The Beguiled (1971)

Don Siegel directs The Beguiled as a Jacobean revenge tragedy. It really is mostly about women and their repressed sexual desires which are awakened when they come across John McBurney (Clint Eastwood) an injured Union soldier who is brought to a Confederate girl's school.The headmistress, Miss Martha (Geraldine Page) does not notify the local militia of his presence. Instead her assistant Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman) their black servant Hallie (Mae Mercer) and the teenage school girls treat his wounds and fall for his rugged looks. McBurney a deserter knows how to charm his way to their hearts by deceit, only Hallie sees through him. Once his philandering is discovered Miss Martha plots brutal revenge as McBurney finds out about her lurid past.The Beguiled has attracted a cult reputation over the years. It is not a typical Eastwood western, as a film set in the civil war it is lot less about nobility. It has a Gothic anti hero who exploits the women's sexual yearnings.The Beguiled is a slow moody film with aspects of art house 1960s counterculture cinema. There are multiple exposures, quick flashbacks and dream sequences.

The original film about intrigue at a ladies school during the end of the Civil War provides a more complex look at the war between the North and the South and the relationship between men and women. Amy (Pamelyn Ferdin) finds the wounded Union soldier John McBurney (Clint Eastwood) and helps him return to the school run by Miss Martha (Geraldine Page). Teaching at the school is Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman) who finds the mysterious soldier attractive. The women take the man indoors and board up the windows to keep him inside. The slave Hallie (Mae Mercer) doesn't like the newcomer much either though he tries to work his charm on her and point out that he is fighting for her freedom. She comments that she sees white people as all the same. Carol (Jo Ann Harris) also takes a liking to McBurney, though she still considers him a traitor, kissing him when the others aren't looking.McBurney charms each of the women as they think about turning him over to the Confederate soldiers. While McBurney flirts with Carol, he calms a jealous Edwina by kissing her. Carol becomes jealous and ties the blue rag symbol for a Union soldier. Martha, who didn't turn her in before, steps up when Confederates nearly shoot McBurney and lie that he is her cousin from Texas. This allows him to stay unharmed though the Confederate soldiers want to stay around with the women as well. Martha also becomes enamored with McBurney reflecting back on the relationship she had with her brother and imagining a threesome with Edwina. Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com

Gutter trash.Not because it doesn't try to be daring but because it's so filled with nickel-psychology that Don Siegel's The Beguiled doesn't get a 1 or a 2 out of 10. There are occasional moments of inspiration that get forgotten as Union soldier Clint Eastwood recovers from a gunshot wound in an all-girls academy. There's enough repressed sexual desire and dreaming of incest and lesbian smooching that the viewer almost has to start laughing. There's a serious movie somewhere under all this shock-value. The movie seemed to take about a week to run its course; I kept the information bar up at the top of the screen to show me how much was left. About the only thing I found interesting--prurience has to have some say here--was seeing an actress I thought was just lovely back in high school, Jo Ann Harris, cavorting above and below Eastwood. How times have changed. I would have given anything to see Harris naked when I saw the edited version of this ick-fest on NBC over 40 years ago. Now, the cave-dweller part of my brain was shouted down by the mature section. Ol' Oog scuttled back into his cave. I looked embarrassed for everyone involved in The Beguilded as I watched it and watched it and checked the time remaining, and watched some more.The psycho-babble of this movie is deafening. Linus' sister would have been proud.But she would have charged Charlie Brown more than a nickel for the nonsense.

Among the many things that THE BEGUILED lays bare is the repressed hypocrisy of the antebellum South. While the men are away, the women make do with whoever's at hand- in this case, wounded Union soldier Clint Eastwood. Like MANDINGO and DRUM, THE BEGUILED delves into seldom-charted territory: Southern sexuality. Eastwood is great as a man more than willing to manipulate the eager Southern belles who practically throw themselves at him and director Don Siegel (one of my all-time favorite directors) has a firm grasp on the proceedings (...). Envy and ennui combine for an explosive climax (...) that's every bit as satisfying as the carefully constructed set-up. The Gothic elements are icing on the proverbial cake.