Opening Night (1977) User Reviews

Cassavettes's overlooked masterpiece

[creightonhale · 9/10 · 10 October 2004]

Yesterday, I went to the monthly Antique Flea Market that comes to town. I really have no interest in such things, but I went for the fellowship of friends who do have such an interest. Looking over the hundreds of vendor, passing many of them quickly, I spotted someone selling VHS tapes and DVDs. Most of the films he had on DVD were rather recent; the oldest one I noticed was the 1940 Cary Grant-Irene Dunne co-starrer MY FAVORITE WIFE. But the VHS tapes, by their nature, were mostly older films. I couldn't resist buying SOMETHING since they were being sold at 3 tapes for $10.00. What a bargain, as Eddie Murphy used to say. I came across one film that I had heard about for years but had never seen: John Cassavettes's OPENING NIGHT (1977). Well, I certainly wanted that being a fan of Gena Rowlands, and I had heard that this film contained one of her finest performances. He also had FACES (1968). I had seen this about 20 years ago, a time when I probably had not had enough life experience to appreciate it thoroughly. And I wanted to take advantage of the bargain, so I grabbed that one too. My other choice was CLAIRE'S KNEE (1970).

When I got home, I decided to put aside the work I had planned to do so that I could watch OPENING NIGHT. I was totally enthralled by this film. It focuses on Myrtle Gordon (Gena Rowlands), a famous actress of stage and screen, who, during out-of-town previews, is having personal and professional problems coming to terms with both her character and the play's theme of facing aging. After one rehearsal, an avid fan and autograph hound accosts her with cries (and tears) of "I love you! I love you!" A few minutes later, this fan is hit by a car and killed. This begins Myrtle's descent into herself where she must face her own fears of aging, the future of her career as a mature actress, and the inadequacies she finds in the play itself (written by a much older female dramatist, played by Joan Blondell). Throughout the film, she sees the dead girl, an obvious symbol of her past; drinks almost constantly; and receives insincere support from her director (Ben Gazzara), the producer (Paul Stewart), her costar (John Cassavettes himself), and the dramatist. Actually, they're more concerned about how her behavior will affect them and their careers: flubbing lines on stage, improvising new lines, generally cracking up on stage, and arriving for the Broadway opening totally drunk.

This story functions not only to address the issues of aging but also to promote Cassavettes's displeasure with mainstream movie-making. As I watched the film, I was at times surprised, confused, amused, disparaging, but ultimately involved, entertained, and satisfied. Cassavettes really had a great sense of humor, cared very much that his audience understood what he was implying, and wanted them to be emotionally involved in the story. He makes allusions to ALL ABOUT EVE with the use of the avid theater fan, even dressing the young girl in a slicker and hat similar to the one worn by Anne Baxter at the beginning of that film. This allusion functions most obviously to support his aging theme, the contrast of the older and younger woman. He also obviously uses the contrast as a symbol for Myrtle's confronting her own lost youth. At first, I felt the symbolism was TOO obvious, but then I realized that that was Cassavettes's intention. He doesn't want his audience misunderstanding what he's getting at; if they did, it would interfere with their emotional involvement. This spectre of youth haunts Myrtle, attacks her, and wants to destroy her. Myrtle eventually "kills" her, but before she can really come to terms with herself and the play, she must reach bottom (another figurative death?). So Cassavettes has her get so drunk that she can't walk and must crawl to her dressing room the night the play opens on Broadway. She resurrects herself (helping yourself out of such situations is also important to the film's theme) and makes the play a success by giving a great performance and changing the direction of play for the better by improvising so that it contains some ray of hope for the aging character she's playing. These scenes are funny and interesting. Cassavettes and Rowlands actually did the play in front of live audiences, who did and did not know they were going to be part of a movie. The play they're doing also acts as contrast: it's mainstream and self-serious about the issues it addresses, that is, until Myrtle changes its denouement. In doing so, she also improves the work of her co-stars. The natural evolution of interaction (achieved through improvisation)between and among human beings, subjective realism, and universal truth - these were Cassavettes's concerns in making films.

