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Southern Gothic

The Beguiled

1h 44m

Directed by Don Siegel • 1971 • United States
Starring Clint Eastwood, Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman

This chilling, Civil War–set western casts Clint Eastwood stars as a wounded Yankee soldier who finds himself convalescing in a Confederate all-girls school, a charged setup that precipitates a disturbing series of sexual and psychological manipulations. Though produced the same year that Eastwood and director Don Siegel made DIRTY HARRY, THE BEGUILED forgoes bullet-spray action in favor of creeping, slow-burn menace.

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