Perhaps because it is Clint Eastwood at his most easy going in spite of the overuse of his fists or the genial atmosphere, but this smash hit comedy (#2 at the box office in 1978 after "Grease") is easy to take. Indeed, it is majorly flawed, but after a while, it becomes like a two hour Road Runner and Coyote chase between the smarter than he looks Eastwood (as Philo Beddoe) and the idiotic "Black Widows", a motorcycle gang that seems to be a combination of the Coyote, Elmer Fudd and every buffoonish cartoon character ever created. You wouldn't suspect by the country and western feeling of this action comedy, but it is set in the L.A. basin, presumably in the valley, even though it has more of an Arizona or New Mexico feeling to its setting. Country legends Charlie Rich and Mel Tillis offer brief cameos as themselves and this adds a jovial country and western twang to the overlong proceedings.
To say that Philo Beddoe is no shrinking violet in spite of his seemingly quiet demeanor is an understatement. He gets delicious revenge on an uppity female USC student doing research on the country and western phenomenon (and being quite snotty about her findings) then takes on each man he fights as if they were a side of beef he was trying to personally tenderize. As an amateur fighter way past the prime of his life, Eastwood manages to make the fight scenes amusing even if they are violent and seemingly unnecessary. This doesn't go unnoticed by his pick-up, Lynn Halsey Taylor (the pretty Sondra Locke) who should be forewarned that her game of sexual exploits won't come without her losing.
Then there's his family: brother Orville (a very good Geoffrey Lewis), prickly mom (Ruth Gordon) and a orangutan named Clyde he won in another amateur fight. Every second or third word out of Gordon's mouth is a curse, and she is hysterical with her few scenes even though she really only shares a few scenes with her sons. Her point of being in the film is to add the "shocking dirty old lady" characterization that she became famous for a decade before in "Rosemary's Baby" and continued heartily in "The Big Bus". When she takes on the Black Widows (out for revenge against Eastwood for humiliating them and destroying some of their motorcycles), you might find yourself clapping your hands in glee and hooting and hollering in her honor. She is no old lady to be trifled with, and even the two police officers looking for Philo can't wait to get off of her porch after she berates them for disturbing her then for "leaving a vulnerable old lady all alone". Veteran character actor George Chandler has a nice cameo at the end as the DMV clerk, and Hank Worden is very funny in several scenes as the elderly trailer court manager.
We could have done without more subplots that come along, especially a vindictive police officer (Roy Jenson) who decides to take a medical leave of absence to find Philo and get revenge, with tag-along pal James McEachin adding another element of cartoonish nonsense to the film. For Geoffrey Lewis, there's the delicious entrance of the gorgeous Beverly D'Angelo as the likable Echo who aides Philo and Orville after they leave their vulnerable old ma to go find Locke who runs out on Philo without explanation. D'Angelo's star quality is obvious, and she is, next to the hysterically funny Clyde, the best part of this film. That is Thelma Pelish, the vivacious portly pal of Doris Day's from "The Pajama Game" as the demanding customer of D'Angelo's whom Lewis whispers a mysterious secret about D'Angelo into her ear.
As for Locke's character, she is set up to be a complete sociopath of a character, repeating sweet nothings to the various men she meets and obviously dropping one after another. The scene where Eastwood confronts her is powerful, and her breakdown reveals what a pathetic character she is underneath her confidence on stage and in the bedroom. To bring her back for the unnecessary sequel "Any Which Way You Can" was a major mistake, and to think this needed a sequel, irregardless of how much money it made, was an even bigger screw-up. I saw this in the theater when it came out in Christmas of 1978 and recall how the full audience reacted to each time the Black Widows were squished or each moment that Gordon cursed or every antic that Clyde played. If not a critic's pick, it was definitely the audience's, and it is easy to see why 42 years later (!), it did as well as it did.
To say that Philo Beddoe is no shrinking violet in spite of his seemingly quiet demeanor is an understatement. He gets delicious revenge on an uppity female USC student doing research on the country and western phenomenon (and being quite snotty about her findings) then takes on each man he fights as if they were a side of beef he was trying to personally tenderize. As an amateur fighter way past the prime of his life, Eastwood manages to make the fight scenes amusing even if they are violent and seemingly unnecessary. This doesn't go unnoticed by his pick-up, Lynn Halsey Taylor (the pretty Sondra Locke) who should be forewarned that her game of sexual exploits won't come without her losing.
Then there's his family: brother Orville (a very good Geoffrey Lewis), prickly mom (Ruth Gordon) and a orangutan named Clyde he won in another amateur fight. Every second or third word out of Gordon's mouth is a curse, and she is hysterical with her few scenes even though she really only shares a few scenes with her sons. Her point of being in the film is to add the "shocking dirty old lady" characterization that she became famous for a decade before in "Rosemary's Baby" and continued heartily in "The Big Bus". When she takes on the Black Widows (out for revenge against Eastwood for humiliating them and destroying some of their motorcycles), you might find yourself clapping your hands in glee and hooting and hollering in her honor. She is no old lady to be trifled with, and even the two police officers looking for Philo can't wait to get off of her porch after she berates them for disturbing her then for "leaving a vulnerable old lady all alone". Veteran character actor George Chandler has a nice cameo at the end as the DMV clerk, and Hank Worden is very funny in several scenes as the elderly trailer court manager.
We could have done without more subplots that come along, especially a vindictive police officer (Roy Jenson) who decides to take a medical leave of absence to find Philo and get revenge, with tag-along pal James McEachin adding another element of cartoonish nonsense to the film. For Geoffrey Lewis, there's the delicious entrance of the gorgeous Beverly D'Angelo as the likable Echo who aides Philo and Orville after they leave their vulnerable old ma to go find Locke who runs out on Philo without explanation. D'Angelo's star quality is obvious, and she is, next to the hysterically funny Clyde, the best part of this film. That is Thelma Pelish, the vivacious portly pal of Doris Day's from "The Pajama Game" as the demanding customer of D'Angelo's whom Lewis whispers a mysterious secret about D'Angelo into her ear.
As for Locke's character, she is set up to be a complete sociopath of a character, repeating sweet nothings to the various men she meets and obviously dropping one after another. The scene where Eastwood confronts her is powerful, and her breakdown reveals what a pathetic character she is underneath her confidence on stage and in the bedroom. To bring her back for the unnecessary sequel "Any Which Way You Can" was a major mistake, and to think this needed a sequel, irregardless of how much money it made, was an even bigger screw-up. I saw this in the theater when it came out in Christmas of 1978 and recall how the full audience reacted to each time the Black Widows were squished or each moment that Gordon cursed or every antic that Clyde played. If not a critic's pick, it was definitely the audience's, and it is easy to see why 42 years later (!), it did as well as it did.