Home \ Signature Roles \ Play Misty for Me (1971) — Clint Eastwood
CLINT EASTWOOD · 1971 · SIGNATURE ROLES
Dave Garver is a California radio DJ whose late-night show attracts a devoted fan, Evelyn Draper, who first seems flirtatious and then becomes obsessive, then dangerous.
Dave Garver is a California radio DJ whose late-night show attracts a devoted fan, Evelyn Draper, who first seems flirtatious and then becomes obsessive, then dangerous. Clint Eastwood, directing himself for the first time, plays Dave as a man whose charm is also his blind spot: he enjoys the attention until he cannot escape it.
The film — shot in and around Carmel and Monterey, with a jazz festival sequence that feels like a postcard from 1971 California — invented the modern stalker thriller, and Eastwood directs it with a restraint that makes Evelyn’s escalation genuinely frightening. It was a commercial success and a statement of intent: Eastwood would direct, he would direct on his own terms, and he would not wait for permission.
