 Molly Haskell's review in "New York" remarked that the film came "not a moment too soon" for fans of the play, and that Burton was eloquent, Firth "brings out the ugly and unpleasant qualities of the boy", while Jenny Agutter "is rudely treated as the girl who, in another of those preposterous conventions of sixties movies, offers herself nude to the sensitive youth only to have him spurn her".Jesse Kornbluth, writing for "Texas Monthly", called the film "an unqualified success", even though he felt the play was only of interest to "middle-brow" audiences.English Professor James M. Welsh felt using real horses in the film was understandable, but argued the outdoor scenes infringed on the "abstract theatrical design" that gave the play its creativity.