Clint Eastwood in the 1980s Schickel argued that the character of Bronco Billy is Eastwood's most self-referential work. Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote that the film was "the best and funniest Clint Eastwood movie in quite a while", praising Eastwood's directing and the way he intricately juxtaposes the old West and the new. Later in 1980, he reprised his role in the sequel to "Every Which Way But Loose" entitled "Any Which Way You Can". The film was another box-office success and was among the top five highest-grossing films of the year. Later on Wednesday, December 17, 1980 he appeared in the
Every Which Way but Loose (film) Closed Doors" by Charlie Rich, which had reached the No. 1 spot on the Hot Country Singles chart in 1973. Both Rich and Tillis had other songs reach the top 5 of the country chart: Rich's "I'll Wake You Up When I Get Home" (No. 3) and Tillis' "Send Me Down to Tucson" (No. 2). Songwriter Snuff Garrett was hired to write songs for the film, including three for Sondra Locke's character, something which proved problematic as Locke was not a professional singer. Locke, who appears as Eastwood's love interest, performs several musical numbers in the film as well. In