Every Which Way but Loose

Every Which Way But Loose is a 1978 American film, released by Warner Brothers, produced by Robert Daley and directed by James Fargo. It starred Clint Eastwood in an uncharacteristic and offbeat comedy role, as Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler roaming the American West in search of a lost love while accompanied by his friend/manager Orville and his pet orangutan, Clyde. In the process Philo manages to cross a motley assortment of characters, including a pair of police officers and an entire motorcycle gang (the "Black Widows"), who end up pursuing him for revenge.

Eastwood's appearance in the film, after his string of spaghetti western and Dirty Harry roles, somewhat startled the film industry and he was reportedly advised against making it. Panned by critics, the film went on to become an enormous success and became, along with its 1980 sequel Any Which Way You Can, two of the highest grossing Eastwood films.

Philo Beddoe is a truck driver for a pipe supply company and a part-time auto mechanic living in California's San Fernando Valley. He lives in a small house behind that of his best friend Orville Boggs and his mother, Ma. Philo also has a pet orangutan named Clyde. Philo makes money on the side by hustling as a bare-knuckle fighter; he is often compared to another fighter named Tank Murdock (Barnes), of legendary status.

One night Philo becomes smitten with Lynn Halsey-Taylor, an aspiring country music singer he meets at the Palamino, a local honky-tonk. His relationship with her seems to be going well until one day she and her camping trailer disappear from the ramshackle trailer park. Believing that he is falling for her, Philo decides to set off for Lynn's home in Denver, Colorado.

Throughout all of this is a subplot involving a motorcycle gang called "The Black Widows", who incur Philo's wrath after two gang members insult him and Clyde at a traffic light one day. Philo chases them down and takes their bikes (which he repaints, repairs, and resells), and every attempt they have made to get even has resulted in even more disaster, including a showdown with the shotgun-wielding Ma. Philo also unknowingly has incurred the wrath of a local sheriff, whom he is roughed up by at the Palamino after learning that Lynn has left town. Both the sheriff and the Widows learn of Philo's trip to Colorado and head off to find him.

Orville and Clyde accompany Philo to Denver, and on the way, they meet the feisty Echo working at a produce market. She becomes Orville's girlfriend. The trio earn their money for the trip by booking Philo fights with other area bare-knucklers. One fight in a slaughterhouse almost goes awry when a man holding the money for the fight tries to stiff Philo, clearly outnumbered. Two gunshots fired by Echo's .38 pistol, causes the man to quickly hand over the money and they leave without further incident.

Later, it is revealed that Lynn uses men for sex and money in the towns where she plays her gigs. Knowing that Philo has come to look for her, she assists Black Widow gang leader Cholla into luring Philo into a trap. Philo takes the bait and unwittingly engages in a showdown with the Widows. Philo manages to fight most of them until Orville, watching the fight, intervenes. He gets into a parked garbage truck with a dumpster hoist, and dumps every Widow bike into the back of the truck to be crushed. The rest of the Widows chase the garbage truck in a futile attempt to catch it, but it is of no use. Philo, Echo, and Orville reunite and continue their trip.

Philo finally finds Lynn and she reveals her true cold-hearted nature to him. Hurt at her callousness and after she calls him dumb, Philo says that he has been the only one dumb enough wanting to take her further than her bed. Feeling cheap, Lynn erupts in a fit of rage, where she strikes him repeatedly until she collapses in tears of anguish.

Orville learns that Tank Murdock, based in the area, is ready to retire after one more good fight. Orville makes the arrangements, and Philo, up for the challenge, faces his kindly yet pudgy and elderly nemesis. While Murdock hits hard and has considerable endurance for a man his age, Philo is faster, and is able to dodge most of Murdock's strikes. However, during the fight, the crowd, initially pro-Murdock, begins to insult him while he is bloodied and on the ground, with some murmurs that Philo is going to be the next Tank Murdock. Philo, hearing the murmurs, is suddenly saddened by the fickle crowd's loss of respect for Murdock. Liking Murdock, he allows him to save face by taking a dive. As Murdock is swaying and barely able to stand, Philo lets his guard down, giving Murdock a clear shot, which knocks Philo down for the count. Murdock, having regained the crowd's esteem, is allowed to retire undefeated. Both men exchange glances from a distance, and without words acknowledge their respect for one another. Philo, Clyde, Orville and Echo head home the next day.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

In 1974, Eastwood teamed with Jeff Bridges in the buddy action caper Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.

The idea to the film was originally devised by Stan Kamen of the William Morris Agency, but was written by Michael Cimino who had previously written for Magnum Force, the previous year and he would also direct the picture.

The film is a road movie about an ex Korean War veteran turned bank robber Thunderbolt (Eastwood) who teams with a young con man drifter, Lightfoot (Bridges) who try to stay ahead of the vengeful ex-members of his gang (George Kennedy and Geoffrey Lewis) in the search for a cash deposit abandoned from an old heist.

Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)

In 1970, Eastwood starred in the western, Two Mules for Sister Sara with Shirley MacLaine. The film, directed by Siegel, is a story about an American mercenary who gets mixed up with a whore disguised as a nun and aid a group of Juarista rebels during the puppet reign of Emperor Maximilian in Mexico. The script was written by Budd Boetticher but was challenged by the writer-producer Martin Rackin and experienced many disagreements over the script and filming. Rackin, who was disliked by both Eastwood and Siegel attempted to cut costs of the picture and pushed to shoot in Mexico and employ a Mexican cast of relative unknowns. Rackin hired Albert Malz, a onetime member of the Hollywood Ten to rewrite the script and pay homage to Leone's westerns. The film saw Eastwood embody the tall mysterious stranger once more, although the film was considerably less crude and more sardonic than those of Leone. The role of Sister Sara was initially offered to Elizabeth Taylor during the filming of Where Eagles Dare (Taylor then being the wife of Richard Burton) but had to turn down the role because she wanted to shoot in Spain where Burton was filming his latest movie. Although Sister Sara was supposed to be Mexican, they eventually cast Shirley Maclaine although they were initially unconvinced with her pale complexion. Both Siegel and Eastwood felt intimidated by her onset, and Siegel described Clint's co-star as, "It's hard to feel any great warmth to her. She's too unfeminine and has too much balls. She's very, very hard." Two Mules for Sister Sara also marked the last time that Eastwood would receive second billing for a film and it would be 25 years until he risked being overshadowed by a leading lady again in The Bridges of Madison County (1995). The film, which took four months to shoot and cost around $4 million to make, received mixed reviews, and Roger Greenspun of the New York Times reported, I'm not sure it is a great movie, but it is very good and it stays and grows on the mind the way only movies of exceptional narrative intelligence do".

Budd Boetticher, a long term resident of Mexico renowned for his series of Randolph Scott westerns, wrote the original 1967 screenplay that was bought with the provision that Boetticher would direct. Boetticher had planned the film for Robert Mitchum and Deborah Kerr who had played a man of action and a nun in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison. Kerr's character was a member of the Mexican aristocracy escaping the vengeance of the Mexican Revolution with Mitchum's cowboy protecting her as he led her to safety to the United States. Carrol Case sold the screenplay to Martin Rackin who had Albert Maltz, also living in Mexico, rewrite the story. Maltz's version had Clint Eastwood playing a soldier of fortune for the Juaristas and Shirley MacLaine playing a revolutionary prostitute. Boetticher expressed disgust with MacLaine's bawdy character obviously not looking like a nun as opposed to his idea of a genteel lady whose final revelation would have been more of a surprise to the audience.

Though Boetticher was friends with both Eastwood and director Don Siegel, Siegel understood Boetticher's dislike of the final film. Boetticher asked Siegel how he could make an awful film like that with Siegel replying that it was a great feeling to wake up in the morning and know there was a cheque in the mail whilst Boettcher replied it was a better feeling to wake up in the morning and be able to look at yourself in the mirror.

Eastwood had been shown the script by Elizabeth Taylor during the filming of Where Eagles Dare with the view of Taylor playing the female role. The role eventually went to MacLaine after Taylor did not wish to do the film, with Eastwood believing that the studio was keen on MacLaine as they had high hopes for her film Sweet Charity where she played a taxi dancer.

Bruce Surtees was a camera operator on the film and acted as a go-between between Siegel and Gabriel Figueroa that led him to work on Siegel's next film The Beguiled. Figueroa used many photographic filters for effects in the film.

Cast

• Shirley MacLaine as Sara
• Clint Eastwood as Hogan
• Manuel Fábregas (billed as Manolo Fábregas) as Col. Beltrán
• Alberto Morin as Gen. LeClaire
• Armando Silvestre as First Bandit
• John Kelly as Second Bandit
• Enrique Lucero as Third Bandit
• David Estuardo as Juan
• Ada Carrasco as Juan's mother
• Pancho Córdova as Juan's father
• José Chávez as Horatio

Pop Culture Influences

Shock rocker Alice Cooper released a song on his 2001 album Dragontown entitled "Sister Sara", which is about a woman posing as a nun while living a life of sin.

Play Misty for Me

Play Misty for Me is a 1971 psychological thriller film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, in his directorial debut. The original music score was composed by Dee Barton.

Eastwood plays David "Dave" Garver, a KRML radio disc jockey who nightly broadcasts from his studio in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and who becomes the target of Evelyn Draper, an obsessed female fan, played by Jessica Walter. Donna Mills plays his re-acquainted girlfriend, Tobie Williams. The title comes from Draper's habit of phoning in to Garver's radio show and asking him to play the classic Erroll Garner ballad "Misty".

The film paved the way for many later stalker films (such as Fatal Attraction ), particularly those with a psychotic female antagonist, and also those where the villain appeared to have died prematurely. It is also notable for its use of location shooting, mostly in the area of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where Eastwood has long made his home, and where he was elected Mayor in 1986. Additional scenes were shot at the Monterey Jazz Festival in September 1970, featuring jazz greats Johnny Otis, Cannonball Adderley, and future Weather Report founder Joe Zawinul (the commentator mentions :"that was the "Cannonball Adderley Group. They are playing at the Monterey Jazz Festival with Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Joe Williams and many others. Now we are gonna hear from "The Gator Creek Organisation" and "Feeling Fine"...").

The film features a romantic montage (views of Garver and Tobie peacefully roaming on the sea-side and lying down in the woods), backed by Roberta Flack's recording of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", a Ewan MacColl torch-song. Roberta Flack's version of the song (after staying first for 5 weeks during 1972 spring) became the 1972 Billboard Hot 100 number-one single of the year .

The Outlaw Josey Wales

The Outlaw Josey Wales is a 1976 American revisionist Western set at the end of the American Civil War directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (as the eponymous Josey Wales), with Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Sam Bottoms, and Geraldine Keams.

The film was adapted by Sonia Chernus and Philip Kaufman from the novel The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales (republished in 1975 under the title Gone to Texas) by Forrest Carter. In 1996, the film was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress.

Clint Eastwood portrays Josey Wales, a peaceful Missouri farmer, who is driven to revenge by the brutal rape and murder of his wife and family by a band of pro-Union Jayhawkers—Senator James H. Lane's Redlegs from Kansas.