Gena Rowlands is amazing throughout. Of course, she has that great face, and Cassavettes (notoriously in love with her throughout their marriage) treats us to numerous closeups of it so that we too can feel her emotions and that we know what's going on inside of her. She makes you care so much about this character that you want to see her work her way out of this crisis of the soul. And this is what holds your attention for the 2 hours and 30 minutes running time. The film is deliberately paced at times and requires constant attention, but anyone with interest in good film-making and great acting will be rewarded. Someone else said that this is a movie for people who love movies. All others be forewarned.

Seek out OPENING NIGHT if you've never seen it. Everyone in it is excellent, and it's one of Cassavettes's best films.

My brief review of the film

[sol- · 8/10 · 14 June 2005]

Full of interesting ideas and really rather chilling at times, this account of a mental breakdown is fascinating to watch, with Gena Rowlands a glorious choice for the lead. It is in the way that Rowlands is able to carry emotion on her face that makes her performance so stunning, and along with some well used music and effective close-up photography, it is an intriguing piece of cinema, even if awkwardly very melodramatic at times and a tad hard to digest. The on and off-stage action in the protagonist's life is mixed together, and it is sort of muddled in this sense, though perhaps only as muddled as her mind is. The film poses such interesting questions about how much one should or does care, it portrays mental illness, and, it also has some insight into theatre production. It is very good stuff and only really brought down by being fatally overlong, with the content stretched to its limits.

A flawed film, but Rowlands is the reason to watch

[sdave7596 · 7/10 · 8 March 2009]

"Opening Night" released in 1977, tries to be an ambitious production. It succeeds only in the truly stunning performance of Gena Rowlands. Her character of theatre actress Myrtle is not necessarily someone we would love in real life. She is self-absorbed, often obnoxious, and makes life miserable for those around her - in other words, not unlike some actresses! Myrtle is also a woman on the edge of collapse - we are not quite sure if the demons she is fighting are real or imagined, although we are let in on the secret early. Rowlands is obviously well directed with love by her gifted husband, actor/director John Cassavettes, who has a role in the film as well. This film is not without flaws - it is overly long, and the last part of the film where Myrtle goes on stage while very drunk seems almost cruel. The "improvising" in some of the dialogue - at least while on stage - goes on way too long. Some of the supporting characters give good performances, especially from Ben Gazarra, playing Myrtle's sleazy producer. Joan Blondell's character is never fully developed, and I never could figure out why she was in the film, except to placate Myrtle. See this film for Rowlands alone - she is fascinating throughout - and it is tough to take your eyes off her, although you will want to at times.

this is a bliss

[foutiroir · 10/10 · 19 August 2004]

Let's go straight to the point: this is The Movie I would take with me on a desert island (with dvd player). It's just perfect. If a reason for you to see a movie is that you love the actors, you like to see them free to involve in the space and feelings, this movie is for you. See the scene when Myrtle (Rowlands) come on stage drunk and Maurice(Cassavetes) has to improvise because she doesn't follow the script anymore. If you're sensitive to the camera's movements, you'll be fascinated by the way the camera moves on stage, the particular flow, that give you the impression camera follow the actors as if it was lead by the theatrical principle of "private space"... amazing. And the story is just a brilliant mix of tale and realistic drama. Cassavetes is again arguing with Hollywood and the majors' politics, but this time, he do it through Broadway, making one of the most exciting movie about theater. Well, this movie is a bliss.

10/10

[desperateliving · 10/10 · 8 March 2005]

It was once suggested by Pauline Kael, never a fan, that Cassavetes thought not like a director, but like an actor. What Kael meant was his supposed lack of sophistication as a filmmaker; to take that comparison further, to me, it never feels like Cassavetes is directing himself in a film, it feels like Cassavetes implanting himself inside his own creation, like Orson Welles. Cassavetes is just as much of a genius as Welles, but far more important as a true artist (as opposed to a technician or rhetorician). This is like a cross between Italian passion (though Cassavetes was actually Greek) and Scandinavian introversion. Never before have inner demons been so exposed physically.

It's about the mystery of becoming, performing, and acting. Like a haunted Skip James record, it's got the echoes of ghosts all around. Rowlands' breakdowns, which are stupefying and almost operatic, surprising coming from Cassavetes, are accompanied by a jumpy, unsettling piano. Who is this dead girl? The metaphysical possibilities are endless, and it's amazing to find this kind of thing in a Cassavetes film, just the overt display of intelligence (there is also a brief bit of voice-over at the beginning). But then, he always was intelligent, he just never flapped it around for easy praise. This is not "Adaptation"; here, the blending of reality and fiction and drama is not to show cleverness but to show the inner turmoil and confusion it creates.

There's so much going on. The pure, joyous love when Rowlands greets her doorman; the horror when she beats herself up... The scene where the girl talks about how she devoted her life to art and to music is one of the most effective demonstrations of understanding what it means to be a fan of someone. You can see some roots of this in "A Star Is Born," and Almodovar borrowed from it for "All About My Mother." I think the ending is a little bit of a disappointment because of the laughing fits, but the preparation leading up to it is almost sickening. (You can shoot me, but I think the alcoholism, despite its urgency in many of the scenes, is a relatively small point about the film.)

It's a living, breathing thing, and it feels like a process: it could go any direction at any time. Like "Taste of Cherry," we are reminded that "you must never forget this is only a play." Yet it is dangerous: when Rowlands says that line, is it great drama? How will the audience take it? Is she being reflexive or does she just not care? Her (character's) breakdowns are incorporated into the performances, and ultimately the film, in such a way that it's like witnessing a female James Dean. 10/10

An affirmation of life

[enochsneed · 10/10 · 27 June 2007]

Many reviews here explain the story and characters of 'Opening Night' in some detail so I won't do that. I just want to add my comment that I believe the film is a wonderful affirmation of life.

At the beginning Myrtle Gordon is remembering how 'easy' it was to act when she was 17, when she had youth and energy and felt she knew the truth. Experience has left her emotionally fragile, wondering what her life has been for and, indeed, if she can even continue living. A tragic accident triggers a personal crisis that almost overwhelms her.

Almost - but not quite. At the eleventh hour she rediscovers the power of her art and reasserts herself ("I'm going to bury that bastard," she says of fellow actor Maurice as she goes on stage). It seems almost sadistic when Myrtle's director prevents people from helping her when she arrives hopelessly drunk for her first performance. He knows, however, that she has to have the guts to make it herself if she is to make it at all.

Some critics wonder if this triumph is just a temporary pause on Myrtle's downward path. I believe this is truly her 'opening night' - she opens like a flower to new possibilities of life and action, she sees a way forward. It is tremendously moving.

Gena Rowlands is superb. The film is superb. Thank you, Mr Cassavetes, wherever you are.

Great Great Great - Opening Night is a movie for people who love movies!

[Eight Two · 13 August 2002]

Opening Night is *such* a fun movie to watch. John Cassavetes was smack dab in the middle of his stride as a director, having completed A Woman Under The Influence (his watershed picture, a hugely intense, absolutely fantastic movie that manages to zone almost completely on nothing but individual human emotions - fear, love, self-doubt) and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (an awesome awesome awesome movie with Ben Gazzara where he's working for and running from the mafia around Los Angeles, incredible, resonant, mostly handheld cinematography that places emphasis on human faces and a script that is full of realistic dialogue - probably because the film is heavily improvised) just before this. What it's all about is a middle-aged actress whose overriding insecurities as a human being are drawn to the surface by a single incident: the accidental death of an adoring, enigmatic fan. As she muddles her way through previews of her upcoming Broadway play 'Second Woman' (of which she is the star), her health -- mental and otherwise -- begins to deteriorate. She just can't get it together, and an unsympathetic (and when they feign sympathy and support, they're unbelievable) cast of supporters doesn't help matters. She drinks and drinks and drinks and falls down some and messes up a lot. Will she get it together in time for Opening Night?

Underneath this, John Cassavetes stages and films various scenes of the fictitious play in front of an actual audience, aware of the film cameras filming a movie or not. In that sense, these bits of the film are incredibly interesting. John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands share unmatched chemistry on stage, being that they were one of the most in-love couples in the annals of film history, and it shows. Cassavetes reminds me you of his dynamite ability as a nuanced, fun-to-watch character actor, and Gena Rowlands reminds you of why she's believable as an adored, successful stage actress. These are somewhat arcane stage performances, but are delightful.

