An excellently realised film focusing on that ever so mysterious relations between men and women. Especially those that are tainted by personal gain, manupilation, lies, deceipt, lust, jelousy, revenge and a pile of control issues. This dark, gothic all- girls boarding house is well occupied by the brilliant leads (as well as an outstanding cast of assorted fine young actresses): a very handsome Clint Eastwood ( as a handicapped soldier fresh from battle and eventually a very compromised object of desire) and the rare, unique and gifted Geraldine Page as the ruthless headmistress with some scandalous secrets to hide. Once the lies are discovered , the plot charges dangerously ahead to a wonderfully stunning conclusion that will leave you silent. Fortunately , hollywood hasn't felt the need to refilm this extremely UNDERATED psycho-chiller.
Great Performances All Around
Another well done moral ambiguity piece where the anti-hero makes it hard to decide who to root for.
If nothing else "The Beguiled" silenced anyone who said there were no good parts for actresses in movies-at least in 1971. There were four excellent parts for actresses in this film and all were well cast and well executed.
Pamelyn Ferdin did a fine job as Amy and would go on to play "Wanda June". This must have been the first time an adult male box office star shared an extended kiss with a twelve-year-old girl on camera, wonder if there was much controversy about this at the time. It was probably Polanski's favorite scene. Given the fate of Amy's turtle "Randolph", it is no surprise that Ferdin grew up to be a hardcore animal rights activist.
Geraldine Page was likewise excellent, playing a complex character with just the right amount of restraint. It is interesting that she died just three days after Elizabeth Hartman committed suicide (throwing herself through a fifth floor window) as they had also worked together in "You're a Big Boy Now".
Hartman (who looks like she could be Blair Brown's sister) was wonderful as Edwina and should have gotten an Oscar (no other performance was even close that year), but given what we now know about her you wonder just how much of her performance was a studied effort and how much just came from inside her. Edwina shows such raw pain it is difficult to watch. Like Marilyn Monroe's incredible performance in "The Misfits", the viewer is probably seeing a whole lot of her own demons in the character she is playing.
Finally there is Jo Ann Harris who is stunningly perfect as the flirty Carol. For my money Harris was the sexiest actress of the 1970's, combining sensuality with intelligence and humor. She was the best reason to watch the "Most Wanted" television series and the only reason to watch "Wild Wild West Revisited". Hard to believe that someone who could bring all that to the screen never became a big star.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
Southern Gothic Eastwood
Corperal John McBurny (Clint Eastwood) is a Union soldier who is wounded in battle. He is taken in and nused back to health by the head mistress of a all girl's boarding school (Geraldine Page). As he gets better, the prospects of an all girl enviroment start to occure to him. He begins flirting with all the girls and winning sexual favors from them. But then the table turns when all of them figure out what he's doing and then take out a horrible revenge. This is certainly a strange entry in the Clint Eastwood collection; one that is as wierd as "Tightrope". It is a Edgar Allen Poe-like gothic horror story of insainity, incest, and revenge. Though Eastwood's characters have never been the nicest people, his Cpl. McBurney is a lot more slimy than usual for him. He manipulates all the girls with his advantage of being the olny man around, and then when that stops working he bullies them with a pistol. Page plays a pretty cunning and remorsless villian. Of all of the actors, only Elizabeth Hart's teacher elisets any sympathy; her decleration of love at the end seems more of a ploy to drive McBurny out, a kind of self sacrifice of sorts. I liked the idea of the audience being able to hear what the characters are thinking; and the flash backs to expose McBurney's lies were very insiteful. A good, but different, Eastwood outing.
Clint Eastwood (making his very assured directorial debut) is a poetry-spouting stud-muffin DJ stalked by a maniacally amorous fan after a misguided one-night stand in this enjoyably schlocky, undeniably effective film about good intentions gone murderously wacky. Although many of the very '70s trappings presented here may ultimately be too dated to be taken seriously (including a very self-indulgent jazz number and a hilariously gooey seduction number between Eastwood and Donna Mills), the core premise of infatuation taken out of bounds remains uncomfortably plausible--and was influential enough to be appropriated by one of the biggest hits of the '80s. (Here's a hint--it starred Michael Douglas, Glenn Close, and a very unfortunate bunny rabbit). A well-staged and occasionally... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - Jessica Walter Director(s): Clint Eastwood DVD Release Date: Released the 18 September 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
I NEVER CEASE TO BE AMAZED AT THE FLEXIBILITY OF EASTWOOD'S ACTING. HE AND CHARLES BRONSON ARE TRULY GREAT ACTORS. More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - Lee J. Cobb Director(s): Don Siegel DVD Release Date: Released the 01 June 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
In the cactus-studded Mexican backcountry of the 1860s, a surly drifter who could easily be mistaken for the Man with No Name becomes protector and lethal helpmate to a red-haired nun wanted by the French for aiding the Juarista revolutionaries. Essentially a two-character showcase for the newly stellar Clint Eastwood and what was beginning to seem the poststellar Shirley MacLaine (subbing for Elizabeth Taylor), this sardonic study in testy collaboration, mutual deception and distrust, and slightly creepy sexual attraction is highly rated by a fairly small number of critics--chiefly, one suspects, for the dual-auteur cachet of having been directed by Don Siegel and based on a story by Budd Boetticher. Others deem it an undersauced spaghetti Western and find that the stars grate on the... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Shirley MacLaine - Clint Eastwood Director(s): Don Siegel DVD Release Date: Released the 06 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $12.98 Your Price: $10.38YOU SAVE $2.6!
Buy it
Jeff Bridges actually corralled an Oscar nomination for his spirited, oddball performance in this genre crime story, directed by first-timer Michael Cimino who (a short two films later) would bring down a studio with Heaven's Gate. Clint Eastwood plays a bank robber par excellence with a flair for explosives who is being hunted by his former partners, who think he has their loot from their last job. Bridges is his eager apprentice and sidekick, who helps him escape; when Eastwood finally makes peace with his hunters, Bridges convinces them to try a daring robbery--but things inevitably go awry. The relationship between Eastwood and Bridges is both funny and touching in this, one of Eastwood's better post-Dirty Harry efforts. --Marshall FineMore Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - Jeff Bridges Director(s): Michael Cimino DVD Release Date: Released the 13 June 2000 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.95 Your Price: $13.46YOU SAVE $1.49!
Buy it
Clint Eastwood held the dual role of director and star of this 1975 spy thriller, which makes up for sluggish pacing with a breathtaking climax on a treacherous peak in the Swiss Alps. The plot kicks into gear when Eastwood, playing a retired assassin, is recruited back into a secret organization to avenge the murder of an old friend. He's then blackmailed into making a second "hit"; this time his target is one of three men who will be attempting to conquer the Eiger, a dangerous peak in Switzerland. Himself an accomplished climber, Eastwood's character joins the expedition with George Kennedy as leader of the ground crew. Shifting loyalties, apparent betrayals, and paranoid suspicion factor into the suspenseful climax on the sheer face of the mountain. This memorable sequence--for... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Clint Eastwood - George Kennedy Director(s): Clint Eastwood DVD Release Date: Released the 15 December 1998 Usually ships in 24 hours
List Price: $14.98 Your Price: $13.48YOU SAVE $1.5!
Buy it
