Clint Eastwood in the 1970s would be widely screened in France later and is considered one of Eastwood's finest works by the French. According to Eastwood and Lang, the film, aside from being poorly publicized, flopped due to Clint being "emasculated in the film". Eastwood said about his role: 1971 was a professional turning point in Eastwood's career. Before his professional financial adviser and president of Malpaso Productions Irving Leonard died, the last film they discussed was "Play Misty for Me". The goal was to give Eastwood the artistic control that he desired and make it his directorial debut. The rights to the song "Misty"
Clint Eastwood in the 1970s society". Jon Landau of "Rolling Stone" concurred, remarking that it is his thematic shallowness and verbal archness which is where the film fell apart, yet he expressed approval of the dramatic scenery and cinematography. Elmore Leonard had proposed the idea of a film about an artichoke farmer who refused to surrender to a criminal syndicate trying to squeeze his profits. Eastwood had read the twenty five pages outlined by Leonard and refused the offer, despite him setting the film around Castroville, near Carmel. Instead, Eastwood turned his attention towards a script written by Jo Heims about a love blossoming between