What is wrong with Opening Night? It's a movie for people who love movies, with long takes, memorable camera moves, first rate acting, high-concept ideas, a solid beginning middle and end, a great score, and a central theme that is very compelling. Some of Cassavetes' best work, a real brawny film, tall and beautiful, heavily recommended to people who are sick of cotton candy movies, sick of feature-length trailers, sick of all the crap. If you want a thick, expansive thing, Opening Night sits on the shelf, waiting.

Masterpiece Drama from Cassavates...

[StephaneD · 10/10 · 19 October 2001]

Beautiful film, pure Cassavetes style. Gena Rowland gives a stunning performance of a declining actress, dealing with success, aging, loneliness...and alcoholism. She tries to escape her own subconscious ghosts, embodied by the death spectre of a young girl. Acceptance of oneself, of human condition, though its overall difficulties, is the real purpose of the film. The parallel between the theatrical sequences and the film itself are puzzling: it's like if the stage became a way out for the Heroin. If all american movies could only be that top-quality, dealing with human relations on an adult level, not trying to infantilize and standardize feelings... One of the best dramas ever. 10/10.

Perfect Blue > Black Swan > Opening Night

[erictopp · 7/10 · 27 November 2012]

The performances (how much was improvised?) save this film but it is deeply flawed.

The main problem that I had with this movie is that the characters are so unappealing. Myrtle is so difficult to work with, it is strange how *everyone* from the director down to the doorman is in love with her. And Manny and co are no better - they blithely drive away from a fatal car accident - the dinner at the restaurant must have been really good!

The plot is very contrived - since Myrtle obviously hates the play why did she sign up for it? And what director would not have an understudy ready to fill in on opening night for such an unreliable and unstable actress?

There are much better films out there with the "performer goes crazy" theme - watch those instead.

the danger and drama of an actress, on stage and off

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 21 December 2009]

Watching John Cassavetes film, Opening Night, I was reminded of something that Quentin Tarantino said once in an interview about personal experience in being a creator of art or acting. He referred to an example of, say, if he ran over a dog while on his way to act in a play that it wouldn't be the end of his life but that it would affect him, and that, without a doubt, he would have to bring that experience with him on stage even if it was a light comedy. "Otherwise," as he said, "what am I doing?" I couldn't help but think of his words when watching Gena Rowland's character, Myrtle Gordon, who for almost a whole week or so goes through a very similar scenario. There is more to this in Cassavetes' film, of course, since it's about how the theater works around a star actress, what emotion and human nature mean when looking at playing a character, and how one lives when all one has (like Myrtle Gordon) is the theater.

Near the beginning of the film, after exiting a performance, Myrtle is signing autographs and one such fan named Nancy comes up to her favorite star and pours her heart out to Myrtle. It's a touching little moment, but it doesn't last as she has to get in the car (pouring rain and all). She then watches in horror as the girl, who stood right next to the car as it drove off, gets hit by another car in an auto accident. She's not sure really what happened, but then finds out the next day that in fact the girl did die from the hit. From then on she's sort of stunned by this even after she thinks it's out of her system. At first this shows in small ways, like when she rehearses a scene with her fellow actor (played by Cassavetes) and can't seem to stand being hit - she blames it on the lack of depth in the character (the writer: "What do you think the play lacks?" "Hope," says Myrtle)- but then Nancy starts to show up to her, an apparition that to Myrtle is all to real, until she's suddenly gone.

Cassavetes, as in the past films, is after a search for what it means to have emotion, to really feel about something and feel it, or the lack thereof, and how it affects others around the person. This isn't exactly new ground for Rowlands, who previously played a woman on the edge of herself in Woman Under the Influence (in that case because of alcohol), nor would it be alien territory for costar Ben Gazzara, who just came off starring in Killing of a Chinese Bookie. But the actors express everything essential to their characters in every scene; Cassavetes doesn't tell them how to get from A to B in a scene, and he doesn't need to. There's a mood in a Cassavetes film that trumps the sometimes grungy camera-work. You know Myrtle, for example, should be content somehow, even if it isn't with the plot. But she's haunted, and is unsatisfied with her character's lack of depth and the tone of the play ("Aging, who goes to see that?" she asks the playwright), and it starts to affect those around her too.

