Equus

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Steven B Fantastic, magnificent play! Pretty good movie. Richard Burton is flawless as the troubled Dr Dysart, his opening and closing monologs stay in the memory for ages and his envy for the disturbed youth and his personal encounters with what he believes is God is touching and powerful. I saw the play performed on Broadway in it's initial American version. The horses were all played by dancers in ominous horse masks and costumes. This is where the film gets it wrong. Instead of the symbolic horses and horrible blinding, the film shows these literally including the almost unwatchable horse blinding. Not only does it take away the poetry and power of the theatrical version, it comes close to making it nothing more than a horror movie with brains. I said it comes close. Burton's shamefully neglected best performance by an actor at the Academy Awards was shameful especially when they gave it to RICHARD Dreyfuss for The Goodbye Girl! Does anyone even remember The Goodbye Girl or Richard Dreyfus for that matter. If you can't see the play then definitely see the movie. Feel free to miss The Goodbye Girl. By the way Peter Firth as the young man with very misguided ideas about horses is very good too, but he's no Richard Burton. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 09/13/24 Full Review Michael R Absolutely awesome. Seen it 40+ times. Incredible. Deep psychological drama. Originally a play, which influences the kind of action/interaction to be found in it. Very insightful presentation of what it is to be authentic, passionate, and intensely alive in a world that's fake, perfunctory, shallow, hypocritical - and the perils of such a situation. Hopefully it will become available on streaming platforms soon! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 08/15/24 Full Review robert p Equus works as a play but does not transfer to the screen thus the *3* star rating!!! Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A film with intriguing ideas that gets lost in what it's trying to say. Equus is a film about the mundaneness of life and the effects it has on society. The best thing about this film is the performances of Burton and Firth who give their all to these roles. However, the script and direction gets lost and the film goes in circles. It tries to correlate Alan's (sexual?) awakening for his passion for horses and Martin's monotonous life that has never has such an awakening. It goes into detail about Martin's belief that his psychiatry his harming patients and rips away their uniqueness to fit into society and his desire to something more fulfilling in his life. However, he never goes into detail about what would make him feel fulfilled. Martin just complains about his boring wife, life and job but details no alternatives. It is all left too vague. Alan, the patient, admires horses and feels some strong bond with them. He initially connects with these animals' feeling of entrapment. However, he blinds six horses due to his annoyance with his feelings for these horses. The correlation the film tries to make between Alan and Martin's feelings is very weak and could have been stronger with a better script, pacing and direction. The script was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar which I don't think it deserved. Burton was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar in which I thought he was better than Allen but worse than Travolta and Mastroianni. Firth was nominated for the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in which I thought he was better than Guinness. Overall, a film that has interesting things to say about the mundaneness, monotony and lost passions of life but fails to sufficiently connect these issues in the story. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review dave s The story is fascinating. A teenage boy (Peter Firth) with deeply-rooted psychological problems gouges the eyes out of a number of stabled horses. Psychiatrist Martin Dysart (Richard Burton) accepts the boy as a patient in an effort to determine what factors contributed to the horrific event. Director Sidney Lumet pulls great performances out of both Firth and Burton (as would be expected) and the film has its fair share of impactful scenes, but the movie is far too talky at times and the fact that the ‘fourth wall' is broken at length on several occasions by Burton becomes distracting and annoying, especially in light of the fact that it seems unnecessary. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Haunting and hauntingly beautiful. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Equus

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