A brilliant underseen Clint Eastwood thriller movie is on TV tonight

Though the film went underseen upon release, it later got a remake starring Colin Farrell.

Based on the novel of the same name by Thomas P. Cullinan, the film is set at an all-female seminary in rural Mississippi in 1863 during the American Civil War.

One day, a seriously wounded Union soldier named John McBurney (Eastwood) is discovered outside the school's gates.

Taken in by the headmistress, Martha Farnsworth (Oscar-winner Geraldine Page), John becomes the object of the seminary staff and students' affections. Realising this, the soldier begins manipulating the situation to his own advantage.

"But when he refuses to completely comply with the girls' wishes, they make it very difficult for him to leave," the plot synopsis adds.

The Beguiled was directed by Don Siegel, with whom Eastwood also made Coogan's Bluff, Dirty Harry, Escape from Alcatraz and Two Mules for Sister Sara.

Their 1971 movie stands out from their other collaborations for being less action-packed and more of a psychological slow-burning thriller, something which might have led to its muted reaction upon release.

That said, The Beguiled's intoxicating Southern Gothic atmosphere, its dark and twisted story, and its great performances have led to the film developing a cult following.

Now holding a 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie later got a 2017 remake starring Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman in the Eastwood and Page parts.

The original Beguiled is airing on TV tonight on the channel Legend at 11.40pm. The film is also available to rent on Apple TV+, Google Play, Prime Video and the Sky Store.

Here are the other movies on TV tonight:

Venom - Film4 - 9pm

Tom Hardy plays a journalist who becomes entangled with a strange alien symbiote in this so-so superhero flick that launched a trilogy.

The Longest Yard - Comedy Central - 9pm

Adam Sandler stars in this sports comedy remake.

Inside Man - Legend - 9pm

In this ingenious crime thriller, Clive Owen attempts to pull off a perfect bank robbery in New York City, while police (led by Denzel Washington) surround the building.

Best of the Best II - Legend Xtra - 9pm

Eric Roberts returns in this martial arts sequel.

T2 Trainspotting - Film4 - 11.10pm

Danny Boyle's brilliant, long-awaited sequel to his breakthrough comedy-drama Trainspotting.

The Theory of Everything - BBC Two - 11.50pm

For playing Stephen Hawking in this biopic, Eddie Redmayne took home the Best Actor Oscar prize.

Ravenous - Film4 - 1.30am

This fantastic genre-shifting Western stars Guy Pearce as a soldier at a remote military outpost in 1840s America.

He starts to suspect that there is more to the man (Trainspotting's Robert Carlyle) he has just rescued than meets the eye.