Jessica Walter is spellbinding as Evelyn Draper, the quintessential wronged woman from hell determined by any means necessary to "have" handsome Carmel deejay Dave Garland, played by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 film, set in his home turf, Monterey. For 102 minutes, Walter takes us on an emotional roller-coaster ride, revealing along the way her fixation for the unsuspecting deejay. Evelyn's point-of-no-return obsession is carefully crafted by Eastwood, from her breathy requests of "play Misty for me" on the KRML radio request line to her brand of knife-wielding "poetic justice" for Eastwood's beloved. The lyrical jazz score (with the exception of Dee Barton's cornball music early on) and Eastwood's taut direction add to the film's mounting tension and Hitchcock-like climax. Walter, usually cast as a scheming mother or loyal sidekick in episodic television, here delivers the best performance of her career, thanks to the freedom to stretch allowed by first-time director Eastwood. Glenn Close, who delivered a searing portrait of the unhinged Alex in the 1987 revenge-romance drama Fatal Attraction, must have a copy of this on video stashed somewhere in her home.-Doris Worsham