The Beguiled ( 1971 film ) - wikipedia The Beguiled ( 1971 film ) The Beguiled Film poster by Bob Peak Directed by Don Siegel Produced by Don Siegel Screenplay by Albert Maltz Irene Kamp Based on A Painted Devil by Thomas P. Cullinan Starring Clint Eastwood Geraldine Page Elizabeth Hartman Jo Ann Harris Music by Lalo Schifrin Cinematography Bruce Surtees Edited by Carl Pingitore Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date March 31, 1971 ( 1971 - 03 - 31 ) Running time 105 minutes Country United States Language English The Beguiled is a 1971 American Southern Gothic, thriller - drama film directed by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood and Geraldine Page. The script was written by Albert Maltz and is based on the 1966 novel written by Thomas P. Cullinan, originally titled A Painted Devil. The film marks the third of five collaborations between Siegel and Eastwood, following Coogan 's Bluff ( 1968 ) and Two Mules for Sister Sara ( 1970 ), and continuing with Dirty Harry ( 1971 ) and Escape from Alcatraz ( 1979 ). Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception 5 Other film adaptations 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links Plot During the American Civil War in 1863, Amy, a 12 - year old student at the Miss Martha Farnsworth Seminary for Young Ladies in rural Mississippi, discovers a seriously wounded Union soldier, John McBurney. She brings him to the school 's gated enclosure where the school headmistress, Martha Farnsworth, first insists on turning him over to Confederate troops, but then decides to restore him to health first. He is initially kept locked in the school 's music room and kept under watch. Edwina, the schoolteacher who has had no experience with men, takes an immediate liking to John, as does Carol, a 17 - year - old student who makes advances with an experienced air. John begins to bond with each of the women in the house, including the slave Hallie. As he charms each of them, the sexually repressed atmosphere of the school becomes filled with jealousy and deceit, and the women begin to turn on one another. After Carol witnesses John kissing Edwina in the garden, she ties a blue rag to the school 's entrance gate to alert the Confederate troops to the presence of a Yankee soldier. When a band of Confederate soldiers see it while passing the school, Martha lies and helps John pretend he is a relative loyal to the Confederacy. Martha also becomes infatuated with John, and a flashback shows her having an incestuous relationship with her brother. Martha considers keeping John at the school as a handyman. She makes sexual advances toward him, which he resists. Late one night, Edwina discovers John having sex with Carol in her bedroom. In a jealous rage, she beats him with a candlestick, causing him to fall down the staircase and break his leg. Martha insists he will die of gangrene unless they amputate his leg. The women carry him to the kitchen where they tie him to the table. Martha saws off his leg at the knee. When John awakens and learns that his leg has been amputated, he goes into a fury, convinced that Martha performed the operation as revenge for his rejection of her sexual advances. John and Edwina 's romantic relationship deepens, while his relationships with the other women deteriorates. One night in a drunken rage, John, convinced that Martha plans to hold him prisoner, reads some of the letters she received from her brother, gets hold of a pistol and threatens them all, even injuring Amy 's pet turtle, which he instantly regrets. As Union troops camp within sight of the school, Martha convinces the others -- aside from Edwina, who is not present -- that they need to kill him to prevent him from denouncing them to the Union troops. She asks Amy to pick mushrooms they can prepare `` especially for him '' and Amy says she knows just where to find some. At dinner, John apologizes for his actions, and Edwina reveals that she and John have made plans to leave the school and marry. John has been eating the mushrooms and the others pass the bowl without taking any except for Edwina. When she starts to eat some, Martha cries out for her to stop. John realizes he has been poisoned, and leaves the dining room disoriented, and collapses in the