It's all about sex, and it has nothing to do with sex. So many people take this as a romance between a teacher and a student, but the sexual tension between them in the first half of the movie is actually fake. Miss Stevens is broken and traumatized by her mother's death. That's where all the pains and anxieties come from. It is not until the moment she urges him to leave that she is finally touched by his love/affection. Women's pains are not all about love, sex, men. Billy gets it, do you?
片尾所有人回去上班，像是讽了一把《挑战者》，电影被发明出来，不为工人说话又为谁说话呢，黑帮片的暴力背后，藏着一个极度时尚的爱情戏，在最最背后藏的是左翼，甚至是上帝无用、斗私批修的共产观点.
用“你无处可逃”的小环境折射大社会，想法没错但每当试图“上升高度”时就做作起来，哥哥的死让男女主角的感情更紧密了，爱情和暴力谁帮谁总也没说清.
神父角色也十分说教，虽然卡尔·莫尔登在这里比在《挑战者》演得还好.
如今看来，最大意义是启发了后来不少电影，最有名的比如无间道，低俗小说，曼哈顿，出租车司机.
在想当好人的路上走得磕磕绊绊，马龙·白兰度给这“受困的野兽”赋予的深度是永远的经典，You can't see California without Marlon Brando's eyes.爱娃·玛丽·森特在片中可太好看了.
塔西（赞达亚 饰）曾是网球奇才，后来转为教练，在场上和场下都有股不容忽视的强大力量.
她的丈夫阿特（迈克·费斯特 饰）曾经拿下冠军但后来屡次连败，正当她计划为他挽救劣势时，发生了出乎意料的转折；她的丈夫对上了过气的帕特里克（乔什·奥康纳 饰），他曾是塔西的前男友， 同时也是她丈夫过往的死党.
随着他们的过去与现在互相冲击，紧张局势随之升高，塔西必须自问，为了获胜需要付出何种代价.
