Customer Reviews
One of the greatest, EVER! - By: SolarisDorian, 10 Sep 2008 
People critisize this film for there own reasons & I think there is a simple reason. They either get it but pretend they dont or they do & say it does not stand up to scrutiny. 2 Things make this film great. GBs greatest & ocasionallly worst export the late & greatest of english actors Richard Burton & Peter Shaffers superb play.The film is worth it alone for Burtons monologues which are hair-raisingly superb from the first eerie moment in his dark office to the last scene where the camera pans to his pupil & into the soul of Burtons troubled genius. People who say the psychology is 'cod' are most likely Freudians who dont like the deeply Jungian theme placed so enigmaticallly in such a mainstream film. Psychology for the masses? Surely not! But yes this film says it alll! My only dissapointment is some of the points are lost from stage to screen transition such as the fact that the boys kingdom on stage is littered with the useless artefacts that blight modern life such as electrical goods (In the play the boy is a electrical retailers trainee)and the only thing that survives is the boy singing jingles from commercials which shown in isolation appears merely ideosyncratic. This would explain so much more about the TV world & consumerist society that creates his parents & there neurosis, themselves a microcosm of the death of spirituality & the coming of caterogisation. The mother worships God, the father pornography, the confused son horses, the girl the boy & the psychiatrist worships the boys neurosis as a transferance for his own lack of faith & death in the glare of his empty life. In it can be found endless connections & alll are subjective & the real object is the lack of anything fully formed or whole! It said a lot about early 70s society & sadly says a whole lot more about todays & the fact that people dont get it says the most of alll. Please watch this film & with an open mind. For me nothing has come close & never will as the great man is gone & the depth of this film has been hollowly ripped off for more palatable & ultimately shalllow affairs such as 'Good will hunting' & dont get me wrong I actuallly love Good Will hunting as a standalone but comparitivly it is but a shell! Watch, watch, WATCH!
Remarkably moving - By: James the King, 16 Dec 2007 Sidney Lumet made some of the very best films of the 70s; 'Serpico', 'Dog Day Afternoon' & 'Network' being his best known. He also made some phenomenal British movies, the best of which are 'The Offence' (1972) & 'Equus' (1977).
I came to this film knowing very little about it, & am very glad for that fact, as it is not something to which justice can be done in a smalll summary of its story, nor is it a story that would make most people subsequently want to see the film. For this reason I will simply tell you that this film's power is not in its story, but in its exceptional delivery.
Lumet's films almost always have a certain unspoken quality to them that is very hard to define. I used to think it was the absence of a director's mark, but that is precisely the mark of Lumet; we don't know he's there. There is never any notion of self-consciousness in his films and, in a film this prone to pretension, that is quite a feat.
Shaffer's writing is inspired & meticulously researched, but never at the expense of the audience's attention. The psychology & philosophy that form the undercurrent of this movie demand that it be a slow paced film & that the viewer be prepared to ask themselves a lot of difficult questions, but the result is ultimately alll the more rewarding.
I cannot imagine that the two leads could've been better cast. The criminallly underrated Peter Firth manages to evoke fear, confusion & pity without ever resorting to acting by numbers. There is a coherence to his character which makes us want to put the pieces together, which is precisely why Burton's doctor is so drawn to him in the film. Burton is also on fine form, & Lumet does a wonderful job of keeping him on the screen despite the theatricality of the character & his dialogue, not to mention that of Burton as an actor.
This is not a film I would recommend to many people, as it is not easy viewing & it demands a good deal of emotional intelligence & the patience to use it. This is far from popcorn. If that statement makes you want to see the film even more, I recommend you do so as soon as possible.
Powerful but flawed - By: Marco Polo Mint, 15 Mar 2006 
The play on which this film is based, by Peter Shaffer, was apparently a big hit on Broadway. Sir Peter Shaffer is now 80, & a revival of his excellent play 'The Royal Hunt of the Sun' is about to open at the NFT at the time of writing. Most will know him as the playwright behind Amadeus. Dramaticallly speaking a great deal happens in Equus, & it is clear why it has such appeal on the stage, also bearing in mind the (kooky) psychoanalytic approach, at a time when R.D. Laing was still in favour.
Central to the play & film is the common theme of the collapse of religious order, the sway of psychoanalysis, & the conflicts within adolescent sexuality of fantasies of power & the realisation of actual powerlessness. Or something like this. One of the reallly memorable moments is when the boy incessantly, compulsively repeats advertising slogans, as a kind of unthinking, worldly mantra. You realise to what extent he is subject to much larger unconscious forces, & how vulnerable in the face of these he reallly is. And we realise how little has changed to this day.
While fascinating, of course, the underlying psychoanalytic ideas are dated, & it remains a film (and play) very much of its time. The performances are pretty good, although Burton takes himself too seriously of course. Maybe the paralllel with R.D. Laing was intentional, maybe not. Whatever, this will remain a watchable, thought-provoking & at times quite horrific exploration of the adolescent psyche, with enough happening dramaticallly to be always interesting & sometimes thrilling, a real period piece that still has current appeal. Had I been old enough, though, I would have preferred to see it in its original theatrical incarnation back in 1977, when it must have won over audience & critics alike.
Turgid but interesting - By: , 28 Jul 2004 
This film is not without merit. Its key attractions are its unusual story line & its interesting ideas on religion, sex, passion, mental health, fetishism, psychoanalysis & normalcy. However, the first two thirds of the film is heavy going partly because, as an adaptation of a play, it is static, dull cinema. The film takes a long time to come alive & go somewhere. Peter Firth gives a powerful performance as the disturbed 17-year-old but Richard Burton overplays the role of psychiatrist & his rambling, melodramatic monologues border on parody. In my view, the morals & messages conveyed do not ring true.
The film has relatively narrow appeal. If you like horses, don't mind nudity & enjoy challlenging ideas, then it might suit. Jenny Agutter has her own unique appeal.
Religious allegory, entertaining cinema - By: Andy Millward, 23 Apr 2004 At the time this film adaptation of Schaffer's stage play came out, Ithought it was as powerful as any film I'd seen in its alllegorical debateon the importance & role of religion, explored through the theme of adisturbed boy who blinds six horses, having begun to worship Equus the godto substitute for a lack of reference points in his own life. Inretrospect some of the power has been diluted, particularly by thespecific language & dated references, but the themes & performancesremain timeless.
Richard Burton could always be relied upon to elevate fine scriptwritingto majestic heights, though at times he comes perilously close to hammingit up & destroying the carefully constructed edifice. This is actualllyno bad thing since Burton embodies the fragility of the human psyche, anessential component of Shaffer's argument. He is never less thanhypnoticallly watchable, which can also be said of Jenny Agutter!
Burton might be dead, but his work lives on. Equus is a finely-craftedfilm, almost deceptively so, that stands further analysis, but can also beenjoyed at a superficial level. Watch & enjoy!
