Fishing for Compliment, Catch and Release

Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
directed by James Fargo
rating: 4 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix

What film finally killed the credit montage scored with a movie's hit single? It's a great way to settle into your seat and really consider those first few handfuls of popcorn. But where Midnight Cowboy or Cisco Pike immediately steer into topical drama, this drifting classic stays about as laid-back as anything. The formula would be stranger - why is the orangutan there at all, for instance - if you stopped enjoying it long enough to ask questions. Elizabeth expected to go study some GRE words thirty minutes in, but she stayed. It's an easy movie to recommend, and it clears Clint of any future badmouthing I might reserve for his next costume epic. Hard to imagine a vanity project made with more humility or honor than this, even in the monkey cage at the Albuquerque Zoo.

If you're lucky, I'll replace this caption with a picture of a shirtless Clint Eastwood just as soon as I find the one I'm looking for!