MM41 - Don & Clint feat. John Semley (Patreon)

Resident Clint-ologist John Semley is back to look at two of Eastwood’s great collaborations with director Don Siegel: 1971’s The Beguiled and 1979’s Escape from Alcatraz. Two tough guy classics showcasing Clint’s surprisingly nuanced-through-gritted teeth performance style

The Beguiled finds Clint as a union soldier injured behind enemy lines, taken in for recuperation by the extremely repressed ladies of a Confederate girls’ seminary.  Clint proceeds to use his sexual swagger to charm each of these southern belles in turn, but as the web of seduction (and eventually violence) spins out of control, Clint realize he mayb not be in paradise, but purgatory.

Jumping from Clint vs. Women to Clint and Da Boys, we turn to Escape from Alcatraz, an extremely process oriented film set in actual prison, and depicting the shockingly true story of a confirmed breakout from the Rock. Clint builds his crew, brings prison justice to other inmates, confronts evil in the form of Patrick McGoohan’s nameless warden, all with a soft spot for chrysanthemums. 

Keep an eye out for John’s essay in the forthcoming “The Critical Companion to Clint Eastwood”