Rating: 
Summary: Fantastic Dialogue and The Experience of Therapy
Review: "Equus" restored my faith in Sidney Lumet after watching a few of his films that bombed. Lumet transfers the stage play beautifully to the screen, exploring an interesting case of a boy who has blinded six horses. Richard Burton is magnificent and one of the only actors that can carry on long-winded dialogues with conviction. Equally able is the deranged boy (played by Peter Firth) who cross-examines Burton, knocking him off his feet in a similar manner to Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting.""Equus" explores what it means to be normal. Burton's character realizes that being normal, to a certain degree, is having abnormalities. Peter Firth's character has a worship that is more passionate and alive than most human beings ever feel-certainly more than Burton's character. Burton longs to have the boy's passion and yet realizes that he is trying to free the boy from these feelings as he is doing so. He muses over the meaning of his life and the therapy he gives. If he can never understand "why" a child acts the way it does, is there any point to therapy? While this movie starts out with a completely absurd and twisted plot, it eventually fades into a very believable plot line. As Burton pulls the information from Firth's head and we witness the boy's instable home life and threatening religious background, the plot becomes normal and we come to understand the boy's situation. The movie becomes clear as the boy's troubles become clear. The effect of this is that we experience the therapy along with Peter Firth. This is masterfully done and Lumet should be applauded. My only complaint about the movie is that it is a little long-winded. However, the dialogue is top-notch and the acting is incredible. If you're a fan of Richard Burton and his monologue performances driven by a play-adaptation, get this film.
Rating:
Summary: Fantastic Dialogue and The Experience of Therapy
Review: "Equus" restored my faith in Sidney Lumet after watching a few of his films that bombed. Lumet transfers the stage play beautifully to the screen, exploring an interesting case of a boy who has blinded six horses. Richard Burton is magnificent and one of the only actors that can carry on long-winded dialogues with conviction. Equally able is the deranged boy (played by Peter Firth) who cross-examines Burton, knocking him off his feet in a similar manner to Matt Damon in "Good Will Hunting." "Equus" explores what it means to be normal. Burton's character realizes that being normal, to a certain degree, is having abnormalities. Peter Firth's character has a worship that is more passionate and alive than most human beings ever feel-certainly more than Burton's character. Burton longs to have the boy's passion and yet realizes that he is trying to free the boy from these feelings as he is doing so. He muses over the meaning of his life and the therapy he gives. If he can never understand "why" a child acts the way it does, is there any point to therapy? While this movie starts out with a completely absurd and twisted plot, it eventually fades into a very believable plot line. As Burton pulls the information from Firth's head and we witness the boy's instable home life and threatening religious background, the plot becomes normal and we come to understand the boy's situation. The movie becomes clear as the boy's troubles become clear. The effect of this is that we experience the therapy along with Peter Firth. This is masterfully done and Lumet should be applauded. My only complaint about the movie is that it is a little long-winded. However, the dialogue is top-notch and the acting is incredible. If you're a fan of Richard Burton and his monologue performances driven by a play-adaptation, get this film.
Rating: 
Summary: The Script is a masterpiece!
Review: A flawlessly-written script with mythical undertones presented with brilliant performances -yet this is a very disturbing story for horse lovers such as myself. However, its passionate flow and the beauty of language and landscape keep one fixed to the screen. I would have liked to see the stage version, however I did not. But the outdoor scenes in this movie were stunning - and I would not have gotten that from a stage performance. This movie is high art.
Rating:
Summary: POWERFUL PSYCHOLOGICAL DRAMA....
Review: Absolutely stunning film version of the Tony-winning play. Richard Burton is fine as psychiatrist Dr.Dysart who tackles a disturbing case involving a young stablehand, Alan(Peter Firth) who has inexplicably blinded six horses. Alan has become obsessed with the mythological horse god Equus and secretly worships horses in religious/sexual frenzy. Dysart (who has problems of his own) tries to uncover what led up to the mutilations and discovers the boy's parents were aware of some of his strange rituals but coldly did nothing. Joan Plowright is excellent as the mother who reveals too late her own shortcomings. Beautiful Jenny Agutter is also fine as the girl whose seduction of Alan in the stables leads to the tragic occurrance... but Peter Firth is simply fantastic as the mentally fragile Alan. His performance carries the film and his role requires him to be nude through much of it. But titillating this is not. It is a wrenching film and the blinding of the horses is almost unbearable to watch. This is the kind of film that challenges the viewer and leaves much open for discussion. On that level alone, it is recommended highly. Others beware that the bizarre subject matter may put some viewers off. Nonetheless, it's an excellent film and an unusual journey into the psyche of a most unusual (and sad) young man. Excellent direction by Sidney Lumet. Rather "bare bones" DVD but it looks and sounds great. A collector's item.
