The Beguiled (1971)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
During the civil war, injured Yankee soldier, John McBurney is rescued on the verge of death
by a teenage girl from a southern boarding school.
She manages to get him back to the school, and at first the all-female staff and pupils are scared.
As he starts to recover, one by one he charms them and the atmosphere
becomes filled with jealousy and deceit.
Written by Col Needham

Full Cast
Clint Eastwood ... John McBurney
Geraldine Page ... Martha
Elizabeth Hartman ... Edwina
Jo Ann Harris ... Carol
Darleen Carr ... Doris
Mae Mercer ... Hallie
Pamelyn Ferdin ... Amy
Melody Thomas Scott ... Abigail (as Melody Thomas)
Peggy Drier ... Lizzie
Patricia Mattick ... Janie (as Pattye Mattick)
Charlie Briggs ... 1st Confederate Captain (as Charles Briggs)
George Dunn ... Sam Jefferson
Charles Martin ... 2nd Confederate Captain
Matt Clark ... Scrogins
Patrick Culliton ... Miles Farnswoth
Buddy Van Horn ... Soldier (as Wayne 'Buddy' Van Horn)
Randy Brown ... Confederate Sergeant (uncredited)
Victor Izay ... Wagon Driver (uncredited)
Bill Lee ... Singer (uncredited)
Jim Malinda ... Wade (uncredited)

Produced
Jennings Lang .... executive producer
Don Siegel .... producer (as Donald Siegel)
Claude Traverse .... associate producer
Clint Eastwood .... executive producer (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Albert Maltz (screenplay) (as John B. Sherry) and
Irene Kamp (screenplay) (as Grimes Grice)
Thomas Cullinan (from the novel by)
Claude Traverse rewrite (uncredited)

Original Music
Lalo Schifrin

Cinematography
Bruce Surtees

Trivia
Don Siegel's favorite of all his films.

Other titles contemplated by Universal Pictures were "Pussy-footing Down at the Old Plantation" and "On One I Walked".

During the making of this film, Clint Eastwood directed his very first film, a behind the scenes look at his director Don Siegel at work called The Beguiled: The Storyteller.

This is one of only three films to date in which Clint Eastwood's character dies. Both Eastwood and director Don Siegel had to fight with the bosses at Universal Pictures to keep this ending.

Goofs
Anachronisms
Edwina sings a couple of lines from the gospel song "In the Garden," which wasn't written until 1912, more than 50 years after the time of the story.

When McB is playing cards the deck has both the pictures (hearts, spades, etc) and the number in the corner. They didn't put #s on cards until 1864 and it was extremely rare to see a deck with them until 20-30 years after the war

Memorable Quotes

Watch the Trailer

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Filming Locations
Ashland-Belle Helene Plantation - State Highway 75, Geismer, Louisiana, USA
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
Geismer, Louisiana, USA

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).

I enjoyed this film, but thought it frightening,
a great piece of acting and direction

User Review

Quote

A Study in Suppressed Sexuality,
6 May 1999.Author: Paul Arthur

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.