EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE (DVD/WS/16X9/1.85:1/PROD NOTES/SP-SUB/ DIGITAL TR DVD

Every Which Way But Loose
Clint Eastwood's first comedy feature proved to be one of his most profitable vehicles. Eastwood plays Philo Beddoe, a bare-knuckle boxer who travels from fight to fight in a beat-up truck, accompanied by his "pal" Clyde, a orangutan with a mean right hook, and his human buddy Orville (Geoffrey Lewis). During a stopover, Philo meets and falls in love with would-be country & western singer Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke). After a while, she wants to break off the relationship, but he doesn't -- a shaky plot peg upon which to hang several reels' worth of zany car chases and confrontations with such opponents as a gang of bikers and a battalion of hostile lawmen. Adding to the fun is Ruth Gordon as Eastwood's don't-mess-with-me octogenarian mother, and Beverly D'Angelo as an ace sharpshooter. The enormous box-office success of Every Which Way But Loose yielded an equally wacky -- and equally lucrative -- sequel, Any Which Way You Can. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast Clint Eastwood as Philo Beddoe Sondra Locke as Lynn Halsey-Taylor Geoffrey Lewis as Orville Beverly D'Angelo as Echo Ruth Gordon as Ma

Crew Elayne Barbara Ceder - Art Director Jeremy Joe Kronsberg - Associate Producer Fritz Manes - Associate Producer Al Silvani - Consultant/advisor Glenn Wright - Costume Designer James Fargo - Director Ferris Webster - Editor Joel Cox - Editor Steve Dorff - Composer (Music Score) Rexford Metz - Cinematographer Robert Daley - Producer Robert de Vestel - Set Designer Chuck Gaspar - Special Effects Bert Hallberg - Sound/Sound Designer Wayne Van Horn - Stunts Wayne Van Horn - Stunts Coordinator Jeremy Joe Kronsberg - Screenwriter

Every Which Way But Loose
Clint Eastwood's entry into the school of "good ol' boy" action comedies that Burt Reynolds popularized with Smokey and the Bandit is far from his best work but doesn't deserve the critical vilification it has received over the years. It's one of Eastwood's less consistent films from this era, primarily due to Jeremy Joe Kronsberg's script; the characters are fitfully amusing but the pacing is too slack and the storytelling too episodic to generate the electric charge of a top-notch slapstick comedy. It also gets bogged down in an array of subplots that are never integrated in a thoughtful or interesting way. Despite these key story flaws, Every Which Way But Loose remains an engaging affair for a few reasons. The first is its lack of pretension: director James Fargo keeps viewers from pondering the weak storyline by treating the film like a live-action cartoon and piling on car chases, bloodless bar brawls, and slapstick with vigor and gusto. The second is the skilled comic performances of the cast: Geoffrey Lewis makes a great deadpan comic foil for Eastwood, Sondra Locke brings the right intensity to her "lady of mystery" character, and Ruth Gordon is a total scene-stealer as the foul-mouthed, ill-tempered Ma. The final and most important reason is Clint Eastwood's performance: his work here reveals a skill for dry comedy that had only been touched on in his other films and his amiable performance reveals a star who is not only willing to act funny but is also capable of poking fun at his own "macho" image. In the end, Every Which Way But Loose is too much of a mixed bag to be given an unreserved recommendation, but it is well worth a look to fans of cartoonish comedies and anyone seriously interested in Eastwood's career. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
 

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General Specifications: Language Options: English, French Subtitle Options: English, French Sound Processing: DD5.1: Dolby Digital w/ sub-woofer channel DD1: Dolby Digital Mono Additional Features: All-new digital transfer Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 Production notes Theatrical trailer DVD Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1: Theatre Wide-Screen MPAA Rating: PG DVD Discs Included: 1 DVD Sides: 1 DVD DVD Region Code: 1 Content Length: 114 min Part of Series: Clint Eastwood Collection   DVD Chapters: Side #1 -- 1. Credits [3:03] 2. Punchy Over Peanuts [2:47] 3. Tricky and Testy [2:36] 4. Brawling for Dollars [3:39] 5. The Palomino [3:07] 6. Lynn Halsey-Taylor [5:24] 7. Black Widows Road Chase [4:39] 8. How Philo Met Clyde [2:44] 9. Squashed Spiders [3:29] 10. No Respect [3:01] 11. Vehicular Horseplay [:12] 12. Rules When Meeting a Lady [5:04] 13. Calling the Cops [2:53] 14. Four for the Road [1:37] 15. Whuppin' the Widows [6:08] 16. Getting Acquainted [3:31] 17. Ma and the Bikers [2:51] 18. Lynn's Whereabouts [2:33] 19. Doing the Town [3:10] 20. Clyde's Date [3:21] 21. Action in Santa Fe [3:09] 22. We Don't Give Up [5:22] 23. Love on the Run [3:15] 24. Cops Go Philo-Fishing [3:16] 25. Showdown With the Widows [7:13] 26. Zanza Bar [8:18] 27. Not Too Smart [3:17] 28. Tank Murdock [3:19] 29. On the Road Again [5:47] 30. End Credits [2:21]