You Gotta Watch This Movie: Clint Eastwood's Great Unsung Film...

Ok, now hear me out.  If the above photo didn't already alienate you, give me a few more sentences.  Please, promise you'll continue reading after the next sentence and allow me to explain... This blog is about "Every Which Way But Loose" and I'm going to argue it's artistic merits.

Yes, that movie; the Clint Eastwood/orangutan film.  You hear orangutan buddy comedy, and I understand how it might be easy to dismiss.  It's a goofball movie now as much as it was in the 70's, except if you watch it all the way through and allow yourself to look a little deeper -- it's daring, experimental, and surprisingly profound, even more so, since it was a 1978 pop-corn flick.  But in the 70's, Hollywood studio films had guts -- even the 70's human-orangutan buddy movies.

The title originates from Zora Neale Hurston's classic 1937 novel "Their Eye's Were Watching God." According to Wikipedia.com:

the main character Janie's husband Tea Cake tells her about a fight he had with a man who had a knife, where in the fight Tea Cake "turned him every way but loose", i.e. fought him but did not let the man stab him.

Clint Eastwood plays Philo Beddoe.  He's a blue collar auto-mechanic who's been unlucky with women his entire life, until he becomes smitten with Lynn Halsey-Taylor (Sandra Locke), a traveling, up-and-coming country music singer performing at the local honky-tonk.  Lynn leads him on then skips town.  Philo decides to chase her across the west, his best friends Clyde (the orangutan) and Orville (Geoffrey Lewis) tagging along for the ride.  Meanwhile, Philo crosses a pair of police officers and a motorcycle gang (the "Black Widows") who pursue him for revenge.  Actually, it sounds pretty epic once you summarize all of it like that...

The vintage 70's trailer describes the movie pretty well.  "Hey babe, what do you think of Clint Eastwood?..."




The film is experimental in many respects; unique in it's approach to comedy.  In the following scene Philo feeling lonesome without Lynn, takes Clyde out on the town.  The great Charlie Rich sings "I'll Wake You Up" over the montage.  Skip ahead to 0:43:



Both Philo and Clyde look at the stripper, share a few words, and take swigs of their beers at the same time.  What a moment.  Clint Eastwood hanging out with an orangutang... in a strip club... drinking beers.  It's played completely straight, with a wistful song in the background.  There are laughs, but it seems the director intended the scene to be more about the characters' relationship.  It's a clue that there's more here than the sole formulaic cheap gags and over-stuffed quick laughs indicative of many of today's comedies.

On top of everything else, Philo hustles as a bare-knuckle fighter -- it's how he won/rescued Clyde.  He earns money on the side, fighting throughout the film.  All the while he finds himself compared to the legendary, undefeated "Tank Murdock."  This is where the movie gets really interesting.

Philo finally catches up to Lynn, but instead of that cinematic love-prevails-moment we're conditioned to expect -- especially after this Hero's journey west -- the film goes in the other direction.

He finds her in a bar parking lot with another man she just met, setting him up just like she did Philo at the beginning of the movie.

She spots Philo, her eyes widen.  He approaches them.  (Abridged scene:)

Lynn: It's your own goddamn fault.  Who asked you to follow me?

Philo: I just thought --

Lynn: You thought?  [...] I've been trying to get rid of you practically ever since the first night we met!

Philo: You do this all the time?

Lynn: Yeah I do this all the time, and you and me had our time.  So how come you don't know when to disappear?

Philo: I'm just not too smart, that's all.  'Cause up till now, I'm the only one dumb enough to want to take you further than your bed...

Lynn slaps and punches Philo, who stands there and takes it.  She knocks off his hat, bloodies his nose and his lip, and collapses crying.  When it's over you can see it in his eyes; Philo is stunned, rejected, and heartbroken.  He walks off.

Face still bloody Philo shows up to fight none other than Tank Murdock in a stockyard packed with Tank's fans and admirers.

Once again, Tank Murdock isn't the unbeatable legend you visualize in your mind over the course of the film, nor the rival you'd expect for Clint Eastwood's final challenge.  Tank is fat and over the hill.  Another nice touch: the man wears his old letterman's jacket from high school.  He takes it off for the fight.

Tank Murdock (Walter Barnes)

Tank taunts Philo for his bloody nose and lip, "Looks like you've had a go at it already!  You sure that face won't hurt too much to fight?"

Again challenging our expectations as an audience, Tank proves to be no challenge for Philo, and the crowd starts turning against Tank.  Philo picks up on it and then does something extraordinary.  He drops his guard and lets Tank knock him down.  Instantly Tank's admirers return.  Philo stays down for the count.

