Going Ape.


They're currently showing the sequel to ‘Every Which Way But Loose’ on Five USA (the similarly-titled ‘Any Which Way You Can’). I would love to have been a fly on the wall when they pitched the idea of teaming up an orangutan with Clint Eastwood.

The concept evidently worked, as they managed to squeeze two films out of it. It just seems such an unlikely combination. What was it that brought this pairing into being?

(I could find the answer on the internet, but I’m not prepared to do this.)
 
Eastwood was probably tired of being typecast. Maybe he felt the time had come to branch out into a more family-orientated market. The question is, when did a ginger ape become an option?

As ideas go, it’s out of left field; the sort of thing that might enter your head when you’re delirious with fever. I assume drugs were involved. After all, it was the late seventies.

Whatever inspired this unlikely double act, I’m very glad it happened. I hope the sudden fame didn’t go to Clyde’s head though. I imagine the work must have dried up pretty quickly.

While we're at it, what sort of first name is Clint?

Clint Eastwood (right).


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