Retro Snapshot: "The Beguiled" (1971)

Don Seigel is a seldom referenced genre-film giant. His resume is punctuated by two landmarks, 1956's "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and 1971's "Dirty Harry". Equally worthy are "Charley Varrick" (1973) and the film shown here, 1971's "The Beguiled". The film follows Clint Eastwood as Corporal John McBurney, a wounded Union soldier taking refuge in a Confederate girl's boarding school during the American Civil War. McBurney is an unscrupulous Lothario who manipulates the pubescent girls and their spinster headmistress both for survival and sexual fancy. The games eventually catch up with McBurney and the maidens of the house swing from sweet to sinister, a snapshot of which you can see above.

"The Beguiled" was filmed just before Eastwood's directorial debut; the raw and unnerving psychological thriller "Play Misty for Me". Clint got some practice in on the set set of "The Beguiled" by shooting a behind the scenes documentary called "The Beguiled: The Storyteller".