hallway. The following day, the women tie his corpse in a makeshift body bag and carry him out of the gate to bury. They agree he died of exhaustion, and Amy denies she could ever pick a poisonous mushroom by mistake. Cast Clint Eastwood as Corporal John ' McBee ' McBurney Geraldine Page as Martha Farnsworth Elizabeth Hartman as Edwina Dabney Jo Ann Harris as Carol Darleen Carr as Doris Mae Mercer as Hallie Pamelyn Ferdin as Amelia ' Amy ' Melody Thomas as Abigail Peggy Drier as Lizzie Pattye Mattick as Janie Production Clint Eastwood was given a copy of the 1966 novel by producer Jennings Lang, and was engrossed throughout the night in reading it. This was the first of several films where Eastwood agreed to storylines where nubile females look at him adoringly ( including minors in this film and Pale Rider ). Eastwood considered the film as `` an opportunity to play true emotions and not totally operatic and not lighting cannons with cigars ''. Albert Maltz was brought in to draft the script, but disagreements in the end led to a revision of the script by Claude Traverse, who although uncredited, led to Maltz being credited under a pseudonym. Maltz had originally written a script with a happy ending, in which Eastwood 's character and the girl live happily ever after. Both Eastwood and director Don Siegel felt that an ending faithful to that of the book would be a stronger anti-war statement, and Eastwood 's character would be killed. The film, according to Siegel, deals with the themes of sex, violence and vengeance and was based around `` the basic desire of women to castrate men ''. Jeanne Moreau was considered for the role of the domineering Martha Farnsworth, but the role went to Geraldine Page, and actresses Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann Harris, Darlene Carr, Mae Mercer, and Pamelyn Ferdin were cast in supporting roles. Universal initially wanted Siegel to film at a studio at Disney Studios Ranch, but Siegel preferred to have it filmed at an antebellum estate near Baton Rouge, Louisiana in Ascension Parish : the Ashland - Belle Helene Plantation, an historic house built in 1841, that was a plantation estate and home of Duncan Farrar Kenner. Portions of the interiors were filmed at Universal Studios. Filming started in April 1970 and lasted 10 weeks. Eastwood had signed a long - term contract with Universal but became angry with the studio because he felt that they botched its release. This eventually led to his leaving the studio in 1975 after the release of The Eiger Sanction, which he directed as well as starred in. He would not work with Universal again until 2008 's Changeling. Eastwood said of his role in The Beguiled, `` Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino play losers very well. But my audience like to be in there vicariously with a winner. That is n't always popular with critics. My characters have sensitivity and vulnerabilities, but they 're still winners. I do n't pretend to understand losers. When I read a script about a loser, I think of people in life who are losers, and they seem to want it that way. It 's a compulsive philosophy with them. Winners tell themselves I 'm as bright as the next person. I can do it. Nothing can stop me. '' Reception The Beguiled holds a 92 % approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 13 reviews, with a weighted average of 7 / 10. The film received major recognition in France, and was proposed by Pierre Rissient to the Cannes Film Festival, and while agreed to by Eastwood and Siegel, the producers declined. It would be widely screened in France later and is considered one of Eastwood 's finest works by the French. The film was poorly marketed and in the end grossed less than $1 million, earning less than a fourth of what Sweet Sweetback 's Baadasssss Song did at the same time and falling to below 50 in the charts within two weeks of release. Made right before Dirty Harry, this was a bold early attempt by Eastwood to play against type. It was not a hit, likely due to uncertainty on Universal 's part concerning how to market it, eventually leading them to advertise the film as a hothouse melodrama : `` One man... seven women... in a strange house ! '' `` His love... or his life... '' According to Eastwood and Jennings Lang, the film, aside from being poorly publicized, flopped due to Eastwood 's being `` emasculated in the film ''. The film 's poster, for example, shows him with a gun, suggesting an action movie, but only the action consists of a few seconds of flashback to Eastwood 's character in battle before being wounded. Other film adaptations See also : The Beguiled ( 2017 film ) Sofia Coppola wrote and directed a film based on the same source material with Nicole Kidman, Colin Farrell, Kirsten Dunst and Elle Fanning. