Play Misty for Me
by Clint Eastwood
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Clint Eastwood, Donna Mills, Jack Ging, Jessica Walter, John LarchDirector: Clint Eastwood
Cinematographer: Bruce Surtees
Editor: Carl Pingitore
Producer: Bob Larson
Producer: Jennings Lang
Producer: Robert Daley
Writer: Dean Riesner
Writer: Jo Heims
DVD: Region Code 2
Audio: Italian (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0; Italian (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: PAL
Picture Format: 1.77:1
Running Time: 102 minutes
Published: 2009-12-15
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Universal Pictures
Movie Reviews of Play Misty for Me
Movie Review: Eastwood--Smothered And Stalked
Summary: 5 Stars
Nowadays it's probably quite easy to take for granted that Clint Eastwood is a tremendous director and, let's be honest here, a really good actor too. But little did audiences of 1971 who had seen him as the Man With No Name in those wacky, violent Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns of the 1960s, or as Dirty Harry, realize what talent the man had. That talent truly took hold as a result of Eastwood's striking directing debut with PLAY MISTY FOR ME.
Eastwood portrays a DJ at a jazz radio station in the seaside town of Carmel, California (where he was to become mayor for real in the 1980s) who one night gets a call from a mysterious woman to "play Misty for me" (referring to the Errol Garner classic). It turns out that this woman (Jessica Walter) has become rather fixated with Eastwood and his penchant for spouting poetry on the air. But "fixated" only touches the tip of the iceberg. Eastwood's fairly stable life gets a little jolt when an old flame of his (Donna Mills) shows up back in town again, and he manages to rekindle that old flame. This just accelerates Walter's now-jealous obsession with him; and when Eastwood's cleaning lady (Clarice Taylor) is almost slashed to death...well then, we are talking psychotic here. He's not only being smothered by Walter; pretty soon, he is stalked by her as well. It all comes down to a climax at Mills' isolated house, where Walter holds her hostage, and where a cop (John Larch) investigating her every move has been found dead.
Working with a relatively small crew, a six-week production schedule, and a budget of only $900,000, Eastwood nevertheless overcame the limitations he had to work with and came up with one of the great horror/suspense thrillers of all times. His direction clearly shows how much he had learned while having worked with Leone, as well as his DIRTY HARRY director Don Siegel (who makes an amusing cameo here as the local barkeep). He also shows considerable range as an actor as well, being able to handle his romantic scenes with Mills and his more intense ones with Walter with equal skill. The ominous cinematography of his long-time cameraman Bruce Surtees is just right for the Hitchcockian mood of the film--in particular, the scene in which Eastwood and Mills walk along the beach, with Roberta Flack's classic recording of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" being heard on the soundtrack. And special attention should be given to Walter, whose jealous woman role is positively frightening.
Perhaps the one flaw of PLAY MISTY FOR ME (and, to an equal extent, the film that more or less was a remake of it, FATAL ATTRACTION), is a perceived misogyny on the part of Eastwood on either side of the camera. Whether or not that is true is up to the viewer to decide. But it does not take away from this film's excellence at creating a suspenseful and very scary piece of cinema, one that marked a great debut for one of the iconic Hollywood superstars of the last fifty years.
Summary of Play Misty for Me
Disc jockey Dave Garver attracts the amorous attentions of a demented fan named Evelyn Draper. Evelyn lets Dave pick up at a bar; later at her apartment, Evelyn admits that she is the cooing caller who repeatedly asks Dave to play the Erroll Garner classic "Misty." From then on, the film is a lesson in how one casual date can turn your whole life around. Evelyn stalks Dave everywhere, ruins his business lunch, assaults his maid, mutilates his house and all of his belongings, and finally threatens to butcher his girlfriend Tobie Williams. You'll never be able to hear that song again without looking over your shoulder.Similar DVD Movies
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