Play Misty For Me
In 1971, screen superstar Clint Eastwood, perhaps just entering the height of his fame, turned towards directing. The result was a thriller about a Carmel, CA Disc Jockey trying to re-unite with an ex-girfriend but finding violent trouble with an obsessive fan. This fan calls him up requesting that he “play misty for me.” The disc jockey, Dave Garner, is portrayed by Mr. Eastwood himself, thus establishing his double threat capacity. “Play Misty for Me” is a serviceable film. It is often quite good but also often a little dated; ultimately, the film serves at the very least as an interesting document in the career of Mr. Eastwood as his first directorial effort.
Mr. Eastwood agreed to do “Play Misty for Me” for low pay and with the promise of a percentage if the film did well, which it did. The DVD extras, which are plentiful with observations from all of the principals and especially from Eastwood, tells the story of how Eastwood's salary ended up being more than it would have. The film was shot entirely on location in Carmel, California, where Mr. Eastwood lived and lives (he became the mayor in 1986). The film came in ahead of schedule and under budget, a tenant of Mr. Eastwood’s long and enormously successful-both financially and artistically-career as a director.
But what of the film itself? Dave Garner is a pretty cool guy. He lives in a beautiful home right on the edge of a cliff. He drives a cool little sports car to work, starts off his jazz program with poetry and hangs out at a bar where he chums it up with the bartender (frequent Eastwood director/mentor and first time actor Don Siegel). It’s at this bar that he meets Evelyn. He might think he’s picking up on her, but at her place she reveals her intentions-she calls in to request “misty.” And thus begins an affair. Dave tries to make it clear that he isn’t interested in anything more than a fun time-in fact he is in the process of re-uniting with an old girlfriend Tobie (Donna Mills). However, Evelyn has other ideas. For example, she begins showing up unannounced at his house and the bar. Very quickly we realize that this woman is far from stable, but Dave can’t seem to shake her. Then it gets violent, plunging deep down to it’s inevitable conclusion (I won’t spoil it).
Along the way we get some interesting touches from Mr. Eastwood, the filmmaker. The bad, or dated, include a ridiculously long "walking on the beach" to "making love montage" involving Dave and Tobie. The good involves documentary style filming at the annual Monterrey Jazz festival which includes some incredible music and great photography. In fact, much of Eastwood’s first film was shot rather authentically. Mentioned before, all real locations, also a minimum of lighting and makeup all contribute to a nice look for this film.
“Play Misty for Me” will be a ball for the Eastwood enthusiast; it’s got great music and a few very well played scenes. Part Hitchcock homage, its story precedes “Fatal Attraction” by a few decades and its success would lead Clint Eastwood down a long road to eventually become a great American director; respected for his craft financially and artistically.
Story: B Uber-cool DJ makes a one night mistake, the first of it’s kind?
Acting: C + “Wow, Clint got better at acting” said my actress friend. Evelyn is quite terrifying and his DJ buddy Al Monte is even cooler than he.
Visuals: B The Monterrey Jazz festival and some helicopter shots of the coast are beautiful. Also some in the mirror stuff. Certainly a feel to it.
Originality/Innovation: B 1971 and it dealt very openly with one night stands, pot, modern love affairs and the sort. Also a juicy role for it’s leading lady.…
Enjoyability Grade: B Pretty fun to watch, but I love Clint Eastwood.
Overall Grade: B - Fun time for an Eastwood Enthusiast but not a great film-dated at times, still noteworthy.
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