Fatal Attraction, Clint Style: Play Misty For Me (1971)

Play Misty for Me (1971)
Rating: ***1/2
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills

When disc jockey Dave Garver meets up with a fan named Evelyn Draper , he also finds out then and there that she's the anonymous caller who kept requesting the jazz standard song "Misty" on his show. After a quick drink in the bar and one night in bed, Dave begins to see something unusual from Evelyn.

Starting with her following him around, Evelyn's unhinged nature starts to show as she throw fits when ignored and grow insanely jealous with other women he meets, no matter what the age. It all, unfortunately, escalates to bloodier means when she broke into Dave's house one day and attacks his maid, pushing the DJ to try his best to escape her grasp. But when Evelyn spots Dave reconciling with his girlfriend Tobie, he may have no choice but to fight for his and his girlfriend's life, or risk receiving the bad end of a knife...

Mr. Eastwood's debut film as a director plays an early entry to the psychotic stalker-sub genre, and maybe even an early influence to later slasher movies like The Seduction (1982), Windows (1982) or even the 1987 Bunny Boiler classic Fatal Attraction.

To be frank, this movie had a lot to answer for Fatal Attraction, which kinda odds me into being suspicious; both films work as a realistic depiction of stalking, wherein ordinary people like Eastwood's character or Michael Douglas' from the Attraction are pummeled into a bizarre and dangerous situation, making the character and the plot itself workable for a fair budget. Both films also tackled the effects of loneliness and obsession, each with varying levels of violent results.

The only difference was that Play Misty for Me kinda plays more as a proto-slasher than a thriller like Fatal Attraction, practically more violent with scenes such as a home invasion attack and the climax where Evelyn threatens to murder anyone that gets in her way. Bodycount's pretty low though, but for minuscule budget stalk and slash thrills, the film works enough for how much it concentrates on delivery, wise use of production and visual performance.

I see this movie as more of Clint Eastwood straying from the badass persona he popularized by his Dirty Harry movies. His character's more vulnerable here, human if I may describe further, making his dilemma with a psychotic woman all the more understandably terrifying as you realize that this can and will happen in real life. So with realism being the basis of this movie's thrill, I'm glad there's only a few drawbacks that could banter at. (Some offbeat cheese here and there, Clint's character being too calm at some situation. No biggie!)

Bloody slasher or not, Play Misty for Me is a worthwhile thriller that fans can enjoy equally. If you're lonely tonight, or just wanna see Clint Eastwood solve a problem without using a gun, try this one for the night and see what could have been that one date with a chatroom gal you've missed last night...

Bodycount:
1 male stabbed on the chest with shears
1 female falls to her death
Total: 2