The Beguiled (1971)

90% of critics liked it
(10 reviews)
65% of users liked it
(5,036 ratings)

The Beguiled is a Freudian mood piece from the team of actor Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. Eastwood plays Corp. John McBurney, a wounded Union soldier during the Civil War, who takes refuge in a prim-and-proper Southern girl's school run by Martha Farnsworth (Geraldine Page). Chauvinistic,… More The Beguiled is a Freudian mood piece from the team of actor Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel. Eastwood plays Corp. John McBurney, a wounded Union soldier during the Civil War, who takes refuge in a prim-and-proper Southern girl's school run by Martha Farnsworth (Geraldine Page). Chauvinistic, insensitive and conceited, McBurney takes full advantage of the women by bedding each successively -- and then learns the true meaning of "a woman scorned." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 45 min.
Directed By: Don Siegel
Written By: Albert Maltz, Irene Kamp
Genres: Drama, Classics

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1971 Wide
On DVD: Jul 21, 1998

Critic Reviews

Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
It's perhaps their most atypical and most psychologically fascinating, showing Eastwood as more of a sexual being than most of his other, iconic films ever did.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Evidently the public didn't like Eastwood in this sleazy role and stayed away in droves.
Chuck O'Leary, Fantastica Daily
A sexually-charged Southern Gothic masterpiece that's monumentally underappreciated. One of Eastwood's and Siegel's best films.
Frank Ochieng, Movie Eye
Provocative and hypnotic...Eastwood revels with spellbinding spunk in this suggestive military melodrama
Shane Burridge, rec.arts.movies.reviews
We're used to Eastwood playing a hero, so we accept his casual words and silky delivery without really questioning it

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Featured Audience Ratings

Wahida K

Wow Clint Eastwood took full advantage. Women and Clinteastwood in his youth. Sorrounded from teenagers to well lady`s? And he had them all. It is actually a very interesting Drama, very unusuall for the Movie with Clint Eastwood which I have seen. <center>LEARN THE MEANING… More
Wow Clint Eastwood took full advantage. Women and Clinteastwood in his youth. Sorrounded from teenagers to well lady`s? And he had them all. It is actually a very interesting Drama, very unusuall for the Movie with Clint Eastwood which I have seen. <center>LEARN THE MEANING OF SCORNED WOMAN!</CENTER>
Cassandra M

This powerful drama centering around the effect which the arrival of a wounded civil war soldier has on a house full of women is probably Don Siegel's finest achievement, and is yet another example of Eastwood's willingness to break new ground and tackle new genres. It is… More
This powerful drama centering around the effect which the arrival of a wounded civil war soldier has on a house full of women is probably Don Siegel's finest achievement, and is yet another example of Eastwood's willingness to break new ground and tackle new genres. It is also, perhaps, the finest acting performance of his career. His presence in the house releases not only deeply repressed sexual urges in the women who are helping him to recover from his wounds, but a sexually competitive frenzy which becomes ever more dangerous and frightening.
Pierluigi P

Certainly the strangest association between Eastwood and Siegel, but also one of their best. A morbidly perverse cautionary tale, narrated with the pulse of a master. Its southern ghotic surroundings are as macabre as tantalizing.
Stella D

sorry, is this a comedy? cuz it's hilarious :p
Stephen M

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… More
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.
Chris G

The Beguiled is the film that taught Clint Eastwood that a man has to know his limitations. The film is about a Union soldier that is found by one of the young schoolgirls that are studying at a boarding school in the south during the Civil War. Regional and sexual tensions ensue as… More
The Beguiled is the film that taught Clint Eastwood that a man has to know his limitations. The film is about a Union soldier that is found by one of the young schoolgirls that are studying at a boarding school in the south during the Civil War. Regional and sexual tensions ensue as the film builds toward its conclusion of who is the predator and who is the prey. This is not your typical Clint Eastwood/Don Siegel film. The story is reminiscent of Edgar Alan Poe, a dark, sexy tale about how a mans urges dig him deeper and deeper into trouble. The Beguiled seems to be an attempt at giving Eastwood a more dramatic turn on screen, but the problem is that he doesn't look very comfortable while doing it. The rest of the cast give us great performances as southern girls locked away by the war between the states and Siegel uses the eerie surroundings as an unconscious reminder of what lurks in the school. The great thing about The Beguiled is that there are no heroes and villains. Everyone is guilty of something throughout the film, which makes the film a great sociology project. It shows us the evil that men (or women) do.
jay n

weird civil war drama, not that thats bad just don't expect the typical clint movie.
xGary X

A very unusual western in which an injured Clint takes refuge in a house populated with nubile young girls who he takes to his bed one by one, not counting on the concequences of his lascivious actions. Bizarre psychological thriller with a powerful and wholly unexpected ending.
Dean M

Eastwood worked with director Don Siegel for the third time, exudes cool, threatening sexuality.
Christopher O

A good thriller with Clint being imprisoned in a girl's boarding school and locks horns with evil headmistress Geraldine Page. The film can be accused of slow pace but the ending does not disappoint.
Deb S

The film is set in Louisiana towards the end of the war and starts with the wounded Civil War stud Corporal Johnny McBurney being discovered by a young girl named Amy and brought back to her boarding school. <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=33wxwqu"… More
The film is set in Louisiana towards the end of the war and starts with the wounded Civil War stud Corporal Johnny McBurney being discovered by a young girl named Amy and brought back to her boarding school. <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=33wxwqu" target="_blank"><img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/33wxwqu.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> The school is a small one, with only two teachers and a handful of girls. The headmistress, Martha Farnsworth, decides to shelter him and nurses him back to health, fearing that his injuries are likely to prove fatal should he be sent to one of the Confederacy's notoriously harsh prison camps. <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=149tjbr" target="_blank"><img src="http://i51.tinypic.com/149tjbr.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=r1ezbb" target="_blank"><img src="http://i54.tinypic.com/r1ezbb.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> McBurney considers himself very lucky as he becomes an object of lust to almost all the women including Miss Farnsworth, her assistant Edwina and Carol, one of the older girls. Even twelve year old Amy appears to have a sort of childish crush on him. But he soon finds that these nubile southern belles become cunning vixens when crossed and as his presence in this all-female school gives rise to jealousy and deception. Miss Farnsworth, rejected in favor of the naughty and luscious Carol, plots a terrible revenge of which the results were all completely unpredictable and stunning. (NEVER UNDERESTIMATE A WOMAN!) <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=wi2h07" target="_blank"><img src="http://i56.tinypic.com/wi2h07.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> <a href="http://tinypic.com?ref=19sie0" target="_blank"><img src="http://i52.tinypic.com/19sie0.jpg" border="0" alt="Image and video hosting by TinyPic"></a> I'm dying to comment more on the plot developments, the characters, and the moments that blew me away the most, but I don't want to spoil it for anyone, because this is a movie best viewed for maximum effect when you know less about some things.