Before he became the ultimate badass with roles like the iconic “Man With No Name” in spaghetti westerns or the tough-as-nails “Dirty Harry” cop, Clint Eastwood tried his hand behind the camera.
In 1971, he directed his very first movie – the psychological thriller “Play Misty for Me”. And let me tell you, for a rookie director, he completely nailed the creepy, unhinged, stalker vibe!
The movie follows Dave Garver, a cool radio DJ played by Eastwood himself.
Dave has a casual one-night stand with a fan named Evelyn (Jessica Walter).
Seems harmless enough, right? Wrong! Evelyn turns out to be capital-C Crazy with a terrifying obsession. Her crazy gets more and more unnerving as the movie goes on.
Jessica Walter is straight-up incredible as the Stalker From Hell, Evelyn.
At first, she plays it cool and innocent. But then the red flags start popping up hard. Evelyn starts showing up unannounced at Dave’s house. She brings groceries and puts them away as if she lives there.
She buys him slippers and gets possessive. Creepy!
Then Evelyn’s obsession kicks into high gear.
She slashes her own wrists for attention and manipulates Dave into taking care of her.
The crazy women even sabotages his dates and relationships.
By the end, she’s an absolute psychopath wielding a knife and living up to that “terror” tagline! Walter’s performance is so convincing that the movie practically becomes a horror flick in the final act.
Directorial Analysis
But let’s talk about that rookie direction from Eastwood.
From sweeping panoramic shots of the ocean to tight, claustrophobic angles during the crazy stalker sequences, the camerawork and visuals are on point.
Eastwood shows a skilled hand at using shadows, jump scares, and economical editing to ramp up the dread and tension.
There are some legit scary moments that still pack a punch over 50 years later.
The plot itself is a neat gender-flip on the typical stalker narrative too, with the woman going full-psycho on the male lead.
It definitely makes you think twice about having casual flings – you never know who’s going to turn into the next bunny-boiler obsessive!
Sure, the pacing lags a bit in the final act with some overlong romantic scenes and jazz musical interludes.
But when Eastwood is doing his thing with the stalker suspense and mayhem, “Play Misty for Me” is an underrated little chiller that still delivers the goods.
It gave an early taste of Eastwood’s talents both as a director and actor, foreshadowing all the greatness to come from him. Just maybe don’t watch this one right before going on dating apps…
