really get better than the first and its a shame really.

This movie is so damned funny! I don't know who is funnier: Clyde, the orangutan, or Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood). Yes this movie is well worth watching if you want a completely different type of a romantic action comedy. You can see Clint Eastwood punch a few "bad guys" in the film and roll with laughter while watching him and his sidekick Clyde roll-on down the highway. Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke) is not a bad singer either - and you can see why Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood) falls for her in the movie.If you enjoyed this movie - then you really should watch the second film: "Any Which Way You Can" - it is just a funny as this first film.9/10

Every Which Way But Loose (1978) * 1/2 (out of 4)Clint Eastwood was great before EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE and he was great after the film so that leaves the movie in some sort of weird Twilight Zone-like state. Perhaps Eastwood just wanted to see what it was like making something really bad but something that crowds would eat up and turn into a hit. In the film he plays a redneck trucker who loves to fight and drink beer with his Orangutan named Clyde. The fighter ends up beating up some cops and a biker gang and as he takes off to find the girl of his dreams (Sondra Locke) he ends up with these morons following him. There are times when I don't like a crowd pleasing film but I can view that film and understand why people like it. That's not the case here because for the life of me I can't see what so many others saw in this picture. Not only is it painfully unfunny but it's also so drawn out that by the forty-minute mark I was ready to hit the eject button but we still had over a hour to go! It really does seem as if the writer was sitting around thinking what funny situations he could put Eastwood in. Lets team him with an ape. Okay, something could have been done with that. Have the two of them drink beer together. Again, perhaps something could be done. Oh yeah, get Eastwood to fight as many people as possible. These elements could have been the start to something but in this movie they're everything and they are just so poorly done that it never works. The entire film is just so long and nothing but the same thing happens over and over. Eastwood appears to be having a good time with it all. Geoffrey Lewis is good as his buddy. Both Locke and Beverly D'Angelo are good in their roles as the love interests. With that said, it's Clyde who gives the best performance. However, with all the fine performances it's still not enough to overcome a silly and bland story.