Every Which Way but Loose

"Clint Eastwood will turn you Every Which Way But Loose"

1978 1h 50m EN

😐

6.1

MID

★6.1TMDB · 534

ComedyAdventureDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Philo Beddoe is your regular, easygoing, truck-driving guy. He's also the best bar-room brawler west of the Rockies. And he lives with a 165-pound orangutan named Clyde. Like other guys, Philo finally falls in love - with a flighty singer who leads him on a screwball chase across the American Southwest. Nothing's in the way except a motorcycle gang, some cops, and legendary brawler Tank Murdock.

“Clint Eastwood will turn you Every Which Way But Loose”

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Cast

Clint Eastwood
Philo Beddoe
Sondra Locke
Lynn Halsey-Taylor
Geoffrey Lewis
Orville Boggs
Manis
Clyde
Beverly D'Angelo
Echo
Walter Barnes
Tank Murdock
George Chandler
Clerk at D.M.V.
Roy Jenson
Woody

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: James Fargo
Writers: Jeremy Joe Kronsberg
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $85M — a 17.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

48 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Philo & Clyde Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by James Fargo, shot by Rexford L. Metz. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Joel Cox shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke and Geoffrey Lewis carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Clint Eastwood will turn you Every Which Way But Loose".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0077523 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

James Fargo directs. Rexford L. Metz behind the camera. Joel Cox cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Grossed $85M — a 17.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
248 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Philo & Clyde Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by James Fargo, shot by Rexford L. Metz. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Editor Joel Cox shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke and Geoffrey Lewis carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Clint Eastwood will turn you Every Which Way But Loose".
8IMDB entry: tt0077523 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 19 themes, including "martial arts", "waitress", "bare knuckle boxing", "fight".

The technical file

Cinematography: Rexford L. Metz
Editing: Joel Cox
Makeup / hair: Dorothea Long
Sound: Vern Poore
Stunt coordinator: Buddy Van Horn
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $5,000,000
Box office: $85,196,485
Return: 1704% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Every Which Way but Loose (1978)

Part of

Philo & Clyde Collection

Every Which Way but Loose is a 1978 American adventure comedy film. It stars Clint Eastwood in an uncharacteristic and offbeat comedy role, as Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler roaming the American West in search of a lost love while accompanied by his friend/manager Orville and his pet orangutan, Clyde. In the process Philo manages to cross a motley assortment of characters, including a pair of police officers and an entire motorcycle gang (the "Black Widows"), who end up pursuing him for revenge. Eastwood's appearance in the film, after his string of spaghetti western and Dirty Harry roles, somewhat startled the film industry and he was reportedly advised against making it. Panned by critics, the film went on to become an enormous success and became, along with its 1980 sequel Any Which Way You Can, two of the highest grossing Eastwood films. When adjusted for inflation, it still ranks as one of the top 200 highest grossing films of all time.

Also by

James Fargo

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-11-17
★ 7/10
I think he's spending too much time with Clyde. Every Which Way But Loose is directed by James Fargo and written by Jeremy Joe Kronsberg. It stars Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Beverly D'Angelo and Manis The Orangutan. It surprised the studio executives, even had them sweating about the release, but the adventures of Philo Beddoe (Eastwood) and his pet Orangutan proved to be a smash hit at the box office. Beddoe is a trucker who also happens to make money by bare knuckle fighting, and he's very good at it. Clyde the orangutan is a full on personality himself, and between them they wind up being trailed by vengeful coppers and a very incompetent motorcycle gang. Philo's brother Orville (Lewis) is along for the ride and polar opposite love interests come into play via Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Locke) and Echo (D'Angelo). Plot is very thin on the ground, we are in fact viewing a series of events that are mined for comedy purpose - which totally work. Action comes by way of the punch ups Philo gets into, with Eastwood as always proving to be one of the better punch throwing actors of his generation, while Lewis shines bright as the best friend and voice of reason to Philo. The love story sub-plot involving Lynn and Philo - and its subsequent revelations - feels a touch out of place, since this is such a chilled and relaxed comedy picture. Which is the key, the makers know what they are doing, they are having fun and ask the audience to do the same. The public lapped it up and ensured that a sequel of similar tropes would follow. That also proved to be popular since it was more of the same. Open the beer and popcorn and just run with it, it was never meant to be high art etc. 7/10
r96sk2022-01-19
★ 6/10
A bit forgettable, if nothing terrible. Clint Eastwood is solid enough, while the supporting Geoffrey Lewis, Sondra Locke and Ruth Gordon have a couple of moments. The plot is a little meandering and doesn't hold enough entertainment, even with an orangutan being present throughout <em>'Every Which Way but Loose'</em>. I found the pacing to be slower than I would've liked and the characters opposite the lead to be boring, whether it be John Quade & Co. or the pair of police officers. I will say that I actually did enjoy the music used, which is arguably the film's main plus if I'm honest. I can't say I'm expecting much from <em>'Any Which Way You Can'</em>, the sequel, but I'll give it a chance no doubt.