Trivia / Every Which Way but Loose

• Breakaway Pop Hit: The Every Which Way But Loose title song was a #1 hit on the Billboard Country Music chart for Eddie Rabbitt, and also crossed over into the pop Top 40. Glen Campbell's "Any Which Way You Can" was a Top 10 Country hit, but the soundtrack spawned a #1 Country hit with the David Frizzell/Shelly West duet "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma".
• Follow the Leader: Clint Eastwood was advised to do the film on the heels of Smokey and the Bandit's runaway success at the box office.
• Never Work with Children or Animals: Manis the Orangutan once got upset and grabbed Clint Eastwood while he was driving a truck. The ape's trainers were able to calm Manis down by speaking to him over the two-way radio.
• The Other Darrin: An orangutan named Manis plays Clyde in EWWBL. In AWWYC, Clyde is played by an (uncredited) orangutan named C.J. (Having grown older and larger, Manis was considered possibly dangerous.)
• Playing Against Type: This was Clint Eastwood's first comedic film.
• So My Kids Can Watch: After more than a decade of appearing in R-rated westerns and police action films, most notably as Dirty Harry, this PG-rated film and its sequel were a change of pace for Eastwood.
• Wag the Director: Clint Eastwood was often in dispute with the director, James Fargo. The first assistant sarcastically commented that this was because Fargo "had the notion that he was directing the movie." Note that Eastwood and Fargo had been long-time collaborators, with Fargo having handled second unit duties on films that Eastwood had directed, and working smoothly with him during Fargo's directorial bow on The Enforcer. On that occasion they worked well together since it had been agreed that Eastwood was really in charge, but Fargo expected more control on Every Which Way. Their friendship survived the film's production, but afterwards they agreed that it'd probably be best for the sake of their sanity if they didn't work on the same film again.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The film was originally a Burt Reynolds vehicle.
  • After the success of these films, The Cannon Group's Menahem Golan personally pitched the movie Going Bananas to Clyde. The orangutan turned the film down, which proves even lesser primates knew better than to star in Golan-Globus films.

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