Clint Eastwood plays Philo Beddoe, a trucker and fighter who lives with an orangutan called Clyde. When he meets a country singer he falls for (Sondra Locke), he ends up taking off after her – despite the fact that he himself is being pursued by a cop and a biker gang who want to beat him up.
It’s difficult to describe what genre this is. There’s comedy, but it’s also a sort of road and adventure film. It ends up being a deeply strange hybrid.
Some of it works very well – Eastwood is reliably cool and watchable. Some of it is awkward – the farcical, annoying character of “Ma” (Ruth Gordon), who really doesn’t need to be there. And some of it is plain bizarre.
There’s a lot about masculinity and gender. Oddly, it promotes drinking and fighting and yet it makes the bikers look weak and silly.
The country soundtrack – with the distinctive main theme by Eddie Rabbitt – is enjoyable, too.
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