--- title: "Any Which Way You Can" year: 1980 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/any-which-way-you-can" fi1m_id: "any-which-way-you-can" imdb_id: "tt0080377" tmdb_id: 17169 wikidata_id: "Q1939405" fi1m_score: 50 critics_reviews: 3 published: "2026-10-04T16:42:07.315333+00:00" updated: "2026-10-04T16:42:56.292155+00:00" region: "HU" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Any Which Way You Can (1980) Directed by Buddy Van Horn · 1h 55m · Action, Adventure, Comedy ## Identity Any Which Way You Can - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/any-which-way-you-can - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** any-which-way-you-can - **IMDb ID:** tt0080377 - **TMDB ID:** 17169 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1939405 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080377/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/17169, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1939405 **Fi1m score: 50** · Critics: 3 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Two large men spend two hours building to a punch-up and the orangutan walks off with the film > Buddy Van Horn’s sequel does what the first film did, slower and with more bikers. Eastwood coasts, Locke sings, Ruth Gordon swears and Clyde takes every scene he is in. Pleasant on a Sunday afternoon; it exists because the first one did. ## Synopsis Philo Beddoe (Clint Eastwood) is a bare-knuckle fighter in the San Fernando Valley who wins his bouts behind garages and in car parks for cash, with his orangutan Clyde and his friend Orville Boggs (Geoffrey Lewis) at ringside. After one more win he tells Orville he is finished; the fights have started to hurt. Then two things turn up. Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sondra Locke), the singer who walked out on him, is back in town and wants to talk. And James Beekman (Harry Guardino), a gambler from the East, has arrived with his associate Patrick Scarfe (Michael Cavanaugh) and a fighter called Jack Wilson (William Smith), and he wants Philo for one last fight, whatever Philo says. Meanwhile Ma Boggs (Ruth Gordon) shouts at everyone, and the Black Widows motorcycle gang, led by Cholla (John Quade), are still looking to get even. ## Review *Every Which Way But Loose* was a hit in 1978, and so two years later here is another one. Philo Beddoe is still fighting with his fists for money in the San Fernando Valley, still living with Orville and Ma Boggs and an orangutan called Clyde, still the mildest man in any room until someone swings at him. Stanford Sherman’s script has exactly one new idea, which is that Philo wants to stop and James Beekman wants him to fight Jack Wilson first. Everything else is a peg on which to hang the bits people liked last time. Clint Eastwood plays Philo as a man who would rather be under a truck. He is relaxed to the point of lying down, which suits the character and also suits a film in no hurry to get anywhere. Sondra Locke’s Lynn comes back wanting to be forgiven, and their scenes together are polite and careful, a reconciliation conducted across a table with the hands kept visible. Her songs in the bar are where the film stops to rest, and it rests often. We laughed, properly and more than once, at Clyde. The orangutan has better timing than most of the cast: a slow drink from a bottle, a look at whoever has just spoken, a long pause before he does the thing everyone in the scene has been waiting for. Ruth Gordon’s Ma Boggs is the other reliable pleasure, a tiny woman in a housecoat who abuses everyone including the ape and gets most of the lines worth keeping. Then we felt a little ashamed of ourselves, because an orangutan and an elderly woman shouting were doing the work the script had not bothered to. The film’s one surprising choice is Jack Wilson. William Smith plays him not as a villain but as a courteous, well-spoken professional who has read a book or two and would like to get this over with. The menace is left to Harry Guardino’s Beekman and Michael Cavanaugh’s Scarfe, who make threats in good suits, and the arrangement gives the back half a shape it would not otherwise have. We will not describe where it goes, except to say that the fight itself, when it arrives, is the only stretch where the film seems to know why it was made. The Black Widows are the problem. John Quade’s Cholla and Bill McKinney’s Dallas and the rest of the gang turn up, lose, turn up again and lose again, and every one of these humiliations was done in the first film with more surprise. By the third round of it we were bored, and then a little sorry for the men in the leather, who are plainly game. Ron Spang and Ferris Webster let these scenes run on past their point, and at 115 minutes the middle of the film stalls for twenty of them. David Worth shoots the Valley flat and bright, like a daytime serial, and William J. Creber’s garages, bars and front rooms look exactly like what they are, which is