Review of The Beguiled (1971) by Stephen M — 11 Jun 2009

One of Eastwood's lesser known movies, and one of his very best. Like Play Misty for Me, also released in 1971, Don Siegel's The Beguiled cleverly subverts Clint's macho/heroic image and recasts him as a vulnerable but thoroughly deserving victim of scorned femininity. However, whereas in Misty he's just a womaniser who happens to tangle with a rather poisonous species of clinging vine, The Beguiled gives Eastwood perhaps the only genuinely villainous role of his entire career. (I'm not checking that up but I can't think of another).

He plays a wounded Union soldier in the Civil War, taken in and nursed back to health by the staff and pupils of an all-female, Louisiana boarding school. Expecting to be handed over to a Confederate patrol as soon as he is fit again, the soldier turns on the charm to buy himself enough time to escape, inadvertently stirring up a hotbed of jealousy as the women and girls compete for his affection, ending in tragedy. The female members of the cast are outstanding - none better than Pamelyn Ferdin, who plays the little girl who finds the soldier in the woods - and even Eastwood is stretched considerably further than usual. The Spanish Moss festooned Louisiana woodland does wonders for the haunting atmosphere of the movie.