The question soon becomes though not what is the usual. A conventional dramatist would make the conflict 'Will she be able to go on stage, will the show go on?' This isn't important for Cassavetes, even if it's there, as is the question 'Will she be alright?' Perhaps going through such a grueling play as "The Second Woman" could help her work out her personal demons and her losing her grip on reality (seeing Sara and attacking her in front of total strangers, who wonder what the hell is going on)? Or will the play's lack of hope strain everything else wrong with her? The depths Rowlands makes with her character are intense and harrowing, and that it's expected doesn't mean it's any duller than Woman Under the Influence- if anything, it's just as good as that film at being honest about a person in this profession, and consequently the other performances are just as true, from Gazarra to Nancy played by a subtle Laura Johnson. Cassavetes answers to his own posed questions aren't easy.

One of the real thrills of Opening Night, along with seeing great actors performing an amazing script, is to see Cassavetes take on the theater the way he does. We see the play performed- and it's apparently a real play- and we only know slightly what it's about. When we see the actors on the stage performing it, we wax and wane between being involved in what melodrama is going on (relationship scuffling and affairs and the occasional slap and domestic violence) and the improvisation of the actors. I wondered watching how much really was improvised, how much Cassavetes allowed for the other actors to do in the scenes where Myrtle starts to go loopy or, in the climax, is completely smashed. He's on the stage, too, so it must have been something for them to work it out beforehand and let what would happen happen.

It's funny, startling, chilling, and edge-of-your-seat stuff, some of the best theater-on-film scenes ever put in a movie, and we see the lines between actor on stage, actor on film, actor with actor, blur together wonderfully. Opening Night is a potent drama that is full of frank talk about death and madness, reality and fiction, where the love is between people, and really, finally, what does 'acting' mean?

Personal and mostly provocative.

[MovieGuy109 · 7/10 · 12 March 2012]

John Cassavetes returned from his artistic successes in A Woman Under the Influence and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie with this fascinating study of an actress whose life falls apart on stage and off. It certainly is a dense and frustrating experience, but Cassavetes keeps the whole thing personal and adds his usual improvisational elements to his handling of the stage business. Rowlands gives a terrific performance as the struggling actress on the verge of a mental breakdown, flirting with the same mannerisms that made her an actress to beat in A Woman Under the Influence. Certainly for fans of the director alone. An original piece of experimentation.

A Haunting Film About Actors And Aging: Cassavete's Best Film

[FloatingOpera7 · 10/10 · 2 April 2006]

Broadway and film actor-turned-director John Cassavetes (from Rosemary's Baby)creates a masterpiece with this 1977 film. It stars Gena Rowlands, John Cassavetes himself, Ben Gazzara, Joan Blondell, Paul Stewart, Zohra Lampert, Laura Johnson and there is a cameo by Peter Falk. The premise of the film: An aging stage and film actress (Gena Rowlands)re-evaluates her life after an obscessed fan dies in a car accident trying to get her autograph. The movie has a slow pace and a dark, moody, frightening quality. It has a 60's cinematic look and it even reminded me of Polanski's Rosemary's Baby without the supernatural horror. The fears here are the ones every successful actress has- she is getting old and she will become useless in her career. Furthermore, she feels she has lived a life that lacks any true spirituality, humanity and merit. She has lived only for her career- she has no children, doesn't do charitable deeds, etc. The gradual disintegration of her personality is the meat of this film. She is falling apart. She's in a crisis. Gena Rowlands really gets into the character's tormented psyche and acts the part quite well. She is a terrific actress and this 70's film is a refreshing contrast to the often violent films of the period and or the disaster movies or adventure thrillers. It's a movie with lots of deep-seated emotion but has a cold, cynical feeling, as if Cassavetes is criticizing the mainstream movies and actors of the 70's generation. Either that or this movie is a product of the 70's which was itself cynical in many aspects- Nixon's deception, Watergate, Vietnam, etc. Although the production values are not great, and this film is not well-known, it's a very haunting film with haunting moods. Kudos to the underrated and late director Cassavetes who died in the late 80's.

A Different Kind of Theater Haunting

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 13 September 2014]

An actress (Gena Rowlands) suffers an emotional uproar in her personal life after a fan dies trying to see her.

The play-within-a-play device does not always work, and can sometimes lead to confusion. Here, it works precisely because it leads to a degree of confusion. When does the acting stop and the real living begin? Does the acting ever stop?

