Equus

This movie wasn't available to stream, so I bought a used DVD. I was surprised not to find it more easily, as its reputation preceded it - a director with a strong reputation, a very famous lead actor, a playwright who's written some immortal hits. In the first 10 minutes, a character recites a variety of commercial jingles (for Doublemint gum etc), and my educated guess is that's why - that it's a clearance issue. 

Anyway, the film itself. It was intense. That was the word I kept thinking of as I watched. Maybe it was noticeable because few of the other films of the year have that quality, or maybe it was just the nature of the source play. Burton was very good, but he looked ravaged, as if he'd just come off a bender. (This was immediately after the final Taylor breakup.) Peter Firth was obviously excellent, although a bit old for the part. It was a pleasure seeing Jenny Agutter, as usual. The direction was somewhat pedestrian but high-quality. The interiors were slightly less ugly than in other films of the year. 

I thought this was a terrific piece of art, but I wouldn't want to watch it too often, as it's brutal and strange. It must be spellbinding on stage. In film it's a little tougher to invest in the base wackiness of its ideas, but the momentum and performances carry it off. 

The film wasn't especially tied to the year, I thought, although it might have some thematic resonance. I'm assembling a theory about the double-edged sword of sexual freedom manifesting in this year. It seems like the uglier side of that sword was slicing people up in art this year in ways it hadn't yet. This film might belong to that movement. That might be a stretch, though; the subject of this film/play is different than almost anything I've seen outside of opera, and that makes it less a product of its time than a beautiful aberration. Still thinking it over. 

This is not the only play adaptation that came out in '77, and sometimes it does show its seams. (Plays and films are much less simpatico than they seem at first glance, because plays are restricted in space and films are not.) But this fares much better than A Little Night Music, which I watched the night before Equus, and which, funnily enough, stars Burton's dramatic and personal opposite. I'm interested in both of them appearing in play adaptations this year, particularly because Taylor's is a musical, which she...should not have done. Burton did do another movie in '77, and unfortunately it was Exorcist II: The Heretic.