Rating:
Summary: EL SUPREMO PSYCH TECH STUFF
Review: Boy loves girl. Boy rapes girl. Horses watch. Thier eyes must be cut out so they cannot testify. Jeesh. I've heard CRAZY before, but this one takes the cake. His mom is even crazier.
Rating: 
Summary: Something Went Horribly Wrong!
Review: Directed by Sidney Lumet, creator of Network, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and The Pawnbroker; with the screenplay written by Peter Shaffer, the author of the original play, which is one of the great plays of the Twentieth Century; and starring Richard Burton, one of our finest dramatic actors; the movie version of EQUUS should have been both a thrilling visual and emotional experience. Something, however, went horribly wrong in translating the play to the screen. Nothing seems to work. For example, the blinding of the horses in the stage production is totally believable and so overpowering. Using men wearing metal horses' heads works completely. The similar scenes in the movie with actual horses are so brutal as to be almost unwatchable. The nudity is not at all gratuituous in the play but seems unnecessary in the movie adaptation. The spare set complements the acting in the play and is so effective. That is all of course lost in the movie version. Martin Dysart's talking to the audience is so moving in the play; in the movie it comes off simply as both artificial and boring. (It doesn't help matters that Burton has three volumnes: loud, much louder and too loud.) The psychiatrist's musings as to whether the young man should be "fixed" and brought into the mainstream but never be able to "run" free again are at the heart of the play; here they just appear trite. Not every great work of art can be translated into another medium. I'm not sure this great play could ever be made into a good movie. Maybe a film should have been made of a good stage production in order that this truly great play could be seen by a larger audience.
Rating:
Summary: Something Went Horribly Wrong!
Review: Directed by Sidney Lumet, creator of Network, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon and The Pawnbroker; with the screenplay written by Peter Shaffer, the author of the original play, which is one of the great plays of the Twentieth Century; and starring Richard Burton, one of our finest dramatic actors; the movie version of EQUUS should have been both a thrilling visual and emotional experience. Something, however, went horribly wrong in translating the play to the screen. Nothing seems to work. For example, the blinding of the horses in the stage production is totally believable and so overpowering. Using men wearing metal horses' heads works completely. The similar scenes in the movie with actual horses are so brutal as to be almost unwatchable. The nudity is not at all gratuituous in the play but seems unnecessary in the movie adaptation. The spare set complements the acting in the play and is so effective. That is all of course lost in the movie version. Martin Dysart's talking to the audience is so moving in the play; in the movie it comes off simply as both artificial and boring. (It doesn't help matters that Burton has three volumnes: loud, much louder and too loud.) The psychiatrist's musings as to whether the young man should be "fixed" and brought into the mainstream but never be able to "run" free again are at the heart of the play; here they just appear trite. Not every great work of art can be translated into another medium. I'm not sure this great play could ever be made into a good movie. Maybe a film should have been made of a good stage production in order that this truly great play could be seen by a larger audience.
Rating:
Summary: Horse Feathers
Review: For a good portion of "Equus" I thought I was watching one of the worst films I've seen in my life. The film's basic premise of a stableboy who blinds some horses being treated by a clinical psychiatrist who is having a mid-life crisis should have been a tip-off that this film is a dog. For the most part the narrative is incoherent, loaded with flashbacks that make no sense, unintelligible psychobabble, and monologues by Richard Burton as the psychiatrist that seem to go on forever. Peter Firth as Alan Strang, the stableboy, has the unenviable task of making sympathetic a character whose done the unspeakable;he doesn't succeed. I was well prepared to give this film one star if it were not for the performance by Richard Burton as the world-weary psychiatrist. He does the impossible by making us believe that he cares about the monster he's treating. Jenny Agutter does a good job as one of Firth's co-workers who takes a shine to him. Joan Plowright also makes sympathetic her part as Firth's mother who, on paper, should be less sympathetic.
