Opening Night (1977)

95% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
91% of users liked it
(3,942 ratings)

John Cassavetes' Opening Night stars Gena Rowlands (Mrs. Cassavetes) as end-of-tether Broadway actress Myrtle Gordon. She is about to open in a play written by her old friend Sarah Goode (Joan Blondell), but a series of pre-show setbacks and disasters threaten to destroy not only the production but… More John Cassavetes' Opening Night stars Gena Rowlands (Mrs. Cassavetes) as end-of-tether Broadway actress Myrtle Gordon. She is about to open in a play written by her old friend Sarah Goode (Joan Blondell), but a series of pre-show setbacks and disasters threaten to destroy not only the production but Myrtle's sanity. The actress is especially rattled when one of her staunchest fans dies in an accident. In the face of bleak reality, just how important is the old "show must go on" ethic? Supporting Gena Rowlands are such veterans of the New York-Hollywood shuttle as Ben Gazzara, Zohra Lampert, Paul Stewart, James Karen, and several friends and relatives of the principals. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: PG-13, 2 hr. 24 min.
Directed By: John Cassavetes
Written By: John Cassavetes
Genres: Drama

In Theaters: Dec 22, 1977 Limited
On DVD: Jun 29, 1998
Studio: Faces Distributing Corporation

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
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.
Jeff Menell, Hollywood Reporter
John Cassavetes was unique in his visions and his films.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Juggling onstage and offstage action, Cassavetes makes this a fascinating look at some of the internal mechanisms and conflicts that create theatrical fiction.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The scenes in which Myrtle consults first one and then another spiritualist are typical of Cassavetes's genius in filming madness.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Intriguing but enigmatic backstage theater melodrama with shades of All About Eve.
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser
The unpredictability of Rowlands' character brings one surprise after another to the narrative as the other characters scramble to accommodate or cajole her, and the surprises are often as funny as they are intensely dramatic.
Kim Newman, Empire Magazine
As per usual it features a superb cast, including the ever-present Gena Rowlands, who successfully improvise their way the film.
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
As densely layered and difficult as anything else Cassavetes ever directed, as dense as any American film from the 1970s.
Derek Malcolm, This is London
the film is almost suffocatingly long, even though its ideas about actors, acting and real life are among Cassavetes's most intriguing.
, Total Film
As you might expect, coming from indie godfather John Cassavetes, 1977's Opening Night is something else, a weird, raw, ragged portrait of an actress on the verge of a
Tim Robey, Daily Telegraph
The film of the week is 30 years old and hasn't aged a day. It's John Cassavetes's Opening Night, a truly mesmerising study of anxiety and identity crisis in theatreland.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
Woody Allen said that he could watch a Bergman movie and feel himself gripped as if by a thriller; that's how I felt watching this restored version of John Cassavetes's 1977 picture Opening Night
, Times [UK]
The camerawork is instinctively fluid, the performances savage - this is one of the best films about theatre ever made.
Stella Papamichael, BBC
Opening Night is a truly grand unveiling of our innermost fears.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Another of Cassavetes' puzzling, personal, neurotic, and often brilliant productions that would have benefited from editing with a scythe.
David Jenkins, Time Out
At once a lament to the ravages of age and an examination of those tiny foibles which separate reality from dramatic artifice, it's a baffling and intricate film which, although light on conventional pleasures, still manages to provoke and beguile.
Keith Phipps, AV Club
Rowlands sings a different kind of mad song in Opening Night, playing a diva-like actress preparing a part about aging that haunts her, at times literally, with a vision of lost youth.

Read all 17 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Anthony L

Cassavetes is probably the coolest filmmaker of all time. His films are like having a whiskey and a cigar in some quiet little jazz club somewhere. This cast is to die for, Rowlands, Gazzara, Blondell and Cassavetes are brilliant. The improvisation isn't always on the ball and… More
Cassavetes is probably the coolest filmmaker of all time. His films are like having a whiskey and a cigar in some quiet little jazz club somewhere. This cast is to die for, Rowlands, Gazzara, Blondell and Cassavetes are brilliant. The improvisation isn't always on the ball and although I enjoyed the 'blink and you'll miss them' cameos, I would have liked to have seen more of Falk and Cassel but that's just a small niggle I have really, this is another fantastic film from Cassavetes.
jay n

Cassavetes gritty feeling blends well with backstage drama. Gena Rowlands is great wonderfully backed by Joan Blondell in one of her best latter day performances.
Brian R

Gena Rowlands is great once again in Cassavtes's "Opening Night". I liked the film especially the madness from the characters. The improvisation is at it's finest but as for the film, I'm not sure if it's great. "Opening Night" is too long and… More
Gena Rowlands is great once again in Cassavtes's "Opening Night". I liked the film especially the madness from the characters. The improvisation is at it's finest but as for the film, I'm not sure if it's great. "Opening Night" is too long and some scenes drag and questions raised a lot in my mind. Take for instance when the Rowlands character keeps witnessing a young girl in her frenzied state. Is the girl real? Why does Rowlands have these strange thoughts in her head? Is she crazy? What is her purpose? I was left sorta baffled.
matt s

So this is basically three movies in one, but all the parts work so well because the entire thing is anchored by another stellar performance by Gena Rowlands. The best part for me, though, has to be her and Cassavetes lighting up the screen in the final 15-20 mins. If I were an… More
So this is basically three movies in one, but all the parts work so well because the entire thing is anchored by another stellar performance by Gena Rowlands. The best part for me, though, has to be her and Cassavetes lighting up the screen in the final 15-20 mins. If I were an acting teacher, I would show all my students that final scene, and say, "That's what you're supposed to do."
Anastasia B

I had the luck to watch this years ago on the silver screen,during a retrospective of Cassavetes work. I watched this again on dvd and I would watch it again countless times. Far more than just a star's guilt trip or raging madness, this film was made for the love of the theatre.… More
I had the luck to watch this years ago on the silver screen,during a retrospective of Cassavetes work. I watched this again on dvd and I would watch it again countless times. Far more than just a star's guilt trip or raging madness, this film was made for the love of the theatre. Painful, at times, very personal, seriously life-altering, and honest, with all the best qualities of John Cassavetes' work. Simply marvellous, beyond words.