Opening Night

Name: Opening Night
Genre: Drama
Released: December 25, 1977
Duration: 144 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands, Joan Blondell, John Cassavetes, John Finnegan

1977

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Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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7.3

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7.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 8 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Faces Distribution | Release Date: December 25, 1977 | PG-13

Starring: Ben Gazzara, Gena Rowlands, Joan Blondell, John Cassavetes, John Finnegan, John Tuell, Laura Johnson, Paul Stewart, Ray Powers, Zohra Lampert

Summary: An actress suffers an emotional uproar in her personal life after a fan dies trying to see her.

Director: John Cassavetes

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: PG-13

Runtime: 144 min

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Critic Reviews

Richard Brody

Cassavetes’s most cleverly constructed film is also a definitive lesson in the death-defying, all-consuming art of acting, proof of a madness beyond the Method. Read full review

Josh Larsen

Rowlands takes the movie by the throat in the dramatic, onstage sequences, just as Brando would have done, yet she’s equally compelling in the film’s smaller moments. Read full review

Jonathan Rosenbaum

Juggling onstage and offstage action, Cassavetes makes this a fascinating look at some of the internal mechanisms and conflicts that create theatrical fiction, and his wonderful cast never lets him down. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Gena Rowlands gives one of her bravest, most startling performances here, waging guerilla combat with the demands of a play she can’t abide, wrestling with demons so real they kick her in the teeth. Read full review

Roger Ebert

Gena Rowlands plays the role at perfect pitch: She is able to suggest, even in the midst of seemingly ordinary moments, the controlled panic of a person who needs a drink, right here, right now. Read full review

Staff (Not Credited)

Opening Night is a reminder of what has made Mr. Cassavetes's films so appealing, and of what can make them so maddening, too. For all its length -- nearly two and three-quarter hours -- it's a relatively thin example of the director's work, but a mischievous and inviting one, too. Read full review

Judith Martin

There is no attempt to explain why an actress would go to pieces when she discovers a point of identity with her role; nor why an actress who is constantly loony, drunk, abusive or all three would not be understudied, let alone replaced. It should be noted that the play-within-the-movie is even worse than the movie-about-the-play. [14 Apr 1978, p.18]

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KenR

May 7, 2021

Opening Night – Won’t last The Season More massive 'home movies' overindulgence from Cassavetes. Again, this one appears to have been made to provide work for his drinking buddies and immediate family – it also seems to play out more like an extended commercial for Booze and King-sizeOpening Night – Won’t last The Season More massive 'home movies' overindulgence from Cassavetes. Again, this one appears to have been made to provide work for his drinking buddies and immediate family – it also seems to play out more like an extended commercial for Booze and King-size cigarettes. Within his predictable formulaic approach, his pals and family consume massive quantities of alcohol, courtesy of J& B, with endless shots of the bottle labels placed in prime positions of each shot (often with the label facing directly to camera to make sure you get the message) They also smoke back to back, endless cigarettes and whatever else – in fact, it looks more like these movies might have been designed to keep everyone in free grog and smokes (this, from what we are constantly told, is a sadly accepted, excessive pastime in Hollywoodland)

The scripts for any one of these films would be lucky to have handfuls of fully written dialogue pages, yet most all painfully run for well over two hours - with endless repetitive scenes that could easily have been wrapped up far more convincingly in 80-90mins maximum. Those who don’t mind spending time with a chap who sadly drank and smoked himself into an early grave – might last the distance, others might be warned to seek more ‘accessible’ entertainment. Apologies to the fans but ticket sales suggest John was actually a better actor than movie-maker, and it’s a pity we did not see more of him in quality mainstream shows such as ‘Edge Of the City’, etc.… Expand

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