The Beguiled
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Movie Reviews of The Beguiled
Movie Review: somber...
Summary: 5 Stars
Have all Clint on dvd, and this i must say, had to be the most eeriest, somber movie i ever saw.When you watch it, you say to yourself.."that's Clint?'still a classic, but strange.Cannot wait for the movie after this one, PLAY MISTY FOR ME.these two are great ones!Movie Review: Education at its best
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one my favorite Eastwood films. I find it very entertaining and watch it a couple times a year. I just found out it's on DVD and can't wait to add it to my collection!Movie Review: Great cult-movie
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the greatest films by Don Siegel and a very good job by Clint Eastwood.Movie Review: "You think I Can't Tell Bad Mushrooms From Good Ones?"
Summary: 4 Stars
When I was a kid growing up in the '70s, I thought "The Beguild" was one really cool movie. The two things I remember most from my childhood viewing of this film were Clint Eastwood's reaction to his amateur surgery and the little school girl's last line about the difference between good and bad mushrooms.Over thirty years later, I rewatched this film on DVD and I'm still fascinated by this creepy, yet highly erotic, southern-gothic tale.The story takes place in the South during the American Civil War. A little girl (Pamelyn Ferdin) is hunting in the woods for wild mushrooms and finds the badly injured Union soldier, Cpl. John McBurney (Clint Eastwood). She takes him back to her small, all-girls boarding school, where the Head Mistress (Geraldine Page) decides to let the soldier recover from his injuries, rather then immediately turn him over to the Confederate authorities.As McBurney starts to get stronger and healthier he precedes to start sexually seducing and manipulating all of the female staff and some of the students.But is he the one manipulating them or is it really the other way around? Sexual longing, jealousy and paranoia seem to be the main subjects being taught at this school.Things get so crazy (and erotic), that one really disturbing night, McBurney finds himself the subject of some table top surgery at the hands of the head mistress! Was the Head Mistress really trying to save his life or was she just being sexually vindictive? McBurney dosn't like what the ladies have done to him. He attempts to regain charge of the school and the situation, but the women serve the soldier up his just desserts in a very memorable and eerie ending! Long time Director, Don Siegel ("Dirty Harry", "Coogan's Bluff") has crafted a tense and claustrophobic film, that can really get under your skin.The film reminds me of one of those old 'EC' comic books (you know the ones your mother didn't want you warping your minds on...), where the bad guy eventually recieves some creepy, unworldly retribution for his misdeeds. But who actually is the bad guy in this film? Eastwood? The Head Mistress? The other women? I think the movie leaves this question open for interpretation. The acting in the movie is superb! Eastwood breaks out of his "Man with No Name' persona and really gives us an interesting characterization. We never know, what he is going to do next.Veteran, Broadway actresses Geraldine Page and Elizabeth Hartman both give some great,'over the top', scenery chewing performances. I love watching both their characters (the Head Mistress & the young teacher) seem to crumble in hysteria right before the viewer's eyes!The DVD to the film is pretty bares bones with little in extras (just a trailer). The picture is O.K. but the sound remastering is awful. But don't let that stop you from seeing this southern-gothic gem! If you want a tense, suspenseful film, which just might keep you up at night, then I highly recommend "The Beguild".Movie Review: a delicious film that defies classification
Summary: 4 Stars
'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.