Cassavetes and Rowlands are powerful actors, and adding Ben Gazzara to the mix never hurts (he truly deserves to be better known, not just as a seedy character actor). The film is haunting, and it looks at aging in an entirely different way than anyone has before.

Not my thing, but extremely well-acted, with great character development...could have stood some heavy editing, IMO

[SeriousJest · 3/10 · 3 April 2012]

If watching almost 2 1/2 hours of an aging actress in the 1970s lose her mind is your thing, you'll enjoy this movie. Rowlands was extremely convincing. Some of the scenes are so awkward they're even genuinely funny. The rest of the actors were also very good. The character development is right up there with some of the best I've ever seen...but at what cost? This film ran too long for me about a depressing subject to which I didn't relate very much. Also, the audio/visual quality has not stood up to the test of time. So, although it was an extremely, well-done film for what it is, I didn't like what it is very much. I'd recommend this film to an artsy, post-menopausal woman...everyone else who watches this movie may find out how excruciatingly slowly 2 1/2 hours can pass.

For more reviews and a kickass podcast, check out www.livemancave.com

Debunking the Myth of Improvisation

[Pokerface11 · 1 December 2004]

Opening Night is my favorite Cassavetes, and I feel it is my duty to debunk the notion that those or any of his films aside from Shadows was strictly improvised. In fact, his films were tightly scripted after actor improvisation was used to contribute to his ideas. The coherence of a film like Opening Night, the development of the themes of aging, vanity, and hope, could not just spring from the improvisational head of even the very fine actors in the movie. If you pay attention to the dialogue (outside of the lines in the play), it is obvious that much care was taken to craft them (e.g., the scene where Myrtle explains to the playwright what problems she is having with the character and script).

For general reality

[lrpmr · 10/10 · 2 August 2008]

I spent 5 hours drenched in this film. Nothing I have ever seen comes close to the delicious funk this film left me in. Never mind females advanced aging dilemma's, human fear vaults off the screen for your viewing. Personally engaging to the ninth degree, the film invests one with an undeniable shared feeling for our lives'. I enjoyed this dalliance with raw wounded gall deep from within. It empowers a mutually shared vestment in the history of human encounters reaching far deeper into the pain, isolation and skewed views of self and others. The result forgives our tepid forming of a bridge away from the muddy sludge of dead we must encounter. The birth in finding real people is a happy pursuit. The effort for realism intersects with the dark ground of our bankrupt culture.

I am completely and utterly blown away

[thoughts-580-288521 · 10/10 · 12 November 2009]

I have spent the last week watching John Cassavetes films - starting with 'a woman under the influence' and ending on 'opening night'. I am completely and utterly blown away, in particular by these two films. from the first minute to the last in 'opening night' i was completely and utterly absorbed. i've only experienced it on a few occasions, but the feeling that this film was perfect lasted from about two thirds in, right through till the credits came up. everything about this film, from the way it was shot, the incredible performance of Gena Rowlands, the credits, the opening, the music, the plot, the sense of depth, the pace, the tenderness, the originality, the characters, the deft little moments.... for me, is truly sublime. i couldn't agree more with the previous comment about taking it to a desert island because the sheer depth of this film is something to behold. if your unlucky enough to have a house fire, i guarantee that instead of making a last ditch attempt to rescue that stash of money under your bed, you'll be rescuing your copy of this film instead.

There's No Louisiana Hayride On This Band Wagon

[jzappa · 9/10 · 3 December 2007]

I was absolutely blown away by John Cassavetes's Opening Night. It's the first movie of his that I've seen that seems to be on a bigger scale, thus it feels more mainstream, but it still doesn't feel as if he grounded himself any more than he has in his previous films. That is perhaps what makes it so intense. There is also something undoubtedly cathartic about watching this movie.

It's about what in fact Cassavetes has made a staple of his career, an ideal that he has expressed behind the camera throughout his career as a director and is here expressing it in front. Rowlands's character, middle-aged stage actress Myrtle Gordon, cannot bring herself to play her role in the upcoming production as written so she uncalculatedly follows impulse after impulse, resulting in what appears to be chaos on stage, until she finds the right one. It's a daringly abstract premise.

