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Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0130230027918
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
Label: Geneon [Pioneer]
Languages: EnglishUnknownDolby Digital 2.0 MonoEnglishOriginal LanguageDolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Manufacturer: Geneon [Pioneer]
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Geneon [Pioneer]
Release Date: April 14, 1998
Running Time: 144 minutes
Studio: Geneon [Pioneer]
Theatrical Release Date: 1977

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.com:
Gena Rowlands stars in John Cassavetes's drama of an aging, alcoholic stage actress in the days leading up to her latest Broadway opening. Just barely keeping herself together, she cracks after a young fan is killed while running after her limousine, continuing to see visions of the woman. Hitting the bottle even harder while her friends turn their heads and haul her off to spiritualists, she finally staggers in, barely able to stand, for her opening night performance. Like all of her collaborations with her writer-director husband, Rowlands is a woman on the verge of collapse, this time a lonely alcoholic whose very life is a performance. Overlong at 144 minutes, the film's long, loose scenes build through uncomfortable small talk and slow, tentative confrontations. Some of the scenes are edgy and thrilling, though many find this facet of Cassavetes pretentious and self-indulgent. Ultimately it's a matter of taste: if you like his style, you'll love this discomforting drama. Joan Blondell costars as the sardonic but confident playwright and longtime Cassavetes star Ben Gazarra is Rowland's smiling but pitiless manager. Cassavetes has a small role as her self-contained costar, keeping to himself until forced to deal with her onstage in a finale that is either an inspired ad-lib or the loopiest climax to a Broadway drama ever written. --Sean Axmaker

Description:
Gena Rowlands plays a nervous actress on the brink of a breakdown as she prepares for the opening night of her Broadway play. The entire movie takes place in the few days prior to the opening and shows the backstage turmoil of a doomed production. Rowlands begins to fall apart when an adoring fan dies in an accident and she is forced to look hard at her life. Starring: Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes, Joan Blondell, Ben Gazzara.




Rating: - Opening Night a success for Gena Rowlands
Once again, a fine performance from Gena Rowlands. If you appreciate this actress, this is another film in which she shines. As a strong actress with an ability to find, reveal, and let us see the deep motivations that cloud our emotions, blur our intellect, and find justifications for decisions that are a little off-center, she is one of the best. "Opening Night" is a story of a popular but aging star about to open in a live-production, written by Joan Blondell, and follows her struggle to maintain ... Read More

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Rating: - Awesome Performance by Gena Rowlands
I just saw this film on cable TV today, and it affected me enough to look it up on Amazon. Rowlands' complex portrayal of a famous actress who overly identifies with her character in a play--reflecting her own mid-age insecurities (no surprise for mid-40s starlets), is one of the finest I have seen on the screen. I knew she was good, but I never realized how good. Her drunken opening night performance was incredible, though her transformation from dead drunk in the first scene to cold sober? in the last ... Read More

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Rating: - Tour De Force
Written and directed by John Cassavetes, this powerful and compelling film takes you on a intimate journey through one woman's hell and salvation. Gena Rowlands gives a tour de force performance as an actress on the stage and on the brink of madness.

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Rating: - Damned good
John Cassavetes' 1977 film Opening Night is, what critics usually call the work of such a significant artist, `overlooked'. It is an excellent film, in its own right, and one of the best portraits of a midlife crisis ever put to film. It's not a perfect film, in that, at two hours and twenty four minutes it's about a half hour too long, and there's a bit too much emphasis on the drunkenness of the lead character Myrtle Gordon, played by Gena Rowlands, the wife of Cassavetes, long after we've gotten the point. ... Read More

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Rating: - "I'm not acting"
"Opening night" (1977), written and directed by John Cassavetes, is a strange and emotional film that will make an impact on you. This story shows a human being during a period of deep emotional turmoil, and professional confusion.

The main character is Myrtle Gordon (played by a wonderful Gena Rowlands),a famous actress that is unable to cop with the death of a young admirer, killed in an accident near her. As if that were enough, Myrtle is afraid of really playing her part in a new play, due to ... Read More

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