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.
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Reviews
I love this movie so much
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
It's the many misadventures of Californian truck driver Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood) and Clyde. Philo makes a side income from bare-knuckle fights with friend Orville (Geoffrey Lewis). His best friend is his orangutan Clyde. He is taken with aspiring country singer Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke). He gets into trouble with the Black Widows biker gang and two cops. When Lynn takes off, Philo, Clyde, and Orville follow. Orville falls for Echo (Beverly D'Angelo) working at a roadside fruit stand.The plot is a rambling journey. It's not the most compelling road trip. The orangutan is fun but it's sad to hear about the old training methods. Clint is stretching out for the first time. It's generally fun but not a laugh out loud fun. I give this a pass.
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
Eaztwood's fist-fighting, bare-knuckled Philo Beddoe does not disappoint, in this 1978 comedy classic.Most of the supportive cast also does not disappoint. Once again, Eastwood casts former costars from his classic Westerns, in the supportive roles; most notably, the late-John Quade, as the biker-gang leader.Sondra Locke, who quickly became "Clint's leading lady", out of respect to their former off-screen Relationship, is mediocre at best, here, as man-hustling, con-artist, country-singer wannabe, Lynne Halsey-Taylor. Most of her delivery falls flat; perhaps due her nervousness in working so closely and intimately with Clint; this being their second film together. The early critics slammed her as flaky and flat, when LHT is supposed to be a vixenish vamp. Perhaps it was because Clint allowed Sondra too much creative leeway. But alas.. one cannot turn back the clock and fix things. Thank goodness Locke's delivery in the sequel Any Which Way You Can redeemed her.At this film's original premiere, some critics grazed Clint for steering away from his classic Westerns personae to do a little comedy for a change. Well that direction paid off; thought admittedly I am dearly surprised this under-rated film's overall average is 6.5. Eastwood is as epic as Coca-Cola and Taco Bell. And he is one of those genuinely versatile stars who built a career on Perfection. To-date, he has seldom disappointed.The biker-gang; mostly composed of repeat co-stars, is deadpan hilarious. Headed by scruffy character-actor John Quade, traditionally, bikers are younger serious muscle-head guys with chicks riding piggyback. However, here, we get a bunch of middle-aged bungling doofus' who routinely get their butts kicked, in spite bearing Black Widow tattoos on their arms. Geoffrey Lewis; lifetime friend and co-star of Eastwood, is deliciously delightful, and goofball, as Philo's brother and fight-manager, Orville; comically turning his hat backwards before Philo enters a fist-fight. What fan and Fem cannot resist his signature blue eyes and sexy shoulders? The real stars and scene-stealers in this film, however - are frothy 'Ma' (Ruth Gordon) who can't seem to pass her senior's driver's test, then goes Annie Oakley on the biker gang. And Clyde; Philo's pet orangutan "12 ribs", with an Oreo cookie fetish, and a taste for action, and human beer.
I was amazed as I sat and watched this film. "Every Which Way But Loose" was the second highest grossing (no pun intended) film of 1978...and yet it's practically plot-less and a completely brainless film. It's not 100% terrible, but it is pretty bad--especially as the film becomes tiresome the longer it goes. But, despite this, because it made so much money (people were apparently VERY easy to please in 1978), they soon made a sequel--which I can pretty much guarantee you I'll never be watching! Clint Eastwood plays a guy who loves to bare knuckle fight. Often he does it to win prize money, often he does it just because someone irritated him. Throughout the film, Eastwood gets in one fight after another--and this tended to disrupt the plot--what little there was of it. Eventually, a group of bikers and off-duty cops who he's beaten up go looking for him. But, since Eastwood has gone on a road trip to find a woman he's smitten with (Sondra Locke), they spend much of the movie looking for him--and they end up going on a road trip after him.The film is absolutely stupid in parts. Clyde the Orangutan was at times a bit funny, but talk about contrived!! Ma (Ruth Gordon) cursed like a sailor and was violent. This was supposed to be funny, but like the ape, it wore thin pretty quickly. In addition, there is the dopey biker gang (sort of like the Three Stooges times three) who just seem too stupid and ineffectual to be anything other than comic relief. There are also fart jokes, belching, punch sound effects that make bad martial arts films seem realistic and the like thrown in to boot. It's really the sort of stuff 13 year-olds love laughing at--but I just thought it was all pretty tiresome and well beneath the talents of Eastwood. Add lots of punching and country music and you pretty much get the point of the film. Fortunately, after wasting his time on this movie (and making a bazillion dollars) he went on to far better things. Geez...I feel stupider just for having watched the film!By the way, during the 'funny' sequence where the two guys are shooting at cans and spouting numbers, watch the can that is hit--you can see the strings pulling it!