Opening Night

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4:43

Opening Night

PG-13,

1977,

2h 24m,

Drama

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96%

27 Reviews

Tomatometer

90%

2,500+ Ratings

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 find 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

Mar 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

Jul 5, 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

Jul 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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David Schwartz

Screen Slate

Aug 24, 2026

Opening Night’s stature has steadily grown in the years since its release.

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Justine Smith

Vague Visages

Jun 6, 2024

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

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Josh Larsen

LarsenOnFilm

Mar 14, 2019

3.5/4

Rowlands takes the movie by the throat...

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Ron L

Nov 9, 2017

Phew, I need to process this and probably rewatch it to have something meaningful to say but... Gena Rowlands forever. This is definitely another for the ol female anxiety movie list.

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Hermione M

Jun 12, 2017

Engrossing portrait of a middle-aged theatre star succumbing to mental breakdown after witnessing the sudden death of a young autograph hound during previews of a new play. Like a lot of Cassavetes' work it suffers from improvisational self-indulgence, but the truths it exposes, the fear of ageing, the loneliness at the heart of all existence, are eternal.

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Poe R

Feb 25, 2017

At nearly two and a half hours, Husbands is a story without a story, depicting three men practically entirely in their very unhealthy friendship.

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John Cassavetes

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Gena Rowlands

Myrtle Gordon

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Joan Blondell

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John Cassavetes

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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 find 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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