Movie review: ‘Any Which Way You Can’

FloridaGator80

I’ve looked at Clint Eastwood in “Every Which Way But Loose” (click here to read my review) and I had only a couple of nice things to say about that popular stinker. Today I’m writing about its sequel, “Any Which Way You Can.” It came out two years later and it, too, was very popular … and it, too, is bad film. However, “Any Which Way You Can” isn’t as bad as the original and so that puts it in the rare company of a few sequels better than the original. Of course, when you talk about that here, you’re talking nothing more than this one was less of a stinker than the one before – therefore, you truly can’t say it is “good.” Damning with faint – very faint – praise, I guess. In any case, it’s Clint and you’ll probably like it … somewhat.

‘Any Which Way You Can’
(1980; 116 minutes; rated PG; directed by Buddy Van Horn and starring Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke and Geoffrey Lewis)

CLINT TRIES TO GIVE UP FIGHTING, BUT FIGHTS ON ANYWAY

(NOTE: I expanded this review with some additional opinion, more trivia and the updating of links as well as removing a wrong credit for actor William Smith and clarifying the details about the orangutan used in the film on April 20, 2018. I again expanded the review on Nov. 24, 2024.)

“Any Which Way You Can” returns one good thing from the original “Every Which Way But Loose” (click here to read my review) and it takes a step backward with another. However, the worst news to report is that while marginally better than the original, “Any Which Way You Can” is a stinker in its own right and squandered both its headliner Clint Eastwood and an opportunity to better “Every Which Way But Loose” with a fresh story and new actors.

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The good in “Any Which Way You Can,” of course, is that the inept motorcycle gang is back. Thankfully, the doofuses are just as funny as in the original. Their Waterloo at the hands of Clint is truly funny and the ongoing hijinks affected by that fiasco makes a bunch of nice running jokes. The bad is that the character played by Ruth Gordon, who was effective comedy in the original, gets old real quick (no pun intended because of the character – a crusty, profane elderly woman) in “Any Which Way You Can.”

The opportunity lost here is with the bad guys – a set of criminals and their bare-knuckles fighter – and some betting sportsmen. With veteran character actor Harry Guardino as the mob’s leader and Barry Corbin as the all-around fun-chasing gambler, the film had the chance to take a small step up to being “acceptable.” Sadly, it doesn’t.

If you need to be reminded, Eastwood plays “Philo Beddoe,” who is a blue-collar worker who fights with bare knuckles for money. He’s really tough and seldom loses and some gamblers “back East” (the film is set in California and Colorado) want to set him up to fight their bare-knuckles guy. However, after taking the gamblers’ money, Eastwood decides he wants to quit fighting. He’s back with his girlfriend from the first film – you know, the one who scammed him – and looking to the future. Yeah, like you know that’s gonna last.

Sure enough, the gamblers don’t take a likening to this and they kidnap the woman as a way to force Eastwood into the fight. He rescues his damsel in distress but winds up fighting the other guy anyway – the two became friends along the way (naturally in the stereotypical world presented here). Throughout the film he enjoys the company of his orangutan “Clyde.”

I’ll run down the work of some in the primary cast as a way of filling out the story:

