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Two Way Vision:Clint Eastwood's EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE

 EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE

Clint Eastwood, Sandra Locke, Geoffery Lewis, Ruth Gordon. Dir. James Fargo, Warners, 1978

Clint Eastwood's slapstick-happy broad comedy smash from '78 can be understood one of two ways. In one, Clint's Philoe Beddoe, a working class bare knuckle brawler, serves as an almost Quixotic hero, or even a grail-quest knight, attracting followers & foes as he pursues his great loves, C&W hopeful Lynn Halsey Taylor, & defeating Tank Murdoch, the only brawler better than Philoe. If our grail knight ends up bereft of romantic love & his victory in combat, he knows in the end sometimes we take a beating to win our place in the world.

The other way makes people who see comedic genius in Vicky Lawrence shriek & whoop with laughter, most of it centered on Ruth Gordon, an inept motorcycle gang, & an orangutan called Clyde. This way is a low, vulgar comedy leavened mainly by Eastwood's stock company, including the late William O'Connell, Lewis, & Gregory Walcott from EIGER SANCTION. (Honorable Mention to Clint's use of longtime John Ford stock company member Hank Worden.) Apart from these, this way of seeing the film is as a crude, silly redneck burlesque cashing in on hits like SMOKEY & THE BANDIT.

THAT way isn't bad, or stupid, or wrong, but it isn't elegant and it isn't nearly as much fun. I see the picture the first way, but however it's understood, EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE deserves to be seen. 

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