The Beguiled is a 1971 drama film directed by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. The script was written by Albert Maltz and is based on the 1966 Southern Gothic novel written by Thomas P. Cullinan, originally titled A Painted Devil. The film marks the third of five collaborations between Siegel and Eastwood, following Coogan's Bluff (1968) and Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), and continuing with Dirty Harry (1971) and Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

Plot[link]

Close to the end of the American Civil War, injured Yankee soldier John McBurney is rescued on the verge of death by a twelve year old girl from an all-girl boarding school in Louisiana. At first the all-female staff and pupils are scared, but as John starts to recover, he charms them one by one and the sexually repressed atmosphere becomes filled with jealousy and deceit. A few of the girls go after him as well.

After rejecting the headmistress for a younger girl, McBurney gets his comeuppance in the form of some painful Freudian symbolism — he falls down the stairs. Eventually his leg is amputated by the headmistress, so as to avoid gangrene. After going on a rampage that scares all of the women, he reforms and announces his intention to marry one of the teachers, but it is too late; he has alienated the youngest girl, the one who first found him, by killing her pet turtle after throwing it aside in a drunken rage. In response, she is coached to pick mushrooms that the headmistress and girls use to poison him.

Cast[link]

• Clint Eastwood as Corporal John 'McBee' McBurney
• Geraldine Page as Martha Farnsworth
• Elizabeth Hartman as Edwina Dabney
• Jo Ann Harris as Carol
• Darleen Carr as Doris
• Mae Mercer as Hallie
• Pamelyn Ferdin as Amelia 'Amy'
• Melody Thomas as Abigail
• Peggy Drier as Lizzie
• Pattye Mattick as Janie

Production[link]

Jennings Lang was inspired by the 1966 novel by Thomas P. Cullinan and passed the book to Eastwood. He was engrossed throughout the night in reading the tale of a wounded Union soldier held captive by the sexually repressed matron of a southern girls' school.^[1] This was the first of several films where Eastwood has agreed to storylines where he is the center of female attention, including minors.^[1] Eastwood considered the film as "an opportunity to play true emotions and not totally operatic and not lighting cannons with cigars".^[2] Albert Maltz, who had worked on Two Mules for Sister Sara was brought in to draft the script, but disagreements in the end led to a revision of the script by Claude Traverse, who although uncredited, led to Maltz being credited under a pseudonym.^[3] Maltz had originally written a script with a happy ending, in which Eastwood's character and the girl live happily ever after. Both Eastwood and director Don Siegel felt that an ending more faithful to that of the book would be a stronger anti-war statement, however, and the ending was altered so that Eastwood's character would be killed.^[4] The film, according to Siegel, deals with the themes of sex, violence and vengeance and was based around, "the basic desire of women to castrate men".^[5]

Jeanne Moreau was considered for the role of the domineering headmistress Martha Farnsworth, but in the end the role went to acclaimed Broadway actress Geraldine Page, and actresses Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann Harris, Darlene Carr, Mae Mercer, and Pamelyn Ferdin were cast in supporting roles.

Universal initially wanted Siegel to film at a studio at Disney Studios Ranch, but Siegel preferred to have it filmed at an actual estate near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Portions of the interiors were still filmed at Universal Studios. Filming started in April 1970 and lasted ten weeks.^[6]

Eastwood had recently signed a long-term contract with Universal but became angry with the studio because he felt that they botched its release. This eventually led to his leaving the studio in 1975 after the release of The Eiger Sanction, which he directed as well as starred in. He would not work with Universal again until 2008's Changeling.

Two of the main stars of the film, Elizabeth Hartman and Geraldine Page, died in the same week. Hartman died on Wednesday, June 10, 1987 of suicide. Page died Saturday, June 13, 1987 of a heart attack.

Reception[link]

Made right before Dirty Harry, this was a bold early attempt by Eastwood to play against type. It was not a hit, likely due to uncertainty on Universal's part concerning how to market it, eventually leading them to advertise the film as a hothouse melodrama: "One man...seven women...in a strange house!" "His love... or his life..." According to Eastwood and Jennings Lang, the film, aside from being poorly publicized, flopped due to Clint being "emasculated in the film".^[7] The film's poster for example, shows him with a gun, suggesting an action movie. Eastwood does not use a gun once in the movie in contemporaneous time (but does in recall of his activities qua soldier).

The film received major recognition in France, and was proposed by Pierre Rissient to the Cannes Film Festival, and while agreed to by Eastwood and Siegel, the producers declined.^[7] It would be widely screened in France later and is considered one of Eastwood's finest works by the French.^[8] Although the film reached number two on Variety's chart of top grossing films, it was poorly marketed and in the end grossed less than $1 million, earning over four times less than Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song did at the same time and falling to below 50 in the charts within two weeks of release.^[7] Eastwood said of his role in The Beguiled,

"Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino play losers very well. But my audience like to be in there vicariously with a winner. That isn't always popular with critics. My characters have sensitivity and vulnerabilities, but they're still winners. I don't pretend to understand losers. When I read a script about a loser I think of people in life who are losers and they seem to want it that way. It's a compulsive philosophy with them. Winners tell themselves, I'm as bright as the next person. I can do it. Nothing can stop me."^[7]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Hughes, Howard (2009). Aim for the Heart. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-902-7. 
• McGilligan, Patrick (1999). Clint: The Life and Legend. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-638354-8. 

External links[link]

• The Beguiled at the Internet Movie Database