Opening Night

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4:43

Opening Night

PG-13

1977

2h 24m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

96%

Tomatometer

27 Reviews

90%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

Actress Myrtle Gordon (Gena Rowlands) is a functioning alcoholic actress who is a few days from the opening night of her latest play, concerning a woman distraught about aging. One night a car kills one of Myrtle's fans who is chasing her limousine in an attempt to get the star's attention. Myrtle internalizes the accident and goes on a spiritual quest, but fails to finds the answers she is after. As opening night inches closer and closer, fragile Myrtle must find a way to make the show go on.

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Critics Consensus

Opening Night is as dense and difficult as one would expect from John Cassavetes, but even the director's detractors will be unable to deny the power of Gena Rowlands' performance.

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Adam Kempenaar

Filmspotting

03/23/2019

4/5

Tying back to A Woman Under the Influence... [Cassavetes] explores what happens when women don't play their prescribed roles.

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Richard Brody

The New Yorker

07/05/2016

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.

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Variety Staff

Variety

07/28/2008

Gena Rowlands turns in another virtuoso performance as the troubled actress. Cassavetes' highly personal work will please his coterie of enthusiasts, but for general audiences it will be viewed as shrill, puzzling, depressing and overlong.

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Justine Smith

Vague Visages

06/06/2024

As the film progresses, the truth comes to the surface, and it hits with bludgeoning force.

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Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

03/14/2019

3.5/4

Rowlands takes the movie by the throat...

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Dom Nero

Esquire Magazine

10/16/2018

Opening Night is exactly the sort challenging film that we should consider when examining the adventurous breadth of a genre that cannot, and should not, be nailed down by any simple definition or formula.

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Leprechaun K

@LeprechaunKing Mar 29

Another classic by Cassavetes. Great performance by Rowlands as always. Cassavetes is a master of capturing emotional intensity. The film is long but rewarding.

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Chelsea C

@Tuzinelda Jan 28

I saw this movie at Alamo this week. I checked the reviews here before I went and I am so perplexed how its reviews are so high. Opening Night is sloppy and lazy. Most of the characters are very poorly written, and there were many missed opportunities to explore anything substantial. The older female playwright was given a very disrespectful amount of creative attention. This movie wishes it was about an actress aging, it sure says it is. But it isn’t. It’s more about alcoholism and it isn’t saying anything interesting about that. The play we are asked to believe was being produced had minimal thought given to it, and we suffer through multiple rounds of meandering off tone improv. It’s unclear what the play even needed to be from the beginning, because I think Cassavetes didn’t make those choices. Perhaps, the main character, like Cassavetes, can get away with doing bad work because they are or were beautiful. And the emperor can have no clothes as long as they once were a star.

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Rare T

@RT00283363 09/10/2024

Very well filmed and acted out.

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Charles B

@RT57688612 07/13/2024

fell asleep in parts of the movie so I had a hard time following the plot. but it was quite intense. The movie projects lots of authentic emotion which is more than can be said for most movies

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Jodi G

@RT98084648 03/09/2024

NOT a brilliant movie. Definitely a confused & tedious one. Everything seems dated, and of course I can think of a zillion other much older films that are not dated & remain fresh & endlessly rewatchable. Gena Rowlands is absolutely BRILLIANT and not in the least dated. With the ghost element could reimagine as rather more mischievous,fun, & genuinely complex inquiry into creative process. Give me Bergman, Fellini, Truffaut, any day of the week.

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Alec B

@Alec97 01/10/2024

A tense examination of an artist in freefall. Rowlands is obviously dynamite here and I appreciate how often the movie plays like a horror film.

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Gena Rowlands

Myrtle Gordon

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Opening Night: Trailer 1

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Synopsis

Actress Myrtle Gordon (Gena Rowlands) is a functioning alcoholic actress who is a few days from the opening night of her latest play, concerning a woman distraught about aging. One night a car kills one of Myrtle's fans who is chasing her limousine in an attempt to get the star's attention. Myrtle internalizes the accident and goes on a spiritual quest, but fails to finds the answers she is after. As opening night inches closer and closer, fragile Myrtle must find a way to make the show go on.

Director: John Cassavetes
Producer: Al Ruban
Screenwriter: John Cassavetes
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 25, 1977, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 29, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA): $10.5K
Runtime: 2h 24m

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