Rent The Beguiled (1971)

Clint plays a manipulative seducer - excellent performances all round - The Beguiled review by RP

Just catching up with a few Clint Eastwood films that are either rarely seen nowadays or that I only saw many years ago - 'The Beguiled' fits both these categories.

Set near the end of the American civil war, Clint play a wounded Union soldier who is taken in and cared for by a small girl's academy in a Confederate state. Clint's character is a handsome charmer who has a devastating effect on all the women - and the young girls. Handsome he may be, but he is an accomplished, manipulative seducer and the jealous rivalries that ensue lead to his downfall and eventual demise.

This is a great film - a small, intense story and a small cast with convincing performances from all. The director is the renowned Don Siegel who not only made the original 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' but several films with Clint, including the very different 'Dirty Harry' in the same year as 'The Beguiled'.

Recommended. 4/5 stars.

Gritty and Gothic - The Beguiled review by Cato

This was Eastwood's 17th film, and showed him more than capable of tackling a film somewhat more different, and some might say perhaps more difficult than his previous efforts. The story seems to become more Gothically inspired as it builds up towards it's rather graphical denouement, nothing wrong with that, and I rather liked the Pink Floydish elements in the score. It's certainly a very different film from Clint, this one. A somewhat strange film, but well worth watching.

Love it - The Beguiled review by CP Customer

This less well-known Eastwood film (made just before Dirty Harry) was a commercial flop but is well-worth seeing. The story is simple: put a manipulative pretty-boy in a brooding community of isolated females and watch the drama (melodrama?) emerge. The unreal plot is produced with gritty realism. No character is excused, and in one way or another, they all get what they deserve.