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
Clint Eastwood in the 1970s was drawn to the role as ringleader Frank Morris and agreed to star, providing Don Siegel directed under the Malpaso banner. Siegel insisted that it be a Don Siegel film and out-maneouvered Clint by purchasing the rights to the film for $100,000. This created a rift between the friends, causing Siegel to depart to Paramount, a rival studio. Although their disagreement was later patched up and Siegel agreed for it to be a Malpaso-Siegel production, Siegel would never direct an Eastwood picture again. As Siegel and Tuggle worked on the script, the producers paid $500,000 to restore the decaying prison