Word: equus
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...EQUUS IS dangerous dramatic territory. Its harsh terrain overflows with traps--gaping, bottomless craters of existentialism, sexual repression, and religious angst--into which the ambitious but uncautious director can easily tumble, desperately waving his arms and kicking his feet in vain as he cries "Why didn't I do Guys and Dolls?" That a non-professional would dare to take on Equus is commendable; it displays courage, or at least, self-confidence. That a non-professional director can create an intelligent and profoundly affecting rendition of Equus is remarkable; it displays unique talent...
What follows is almost a rerun of Equus. Like the psychiatrist in Equus, who examined the deranged boy who blinded horses, Dr. Livingstone quizzes Agnes only to receive similar rebuffs and elusively Delphic answers. Like the psychiatrist in Equus, who was forced to question his reasoned image of civilization vs. the boy's irrational Dionysian passion, the psychiatrist in Agnes of God is forced to question her reliance on scientific knowledge vs. Agnes' beatific display of faith...
...other bronzes, carvings and drawings of horses, at Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Horses of San Marco," which remains at the Met until June 1, is an exemplary show. It is full of insights into one of the great images of antiquity and the Renaissance, Equus seen as a symbol of the transactions between nature and culture. The show also demonstrates how the influence of the animals in Venice has survived for more than seven centuries, in copies, studies, models and full-scale figures ranging from medieval miniatures to Antonio Canova's design for a monument...
...largely the result of massive advertising campaigns and $27.50 top seats at musicals and commensurately priced ones for dramas. The shows that succeeded, like Grease and Annie, did so by widening their audience appeal; consequently, both were enjoyable but neither was exceptionally memorable. A Chorus Line, Equus and Travesties proved that quality productions, even ones which aim at a fairly sophisticated level of intelligence, can still succeed financially, but in the '70s these stood as the all-too-rare exceptions...
...difficulties. The young hero Alec (Kelly Reno) and the black stallion, sole survivors of the wreck, are washed up on a deserted and terribly picturesque beach. There they carry out a lengthy and teasing courtship that manages to merge the sentimentality of Lassie with the homoeroticism of Equus. Alec and the stal lion find food for each other, watch sun sets together and finally celebrate their relationship in a wild ride along the shore. Once the pah- are rescued and reach Alec's small-town American home, the film's mystical aura evaporates completely. What follows...