Rating:
Summary: The fantasies of a not-so-stable stable boy
Review: Hollywood gets mixed reviews on its ability to present plausible psychiatrist-patient relationships on film. On the tacky end of the scale are DAVID AND LISA and FINAL ANALYSIS; on the "deeply moving" end of the scale are ORDINARY PEOPLE and GOOD WILL HUNTING. Most, like THE THREE FACES OF EVE fall somewhere in the middle--interesting though unsubtle stories that reduce the patient's neurosis to a single mystery that needs to be unlocked by an indefatiguable professional who is egoless and has the blank personality to prove it. Sidney Lumet's adaptation of the Peter Shaffer's stage play EQUUS is exceptional for its ability to transport to film the full emotional complexity and intensity of a psychiatrist's relationship with one of his patients. And this is done almost entirely through the skill of the actors: Richard Burton as the psychiatrist Dr. Martin Dysart, Peter Firth as the disturbed stable boy who inexplicably blinded several of the horses in his care, Colin Blakely and Joan Plowright as the boy's religiously incompatible parents, and Eileen Atkins as a judge who has asked Dr. Dysart to take on this challenging case. This is not to minimize other contributions--the cinematography is exceedingly intelligent and unobtrusive. It's simply to say that Lumet seems to have realized that he had assembled a dream cast and made every effort to stay out of their way and to let each actor shine. Burton's performance is perhaps the best of his film career. Though intense at times, he is completely devoid of the stagey "haminess" that has marred some of his other film performances. Firth, as the patient, moves easily from jingle-singing dissociated boy, to surly rebellious youth, to a sort of highly eroticized mythic being. It is truly fascinating to watch. Because the psychiatrist has issues of his own, and because the story is as much about his coming to terms with his own demons as with those of his patient, EQUUS is not your typical Hollywood psychotherapy movie. It delves into the mythology and religion as well as the human condition. In the end, the film gives you a lot to think about after you've hit the stop button on your remote. A disturbing but powerful film.
Rating:
Summary: The fantasies of a not-so-stable stable boy
Review: Hollywood gets mixed reviews on its ability to present plausible psychiatrist-patient relationships on film. On the tacky end of the scale are DAVID AND LISA and FINAL ANALYSIS; on the "deeply moving" end of the scale are ORDINARY PEOPLE and GOOD WILL HUNTING. Most, like THE THREE FACES OF EVE fall somewhere in the middle--interesting though unsubtle stories that reduce the patient's neurosis to a single mystery that needs to be unlocked by an indefatiguable professional who is egoless and has the blank personality to prove it. Sidney Lumet's adaptation of the Peter Shaffer's stage play EQUUS is exceptional for its ability to transport to film the full emotional complexity and intensity of a psychiatrist's relationship with one of his patients. And this is done almost entirely through the skill of the actors: Richard Burton as the psychiatrist Dr. Martin Dysart, Peter Firth as the disturbed stable boy who inexplicably blinded several of the horses in his care, Colin Blakely and Joan Plowright as the boy's religiously incompatible parents, and Eileen Atkins as a judge who has asked Dr. Dysart to take on this challenging case. This is not to minimize other contributions--the cinematography is exceedingly intelligent and unobtrusive. It's simply to say that Lumet seems to have realized that he had assembled a dream cast and made every effort to stay out of their way and to let each actor shine. Burton's performance is perhaps the best of his film career. Though intense at times, he is completely devoid of the stagey "haminess" that has marred some of his other film performances. Firth, as the patient, moves easily from jingle-singing dissociated boy, to surly rebellious youth, to a sort of highly eroticized mythic being. It is truly fascinating to watch. Because the psychiatrist has issues of his own, and because the story is as much about his coming to terms with his own demons as with those of his patient, EQUUS is not your typical Hollywood psychotherapy movie. It delves into the mythology and religion as well as the human condition. In the end, the film gives you a lot to think about after you've hit the stop button on your remote. A disturbing but powerful film.
| 
