Eastwood directed and played the title role in "Bronco Billy" (1980), alongside Locke, Scatman Crothers, and Sam Bottoms. Eastwood has cited "Bronco Billy" as being one of the most relaxed shoots of his career and biographer Richard Schickel argued that Bronco Billy is Eastwood's most self-referential character. The film was a commercial disappointment, but was liked 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. Released later in 1980, "Any Which Way You Can", was the sequel to "Every Which Way but Loose" and also starring Eastwood. The film received a number of bad reviews from critics, although Maslin described it as "funnier and even better than its predecessor". In theaters over the Christmas season, "Any Which Way You Can" was a major box office success and ranked among the top five highest-grossing films of the year.