Plot: What’s it about?
Clint Eastwood may be remembered for many things. He’s gone through several different “stages” when on screen and the movie he’s made are a reflection of those different stages. We first knew him of his “Spaghetti Western” days of The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, A Fistful of Dollars and For a Few Dollars More. Some know him as Dirty Harry (actually, probably most of us know him as Dirty Harry) and lately, he’s been all over the place with movies like Unforgiven, In the Line of Fire, The Bridges of Madison County and Space Cowboys. Regardless of how we know Clint, I have always had a soft spot in my heart for two of his more offbeat movies. I mean how many leading men can star side by side with an orangutan and have the movie be a hit at the same time? Well, these two movies (Every Which Way But Loose and Any Which Way You Can) did it and did it with style. Suspend your disbelief and sit back, relax and enjoy some of the wildest, funniest action that you can handle. Eastwood style, of course…
Forgive the brevity of this “story” section, because there really isn’t much of a linear plot. We find Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood) living with an orangatun by the name of Clyde, his friend Orville (Geoffrey Lewis) and a very cantankerous mother played by Ruth Gordon. Philo is infatuated with a country-western singer by the name of Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke who is yet again cast in another Eastwood movie…couldn’t “Dirty Harry” do better than her?). All of the sudden, Lynn is taken on the road and her possessive boyfriend and his gang of motorcycle thugs (The Black Widows) have it in for Philo when he takes to the road to find her. Of course add in all of the great 70’s country music, a lot of bareknuckle fighting, plenty of beer and you’ll get something like “Animal House” crossed with “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”. Again, excuse the length of this review, but rest assured that your time will be well-spent while watching this movie. One of my favorites, and in my top three Eastwood movies (Unforgiven and Dirty Harry Would be the other two if anyone’s wondering). Hang on to your seats…right turn Clyde.
Video: How does it look?
I must say that I was quite pleased when it came to the way Every Which Way But Loose was presented in it’s 1.85:1 anamorphic ratio. I don’t know why, but I really wasn’t expecting much, but then again Warner can really put out a good-looking transfer when they want to. Clint Eastwood is one of the jewels in their crown, so they have given this a brand new anamorphic transfer. It took them a few tries with Dirty Harry to get it right, but that looked great as well. Colors are genrally bright and I saw very little evidence of any artifacting or dirt on the print. For a movie 25 years old, this looks very good. Again…color me impressed!
Audio: How does it sound?
What is a bit more disappointing is the audio. I shouldn’t really say “disappointing” as again, I wasn’t expecting much, but the soundtrack has very little depth and for the most part it’s a mono mix. A few times during the film I caught some vague surround effects, but the movie is dialogue-driven (yes, really) and if this film is to be remembered for one thing, it’s the ending fight scene and not the re-mastered Dolby Digital 5.1 track! Still, it serves its purpose here and viewers shouldn’t be disappointed.
Supplements: What are the extras?
A theatrical trailer and some production notes are all that’s included here.