This is supposed to be a popcorn movie.  A goofball comedy orangutan movie.  Yet our protagonist is humiliated and outright rejected by the woman he pursues, he loses the final fight, he even loses all his money betting on himself for the fight.  This film has the audacity to say you don't always walk away a winner.  In fact, winning is such a rare thing, it's nearly a crime to take it away from someone who's whole life revolves around being looked at as a winner.  Philo throws the fight and walks away a loser, because he didn't get the thing he wanted most in the world, and he didn't want to take the same away from "the great" Tank Murdock.

Show me a "serious" film that does as good a job of exploring this idea... how about any single other film that dares to lose, the way we lose in real life. 

Yet the movie STILL somehow ends on a happy note, when we cut to this scene -- no music until the credits role:



Life goes on.  If you've still got your friends and your best buddy, it can't all be that bad.

Every Which Way But Loose proves that even "stupid" goofball movies can be meaningful, which is a hell of a thing for a film to establish or achieve.  An orangutan movie, no less.

According to imdb.com:

None of the advisors to Clint Eastwood wanted him to do this film. They did not think it was funny or that audiences would get it

Well, the experiment worked.  "Every Which Way But Loose" was the second highest grossing film of 1978 and his biggest opening until "Gran Torino"was released in 2008.

If I could have a moment of Clint Eastwoods time, I'd ask him if he had any influence on how most of his movies have ended, even one's he hasn't directed, like "Every Which Way But Loose."  Eastwood has an uncanny ability to be in films that have profound/unexpected/offbeat endings.  You'll find them throughout his career, whether you're talking about "Mystic River," or "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot."

Every Which Way But Loose is unique.  "Any Which Way You Can," the sequel, has none of these admirable qualities (it's a funny movie at least).  In fact, it only flies in the face of everything I'm saying here.  For example, Sandra Locke shows up in the first 10 minutes begging Philo's to take her back -- yeah right.

More films should play with genre, the viewer's expectations, and dare to be smart.  These are virtues and we should give films that dare, the proper respect.  ...Maybe it's just easier to call something "stupid."

Ok then, "Right turn Clide!"

Charles Rhoads

Scoring Your Film


Last week I walked out of the theater having just watched Chris Nolan’s latest flick, “Inception”, which was an entertaining movie to be sure; a visual buffet, a thinking man’s blockbuster, and the most entertaining thing I’ve seen all summer...  But the thing that struck me most, which added that extra layer of boner-inducing awesomeness that kept my mind on the film days after i watched it, was the bombastic score.  I just couldn’t get enough of those loud brass aural assaults! 




For someone so ingrained in cinematography and the visual side of film, it’s odd to think that, more often than not, what I find most affects my perception of the events on the screen is the music.




If I’ve always stated that the script is for the actors, and subtext for the camera, then it must be the emotional core that’s left for the composer.  So my question is, with such a meaty chunk of the film experience balanced on score, why do so many aspiring directors overlook this irrefutably integral piece of the pie?
 


I’m talking about you, Joe Filmdude.  Most of you get excited about telling a story, you go all out to track down the newest hot shit camera and a DP that will make you look like you know what you’re doing, and it just about ends there.  Some of you will go the extra mile and have a little money for post effects, but most shorts out there are either illegally co-opting copy written material, or using a synth score that your brother in-law cooked up in his basement. 




How can you expect to have someone dump a boatload of money in your lap for that first feature film if you haven’t tested your mettle in every aspect of the job?  Oh, you think when you have the budget you’ll just hire a composer and wipe your hands of the thing? 




Score can be so many things, heroic, subtle, transformative... For his entire career Sergio Leone actually wanted to bring score into pre-production, a feat he was never able to accomplish until he did "Once Upon a Time in the West".  His concept was to have Ennio Morricone record all the major themes before filming began, and then play the music for the actors during the takes since they were going to be dubbing the audio in a studio later anyway.   This allowed for precisely timed line delivery and blocking, camera moves that sweep up just as the song crescendos... it was experimental and resulted in a very unique feeling film that is now considered the greatest western epic ever made. 




(for those of you who have never seen it and one day plan to, spoilers contained in the clip below)





In this particular clip, the final duel from Once Upon a Time in the West, you realize that this harmonica score that's been so cool the whole time, that's made Charles Bronson such a badass, it's got an origin that ties the whole thing together and you finally understand his motivation.  Score can be so much more than just music behind the story, it can be the story itself.  



Now this is something that I don’t have a ton of experience with, however what little experience I DO have was with high caliber engineers and composers, which changed the way I think about and prepare this side of my films.




