ma-cortes During the Civil War an injured corporal , Clint Eastwood , is taken by the women of a girls' school to recuperate himself . As the Southern school is run by a housekeeper , Geraldine Page , and there appears a teacher : Elizabeth Hartman and six students and an African-American servant . The soldier becomes the catalyst for twisted situations with incidents full of hatred and jealousy among its inhabitants . He arranges to seduce both , a pupil -Jo Ann Harris- and a teacher -Elizabeth Hartman , but things go wrong. Offbeat , rare and well paced psychological melodrama by the great team formed by Eastwood and Siegel , though disappointed the spectators faithful to his ordinary action films . Maybe the stranger , yet spellbinding combination of two genius -Clint and Donald- ever made , being based on the 1966 novel , "The Painted Devil" by Thomas P. Cullinan . The flick soon develops into a kind of full blood drama , smouldering with intrigue , suspense , tragic events and suppressed passions ; and all of them lead to an unpredictable and startling conclusion . Clint gives a nice acting as a squinty-eyed soldier who arrives in a seminary for young ladies and who soon reveals his opportunist nature . Excellent interpretation from Geraldine Page as zealous ruler , she is a fading Southern woman , brooding over the past , and Elizabeth Hartman as a naive South belle who falls for Eastwood .Atmospheric and attractive musical score by Lalo Schifrin , including song sung by Clint Eastwood himself . Colorful and evocative cinematography by Bruce Surtees . This daring change of pace for director Donald Siegel was compellingly and methodically made . Being an unusual Donald fare , but for patient audiences a rewarding , rich movie and Siegel's favorite of all his movies . However , being commercially a failure because Universal Studios released it with advertisements that suggested it was an action movie . Siegel directed good films of all kinds of genres as Invasion of body snatchers , Madigan , Charley Varrick , The Shootist , Ríot in cell Block 11 , Flaming star , Big steal , Black Windmill , Private hell , Rough cut , and a lot of movies starred by Eastwood as Escape from Alcatraz , Two mules for Sister Sarah , Coogan's bluff and Dirty Harry

inspectors71 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.

Wuchak Released in 1971 and directed by Don Siegel, "The Beguiled" is set in in the Deep South during the Civil War. As Union troops increasingly invade, the headmistress of a girl's boarding school (Geraldine Page) decides to allow a Union soldier with a leg wound to stay at the school (Clint Eastwood), supposedly until he's strong enough to turn over to the Confederate authorities as a POW. To survive, McB (Eastwood) manipulates the gaggle of women and girls, which include Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman), Carol (Jo Ann Harris), 12 year-old Amy (Pamelyn Ferdin) and a slave (Mae Mercer). Darleen Carr plays the loyal Confederate patriot, Doris, while Melody Thomas Scott plays the child Abigail.William Congreve wrote the famous saying in his play The Mourning Bride (1697) "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" (paraphrasing). That pretty much reveals the theme of "The Beguiled." While McB tries to survive by beguiling the women through charm & trickery, the viewer shouldn't underestimate how formidable and wrathful the female species can be, particularly in the face of jealousy.For me, the story takes a downturn in the final act and therefore leaves a sour taste, but I guess it fits the tragic genre. You can't really hold it against the film. Still, sympathy for McB is squelched when he does something heinous (think Amy). To his credit, he later apologizes with seeming sincerity. As far as I'm concerned, though, the entire third act needed rewritten, but I accept the movie as is. It's unique and there's enough depth to glean new gems on repeat viewings. We've all met women (or girls) just like the devilish Carol (Harris).The movie runs 105 minutes and was shot in Louisiana, USA.GRADE: B

dougdoepke No need to recap the plot. What a departure for Eastwood. No Dirty Harry or unbeatable tough guy here. His Union soldier McBurney is really pretty dislikable. Worse, it's hard to even respect his utter opportunism. He lies about his service and ruthlessly exploits his manly charms. In turn, the cloistered southern belles are vulnerable, especially to a handsome hunk like McBurney. At times, it's almost painful seeing how he seduces his way through their school girl ranks. But wait, are they really as gentle as their refined bearing suggests. And catch the filmy photography that suggests perhaps a dream within a dream. There's a lesson here about victimization and mistaking appearance for reality. Eastwood and company make good ironical use of that lesson. And how aptly Freudian when McBurney gets his leg amputated after humiliating the wrong woman. That's something Dirty Harry would never stand for, or even lie down for. All in all, it's a dependency role that Eastwood would never again repeat, but it's still one heckuva an offbeat 100-minutes. Kudoes to Siegel and Eastwood for putting story values above celebrity image. Besides, now I know where Scarlett O'Hara got her moxie.