Equus (1977) on Netflix
In Hampshire, England, psychiatrist Martin Dysart takes on Alan Strang, a seventeen-year-old stable boy who blinded six horses with a sickle. The boy answers only in television jingles.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb7.1/109,341 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes70%
Trailer
Plot summary
Hesther Saloman, a magistrate, asks Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist at a hospital in Hampshire, England, to treat Alan Strang, a seventeen-year-old stable boy who blinded six horses with a sickle. Dysart works with disturbed teenagers, and Alan answers him only with television commercial jingles. Dysart visits the boy's parents: Frank Strang, who is not religious, and Dora Strang, a Christian fundamentalist who told her son that God sees all. Alan came to worship a god he calls Equus, present in horses. Dysart begins to win the boy's confidence.
Cast
- Patrick Brymeras Hospital Patient
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Equus (1977)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson were both considered for the part of Dysart in the film version, while Richard Burton's stage performance in the role had won over audiences, despite concerns about his alcoholism.
- The scene in which Peter Firth rides the horse nude was filmed in one take, an uninterrupted shot lasting four and a half minutes.
- Sidney Lumet shot much of the footage with the horses' heads morphing into the faces of Jesus, Dora Strang and Frank Strang, then decided this was unsubtle and cut much of it, keeping only a glimpse of a Balinese dagger to portray ancient impulses.
- Though the story is set in Hampshire, England, the film was shot entirely around Ontario, Canada, with Georgetown and Halton Hills doubling for the English town and a real Toronto house used as the Strang family home.
