Equus (1977)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writers:

Peter Shaffer (play)
Peter Shaffer (screenplay)

Release Date:

October 1977 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery

Tagline:

"I am yours and you are mine"

Plot:

A psychiatrist, Martin Dysart, investigates the savage blinding of six horses with a metal spike in a stable in Hampshire...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Psychiatrist | Male Nudity | Animal Abuse | Breaking The Fourth Wall

Awards:

Nominated for 3 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Richard Burton	...	Martin Dysart
Peter Firth	...	Alan Strang
Colin Blakely	...	Frank Strang
Joan Plowright	...	Dora Strang
Harry Andrews	...	Harry Dalton
Eileen Atkins	...	Hesther Saloman
Jenny Agutter	...	Jill Mason
Kate Reid	...	Margaret Dysart
John Wyman	...	Horseman
Elva Mai Hoover	...	Miss Raintree
Ken James	...	Mr. Pearce
Patrick Brymer	...	Hospital Patient

Runtime:

137 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 (cut) (1978) | Canada:14+ (Ontario) | Ireland:18 | Finland:K-15 (new rating: 2001) (cut) | Australia:R | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 (video rating) (1987) | UK:AA (original rating) | USA:R (certificate #24890) | Spain:18

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Persky-Bright Productions

Trivia:

Anthony Hopkins, who had played Dysart in the original Broadway run in 1974-1975, was considered for the film but had signed for A Bridge Too Far (1977).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Some of the horses blinded in the final scene in the stable are obviously just puppets.

Quotes:

Martin Dysart: All right! The normal is the good smile in a child's eyes. There's also the dead stare in a million adults. It both sustains and kills, like a god. It is the ordinary made beautiful, it is also the average made lethal. Normal is the indispensable murderous god of health and I am his priest.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Richard Dreyfuss/Jimmy Buffett, Gary Tigerman (#3.19)" (1978)

A must-see masterpiece!

I don't know what's the deal with the stage-play, I never saw it, but a film is a film and a play is a play. It's quite normal to me that the two of them should not be compared. Anyway. On the film. I have seen some of Lummet's great overall work both newer and older (Network, Serpico, Night Falls over Manhattan, Critical care, The hill a.o.) and I must say I liked them all. Lummet is one of the greatest and underrated directors of all time. Why? He extracts awesome acting from his actors and he's got a choice for stories.

Equus, is my best Lummet film I have seen so far - I always had a tendency to take interest on and see subtext in extreme, weird, negative situations on film. You have much to take from negative stuff, if they're handled properly. Here, there are so much stated for the viewer to think. Questions on the point of psychotherapy, on the nature of perversion (and its possible causes), importance of religion combined with lack of knowledge, isolation, lust for life and so much more I don't want to refer to here.

Beware! The film features strong material - both visuals and texts - this is no easy film for Hollywood audience. But its not uneasy in a way that it's slow, or 'arty' or anything. Far from that, it's original, deeply involving, with gripping atmosphere... Its subject matter though, might force the more coward or less open-minded viewers to trash it or mock it, for fear of what it could unleash or because they simply couldn't understand it. But intelligent film lovers, take a little tolerance and SEE this. It is worth the search. This is film is a masterpiece of film-making!