Clint Eastwood by critics. Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote that film was "...the best and funniest Clint Eastwood movie in quite a while", and praised Eastwood's directing, intricately juxtaposing the old West and the new West. Later that year, Eastwood starred in "Any Which Way You Can", the sequel to "Every Which Way But Loose". The film received a number of bad reviews from critics, although Maslin described it as "funnier and even better than its predecessor". Released over the Christmas season of 1980, "Any Which Way You Can" was a major box office success and ranked among the
Every Which Way but Loose (film) Eddie Rabbitt song from the soundtrack, in which the singer complains that his girlfriend turns him "every which way but loose"; i.e., he cannot bring himself to leave her although he is more of a freewheeling character. Upon its release, the film was a surprising success and became Eastwood's most commercially successful film at the time. It ranks high amongst those of his career, and was the second-highest-grossing film of 1978. It received largely negative reviews, however. Critic David Ansen of "Newsweek", described the film as a "plotless junk heap of moronic gags, sour romance and fatuous fisticuffs." and "the