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2017. The film was released on June 23, 2017, by Focus Features. See also List of American films of 1971 References Jump up ^ The AFI Catalog of Feature Films :... The Beguiled ^ Jump up to : McGilligan ( 1999 ), p. 185 Jump up ^ Hughes, p. 98 Jump up ^ McGilligan ( 1999 ), p. 187 Jump up ^ Ciment, Michel ( May 1990 ). `` Entretien avec Clint Eastwood ''. Positif ( 351 ) : 5 -- 11. Jump up ^ McGilligan ( 1999 ), p. 186 Jump up ^ Louisiana Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism. `` Ashland Historical Marker ''. Jump up ^ Hughes, p. 96 ^ Jump up to : McGilligan ( 1999 ), p. 189 Jump up ^ `` The Beguiled ( 1971 ) ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved April 30, 2017. Jump up ^ McGilligan ( 1999 ), p. 190 Jump up ^ Tartaglione, Nancy ; Evans, Greg ( April 13, 2017 ). `` Cannes Lineup : Todd Haynes, Sofia Coppola, Noah Baumbach, ' Twin Peaks ' ''. Deadline.com. Retrieved April 30, 2017. Jump up ^ Kay, Jermey ( November 2, 2016 ). `` Focus to release ' The Beguiled ' in June 2017 ''. Screen International. Retrieved April 30, 2017. Bibliography Hirsch, Foster ( 1971 - 72 ). `` The Beguilded : Southern Gothic revived. '' Film Heritage, 7, 15 - 20. Kay, Karyn. ( 1976 ) `` The Beguiled : Gothic Misogyny. '' Velvet Light Trap, 16, 32 - 33. Hughes, Howard ( 2009 ). Aim for the Heart. London : I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978 - 1 - 84511 - 902 - 7. McGilligan, Patrick ( 1999 ). Clint : The Life and Legend. London : Harper Collins. ISBN 0 - 00 - 638354 - 8. Tumanov, Vladimir ( 2013 ). `` One Adam and Nine Eves in Donald Siegel 's The Beguiled and Giovanni Boccaccio 's 3 : 1 of The Decameron. '' Neophilologus : An International Journal of Modern and Mediaeval Language and Literature. External links The Beguiled on IMDb The Beguiled at Rotten Tomatoes Films directed by Don Siegel Star in the Night ( 1945 ) Hitler Lives ( 1945 ) The Verdict ( 1946 ) Night Unto Night ( 1949 ) The Big Steal ( 1949 ) The Duel at Silver Creek ( 1952 ) No Time for Flowers ( 1952 ) Count the Hours ( 1953 ) China Venture ( 1953 ) Riot in Cell Block 11 ( 1954 ) Private Hell 36 ( 1954 ) The Blue and Gold ( 1955 ) Invasion of the Body Snatchers ( 1956 ) Crime in the Streets ( 1956 ) Spanish Affair ( 1957 ) Baby Face Nelson ( 1957 ) The Lineup ( 1958 ) The Gun Runners ( 1958 ) Edge of Eternity ( 1959 ) Hound - Dog Man ( 1959 ) Flaming Star ( 1960 ) Hell Is for Heroes ( 1962 ) The Killers ( 1964 ) The Hanged Man ( 1964 ) Stranger on the Run ( 1967 ) Madigan ( 1968 ) Coogan 's Bluff ( 1968 ) Death of a Gunfighter ( 1969 ) Two Mules for Sister Sara ( 1970 ) The Beguiled ( 1971 ) Dirty Harry ( 1971 ) Charley Varrick ( 1973 ) The Black Windmill ( 1974 ) The Shootist ( 1976 ) Telefon ( 1977 ) Escape from Alcatraz ( 1979 ) Rough Cut ( 1980 ) Jinxed ! ( 1982 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Beguiled_(1971_film)&oldid=800795937 '' Categories : 1971 films English - language films 1970s drama films 1970s historical films American films American drama films American historical films American Civil War films Erotic thriller films Films about amputees Films based on American novels Films directed by Don Siegel Incest in film Film scores by Lalo Schifrin Southern Gothic films Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from April 2014 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Català Dansk Deutsch Español Euskara فارسی Français Italiano Nederlands 日本 語 Português Suomi Türkçe Українська Edit links This page was last edited on 15 September 2017, at 18 : 34. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. 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Question: who starred in the original movie the beguiled
Answer: Jo Ann Harris