By Geno McGahee
I’m not going to lie. I am a Clint Eastwood fan. He always picks his roles well and never fails to deliver a powerful performance, which is certainly the case in the 1971 suspense flick: Play Misty for Me. I nearly sported (East) Wood watching this one.
David (Clint Eastwood) is a disc jockey. He keeps getting a female calling requesting him to play “Misty” for her and he obliges. David is a lady’s man and will do anything that moves and loves the attention from the woman with the sexy voice. She is attracted to David’s voice and physique. Eastwood was in great shape for this role, obviously not a stranger to a fitness DVD. He’s in great condition for this film.
She calls every day and requests the same song and flatters the DJ. He comes face to face with the mystery woman at a bar and the sparks fly. Evelyn (Jessica Walter) is a hot chick and is willing to get dirty (Harry) with David, and he likes that. He is now sort of dating her, but more or less considering her a booty call. She does not look at their relationship in that light.
Evelyn’s true colors begin to show as she becomes a very possessive and foul mouthed control freak. He can’t shake her, and when he ex-girlfriend Tobie (Donna Mills) returns, he wants to give that relationship another go, but Evelyn won’t go quietly. The attempt to break it off with her ends with her in his bathroom with her wrists slit. She makes it very clear that she will do anything to keep him and that includes kill. Initially, David is concerned that he will be responsible for the unstable woman killing herself, but soon his hatred grows as she makes it clear that she will not let him go.
In one of the truly great moments in the movie, David nearly has a national DJ deal signed, sealed, and delivered. He is meeting with Madge (Irene Hervey) to seal the deal when Evelyn crashed the lunch and calls her several names. She is elderly prompting Evelyn to note: “A little old for you, isn’t she?” It was hilarious, and as David is dragging her away, she screams: “She couldn’t get laid in a lumberyard!” When David returns to his table, Madge is gone and the deal is dead. Now, he has this psycho interfering in his work and social life, and it’s about to get worse.
When David reunites officially with his ex main squeeze, Evelyn falls off of the deep end and cuts up everything in his house, including his maid! Whatever the case, she is chopped up, but the police catch Evelyn and put her away in a nuthouse…a nuthouse that releases her too soon. David and Tobie are going to have to deal with an insane woman wielding a knife and looking to kill them both.
The final confrontation in this movie features a bloodbath knife fight between David and his obsessed fan. This movie is typical Eastwood. He does not do a movie unless he believes it to be a quality film and he once again scores with this thriller. It had to have inspired movies like Fatal Attraction and maybe even Stephen King’s Misery. I think that Eastwood could really make a horrible movie great with his delivery and his confidence. No matter what he is in, he a cool customer and stands out from the rest of the cast. His performance here is another example of that. I highly recommend this movie.
Scared Stiff Rating: 8/10.
