Review of Play Misty for Me (1971) by Tim H — 24 Dec 2007

Is it weird that Gangey was hot at one point? Too bad she plays totally balls crazy.

I don't care for most of Clint Eastwood's directing. Until recently, I thought he sucked pretty hard. I didn't care for Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby looks like a movie that was filmed to get an Oscar (.com). But he really turned my head with Flags of our Fathers and, especially, Letters from Iwo Jima. The direction is fairly solid in Play Misty for Me, but it is really nothing spectacular. It really is a straightforward movie that hinges on Jessica Walter's performance. Walter really steals the show as the absolutely crazy Evelyn, which is odd, because Eastwood's performance is pretty sour. You know all those Clint Eastwood impressions? Those are really accurate because he is one note through this entire movie. Some people call it subtly. I say one note. He has all these light-hearted, funny lines that he just gives that gruff, hard-ass delivery. At the time, Eastwood wasn't a strong enough actor to pull double-duty and critique his own work. That's out there.

But this movie is actually a little scary. Evelyn is realyl a well developed crazy character. I've seen the stalker movies before and Evelyn seems most like real stalkers are like. She honestly doesn't see what she's doing as wrong. Admittedly, the movie shapes into what could be considered a traditional thriller, but for the meat of the movie, Walter gives a really honest, scary performance.

...but Misty as a song sucks.