Review of Breezy (1973) by Steve C — 31 Dec 2016

So it turns out there is this woman writer behind a few of the early Clint Eastwood directorial movies. I didn't know that before last night because I'm not much of a movie buff and certainly not much of an Eastwoodian. So I have never seen Play Misty for Me, written by Jo Heims.

Jo Heims does not have a wiki page. She died many years ago (1978) at 48 years old.

Breezy was written by Jo Heims. It is a May-Dec romance story. That is why I watched it, because I'm interesting in that sort of thing, I mean, what people think about it and so forth.

I think the movie is pretty well done. There are some scenes between the two of them that I felt we rather realistic in that they had some reflection on some things that happen in a relationship I'm having. (The ratio of that difference is not as deep as the one in the movie. We are both about 10 or so years older than the people in the movie.) But these little dialogue scenes really make the movie.

Breezy: No lectures on maturity, either.

Frank Harmon: Not a word shall pass my lips. I'll let you in on a secret... nobody matures. They just grow tired.

She also calls him out frequently for making what they are doing tawdry. I liked that. Because our love is not pure. It is clouded with our conditioning.

I have been thinking about our lovely commercial culture in relation to sex and love. Frankly, when I think about that stuff I feel sad and a little angry about what has been taken from us. Our innocence is made tawdry and sold back to us in a distorted sleazy product that then begins to inhabit the "norm". I have recently really begin to FEEL the tragedy of this religious/commercial distance from what we were and what part of me still is. The USA is a really sexually repressed culture, but you can get sleaze by the shopping cart load at Walmart or a retailer near you, or turn on your TV.

There is a scene in the movie where Frank's friend distorts the beauty of his relationship with Breezy. He is the dirty repressed voice of commercial sleaze and unfortunately turns Frank's head for a moment..

So this movie is worth a look. I liked it.