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 1960s to take several months off to play golf and relax. However, after reading just ten pages of the script, Eastwood recognized that it was based on Akira Kurosawa's "Yojimbo". Eastwood initially thought the dialogue was "atrocious", but that the story line was intelligent. Seeing potential, Irving Leonard cut Fortini out of the deal, so that the William Morris Agency received credit. The contract offered Clint $15,000, an air ticket, paid expenses for 11 weeks of filming, and the bonus of a Mercedes automobile upon completion. Eastwood saw an opportunity to escape Rawhide, the states, and enjoy a paid vacation. Having