Clint Eastwood (“Unforgiven”, “Dirty Harry”) is the master of diversity; he’s been a cowboy, a cop, an astronaut and soldier to list just a few of his roles. “Play Misty For Me” is more like “Psycho” than it is like any of his other pictures as he directs and stars. However, something just isn’t right.

In “Play Misty For Me”, Eastwood is a disc jockey that is threatened when a female fan (Jessica Walter) starts intruding on his life. First, it’s a mild inconvenience but it isn’t long before his life and that of his girlfriend’s is put on the line. It’s surely unsettling but I can’t help but feel other films have done this mad stalker premise a lot better.

Clint Eastwood is good yet maybe he’s too good. Jessica Walter is good yet she can’t match Eastwood and that’s where the problem is. There’s a reason why Hannibal Lecter, Michael Myers and Norman Bates were successful; they’re more interesting than their prey. Eastwood’s disc jockey is far more developed and intriguing than Walter’s crazy woman and that’s partially why I think the film fails. Maybe Eastwood should have played the crazed fan instead. The other characters go nowhere and feel extremely tacked on to say the least.

Although at times it’s intense and seems to be working, the relationship between the deranged woman and her target isn’t done correctly. The film also features one of the sappiest romantic scenes ever as Eastwood and a girl are sat joyfully on a beach before moving onto the woods for intercourse while some of the most tedious love music you can find is playing. I respect Eastwood for making this film so different from his other work but that doesn’t mean I have to like it as a movie and that’s how I’ve judged it. This is an interesting specimen but there’s a reason why it’s an endangered species, it just isn’t that good.