  • A four-time Oscar winner and seven-time nominee (certainly not for this one) Eastwood knows how to maintain a character since he does the same job here as he did in the original. The best thing, though, is that he doesn’t do a single most embarrassing moment like he did in the original, where he gave off a Tarzan yell. Clint isn’t terrible and is actually smooth in an Eastwood kind of way. At the end of the day, though, he’s only so-so here. Without a doubt, the film in which I liked him best was “Kelly’s Heroes” (click here to read my review) and not far behind are “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (click here to read my review), which is his best true efforts as both a director and actor, and one of the best World War II espionage efforts ever – “Where Eagles Dare” and in this one he kills more people than any other of his films (click here to read my review). Clint’s CV is much too long to list, so here’s IMDb.com’s link to his awards page …
  • Just as I wrote about Oscar nominee (not for this one) Sondra Locke’s effort as Eastwood girlfriend “Lynn Halsey-Taylor” in the original, she doesn’t do a good job here and basically isn’t a very good actor in any role. I’m probably wrong, but she got a lot of her work in Hollywood because she was once Clint’s squeeze. The only acting lesson she might have learned from Clint is how to be wooden and that’s what she’s actually good at. Locke, who received her nomination for 1968’s “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter,” was in … ah, who cares? I don’t. Locke died of a heart attack at 74 in 2018.
  • A Golden Globe nominee (not for this one), Geoffrey Lewis returns as “Orville Boggs,” who is Eastwood’s human sidekick. Lewis grinds out an even performance here and again is the actor who keeps the film from completely disintegrating. He simply manages to keep it level at times that it wants to sink. Lewis’ nomination was for the TV series “Flo” and I liked him in the TV version of Stephen King’s “Salem’s Lot” (click here for my review). He had a prolific career of 224 acting credits since his first in 1963 to the last in 2018 – three years after his death! Lewis died at 79 in 2015 of a heart attack.
  • An Oscar winner and four-time nominee (not for this one), Gordon returns as “Zenobia ‘Ma’ Boggs” and is just as shrill and angry as in the original. However, it’s just that this time the act has worn thin (if not out) and she simply shouldn’t have reprised her character. I liked her best in the cult favorite “Harold and Maude” and she won an Oscar for “Rosemary’s Baby.” Her first three nominations were not for acting, but for writing. All three were co-nominations with her husband Garson Kanin. Gordon died of a stroke at 88 in 1985.
  • John Quade comes back as “Chollo,” who is the longsuffering leader of an inept and quite dense motorcycle gang (the “Black Widows” of Pacoima). It shows that he was obviously having fun with the role and the gang getting covered in road tar while chasing Clint is funny, but even funnier is the ongoing joke about its aftermath. Just like in the original, you always hope for another scene with him and the gang because they are one of the few bright spots here. Quade was also in “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and “High Plains Drifter” with Eastwood and you won’t have any trouble spotting him in “Papillion.” Quade did most of his work on TV and died at 71 in 2009 of a heart attack.
  • William Smith plays deadly bare-knuckles fighter “Jack Wilson” and does an acceptable job here (high praise for someone working on this film). He conveys his character well and doesn’t embarrass himself or the audience. Still, his effort isn’t work putting near the top of any acting resume. Smith has a nice resume playing bad guys and has been in “Conan the Barbarian,” and you might remember him as “Strelnikov” in the original “Red Dawn” (click here to read my review) or in the thriller “Twilight’s Last Gleaming.” He’s another actor for whom the word “prolific” was made: He had 278 acting credits from the first in 1942 until the last in 2020. Smith died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at 88 in 2021.
  • A two-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one) Guardino, who plays “James Beekman,” and Michael Cavenaugh, who plays “Patrick Scarfe,” are the criminals looking to haul in riches on the fight. They lose, but certainly act better than most of the rest. Guardino, who was “Dirty Harry’s” boss in a couple of films in the franchise, does his usual solid turn here but doesn’t have much to work with. Cavenaugh, too, would have been able to do better with better lines and a fleshed-out character. Guardino was twice nominated (“Houseboat” and “The Pigeon That Took Rome”) while Cavenaugh was in “The Gauntlet” with Eastwood as well as “Red Dragon.” The two actors totaled 282 acting credits. Wow! Just four more than how many Smith notched in his career! Guardino died at 69 in 1995 of lung cancer.
  • A two-time Primetime Emmy nominee, Corbin plays “’Fat’ Zack Tupper” and is leader of a gaggle of rich guys who like to gamble. The filmmakers should have done much more with this group – which includes actor/singer Jim Stafford as “Long John.” Of course, it’s no surprise that one of the potential strengths of the film wouldn’t be properly utilized, but I believe I’ve covered this concept in my other criticisms of it. Corbin was much, much better in a small role in the computer thriller “WarGames” (click here for my review) with Matthew Broderick as well being most recognized from TV’s “Northern Exposure,” for which he nabbed his two nominations.

First time director Buddy Van Horn would go on to direct two more Eastwood films (“The Dead Pool” and “Pink Cadillac”), but he should have stayed with what he did best: stunt work. His three efforts as a director are simply awful (“The Dead Pool” was the pits in the “Dirty Harry” franchise – click here to read my review of the original) and you have to look no further to know why anyone else should have directed “Any Which Way You Can.”

Of course both “Every Which Way But Loose” and “Any Which Way You Can” were both big at the box office and therefore among the most popular Eastwood films with theatergoers. But I just don’t see it – and didn’t see it back then, either.

“Any Which Way You Can” was the fifth-ranked film at theaters in 1980 with $70.6 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. It was made on a budget of $15 million, according to Wiki. You didn’t have to think hard to remember that the No. 1 film was “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back” with $209.3 million. After the “Star Wars” film, my favorite comedy of the year surely was “Airplane!” at No. 4 with $83.4 million (and don’t’ call me Shirley!). Here are the films from 1980 that I have reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Locke’s birth name was Sandra Louise Smith; Gordon’s birth name was Ruth Gordon Jones; and Quade’s birth name is John William Saunders III.
  • Eastwood was born in San Franciso and that city is where some of his films is set (such as the “Dirty Harry” franchise (click here to read my review of the original).
  • The bar shown at the beginning of the movie was the real “Palomino Club” in North Hollywood.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “A replacement had to be found for Manis the Orangutan, the original Clyde, as he had grown too much in the two years since the first film.” Then, “The orangutan who played Clyde in this film was found dead of a cerebral hemorrhage two weeks after the film wrapped.”
  • James Gammon has a small role as a bartender and had much better to work with in “Major League” (click here to read my review). You’ll recognize him by his voice
  • Music legend Fats Domino has a brief appearance as himself singing at a club.
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “One of Clint Eastwood‘s most successful films at the box-office. So was the movie’s precursor Every Which Way But Loose (1978). Both films, when adjusted for inflation into constant dollars, are still big box-office titles, this movie being ranked in the Top 200 grossing films of all-time.”
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “In the film and included on the soundtrack, Clint Eastwood‘s sings a duet with the legendary Ray Charles, entitled “Beers to You.”

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