Before you mentally cut me off and tell yourself you just don’t have the budget to do a score, I’d tell you the same thing I tell producers who try to sleight the crew, don’t pay respectable rates, and don’t feel they need to have craft services on set… if you can’t afford the essentials, you can’t afford to make your movie.  Clearly I’m only talking about people who are trying to put a serious foot forward and making an already sizeable investment in production, not those of you who are dabbling in shoestring seat of your pants sort of deals (which are of course a necessary step for all of us).  But many of you out there have managed to cobble together several thousand dollars for your short, maybe to the tune of $8,000.  I suggest, why not hold off a little longer and make it $10-11,000?  Why short change yourself the experience of directing an entire production?  How can you develop a style which will set you apart from everyone else, when you’ve only worked with half the tools in the box?  I assure you working with a proper score composer who knows what he’s doing can be more affordable than you'd think and is truly worth it.




Before co-directing Donut Shop Hero, I thought I knew what it meant to score a film.  I thought we could explain the cues we wanted to our composer and the rest would take care of itself.  Well fancy that, when you’ve never been involved with scoring a movie before, it doesn’t exactly come out like you think it will. 




Scoring our film involved creating ‘themes’ for our central character, the villains, dramatic moments and comedic beats…  How do you know when you need a full on song, and when you just need a drum hit?  How do you know when to lean back and not use a score?  I definitely didn’t want to be one of those guys who just lay down a blanket wall-to-wall score to cover poorly paced writing, acting, and editing.




We knew we wanted dirty 70’s funk, something reminiscent of Lalo Schifrin’s score in Dirty Harry or Curtis Mayfield’s work in Superfly.  Here it wasn’t just style over substance, we wanted the audience to feel at any moment our unlikely security guard hero might stand up and go all Dirty Harry on these cats holding up the donut shop. 




After going back to the drawing board several times, the composer finally brought us a theme for our central character that felt like it had always been there -- written, somehow buried in the script when it was conceived and just now unearthed.  With much excitement, Charles and I then went through and laid out our thoughts on where score was needed based on all the different points mentioned above.  “We should be scared here”, “this moment needs a sharp accent”, or “we need Pete’s theme to come in here, but it should sound ‘off’ because he’s unsure of whether he’s going to stand up to fight”, we even gave timecode points where cues should begin and end.  We thought we knew what we were doing.




What we were brought was a movie score laid out to the exact specifications we’d noted, and boy did it make absolutely no sense.  While some of it worked, several moments now fell flat, some of it just felt unfocused.  What followed was a month of intense tweaking, micro managing, and long, very late nights.  I loved every second of it.







What it boils down to is, like in every other aspect of directing, you must get the practice in if you’re ever to walk into a production office and confidently say you know what you’re doing.  So if you’re already out there putting in the work behind a camera, maybe it’s time you thought about extending that investment into post!


-Nick Harris

Developing A Thick Skin

Ok film students and rising stars listen up!  Books and lectures, panels and seminars, school and practice are all great.  They give you insight into so many aspects of the career you've chosen.  But certainly not everything.  I've discovered a couple interesting points never covered in class in this first year of the Hollywood shuffle that I find, well...disturbing.

The first point is this:  For all aspiring producers, wrap your head around the fact that no one ever seems to know what the hell it is you actually do yet without you a production does not exist.  If you're looking for some kind of Harvey Weinstein or Jerry Bruckheimer fame you will have to jump through a whole lot of hoops and be extremely resourceful.  Fair enough, sure, until you run into people who say things like, "Even the Producers Guild doesn't know what a producer does."  Uh oh.  That's a problem begging for conquering.  Then you hear things about producers being completely disrespected on a set/production and you find yourself wondering how in the hell that can be when the producers are the ones who win Best Picture awards due to the fact that they make the entire picture work.  Just keep that in mind as you go forth.  It's not only about the money brought to the table by a producer.  it's so much more and no one seems to really get that.

The second point...Now, here's a supreme piece of learning material you will probably never learn about in film school...Sucess in the entertainment industry has little to do with how talented you are, how skilled you are, how great your ideas are, or how unique your personality is.  No. It's all about being liked by the people who hold the keys to the gates.  You may learn all there is to know about the techniques of production but you'll never get such a lesson on what really goes on in this industry until you drown yourself in it.  And when you do you will discover that you're more apt to get somewhere by being as close to what everyone else is like than not.  Larry David, the genius behind "Seinfeld", faced a similar situation but he's a genius therefore he got through the gates.

See, the idea is to look as gorgeous as you possibly can at all times and be as sweet as possible at all times then you'll get an audience, assistance, a pass.  You may have bad ideas, empty scripts, partial knowledge but if you are liked then you will be given chances and shown the light.  So, for ladies, be as cute and feminine and flirty as possible.  It makes everyone feel good about themselves.  Distracts from the fact that there may be far better people out there than the ones that hold the keys.  Keeps the fear of you being an overriding, competing force at bay.  And guys, learn to be charming, fast talking, funny and a really big fan of male bonding.  Sexism.  It's what sells!  Oh, and, if you have any handicap or visible imperfection at all find a way to conceal it.  It will make them uncomfortable if not.  It's simply about relationships in this industry.  Forge a million good, shallow relationships and you'll be allowed to play.  Maybe not by your rules...ask Francis Ford Coppola about that...but you'll get to play.

