Clint Eastwood completely played against his macho screen image in creepy thriller The Beguiled - but the risk didn't pay off. There is a false assumption that the Dollars movie trilogy made Eastwood a movie star almost overnight, but it still took him a few years to become a major name in America. 1971 was a major breakthrough for Eastwood thanks to the original Dirty Harry movie, a groundbreaking (and deeply controversial) detective thriller. That same year saw Clint and his Dirty Harry helmer Don Siegel team up for The Beguiled, a dreamy blend of Southern Gothic, romance, and psychosexual melodrama. c5u8

There are three movies that Clint Eastwood considers to be his biggest career risks, but only one paid off at the box office. Despite the stardom Eastwood achieved as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, it still took a few years for him to break through in America. The movie that truly cemented him was Dirty Harry, a controversial 1971 thriller that nonetheless was a gigantic success, and led to one of the few Clint Eastwood movie franchises.

Here's every time Clint Eastwood has died in a movie. The Dollars trilogy came to define Eastwood's screen persona, as the Man with No Name had little in the way of dialogue and often let his revolver do the talking. Eastwood would refine and build on this persona with later movies like the Dirty Harry films or The Outlaw Josey Wales, and while he played characters with vulnerabilities, he almost always came out on top. That's also reflected in the fact that despite the number of movies he's appeared during his career, he's rarely died onscreen.

Throughout the history of cinema, there has been a specific focus on the director - the filmmakers who bring the whole thing together and act as the glue for the film. Throughout this time, the medium has given birth to many amazing artists who are able to deliver a consistent output of engaging and well-crafted films.

The Devil All the Time is the epitome of the Southern Gothic horror story, and there is a laundry list of reasons why. From the shadowy backwoods and old dirt roads of its rural setting to the complex narrative of religious, cultural, and social drama, the film helps shine an eerie light on an otherwise folksy setting.

Hollywood has a long history of being dominated by men - from the movies being made, to the stories being told. 1975 was the year that invented the blockbuster, 1999 was the year that redefined special effects, and 2017 was the year that put women front and center.Yes, 2017 was also a complicated year for women. Between the numerous sexual assault scandals that exposed predators like Harvey Weinstein to the fact that over a million protesters felt it necessary to march the streets of Washington in of basic women's rights, many of the headlines were about women fighting back - and a single year isn't enough to turn around such deeply entrenched gender inequality.Related: Gal Gadot Recalls Special' Moment Learning About Wonder Woman ReviewsBut while women still only make up around 10% of the directors in Hollywood, with female characters only constituting around a third of all speaking roles in movies, last year saw some serious milestones ed. Domestically, the highest-grossing superhero movie of the year was Wonder Woman, which was also the first female-led superhero movie in over a decade, and had one of the top three biggest domestic grosses of the year overall. The other two movies - Beauty and the Beast and Star Wars: The Last Jedi - were also female-led. Money talks in Hollywood, and that kind of success could be a serious force for change in the coming years.Here's a recap of how women seized Hollywood in 2017.

The return of a certain Friendly Neighborhood gave the summer box office the shot in the arm it needed and awoke the marketplace from the recent summer doldrums.

New arrivals ruled the box office this Fourth of July weekend, helping a dry summer season bounce back with successful debuts.

The Beguiled takes place three years into the American Civil War in the South, when a young student from Ms. Farnsworth's Seminary, Amy (Oona Laurence), stumbles upon a wounded Yankee soldier, Corporal John McBurney (Colin Farrell), who she helps back to the house. Due to the war, Ms. Farnsworth's Seminary is largely deserted, with only Martha Farnsworth (Nicole Kidman) and a single teacher, Edwina (Kirsten Dunst), caring for the remaining students: Amy, Alicia (Elle Fanning), Jane (Angourie Rice), Emily (Emma Howard), and Marie (Addison Riecke). Although Martha is hesitant to bring the Yankee soldier into her school - and some of the girls detest the idea - her southern Christian nature wins out and she takes him in.

In the Civil War-set The Beguiled, Colin Farrell plays a wounded Union soldier taken in by the occupants of an all-female boarding school tucked away deep in the wilds of Confederate territory. Nicole Kidman plays the school's heistress, Kirsten Dunst plays a teacher and Elle Fanning plays one of the young students. If all that sounds familiar, it's because The Beguiled was done as a film once before, starring Clint Eastwood and directed by Don Siegel.