The Beguiled Review

Director Don Siegel made some great movies in his day, from tough film noir like 1949's The Big Steal and 1954's Riot in Cell Block 11 to the paranoid sci-fi of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) and the original Dirty Harry (1971). He was Clint Eastwood's favorite director (besides himself), working with him on six films, of which The Beguiled was the third. It was Siegel's  favorite of all of his pictures, and one of mine as well.

Adapted From the novel by Thomas Cullinan, The Beguiled is a psychosexual gothic melodrama set during the Civil War, with Clint as John McBurney, a wounded Union soldier who takes refuge at a Southern girl's school, then proceeds to seduce various members of the faculty and student body. Jealousy and horror ensue.

Combining soap opera, eroticism, and grand guignol, it was released the same year as Dirty Harry and Play Misty for Me, but was unjustly neglected. The supporting cast includes Geraldine Fitzgerald, the outwardly prim but inwardly twisted headmistress; Elizabeth Hartman as a hell-hath-no-fury schoolmarm; and as the schoolgirls, a very naughty Jo Ann Harris, Darleen Carr as very racist Yankee-hater, and Pamelyn Ferdin as sweetly lethal tween who hero-worships "Mr. McB."

I won't give away any of the plot here, as there are several mind-blowing twists and turns in the overheated, sexually charged narrative. This movie ranked at number six in my Top Ten Clint Eastwood Westerns although it's not really a Western, per se. It is unlike any other movie in Clint's filmography, and I recommend it for discerning viewers.

Available on DVD separately, or as part of The Clint Eastwood Collection from Universal Home Entertainment.