You prompted me to rewatch The Beguiled and I still really like it, so thanks. Is it Eastwood’s strangest? On paper The Rookie should be a more “normal” Eastwood movie, but it’s actually pretty weird, and mostly awful. I know we talked about it because I remember you saying you looked up that scene were Eastwood gets raped.
The Beguiled is certainly Eastwood’s most art-housey film. Really, it’s probably more surprising in Don Siegel’s filmography than Eastwood’s and Siegel probably couldn’t have gotten it made without Eastwood, who was the protege in their relationship but really had more power in Hollywood. Regarding Eastwood playing a varmant, he’s probably an even bigger piece of shit in Coogan’s Bluff, where his actions are obviously unjustified and the criminal he’s chasing only gets away at the beginning because of his stupid and illegal behavior.
The Beguiled is the first Head Cinematographer credit for Bruce Surtees, who would work with Eastwood frequently for the next 14 years. He makes great use of natural light, something I remember Eastwood complaining didn’t happen enough in the Classic Hollywood era. His non-Eastwood credits include Night Moves and Inchon.
It’s interesting that two of the three movies Eastwood made in 1971 were The Beguiled and Play Misty For Me.

I’m probably never watching the remake, which seems like a pretty baffling project.

Serpico is okay, but I think it’s by far the worst of Lumet’s four movies about policemen corruption, and yet it is also by far the most famous. The plot is pretty shapeless. Carlito’s Way references it with the flashback structure, if you didn’t remember that.

I’ve never cared about Coda, but I like Presence alot more than you. It lacks variety but is otherwise good. Hard disagree on Tea For One.

First Rays of the New Rising Sun has some good songs, which you called out, but I think that the songwriting is overall alot weaker than three albums before it. If it had come out while he was alive and had that exact track list I’d bash it for being stupidly long for an album like that, but it makes sense as a posthumous release.

I like New Morning but I don’t have much to say about it.

“Dinah Moe-Humm” is quoted in the Aerosmith song Girl Keeps Coming Apart, from Permanent Vacation, if you didn’t remember that.

I quite like I’m the Slime.