I wanted to but couldn't!

hyped garbage

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Considering when it was produced (1971), I consider this great cinema. The story is chilling. It is well directed,not too long or boring. Just right. the acting is superb, throughout. I highly recommend it, especially in this day and age where the world needs to understand women more then ever.

I have now seen the original version of "The Beguiled" from 1971 as well as the 2017 remake. Each are lackluster in their own right. The Clint Eastwood version is barely better than the Colin Farrell homage. Each actor brings his individual spin to a wounded Civil War Union Army soldier messing with the libidos of a host of southern boarding school females.It's just that frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn about a single one of these warped weirdoes.

The original film about intrigue at a ladies school during the end of the Civil War provides a more complex look at the war between the North and the South and the relationship between men and women. Amy (Pamelyn Ferdin) finds the wounded Union soldier John McBurney (Clint Eastwood) and helps him return to the school run by Miss Martha (Geraldine Page). Teaching at the school is Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman) who finds the mysterious soldier attractive. The women take the man indoors and board up the windows to keep him inside. The slave Hallie (Mae Mercer) doesn't like the newcomer much either though he tries to work his charm on her and point out that he is fighting for her freedom. She comments that she sees white people as all the same. Carol (Jo Ann Harris) also takes a liking to McBurney, though she still considers him a traitor, kissing him when the others aren't looking.McBurney charms each of the women as they think about turning him over to the Confederate soldiers. While McBurney flirts with Carol, he calms a jealous Edwina by kissing her. Carol becomes jealous and ties the blue rag symbol for a Union soldier. Martha, who didn't turn her in before, steps up when Confederates nearly shoot McBurney and lie that he is her cousin from Texas. This allows him to stay unharmed though the Confederate soldiers want to stay around with the women as well. Martha also becomes enamored with McBurney reflecting back on the relationship she had with her brother and imagining a threesome with Edwina. Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com

"The Beguiled" follows John McBurney, a fallen Union soldier in the American Civil War who is reluctantly taken in at a rural girls' school in Mississippi. The headmistress, Martha, agrees to keep him there until his health has been restored. John begins to woo each of the women in the house, but his flirtations and manipulations land him in dangerous territory as the household begins to come apart at the seams.Directed by frequent Eastwood collaborator Don Siegel ("Dirty Harry"), this little-seen but much- loved thriller is a potent blend of Southern Gothic and psychosexual drama. All of its strengths aside (and there are many), "The Beguiled" is one of those rare films that plays a variety of different ways without ever really committing itself to one. It could be read as a meditation on the war, a feminist parable, an outright horror film, or even all three (and more) at once. It never quite leans one way or the other; it's just as much a feminist film as it is anti-feminist; just as much horror as it is drama. The screenplay, based on Thomas Cullinan's novel, is left open-ended. What we have before us is ultimately a character study on sexuality and human desire, and the way it's read it depends on individual perspective.The film begins with a haunting credit montage that plays over disturbing historical photos of the war. Sounds of horses, gunfire, and screaming narrate the credit sequence, which sets a tone of unease and instability from the first frame. The film is saturated with an oppressive Gothic atmosphere that underpins an array of situations between Eastwood and the women in the house— even the lighter (sometimes even darkly humorous) moments hint toward an impending reckless abandon. Moody cinematography accentuates the unease, and several haunting POV shots from Eastwood as he is carried by the women into the house (and later, into the dining room in one of the film's most famous and most violent scene) are unforgettable.Eastwood, who made a career for himself as a hyper-masculine sex bomb in his early years, plays against character—here, he is physically helpless, resorting to emotional manipulation that eventually backfires. His performance is memorable, though his character, despite being the film's center, seems to be given far less screen time in comparison to the rest of the female cast. Geraldine Page gives one of the best performances of her career as the sexually repressed headmistress who has a questionable romantic history. Page is terrifying and at times sympathetic, but, like the film as a whole, can never quite be pinned down, and that's part of her brilliance. Elizabeth Hartman is fantastic as well as the meek schoolteacher who wins Eastwood's affections, and Jo Ann Harris plays a Civil War Lolita who is as devious as she is charming. Pamelyn Ferdin is also striking in her performance as the youngest of the girls, and the catalyst for what brings Eastwood into the house, and eventually, out of itOverall, "The Beguiled" is something of an unsung classic. The strength of its performances alone is enough to warrant multiple viewings, but the ambiguity of its moral stance (if there even is one), and its candid yet dithering narrative make it an even more compelling watch. It's tense, hauntingly beautiful, and also downright unnerving in unexpected ways. Regardless of how it's read, the presentation is flawless. 10/10.