Sadistico

This was "Fatal Attraction" 16 years before that famous movie was made.

The problem with this tense drama was credibility. There are several instances where just about everyone with a brain would avoid trouble by doing the sensible thing....except the character in here, of course. Also, being honest is the obvious thing to do here and, of course, that's not done either.

Nevertheless, it's a taut thriller with Jessica Walter doing a great job playing a nutcase stalker "Evelyn Draper." I also enjoyed watching Donna Mills. An appealing actress, and not just because of a pretty face, I wonder she didn't do more films? After this movie, it's been almost all television roles for her.

So-so mono sound and poor picture quality helped me eventually trade my VHS copy in but, with a nice DVD transfer now available, I might check this movie out again. Clint Eastwood, the male lead here, has rarely been in a boring movie, and this is no exception.

This movie, I suppose, was the first nice-guy-being-stalked-by-psycho-female thriller. And it's quite damn good. Modern audiences might feel the film was too low-key, but I found it very suspenseful. This proves you don't need eerie music (there's very little score on the soundtrack) and continuous gore to create suspense. Jessica Walter is terrifying--maybe not as terrifying as Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction," but she comes pretty close. It's fun--and somewhat hilarious--to see Clint Eastwood as a young man with LOTS of hair. This was his first directorial effort, and he did a fine job. Over 30 years, the premise has become all-too-familiar, so unfortunately the story is predictable. Maybe 1970's audiences found it more shocking. But I was able to predict who would die and when. Nevertheless, I still found "Play Misty For Me" very entertaining and very well-acted. But what was with that jazz concert scene? Clint definitely should've left that on the cutting room floor.

My score: 7 (out of 10)

In the city of Carmel, the popular disc-jockey David Garver (Clint Eastwood) has one night stand with Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter), a strange he met in a bar after his show. The woman, indeed a deranged obsessed fan, stalks David and threatens his life, his girl-friend Tobie Williams (Donna Mills), his friends and even his job.

The debut of Clint Eastwood as director could not be better. This low budget and low paced movie has a simple, but frightening story, which was ripped off at least in the famous "Fatal Attraction" and the teen version "Swimfan". The magnificent landscape and locations in the beautiful city of Carmel, where Clint Eastwood was elected Major many years later, are another attraction. The performance of Jessica Walters is awesome, changing naturally her behavior from a sweet to an aggressive person, really incorporating her character. Clint Eastwood is very cool, as usual, and Donna Mills very gorgeous. I like the unusual break of tension adopted when Evelyn is arrested and Dave and Tobie's routine returns to normal, dating, going to festival, making love, increasing the suspense after the twist point. I do not recall how many times I have seen "Play Misty for Me", a classic and one of the best thrillers of the 70's. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Perversa Paixão" ("Wicked Passion")

A brief fling between a male disc jockey and an obsessed female fan takes a frightening, and perhaps even deadly turn when another woman enters the picture.

I found this trivia interesting. Even though it touches on the early-'70s flashpoints of sexual liberation, studio execs expressed doubts about why anyone would want to see a movie featuring Eastwood as a deejay. Eastwood reportedly answered that he was not sure either, but he thought it was a good suspense story, and he offered his services as director for free. Play Misty for Me wound up making five times more than it cost and is a precursor to such erotic thrillers as Fatal Attraction (1987) and Basic Instinct (1992). Eastwood mentor Don Siegel appears early on as a bartender.

In the role of the stalker is Jessica Walter who balances between crazed, malevolent psychopath and sweetheart bimbo with a creepy ease. Much of the credit must go to Jessica Walter for her outstanding performance . A highly enjoyable thriller.

Clint Eastwood never fails to amaze me. I have not seen a resume like what he has for an actor, a producer, a composer, a screenplay writer and a director, considering the fact he started off as a mere extra. Made his debut in 1955 as an actor and later turned into a producer and a director and is still going strong and looks fit for his age (Million Dollar Baby).

The beginning of the 1970s found Clint Eastwood either at or near the front ranks of actors who were considered sure box office, right up there with actors as diverse as Paul Newman and John Wayne. What caught a lot of people off guard in 1971, however, was when Eastwood, armed with the expertise he had gained working with Sergio Leone and Don Siegel, got into the business of directing. No one could have predicted that the Man With No Name would soon become the Man With A Big Name behind the camera. But that is indeed what happened; and his first effort both in front of and behind the camera was a winner: PLAY MISTY FOR ME Filmed in Carmel, California, 'Play Misty For Me' features Eastwood as a DJ at a local jazz radio station taking all-night requests.On a particular night he gets a call from a mysterious woman to "Play 'Misty' for me", referring to a classic Errol Garner song "Misty". As it turns out, that woman (Jessica Walter) has something of a fixation on Eastwood. Furthermore, when Eastwood meets back up with an old flame of his (Donna Mills), Walter's fixation takes a turn towards the psychotic.

At this time if you are thinking this sounds like Fatal Attraction starring Michael Douglas, you would be right. The plot is same somewhat but personally I like 'Play Misty For Me' more cause me being a huge fan of Clint Eastwood.

'Play Misty For Me' was not a perfect movie when it was released. There are a couple of awkward sequences that simply don't work at all in the film, but Eastwood recovers from such scenes and makes some very good and mature directorial choices as the film progresses.

Featuring of a cameo role from Eastwood's mentor Don Siegel as his local bartender, 'Play Misty For Me', despite some slightly misogynistic overtones, is an incredibly suspenseful work of film-making and shows the first glimpse of just how good Clint Eastwood would become both in front of and behind the camera.