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
Clint Eastwood in the 1980s affair with the first murder victim in the film, Jamie Rose. J. Hoberman in the "Village Voice" describing Clint as " one of the most masterful under-actors in American movies" and David Denby commenting that he has become a "very troubled movie icon". Others such as Jack Kroll of "Newsweek" noted the sexuality of the film and vulnerability of Eastwood's character, remarking, "He gets better as he gets older; he seems to be creating new nuances". Eastwood next starred in the period comedy "City Heat" (1984) with Burt Reynolds. The film was initially running under the title, "Kansas City Jazz"