Seven stars. Why as many as seven stars? The brilliant gothic atmosphere that Siegel managed to evoke -- very
much out of character for the guy who directed Dirty Harry and Hell is for
Heroes. Rock solid acting from Geraldine Page, Elizabeth Hartman, Jo Ann
Harris, Mae Mercer, and Pamelyn Ferdin. Eastwood turned in a top-notch
performance as well, in a role that pushed out of his comfort zone. He's a
pretty limited actor, but the only director that can get performances out of
him as good as Siegel is Eastwood himself. As McBurney got caught deeper and
deeper in the spiderweb, I kept thinking that I was watching a bodice-ripper
version of Sunset Boulevard. And that's the problem. It was all too cheesy
and obvious. The score kept banging in with "this is BAAAAD!" chords. The
women were just too collectively smitten with McBurney (even the ones who
wanted to kill him outright). McBurney, himself, was too obviously playing his
own con-game. It was a cool idea, and parts of it were really well carried
out. But the flaws were too big for me to ignore. Still, if you are an
Eastwood fan, this is a film you should see. If only to see him play something
VERY different from Blondie or Callahan. 28 February 2022.
Review of The Beguiled
