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PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971) (***1/2)

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Pre-dating FATAL ATTRACTION by 16 years, Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut is the grandmother of all “from hell” films. This one being the hook-up from hell.

Dave Garver (Eastwood) is a late night DJ at a small Carmel, California Jazz station. He hopes to move up to the big time in San Francisco soon. He’s a notorious lady’s man, who is point blank to Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter, TV’s ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT) when he picks her up in a bar that he is trying to uncomplicate his life. Evelyn — who’s a fan of his show, often calling in and requesting “Misty” — seems fine with the terms. Then Dave learns that his old girlfriend Tobie (Donna Mills, TV’s KNOTS LANDING) has moved back into town and he wants to try a monogamous relationship for the first time in his life. However, the big wrinkle in this plan is that Evelyn keeps showing up unannounced and her behavior becomes increasingly more violent and erratic.

Eastwood as a director takes the tightly written script from Jo Heims and Dean Riesner and crafts a first-rate thriller. As an actor, he plays off his screen persona of a lady’s man, coming to the point when he has found the woman he wants to commit to as a result of losing her. Subtly, it’s a nice touch, making things more anxious because he’s already lost her once before. Walter’s manic performance is frightening. Each scene builds the dread of impending doom. Even a sentimental musical sequence showing Dave and Tobie together is tense, because of the previous material, tone of the music, the vulnerability of the characters in the sequence and the muted look of the cinematography.

One may see a late twist coming a mile away, but it really doesn’t ruin anything. It actually adds to the tension. This is edge-of-your-seat entertainment from start to finish and it sure will make any lothario second guess asking the cute girl at the end of the bar to come home with him.

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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks