A VALENTINE'S DAY VIXEN

PLAY MISTY FOR ME (1971: Dir. Clint Eastwood)

There is nothing more dismal than enduring weeks of Valentine's Day commercialism when you have just experienced a bad break-up. My cinematic antidote of choice to such ubiquitous displays of affection is the thriller, Play Misty For Me, Clint Eastwood's directorial debut, and one of the most trenchant films from his entire 40+ years behind the camera. Based on a story idea by co-screenwriter Jo Heims, this nail-biting nightmare is the prototype film of romantic obsession gone horrifyingly wrong. While its values are firmly rooted in the swinging Seventies, the entirely plausible scenario continues to resonate due to Eastwood's clear understanding of his main characters, Dave Garver (Eastwood), a jazz d.j. who reads poetry to his lovelorn listeners, and Evelyn Draper (Jessica Walter), a delusional fan whose one night stand with Garver spirals into a paranoid fixation. Walter's barnstorming performance is the film's raison d'etre, veering from girlishly sexy, to sympathetically vulnerable, and finally, violently dissociative. The girlfriend from hell may now be a genre stereotype, but Walter got there first, and her seminal interpretation has the edge on all successors. Although a neophyte film-maker, Eastwood shows remarkable tonal maturity, wisely establishing the perceived sexual freedom of the era before he carefully unleashes the full psychopathic threat of his female antagonist. It is a deft balancing act best represented by the way pianist Eastwood uses music to convey the suspense surrounding the relationships on screen, such as underscoring the romantically pastoral interlude between Garver and his girlfriend Tobie (Donna Mills) with Roberta Flack's signature hit The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, or staging a tense scene during a crowded Cannonball Adderley concert at the Monterey Jazz Festival. To shore up his confidence, Eastwood cast close friends in featured parts including veteran director Don (Dirty Harry) Siegel in a rare acting role as Garver's bartender pal, and memorable character face John Larch, Clint's golfing partner at the time, as the powerless policeman assigned to the Garver's harassment case. That same year, Heims would contribute, without credit, to Eastwood's mega hit Dirty Harry, but most importantly she would write the screenplay to his much overlooked May-December romance Breezy (1973), the first film he directed in which he did not appear. There had always been the rumor of a romantic relationship between these two creative partners, but sadly Heims early death at 48 years old robbed them of any further collaborations. Her feminine point of view would prove to be an important lasting influence on Clint, paving the way for his future feminist films, Tightrope (1984), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), and The Bridges Of Madison County (1995). DVD & BLU-RAY