Do I agree with this school of thought?  Nope. No.  Not at all.  Not one bit.  It goes against my very grain.  It always has, it always will.  I imagine Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton turning over in their graves at the news.  Along with so many others who fought hard for equality of the sexes.  Who taught strength and character, talent and skill as being some of the pillars of success.  Wasn't Jesus Christ one of those such people?

I'm all for character myself.  I like unique personalities.  Every one of my friends is unique and intelligent.  People who make you think and appreciate things.  Every crew member on our sets is hired based on their skills and talents and their uniqueness, not their sameness.  I like a good conversation at lunch on a production.  Not empty talk.  Original people provide that.  And because they think outside of the box I know that in a pinch they will be innovative with whatever the problem at hand might be.

I'm finding more and more each day that this industry is stuck in the 1950's.  It refuses to progress.  It refuses to be bold.  Too risky.  Why screw up a working formula?  Well, if you've seen the movies lately that formula is becoming a failure.  However, it goes on until someone brave enough, well liked for their uniqueness enough, and focused enough decides to change it.  Until then, ya, I suppose I follow the archaic rules when I have to.  I try to be the person who doesn't make the big boys feel uncomfortable.  I don't stand up and flip the table over when some veteran producer sitting across from me tells me I need to girlie it up more or my irreparable lazy eye is a shortcoming that should be fixed.  I don't scream at them when they tell me "that's just the way it is, unfortunately", and remind them that it wouldn't be that way had they just had the backbone to stand up and be who they are, demand to be judged by merit and merit alone.  No.  I sit and smile, nod and say thanks at the end.  I fume as I drive home.  Wonder why the hell I didn't get some technical advice as to how to get my foot in the door at a studio or as a showrunner when that's all I was asking for.  I rage about the slow progression of equality in this life.  I shower a series of complaints on a friend willing to hear it.  Then I sit down and write.  I brandish the pen...well...these days, the keyboard.  Much more powerful than flipping the table over in the end.

I know me sitting here and even writing down my opinion on all of this is a risk.  I could get a reputation as being a whiner, difficult, not normal, a true discomfort.  I assure you that is something I certainly can be...just like everyone else...but when it comes to production, that is not me.  I focus on trying to make amazing visual pieces.  Improving on my skills rather than my smile.  No griping.  Just doing.  I am who I am.  Sometimes I can be a troubling conscience.  Sometimes I can be a warm comfort.  Either way I'm a person who just wants to create.  Why limit anyone to being the same person as everyone else?

And now, with that said, I leave you with the following words from a veteran LA entertainer of impeccable talent and outstanding success.  I'm just sayin'... - TKS

Aenima by Tool

Some say the end is near.
Some say we'll see armageddon soon.
I certainly hope we will.
I sure could use a vacation from this

Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of
Freaks

Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.
Any fucking time. Any fucking day.
Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay.

Fret for your figure and
Fret for your latte and
Fret for your lawsuit and
Fret for your hairpiece and
Fret for your prozac and
Fret for your pilot and
Fret for your contract and
Fret for your car.

It's a
Bullshit three ring circus sideshow of
Freaks

Here in this hopeless fucking hole we call LA
The only way to fix it is to flush it all away.
Any fucking time. Any fucking day.
Learn to swim, I'll see you down in Arizona bay.

Some say a comet will fall from the sky.
Followed by meteor showers and tidal waves.
Followed by faultlines that cannot sit still.
Followed by millions of dumbfounded dipshits.

Some say the end is near.
Some say we'll see armageddon soon.
I certainly hope we will cuz
I sure could use a vacation from this

Stupid shit, silly shit, stupid shit...

One great big festering neon distraction,
I've a suggestion to keep you all occupied.

Learn to swim.
Learn to swim.
Learn to swim.

Mom is going to fix it all soon,
Mom is coming round to put it back
The way it oughtta be...

Learn to swim.

Fuck L Ron Hubbard and
Fuck all his clones.
Fuck all these gun-toting
Hip gangster wannabes.

Learn to swim.

Fuck retro anything.
Fuck your tattoos.
Fuck all you junkies and
Fuck your short memory.

Learn to swim.

Fuck smiley glad-hands
With hidden agendas.
Fuck these dysfunctional,
Insecure actresses.

Learn to swim.

Cuz I'm praying for rain
And I'm praying for tidal waves
I wanna see the ground give way.
I wanna watch it all go down.
Mom please flush it all away.
I wanna see it go right in and down.
I wanna watch it go right in.
Watch you flush it all away.

Time to bring it down again.
Don't just call me pessimist.
Try and read between the lines.

I can't imagine why you wouldn't
Welcome any change, my friend.

I wanna see it all come down.
Suck it down.
Flush it down.