Clint Eastwood Movie:

		List Price: $9.99		Label: Universal Studios Salesrank: 11761 Released: July 22, 1998
		Our Price: $4.21
		Used Price: $3.96
		MPAA Rating: R (Restricted) Media: DVD

The Beguiled Reviews:
Southern Gothic and Eastwood - what a combo!
2008-10-24 - To be honest, I never heard of this movie nor knew about Clint Eastwood's role in it until I came across the DVD in my local library. Well, I took it home, and couldn't play it! So then, I search through Netflix, and of all the good luck, it was available for instant play - and boy, am I glad I watched it! This is definitely uncharted territory for Eastwood, and in a role I'd never envision him in. He does a great job in it and so do all the other cast members, making this one of the most under-rated movies considering the well-written script, the great casting and creepy score.

The story centers around Ms Farnsworth's Seminary for Girls somewhere in the South during the Civil War. Young Amy [Pamelyn Ferdin], one of the girls, is out picking mushrooms when she comes across badly hurt Yank Cpl John McBurney [Clint Eastwood]. She helps him back to the school where the Headmistress Martha Farnsworth [Geraldine Page] is at first determined to hand him over to the Confederates but then decides against it. Prissy schoolmarm Edwina Dabney [Elizabeth Hartman] is also drawn to the charming Yank and so are young Amy and Carol [Joann Harris playing a tarty role here].

Soon, the dashing John is getting the young and not-so-young ladies all hot under the collar and with the Southern heat, things really get toasty! But, this is not your average romance story - it is more of a psychological thriller set against a Southern Gothic backdrop - there is the feisty and hardened Headmistress who is also harboring a secret of her own, the schoolteacher with hidden yearnings, the hussy with an insatiable appetite, and an impressionable young girl experiencing her first crush. Ol' Clint doesn't exactly come across all nice either, so there's plenty of tension here between the main characters. The acting is great on all fronts from Eastwood's charming yet manipulative Yankee to the vulnerable schoolteacher [Elizabeth Hartman], Geraldine Page's aging yet lusty school head and even 'sweet' young Amy [Pamelyn Ferdin]

The great story and casting aside, the creepy score builds up the suspense in a chilling manner and the ending is one of the more memorable ones I've seen in movies. I was quite puzzled as to why this movie is not as well-known as some of Eastwood's other movies, and found that most of his movies that were against type typically didn't do too well at the box-office[Play Misty for Me, White Hunter Black Heart]. Well, personally I liked this movie as well as Play Misty and I would heartily recommend The Beguiled to those who like psychological thrillers, Gothic inspired dramas, and of course, Clint Eastwood!

CREEPY CLASSIC!
2008-09-06 - Why is this movie never mentioned when people talk about Clint Eastwood movies? This movie is brilliant. I saw this a few years ago. It came on really late one night and i could'nt believe how good it was. The women in this movie are so scary. Guys want be able to sleep next to there girlfriends after watching this. I want spoil it for you. This is a MUST SEE!

a delicious film that defies classification
2008-07-31 - 'the beguiled' defies classification. it's not a western, though it turns up on encore's western channel occasionally. it's best as a period southern gothic melodrama filled with many treasures and a few surprises and only one major disappiontment.

among its assets are stunning performances from its three leads. clint eastwood shows that he had the chops to create a character until he traded in for image with the 'dirty harry' films. in his hands, john mcburney is a silver-tongued trap of a man whose presence fires deep emotions in all of the women that come in contact with him.

geraldine page is at her steely best as headmistress martha farnsworth. farnsworth is the type of complex character that drives many a film nowadays. she is fleshly, yet presses all her desries and heartaches down until she becomes a seemingly cold and unfeeling woman. but as the story unfolds, it becomes obvious that she is capable of deep emotion. page doesn't miss a single opportunity to explore each layer of this difficult character.

she is equalled by the fantastic elizabeth hartman as the young assistant head edwina dabney. hartman was an actress out of her time. had she come along now, she would rival any of the young actresses that rack up critical accolades for showing vast amounts of flesh in a misguided attempt to reveal character. hartman, at turns, is delicate, strong, angry, volatile, tender and loving in a role that could be two dimensional.

in the supporting cast, which is largely female, mae mercer, darleen carr and pamelyn ferdin are standouts. mercer invests the role of servant hallie with strength and grit; carr provides some comic relief as the wary uber-southern belle doris and ferdin is simply the best child actress of the 1970s based on this one performance. everyone from the director to robert surtees to the screenwriter has gotten together to create a little girl that is sweet in her innocence, heartbreaking in her love for mcburney and finally chilling when given the chance to exact revenge for a very large infraction committed by the object of her adoration. and ferdin's work is so natural, unforced, and throughly played.

the cinematography is tops and the screenplay, which could have become hackneyed, is very much in control of the source material. it has to wrestle with different sounds and inflections, the ghost of some very aberrant behavior and a country at odds with itself in a time when it was very divided on so many issues.

the film falters only with the casting of jo ann harris as the seductive carol. she is a nubile blonde woman but she is somehow awkward in her teasing games, which affects her seduction of mcburney.

A EVIL CLINT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2007-07-24 - The Beguiled is a very strange movie! No not David Lynch or Alejandro
Jodorowsky strange. I type strange for with the exception of
UNFORGIVEN I have never seen THE MAN play such a dark character,I mean
DARK! Drinking,wanting to perform RAPE??? CLINT what are you doing???
I think he was trying to show Hollywood and his fans there was more
to him than the lone cowboy or the hero detective with the big gun!
the Beguiled is a dark thriller with a SHOCKING ending! I really
love this movie and consider it ONE of his best(so does he in his
interviews)What I love so much is not just the directing,or story
but I love seeing the MAN in a EVIL role! So for you Bronco Billy
fans or Philoe Beddoe stay away!!! For those of you who want to see
Clint lick his lips and grin like the DEVIL while a girl reluctently
takes her clothes off. This is the movie for you! Clint has never been
more WICKED!!!! And has a VERY surprise ending!!!
Recommended!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOTE:Don't let the LAME cover of the DVD fool you! This is one SCARY
ride! CLINT! OH! CLINT! What the HELL happened! You got EVILLLLL!!!!!

Some what of a "B" movie but an interesting tale of greed
2007-07-08 - Production/Editing is a little rough but what is interesting are all the subplots that never make it to the TV screen, such as; the incestuous relationship the head mistress of the Girls School had with her now deceased brother, or the fantasized threesome of the Mistress and senior teacher. It was worth the $$$, especially if you're an Eastwood fan. Plus having only seen it on TV before half the plot is edited out for TV so it's really a much different movie in its original form.