knee. When John awakens and learns that his leg has been amputated, he goes into a fury, convinced that Martha performed the operation as revenge for his rejection of her sexual advances. John, under lock and key, convinces Carol to unlock his door. He sneaks from his room into Martha's room and steals a pistol and some personal items of Martha's including some letters from her brother. Convinced that Martha plans to hold him prisoner, John confronts Martha at gunpoint, claiming control of the house and declaring his intention to have his way with any of the women or girls. He gets drunk and then confronts the entire household, revealing that he read Martha's letters and that they implicate Martha and her brother in an incestuous relationship. In a fit of anger he also kills Amy's pet turtle. Edwina follows John to his room and professes her love for him. They begin to kiss and it is later implied that they had sex. Meanwhile, Martha convinces the others (except for Edwina, who is not present) that they need to kill John to prevent him from denouncing them to Union troops who have made camp within sight of the school. Martha asks Amy to pick mushrooms they can prepare "especially for him" and Amy says she knows just where to find some. At dinner, John apologizes for his actions, and Edwina reveals that she and John have made plans to leave the school and marry. John has been eating the mushrooms and the others pass the bowl without taking any except for Edwina. When she starts to eat some, Martha cries out for her to stop. John realizes he has been poisoned, and leaves the dining room disoriented, and collapses in the hallway. The following day, the women sew his corpse into a burial shroud and carry him out of the gate to bury. They agree he died of exhaustion, and Amy denies she could ever pick a poisonous mushroom by mistake. Cast Clint Eastwood as Corporal John 'McBee' McBurney Geraldine Page as Martha Farnsworth Elizabeth Hartman as Edwina Dabney Jo Ann Harris as Carol Darleen Carr as Doris Mae Mercer as Hallie Pamelyn Ferdin as Amelia 'Amy' Melody Thomas as Abigail Peggy Drier as Lizzie Pattye Mattick as Janie Production Clint Eastwood was given a copy of the 1966 novel by producer Jennings Lang, and was engrossed throughout the night