honest but not interesting to look at. Buddy Van Horn directs, and the fights are the best-handled thing in the film. They are clear, heavy and shot so you can see who is hitting whom; the punches are thrown by men who look as though they could. Scenes without a fist in them are left to find their own way out, and most of them wander. Set against *Bronco Billy*, which Eastwood directed himself the same year and which has a real idea about a man and his audience, this is a film with a cast list and a tagline. The few reviews we have read split between finding it harmless and finding it dire, and we land between them, nearer the harmless end. It is a 15 for the fights and the language, and it is fine at home, where you can go and make a cup of tea whenever the motorcycles start up and come back for the orangutan. *Fi1m score 50, published 4 October 2026.* ## Straight answers **Is Any Which Way You Can worth watching?** *Any Which Way You Can* is a mild Sunday-afternoon comedy that we scored 50, worth an evening only if the first film or Clint Eastwood is already yours. Clyde the orangutan and Ruth Gordon supply most of the laughs, the fights are clearly shot, and the middle twenty minutes of biker gags stall the film badly. **How long is Any Which Way You Can, and what is it rated?** *Any Which Way You Can* runs 1h 55m. It is an action and adventure film. **Where can I watch Any Which Way You Can in Hungary?** *Any Which Way You Can* is not on any streaming or rental service in Hungary at the moment. It is available in 2 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is Any Which Way You Can, and is it suitable for children?** *Any Which Way You Can* is a UK 15 for its bare-knuckle fights and language, so it is not for younger children. The punches are heavy and shot so you can see them land, though the tone is cheerful rather than frightening, and nothing in it is likely to trouble a teenager. Younger viewers would be there for the orangutan. **What should I watch after Any Which Way You Can?** After *Any Which Way You Can*, try [*The Quiet Man*](https://film.one/film/the-quiet-man) (1952, Fi1m 78): A whole Irish village turns out to watch two men fight across the countryside. Then [*Snatch*](https://film.one/film/snatch) (2000, Fi1m 74): Bare-knuckle bouts, crooked promoters and an unlicensed fighter nobody can control, London style. ### Reviews we read (3) - **Radio Times**, Jason Caro (3/5): Caro describes the sequel as lightweight and disposable, but says its charm compensates for its insignificant story. He praises Clyde the orangutan for stealing scenes. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-tmrcy6/any-which-way-you-can/) - **Variety**, Variety Staff (60/100, inferred): The review finds the sequel a benign, mildly pleasing continuation of the original. It praises the returning cast and singles out the substitute orangutan’s performance as heroic. [Read](https://variety.com/1979/film/reviews/any-which-way-you-can-1200424789/) - **Empire**, Ian Nathan (15/100, inferred): Nathan dismisses the sequel as a contrived, deeply poor follow-up to the original. He singles out Clyde the orang-utan as the only character who manages to get a grip. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/way-can-review/) ## Details - **Director:** Buddy Van Horn - **Director:** Buddy Van Horn - **Writer:** Stanford Sherman - **Cinematography:** David Worth - **Editor:** Ron Spang, Ferris Webster - **Production design:** William J. Creber - **Producer:** Fritz Manes - **Cast:** Clint Eastwood as Philo Beddoe; Sondra Locke as Lynn Halsey-Taylor; Geoffrey Lewis as Orville Boggs; William Smith as Jack Wilson; Harry Guardino as James Beekman; Ruth Gordon as Ma Boggs; Michael Cavanaugh as Patrick Scarfe; Barry Corbin as Fat Zack - **Runtime:** 1h 55m - **First release (Germany):** 17 December 1980 - **Genres:** Action, Adventure, Comedy - **Budget:** $15 million - **Box office:** $71 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ukQ1Ov0PlM ## Where to watch in Hungary Not streaming, renting or buying in Hungary at the last check. Also available in: GB, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Every Which Way But Loose* (1978): The original: same fighter, same orangutan, and the jokes still have the element of surprise - *Hard Times* (1975): Charles Bronson fighting bare-knuckle in Depression New Orleans; the serious version, lean and quiet - *Bronco Billy* (1980): Eastwood’s other film of the year, a gentler and far more thoughtful one about a travelling show - *The Quiet Man* (1952), Fi1m 78: A whole Irish village turns out to watch two men fight across the countryside — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-quiet-man.md) - *Snatch* (2000), Fi1m 74: Bare-knuckle bouts, crooked promoters and an unlicensed fighter nobody can control, London style — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/snatch.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/any-which-way-you-can