Play Misty for Me (1971)

***1/2

Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut takes place in Carmel, California with Eastwood playing a radio disk jockey who makes the mistake of casually sleeping thrice with the most psychotic stalker woman imaginable. After being clearly jilted, actress Jessica Walter takes her fatal attraction to the hilt, showing up unexpectedly pleading for non-existent love, attempting suicide, trashing a condominium and knifing the cleaning lady along the way.

While all this lunacy is heightening, Eastwood is so bold as to be trying to convince his old girlfriend to get back with him. Precarious is the word, effectively building suspense in what I personally consider to be a frightening predicament and movie. That Eastwood’s disk jockey appears to have it made in the shade on so many different levels, including a killer pad on the beach, a convertible sport car, notoriety enough to hobnob with Cannonball Adderley at the Monterey Jazz Festival, etc. shows just how quickly the glass can shatter.

Play Misty for Me might as well have served as a public service announcements for those free-loving bachelors of the early ‘70’s who started letting Playboy magazine get to their heads. You can’t just go dogging out every woman in sight as one might actually be chomping at the bit to strike back with a vengeance. The whole sentiment is like a cold shower put to video cassette…brrrrr.