PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971) ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood, Jessica Walter, Donna Mills,
John Larch, Jack Ging, Donald Siegel
Clint plays a whispery-voiced deejay whose bed-hopping lifestyle turns into a bloody nightmare after he picks up an obsessive fan in a bar. Eastwood's first film as a director, a combination star vehicle, psychosexual thriller and cinematic tourist brochure for Monterey and Carmel. There are a few too many idyllic shots of the star and Donna Mills walking among the cypress trees, but some key elements of Eastwood's filmmaking style are already evident: the use of dark lighting (with cinematography by Bruce Surtees), the musical accent on jazz, and the very first shot in the picture - a long, sweeping, helicopter's eye view of the California coast. A precursor to "Fatal Attraction", with a blood-chilling performance by Jessica Walter as the kind of girl you don't want to pick up in a bar. Eastwood mentor Don Siegel makes an on-screen appearance as Murph the bartender.
Jessica Walter
(1941-2021)
