It’s Spring in New York again. A time for romance, for getting together with your significant, or non-significant other, to watch a great romantic movie. If you happen to be in the video store tonight, and you’re in the mood for a great romance, and if the newly-released 25th anniversary edition of “Caligula” happens to be rented out, you may want to pick up Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film “Play Misty for Me.” It features Eastwood and Jessica Walters in one of the most romantic screen pairings I’ve ever seen.

Eastwood plays David, a popular San Francisco disc jockey. He loves the jazz music, and occasionally recites poetry on the air. David takes requests, and every night, at fifteen before the hour, the same woman always calls in. “Play Misty for me,” is her regular request. So every night, David puts on “Misty,” a song about lonely people, and dedicates it to the mysterious “Evelyn.”

Then one night, the disc jockey visits his regular watering hole. He spots an attractive woman who, the bartender informs him, is “waiting for someone.” David decides to help himself to her anyway. The woman seems sweet, and sophisticated. Her date never shows up, so David goes home with her instead. Not until they are back at her place does she confess that there was no date to begin with. You see, she is “Evelyn,” the woman who calls the radio station every night to request “Misty.” Apparently, David has mentioned his favorite watering hole on the air, and she decided to hang around there after the show in hopes he’d stop by.

David and Evelyn decide to share a night of unbridled passion. After all, it is the 70’s, so we have the pill, but no AIDS yet. Before they fornicate, however, David tells her that it has to be a one night stand. “I’m not looking to complicate my life,” he says. “Don’t worry. No strings attached,” Evelyn assures him.

Oh, but there are strings! Evelyn shows up at David’s pad the next day. This disturbs him slightly, since their affair was supposed to have been a one night stand. Also, he didn’t tell her where he lived. Of course, since she has a bunch of steaks in tow, David lets her stay, and they even have sex again. The next morning, however, he tries to brush her off with a subtle, “Please don’t show up like this again. I’ll call you.”

Now, at this point, which is about the 20-to-30 minute mark, I thought I knew where this movie was going. David would keep trying to avoid Evelyn, and she would persist, until of course, he realizes that she’s the perfect woman. Classic screwball comedy. Just like “Bringing Up Baby.” I mean, what’s not to love about Evelyn? Granted, the actress playing her is kinda WASPy, so she’s not exactly my type (Despite what you hear about us libidinous black men.) But come on, Eastwood! Evelyn does so many cute things. She smothers David with attention at all hours of the day. She gives him expensive gifts. She follows him around to make sure he’s not seeing other women. And when she thinks he might be seeing another woman, she bangs on his door at 3 in the morning, hoping to catch that unwanted trollop in his bed.

There’s also the kinky things she does, like show up naked on his doorstep after he initially “breaks up” with her. Oh, and this is not so kinky, but it’s still great: David gets all dressed up for a “business date.” The manager of a major San Fran radio station is interested in hiring him. Then Evelyn shows up unexpectedly, discovers that the manager is a woman, and in classic Lucille Ball fashion, screams and rants and curses at both of them until David has to drag her away. This leads to one of the cutest shots of Evelyn in the film: David stuffs her into a cab while she continues denigrating his manhood. As he hands the cabbie money, she suddenly changes her attitude. Leaning out of the backseat window of the cab, she desperately scratches the air, and says, “David! Please don’t leave me! Please, David! I love you! I love you!” It’s all caught in close-up. So cute.

Now, don’t think Eastwood spends the entire movie trying to resist Evelyn’s considerable affections. In an ill-conceived subplot, David runs into an ex-girlfriend, an artist played by Donna Mills. David seems to prefer her to Evelyn, though I can’t figure out why. Maybe it’s because Mills’ character is younger, blander, and not quite as strong-willed as her rival. Maybe it’s because, unlike Evelyn, she doesn’t trash David’s house after suspecting, once again, that he’s been unfaithful. Or maybe it’s because Donna Mills is blonde. I don’t know. I just kept waiting for David to realize that Evelyn is his true love and to ditch her.

Oh, and about that house-trashing scene. One thing I must say about “Play Misty for Me:” It’s technically well-made, with the kind of cinematic adventurousness one finds in the films of such 60’s/70’s mavericks as Antonioni. For example, the scene where David’s black housekeeper finds Evelyn slashing his things up with a knife is done in rickety, hand-held camera. The rest of the movie also features some long zoom shots, which draw attention to items and characters in the background. Those reminded me of the films of Altman.

Now, I know what you’re thinking: Here I am describing “Play Misty for Me” as a great romantic movie. But it features knives? Surely, knives aren’t romantic, are they? Of course they are. Some of human history’s greatest romantic works feature knives and the use of knives. Like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. More importantly, Evelyn slashed up David’s stuff because she thought he was being unfaithful. And he was. Although, honestly, I think he would have inevitably come back to her, if only she hadn’t lost it.

Unfortunately, unrestrained human impulses often turn romance into tragedy. Just the tiniest miscalculation or mistake can have horrible repercussions. Like in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo drinks poison and dies, because he thinks Juliet is dead. But Juliet was never dead. She had been sleeping, and wakes up in time to discover Romeo dead. So Juliet takes up her knife, then slashes up Romeo’s stuff and tries to kill the black housekeeper. It’s a real bloodbath. But it’s so romantic. Of course, it might never have gotten so far if Juliet had trusted Romeo when he told her he had a “business date” he had to get to.