Today marks the publication of Clint: The Man and the Movies, available through a variety of online shops and real-world bookstores, by Shawn Levy, an exquisite writer and biographer of Jerry Lewis, Paul Newman, and Robert De Niro, among other wonderful non-fiction books. (Here's an excellent excerpt from Levy's book on the making of Unforgiven that was recently published by Vanity Fair.)
Thus inspired, I searched via the super-handy JustWatch.com and was overwhelmed to realize the avalanche of films in which he has appeared in or directed, so I searched instead only for the films that he's directed that are available on legal streaming services. I found just seven (?!), as of July 1, 2025, so I decided to focus on his very first helming effort.
Play Misty for Me (1971)
The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Clint Eastwood made his feature directorial debut and stars as Dave, a disc jockey at a small radio station in a California coastal community. He has a casual affair with a devoted listener, Evelyn (Jessica Walter); she soon blossoms into an unhinged lunatic when he rejects her persistent pleas to continue the relationship.
The film shows much promise for Eastwood as a director, and gained good critical notices at the time. It makes great use of location shooting in and around Carmel-By-the-Sea, an area that Eastwood knew well, having owned real estate there since 1967. (Eventually, he became Mayor for two years in the late 80s.)
Seen today, it feels very much of its era, complete with romantic interludes -- a couple featuring unclad bodies rolling around together -- and an extended sequence shot on location at the nearby Monterey Jazz Festival. The pace is unhurried. In its framing, Eastwood sets up shots that feel like a first-time director's chance to fully express his long-held cinematic ideas. Several long tracking shots are eye-catching, along with a couple of snap zooms that slam home story points.
Shot gorgeously by veteran director of photography Bruce Surtees, its production values look very much like a studio picture, which it was, financed and distributed by Universal Studios. Even so, Eastwood's de-emphasis on himself as the major motion picture star that he was at the time contributes to the film feeling like a modern-day independent feature.
Modern-day viewers, however, will likely be more attuned to the film's insensitivity to mental health issues. Early on, Evelyn exhibits behavior that would sound alarm bells today; still, Dave continues the relationship. It's only when his former paramour Tobie (Donna Mills) returns to town that Dave decides to end his relationship with Evelyn, which sends her more quickly on a tailspin.
To be fair, sensitivity to mental health issues was not supported in popular media in the late 60s and early 70s, or even talked about much in non-professional contexts. Evelyn is treated largely as an outcast for her early actions, though, again, Dave feels perfectly alright to sleep with her until Tobie comes back into the picture. Then he dumps her. Much of the dialogue about her, as well as Dave's ignorance of his own culpability, is difficult to overlook, though, again, that's more on the culture than the individual film.
Director Don Siegal plays a supporting role as a bartender, in the same year that he directed Eastwood as Dirty Harry. James McEachin is also notable as a fellow disc jockey.
Now Streaming celebrates independent and international genre films and television shows that are newly available on legal streaming services.