83
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100TV Guide MagazineTV Guide MagazineThe film is a harrowing, painfully honest, sometimes violent journey, astonishingly acted and rendered.
- 90Time OutTime OutIt's a stunningly impressive piece of work, typically (for Penn) deriving much of its power from the performances.
- 88Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonAnne Bancroft won the Oscar playing Helen Keller's teacher, Annie Sullivan, in this intelligent adaptation of William Gibson's Broadway hit, and it's a fierce, moving job, highlighted by the incredibly savage battles between teacher Annie and pupil Helen (fellow Oscar winner Patty Duke). It's a model serious bio-drama.
- 80The New YorkerPauline KaelThe New YorkerPauline KaelTruffaut's The Wild Child is a more beautifully conceived picture on the same theme, but even with its imperfections and staginess this early Penn film is extraordinary.
- 80Village VoiceNick PinkertonVillage VoiceNick PinkertonA film that storms where most biopics respectfully tiptoe.
- 70The New York TimesBosley CrowtherThe New York TimesBosley CrowtherThe absolutely tremendous and unforgettable display of physically powerful acting that Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke put on in William Gibson's stage play The Miracle Worker is repeated by them in the film made from it by the same producer, Fred Coe, and the same director, Arthur Penn.