# The Beguiled - Clint Eastwood style **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 10, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555 "2026-02-10T20:48:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2026, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/1 "2026-02-10T20:48:23Z")
Wife wanted to see The Beguiled with Colin Farrell, having not seen the original. I have seen the original but back in '71. So we watched it (the re-make) and she was in love with the dreamy gothic-ness of it. Last night she proposed we watch the Eastwood version… Whoa! Does not hold up well, imho. I know things need to be held against their time (or should they?) but this was quite jarring. First of all Clint kisses his 15 year old co-star _on the mouth_. Ka-ringy. Then there’s the brother-sister incest stuff. And when the the girls are working in the garden, they refer to it as “N-word work” (Not to mention referring to the actual black actor’s character as a “N-word”). Maybe I’ve become a prude in my old age, IMDb gives the original a 7.1 score (the remake 6.3), but it was hard to stay in the film getting jarred out of it so often. Creepy flick. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2026, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/2 "2026-02-10T20:50:31Z")
I wonder if the order you saw them in matters? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2026, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/3 "2026-02-10T20:54:50Z")
Possibly, but still that stuff doesn’t go down well for me in 2026, regardless. Not that any of it was necessary for the plot, but the incest part seemed completely superfluous. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2026, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/4 "2026-02-10T21:25:38Z")
I remember it being a deliberately off-putting movie, but I only ever saw the censored version on A&E (which used to play it every other week, seemingly). ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/5 "2026-02-11T23:10:32Z")
It seems to me that I tried to watch that years ago and was bored outta my mind and quit. Could be wrong. Was unaware there was a do-over. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/6 "2026-02-11T23:13:44Z")
Right..played it repeatedly for awhile. I never liked that movie. Mostly bored. And I generally like Clint movies. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/7 "2026-02-11T23:31:07Z")
I agree - boring. But the parts that weren’t boring were disturbing… and not in a good way. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/8 "2026-02-11T23:31:45Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve seen the Eastwood version, but isn’t it supposed to be disturbing? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2026, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/9 "2026-02-11T23:34:49Z")
I’m sure it was. But disturbing for the sake of being disturbing is not good cinema. Much like gratuitous sex or violence isn’t good. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/10 "2026-02-12T01:02:44Z")
It’s been a while since I’ve seen _The Beguiled,_ but from from what I can remember, it’s biggest sin was that it bored the hell out of me. I myself don’t always have an easy time separating gratuitous from non-gratuitous sex and violence. Did those scenes advance the plot or tell you something about John’s character? It’s a disturbing story involving a lot of bad people trying to take advantage of one another. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/11 "2026-02-12T08:28:19Z")
I saw it on TV - I think a cut version - but on video later when I went through a bit of Clint binge. I felt that part of the intent was to inject ugly reality into what would, in some perspectives, be seen as a fairytale scenario - lone man with lots of women. It could have been completely sanitised and even given a happy ending, but instead they opted for a mix of 19th century reality and 20th century perspective on power and social norms. In that sense its probably a poorer attempt at myth-busting that he did so much better in the _Unforgiven_. I did find it slow going on rewatching, and feeling a story idea was being padded beyond its inherent merit. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2026, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beguiled-clint-eastwood-style/1027555/12 "2026-02-12T15:04:58Z")
I’m cracking up inside from this Eastwood quote about the film (lifted from Wikipedia): “Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino play losers very well. But my audience like to be in there vicariously with a winner. That isn’t always popular with critics. My characters have sensitivity and vulnerabilities, but they’re still winners. I don’t pretend to understand losers.” Dude, your character was murdered by school girls with toxic mushrooms! You weren’t the winner! You did get the participation trophy. And your character was a rapist.