Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

paid in full Considering when it was produced (1971), I consider this great cinema. The story is chilling. It is well directed,not too long or boring. Just right. the acting is superb, throughout. I highly recommend it, especially in this day and age where the world needs to understand women more then ever.

tomgillespie2002 As the opening titles of The Beguiled flicker by with a collection of grainy photographs from the brutal American Civil War, it would seem we're in familiar tough, manly action territory, especially when the names of Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood flash on screen. These feelings appear to be confirmed as Eastwood grizzled Union officer John McBurney comes into shot, clearly wounded and hanging on for dear life following a bloody battle with Confederate soldiers. He is discovered by Amy (Pamelyn Ferdin), a 12 year old student at the nearby Seminary for Young Ladies, who quickly takes a keen interest in the handsome but battered young man. As some bloodthirsty Confederate soldiers trot by and they are forced to hide, John plants a lingering kiss on the child's mouth, which immediately cause feelings of discomfort for the viewer. No, The Beguiled is not your typical Siegel tough-guy actioner, but something all the more fascinating and complex.John is eventually smuggled back into the school run by Miss Martha Farnsworth (Geraldine Page), a woman with a secretive past of her own. She wants the Union soldier gone immediately, but the soldier is charming and badly wounded, so she and the fellow ladies of the school tend to his injured leg and give him a bed. He is kept under lock and key, but he is often visited by the curious ladies, including virginal teacher Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman) and precocious 17 year old student Carol (Jo Ann Harris). With Martha still insistent on turning him over to Confederate troops once he has regained his strength, John seizes the chance to seduce as many of them as he can, taking full advantage of their time away from men and natural curiosity towards the opposite sex. He becomes unnervingly comfortable with his methods of manipulation, and is soon playing the women off one another. But these ladies have seen it all before, whether it be a father, a sibling or a drunken soldier stumbling onto the school grounds with cruel intentions.The Beguiled is a film about jealousy, sexuality and bitterness, so it's no surprise that it flopped and didn't go down well with fans of Siegel's tougher, more straight-laced output. The film also threatens to venture into horror territory, as emotions begin to spill over and John's scheming becomes apparent. There were cries of misogyny upon the film's release, but although the claim is certainly open for debate, this is not a film by a director who hates women. To label the film misogynist would be to cruelly over- simplify it, as the likes of Martha and Edwina aren't just coy women to be easily taken advantage of, but incredibly complex characters both scarred and enlightened by past experiences with men. John is clearly the most loathsome character, an evil man who uses his physicality and charm to worm his way into their lives and gain their trust, and Siegel makes little attempt to make him sympathetic. It's an incredibly claustrophobic and intense experience, with career-best performances from Page and Hartman. It is Siegel's favourite of his extensive filmography, and it isn't difficult to see why.

christopher-underwood Strange little film and perhaps not the sort I would normally be drawn to but it drew my attention when my Clint Eastwood box set arrived because of the recent remake with Nicole Kidman. I had got the impression that the new film, although many seem to have liked it, was a whole lot of nothing and yet from the storyline the film before seemed to have some promise. Director Don Siegel had a thing going with Eastwood at the time, having just made three together including Coogan's Bluff and with Dirty Harry being the next film. Eastwood is very good in this as are all the cast and it is not easy because some of the girls are quite young and there is a mixture of emotions required as the ladies of the school run the gamut of hostility, hospitality, romantic attachment, then lust, jealousy and vengeance. Eastwood is indeed beguiling but he has to survive in a building full of females vying for his favours one way or another. There is sex and considerable violence, which I understand there is not in the remake and there are some sexual taboos missing from the new one as well and crucial references to race, slavery and religion. Hard to see why Coppola bothered really, but this original is worth a look, particularly if you are an Eastwood fan and may easily have missed this one..

Mr_Ectoplasma "The Beguiled" follows John McBurney, a fallen Union soldier in the American Civil War who is reluctantly taken in at a rural girls' school in Mississippi. The headmistress, Martha, agrees to keep him there until his health has been restored. John begins to woo each of the women in the house, but his flirtations and manipulations land him in dangerous territory as the household begins to come apart at the seams.Directed by frequent Eastwood collaborator Don Siegel ("Dirty Harry"), this little-seen but much- loved thriller is a potent blend of Southern Gothic and psychosexual drama. All of its strengths aside (and there are many), "The Beguiled" is one of those rare films that plays a variety of different ways without ever really committing itself to one. It could be read as a meditation on the war, a feminist parable, an outright horror film, or even all three (and more) at once. It never quite leans one way or the other; it's just as much a feminist film as it is anti-feminist; just as much horror as it is drama. The screenplay, based on Thomas Cullinan's novel, is left open-ended. What we have before us is ultimately a character study on sexuality and human desire, and the way it's read it depends on individual perspective.The film begins with a haunting credit montage that plays over disturbing historical photos of the war. Sounds of horses, gunfire, and screaming narrate the credit sequence, which sets a tone of unease and instability from the first frame. The film is saturated with an oppressive Gothic atmosphere that underpins an array of situations between Eastwood and the women in the house— even the lighter (sometimes even darkly humorous) moments hint toward an impending reckless abandon. Moody cinematography accentuates the unease, and several haunting POV shots from Eastwood as he is carried by the women into the house (and later, into the dining room in one of the film's most famous and most violent scene) are unforgettable.Eastwood, who made a career for himself as a hyper-masculine sex bomb in his early years, plays against character—here, he is physically helpless, resorting to emotional manipulation that eventually backfires. His performance is memorable, though his character, despite being the film's center, seems to be given far less screen time in comparison to the rest of the female cast. Geraldine Page gives one of the best performances of her career as the sexually repressed headmistress who has a questionable romantic history. Page is terrifying and at times sympathetic, but, like the film as a whole, can never quite be pinned down, and that's part of her brilliance. Elizabeth Hartman is fantastic as well as the meek schoolteacher who wins Eastwood's affections, and Jo Ann Harris plays a Civil War Lolita who is as devious as she is charming. Pamelyn Ferdin is also striking in her performance as the youngest of the girls, and the catalyst for what brings Eastwood into the house, and eventually, out of itOverall, "The Beguiled" is something of an unsung classic. The strength of its performances alone is enough to warrant multiple viewings, but the ambiguity of its moral stance (if there even is one), and its candid yet dithering narrative make it an even more compelling watch. It's tense, hauntingly beautiful, and also downright unnerving in unexpected ways. Regardless of how it's read, the presentation is flawless. 10/10.