Over the past seven decades, Clint Eastwood’s filmography has made a staggering amount of money at the worldwide box office. This isn’t surprising, given the legendary star’s incredible longevity, status as a cultural icon of tough-guy masculinity, and his transition into directing. Of all the Clint Eastwood movies that the great man starred in, though, you may be surprised to find out which one is his highest-grosser. In fact, you may think it sounds bananas.
Eastwood has always been synonymous with the western genre, so many would instantly assume something like A Fistful of Dollars or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly would be his biggest film. Interestingly, though, while the latter would make a top ten list of Eastwood’s highest-grossing efforts adjusted for inflation, it wouldn’t be anywhere near the top. In truth, Eastwood’s most financially successful Western is Unforgiven, his ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Actor’-winning tour de force from 1992. That classic made $159,157,447 worldwide, which is a massive $357,107,111 in today’s money.
To most people, the next sensible port of call would be the Dirty Harry series. However, while four of hardline cop Harry Callahan’s adventures do make Eastwood’s top ten – the classic original, plus Magnum Force, The Enforcer, and Sudden Impact – none of them take pride of place at the top of the list.
Interestingly, the Eastwood movie which raked in the highest returns of his entire career is actually one he didn’t star in. In 2014, he directed Bradley Cooper in American Sniper, and it was a runaway success story few could have predicted. It made a mind-boggling $547,659,020 worldwide, enough to secure its status as the biggest January release ever, as well as the highest-grossing war movie in history. Adjusted for inflation, the numbers look even better – in 2024 terms, the film made $728,241,031.
These numbers – which most action blockbusters would kill for – were truly incredible, considering the film was a biographical drama about Chris Kyle, the deadliest sniper in US military history. Around the time of release, a thoughtful Eastwood told Emmanuel Levy that he wanted his film to show “the toll war takes on a person but also the pressure it puts on the whole family,” he said. Adding: “It’s good to be reminded of what’s at stake when people are sent into war and to acknowledge the sacrifices they make, so I thought that made it an especially significant story to tell.”
So, which Eastwood star vehicle is his highest-grossing movie?
For the purposes of this article, discovering which Clint Eastwood movie was his highest-grosser as an actor was the aim of the game – and this is where things get shocking. You see, Eastwood’s biggest film isn’t a western, a cop movie, or even one of his late-period action efforts like In the Line of Fire. Instead, the world flocked to cinemas in 1978 to watch Eastwood as a bare-knuckle brawling trucker who tangled with a motorcycle gang and a pair of LAPD cops…alongside his pet orangutan Clyde.
The movie in question was Every Which Way But Loose, a quirky action comedy directed by James Fargo. Despite some truly savage reviews at the time of release, the novelty of seeing Eastwood attempt comedy must have captured the imagination of the public. The movie made $104,268,727 upon release, which amounts to $503,426,045, with inflation taken into account.
Brilliantly, it can’t even be argued that Every Which Way But Loose was a fluke – because the sequel Any Which Way You Can is Eastwood’s second highest-grossing movie as a leading man. It amassed $70,687,344 in 1980, the equivalent of $270,049,674 today.
Boy, people really did love that orangutan.