Isn't it nice when two opposing factions can come together over a hearty dinner? I wouldn't be so sure. Take 1971's The Beguiled in which Clint Eastwood as a Union soldier is invited to the dinner table of a house full of Confederate women. This subtle, vicious, psychological film is a fascinating piece directed by Don Siegel, the same year he made Dirty Harry, also with Eastwood.
Johnny McBee (Eastwood) is grievously wounded in battle but counts himself lucky when he's taken in by a school for girls. The barefoot girls and their fussy headmistress are at first resolved to turn him over to the next Confederate soldiers to happen by but, nursing Johnny back to health, they all become infatuated with him. Everyone except the house's only slave, Hallie (Mae Mercer).
As a Union soldier, McBee points out to Hallie that the two of them ought to be friends. But Hallie has only fear and hatred for any white man.
Three women become particularly smitten with him--the virginal and romantic Edwina (Elizabeth Hartman), the perpetually horny Carol (Jo Ann Harris), and the headmistress herself, Martha (Geraldine Page), who misses her brother with whom she had an incestuous relationship. McBee mustn't have been too experienced with women, because he thinks it's a good idea to lead all three of them on, showering each with flattery and promises. I knew his goose would be cooked once he was foolish enough to go to bed with one of them.
So, yeah, I think that was a pretty good Thanksgiving movie. Eastwood's perfect here as a soldier too confident in his prowess to figure there might be more kinds of battlefields than he dreamed of. Geraldine Page is by turns a good, moral leader and deeply twisted. One of the most memorable scenes is a dream sequence of a menage a trois involving McBee, Martha, and Edwina. I like how the movie shows the whole sequence before revealing whose dream it is.
The Beguiled is available on The Criterion Channel.
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