Clint Eastwood was great in the Dirty Harry series, which I've seen all of except the last one since my library does not have The Dead Pool. So, onto other Eastwood films. I haven't seen most of them after all.
Clint Eastwood looks the part and acts the part better than a lot of actors, ever, period. The guy is handsome as shit, a great actor, has a great body and a great voice. He turns in a performance worthy of admiration in this 70's pot-boiler. First of all, I can recognize the West Coast in five seconds flat. The way the ocean hits and the plants that live there and the majestic trees are so recognizable. This was filmed in Carmel, and it's so much fun to see the area there. I haven't been to Carmel that many times, but this made me miss home.
Clint Eastwood is a DJ at a small jazz station in Carmel, living his life as a playboy and wandering whatever dude. He is trying to get back with his ex while he is receiving calls from a mystery woman at the station asking him to "play Misty for me." He goes to a bar after work where a woman sits, he decides he wants her and takes her to bed that night. Turns out she is the one calling into the station and she has a minor obsession with him from the start, which only expands as the movie continues and she becomes more and more over the top in her demand for them to be together.
Over the top is a good transitional piece to talk about Jessica Walter, who plays the crazy woman Evelyn. It's a product of it's time and it's not as big as it could be, but it also isn't great. She's hit and miss. Sometimes it is also the fault of the writing I guess and I kept wondering first, why doesn't he go to the police and get her ass arrested, and second, why doesn't he fucking smack her? There's a little bit of him complying and going along, I guess plotwise cause he wants to get his dick wet, but it seemed a little insane and badly done sometimes.
Play Misty for Me is well known, got good reviews, was a huge success, launched Clint Eastwood as a now Academy Award winning director. This movie has generally aged well and was most definitely ahead of it's time. It moves really fast, especially for being early 70s! I give it four stars.
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