Movie Details
| Title: | The Beguiled | |
| Director: | Don Siegel | |
| Year: | 1971 | |
| Genre: | Gothic Romance | |
| Times Seen: | 1 | |
| Last Seen: | 03.03.23 |
Other Movies Seen By This Director (9)
- Charley Varrick
- Coogan's Bluff
- Dirty Harry
- Escape from Alcatraz
- The Lineup
- Madigan
- Private Hell 36
- Riot in Cell Block 11
- Two Mules for Sister Sara
| Date Viewed | Venue | Note |
| 03.03.23 | Internet | "How old are you, Amy?" "Twelve, thirteen in september" "old enough for kisses" Uhhh... I guess the unique choice of how to open this movie identifies it as the odd duck of the night, and maybe of Siegel's career. Certainly a civil war era gothic tale in an antebellum south mansion is a far cry from the cops who don't play by the book or body snatchers or prison riots, but I guess there is a thematic tie in that Clint Eastwood a likes a da ladies. On that note, I went down a tiny rabbit hole and saw that not only did he have an affair with a young actress from this movie (half his age but in her early twenties at the time), but that he has also had many many affairs with I guess everyone he ever met. He's like Nick Cannon and Elon Musk's inspiration in regard to kids. And I don't all-the-way judge him for it. I mean, who in the world should be sleeping with people 35 years younger than them if not for the Clint Eastwoods and Leonardo Di Caprios of the world? Anyway, Here he plays an injured Union soldier taken in by a southern girls' school where he tries to seduce his way out of the house by flirting with everyone older than 16. That... leads to some stuff which I feel like needs a spoiler warning so before we dive into that I'll just say I wasn't really into the first half but the second half really grew on me and I wound up liking the film a lot. Like a lot. Spoilers ahead! beware! The movie is more interesting than Eastwood trying to fuck girls for a hundred minutes!!! Ok, so I wonder if Stephen King saw this. He had to have, right? I also can't imagine Takeshi Miike not having seen this. Maybe Paul Thomas Anderson too. The last half hour or so goes into such satisfying territory with Clint going full High Plains Drifter and the girls all eating at dinner and everything. The weird gothic flashbacks are never fully spelled out but you get enough to know why they're there as soon as we see that hacksaw. It's been quite a while since I've seen Play Misty for Me but I feel like it goes into similar territory in a more modern setting... but with a story like this you need that first hour to really build the scaffolding and make you wonder where it's going to go before pulling the lever and letting the audience bath in macabre satisfaction. Like the meme from Survivor or whatever of the girls being grossed out while the one dude just stares and smiles. I love a movie that delivers that vibe which I did NOT expect this to do. It'd be one thing if I was at Fantastic Fest or something but this came out between the silly Two Mules for Sister Sara and Dirty Harry! Such an oddity in the oeuvre! Anyway, just to state it plainly. They cut off his fucking leg after catching him in bed with the 17 year old, then he goes nuts, gets drunk, threatens everyone, says he'll sleep with whoever he wants, and kills a turtle. So they poison him with mushrooms and that's that. So awesome. |
