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) 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