FA gets the accolades as a ground-breaker but what about Eastwoods PMFM that came a few years before?
Same plot with an obsessive female after a one-night stand endangering a male's long term relationship, murder etc.
When Fatal Attraction came out, Clint Eastwood himself pointed out that he and his crew had already been there, done that many years before. Also, Play Misty for Me was the first film that Clint Eastwood formerly directed, and he quickly established a work pattern he would follow for dozens of films. He shot it under schedule and under budget (about $700K) which the studios like to hear.
Fatal Attraction is probably slicker than Misty, more production values, and more graphic (screwing in the kitchen), but Play Misty gets the job done just as well and more to the point.
Glad you pointed out Play Misty for Me for all of those posters who don't know anything beyond yesterday's cartoon at the multi-plex!
Hi,
Agree with you there best_of. I love both films but they are quite different. For a start, Clint's character was a bachelor unlike the married Dan Gallagher but as you say, Misty was a bit quicker in building up to the mental decline of the female stalker. There was a more subtle and drawn-out decline in Glenn Close's character. They were both unhinged but Alex Forest had the edge on deviance. She was a more subtle manipulator than Misty's Evelyn character. It's hard not to compare the two films but they are not so similar to be too closely compared I find. I mean these situations exist and we need to be able to portray them (well future screenplay authors), without then being deemed rip-off artists lol. Maybe that's why there's a shortage - writers don't want to be seen as copy-catting which would be a shame if true as I find great suspense in this sort of subject matter.
I really found both movies unmissable. I must get Misty for my collection unless it is being screened for free on YouTube!
"These days you have to boil someone before you can sleep with them"
There's also a subtle parallel to Looking For Mr. Goodbar, exactly a decade earlier, which had a similar cultural impact.
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