"Fatal Attraction" is indeed a rethread of "Play MIsty For Me," incorporating nearly every beat and plot point, even:
* the attempted suicide with knives,
*the stalker accessing the vehicle,
*the stalker pretending to be someone else to get close to the man's real love interest,
*the stalker entering the house and destroying things,
*and of course the final confrontation involved the stalker, the man's true female love interest, and the man himself.
The alleged differences pointed out by the OP aren't significant.
There are indeed stakes in this stalker story, despite the OP's claim.
Dave's professional reputation as a high-profile DJ, his opportunities for advancement with Madge, and his relationship with a woman he loves but who left him because she didn't like his groupie lifestyle are stakes. The stalker posed a threat to all these things and these things shaped how Dave responded to Evelyn.
Even the housekeeper is someone Dave cares about and who was put at risk by Evelyn. You may not think these things matter as much as a wife and child, but to Dave they did.
But Eastwood (likely helping fashion the script) gives us a SINGLE man, with no wife, no kids and...very carefully establishes that his girlfriend has recently broken up with him, thus "freeing" him to hit on Jessica Walter in a bar.
You, just like the ones who claim there is no moral angle to this story, don't understand the movie at all. Dave's problem is not the same problem as the one in Fatal Attraction, but it's still a moral dilemma. He is a DJ. His "sin" is becoming mixed up in the groupie culture and treating women inappropriately. This is why his coworker admonishes that "he who lives by the sword will die by the sword," predicting that his womanizing ways would lead to his downfall (and possibly his death).
The entire point of that quote by Al Monte is to underscore the story's morality.
Much like Fatal Attraction, this is a moral indictment against the mistreatment of women and one-night stands.
Just because he's "single" , doesn't men he should pump and dump women and use his status as a DJ to sleep with women and abandon them. YOu can tell he feels there's nothing wrong with it and based on your post, you don't either, which is why you say he's "free" to do what he did with Evelyn.
So, this idea you have that there is no "guilt" or "angst" associated with Dave's actions is a misreading of the movie. Dave knew what he was doing was wrong, which is why when Toby left him, he tried to reduce his womanizing behavior and claimed he did to get her back. But he didn't. He was the same old cad, which ended up putting himself and those he cared about in danger.
The reason he wanted to keep the suicide attempt private and he lied to police about it was due to guilt and his angst about not ruining his public reputation. I do think they should have shown him feeling more sorrow because he was guilty of continuing to sleep with this woman, which only exacerbated her psychotic obsession. He caused this fiasco as much as Evelyn did.
Instead of "husbands beware" this is about "dogs and womanizers beware."
Fatal Attraction shifted the perspective of the protagonist but not the arc. It still leeches it's main substance from Play MIsty for me.
On another note, I like the lack of moralizing in Play Misty For Me. Don't get me wrong, Fatal Attraction was a very entertaining movie.
It lacks all the moral preaching/judgement of Fatal Attraction and sickly "family values" climax sentiment.
You two are wrong here. There are definite moral tones to PLay MIsty for me, they are simply more subtle, as they should be. But it's clearly there as I stated above. Dave almost "died by the sword" due to his own poor treatment of women and that is the moral.
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PrometheusTree64
10 years ago
Much like Fatal Attraction, this is a moral indictment against the mistreatment of women and one-night stands.
You're equating the two things?
And when is a woman ever in the wrong --- other than, y'know, being too loving?
--
The most profound of sin is tragedy unremembered.
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InherentlyYours
10 years ago
'Much like Fatal Attraction, this is a moral indictment against the mistreatment of women and one-night stands.'
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It's nothing of the kind. Dave was estranged from his girlfriend, and Evelyn wanted a one-night stand as much as him. She was at the bar waiting to be picked-up up. You're doing that typical feminist thing of over-analyzing it to find a reason to say "mistreatment of women" It's just a thriller-- no more, no less.
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rmoriarty97
9 years ago
It's nothing of the kind. Dave was estranged from his girlfriend, and Evelyn wanted a one-night stand as much as him. She was at the bar waiting to be picked-up up. You're doing that typical feminist thing of over-analyzing it to find a reason to say "mistreatment of women" It's just a thriller-- no more, no less.
This may be true but he continued to take advantage of her vulnerability - it wasn't hard to see from very early on that she had a screw or two loose, even if the danger wasn't immediately apparent.
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rmoriarty97
9 years ago
At no time in the movie did Dave promise anything to Evelyn aside from the casual sex she was getting. He was perhaps a bit amoral in taking advantage of her obvious vulnerability and tendency toward delusions but I don't think his motives were malicious or selfish, he felt a bit sorry for her and it was all too hard to deal with the problem, easier to just give in. But yeah, he must have treated Toby badly so I can see where there is some kind of moral overtone re. punishment for his treatment of women.
Hey, I just turned my argument around 180 degrees from beginning to end of post 😁
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phillindholm
9 years ago
The main difference is obvious- ''Play Misty For Me'' is a much better movie.
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