This is a movie that does not fail to capture the innate steering that one goes through during an emotional cleansing. No one understands why Myrtle does many of the things she does, and it is seen and even portrayed as something destructive, yet it just might be the best thing for her. It may be a cleansing rather than a breakdown. A withdrawal, a cocoon, a rebellion, it all culminates into a meltdown. Cassavetes gives her character a brutally real touch, which is that early on, she is ardently arguing that she has nothing in common with her character, yet she is in quiet but emotionally corroding fear that the opposite is true.

The last scene, the climactic performance that Myrtle shares with a character painfully estranged from her who is acting with her, is one of the most interesting, hilarious, hard-hitting, enlightening, and enjoyable moments I've ever seen in a movie.

Cassavetes...Later

[jpschapira · 9/10 · 27 June 2007]

John Cassavetes' "Opening Night" is fantastic and fascinating; fantastic because it plays with the deepest fears we have inside our imagination, fascinating because it never ceases surprising us. With its very long duration of two hours and twenty minutes, anyone who appreciates characters won't be able to take their eyes off the screen.

The story of an unstable actress, Myrtle Gordon, (Gena Rowlands) trying to put herself together for a play, fighting her demons; "Opening Night" is not only about a woman on the verge of a breakdown but also about the complexities of the lives of theater actors and the theatrical world. All of Cassavetes' characters here are experienced people that know about the world of theater; so half of the film takes place on a stage, either where the performers do their job or at backstage, where producers and writers and directors do their job.

Cassavetes is so harsh with his characters that this unkindness turns towards the audience, but the audience in the cinema. Because there is another audience, in the theater of the film, that doesn't know what is really happening and laugh because they think everything is performance. And that's essentially what it is; it's just that the audience in the theater doesn't get to see 'backstage' the way we do. They don't experience Gena Rowlands' exuberance before she goes out to that stage, but most importantly; they don't know the reasons why she acts the way she does.

I always thought that it would be difficult to be friends with an actor. Myrtle (Rowland) says she's an actress and that's the only thing she knows how to do; and I imagine that if I had a friend who was a professional performer, it would be really difficult to tell when he's saying the truth because I would know he's an actor and he can fake anything at any time. A lot of the things that Myrtle does during the awful experiences the film puts her through…We suspect if she's being real; the rest of the characters suspect too.

There is the writer, Sarah (Joan Blondell), who can't understand why Myrtle doesn't understand the character she's written for her. There's the director, Manny (Ben Gazzara), who can't accept the fact that his best actress might be losing it; the producer David (Paul Stewart) who doesn't know where to stand and Myrtle's co-star Maurice (Cassavetes himself), who can't deal with the love they have for each other.

When she witnesses the death of a teenager, a fan; all of this comes together and affects Myrtle, but no one knows if her delusions are for real. They don't say anything because they don't want to upset her, but the movie enters in a state of subconsciousness that only Myrtle accepts. At times, we can tell that everyone has had it. During these moments, Cassavetes' brilliant script depicts a scary brutal honesty in the words the characters say in a discussion backstage; and not only what everyone tells Myrtle but also what she says to them.

Here are people who are not afraid to speak their mind and constantly change what they are thinking, just like Cassavetes' way of making cinema. And in this aspect, the performances are more important here than in "Shadows", because the characters are involved in a bigger picture; a bigger story that steps out of the trivial.

But in another aspect, the actual way of making cinema, this movie is no different from "Shadows". There's a beautiful thing in the way Al Ruban's camera shoots the characters. When someone's talking, the camera doesn't focus on him, it shoots the person who is listening; so we can see how he or she reacts to the things the other one's saying. Sometimes they don't care, sometimes they are happy, sometimes devastated.

Improvisation might still be there, though, among all these wonderful performances. Near the end, there's an unexpected scene where Cassavetes and Rowlands start talking, non-stop. Whether this was improvised or not is not something we have to wonder. We have just got to watch; and watching both of them exchanging life experiences and seeing words come truly alive in a conversation that means a lot more than what it shows…It doesn't get more natural than that.

raw

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 9 May 2016]

Famed actress Myrtle Gordon (Gena Rowlands) is starring in the new play "Second Woman". She is struggling with drink and stress. After a show, the group is driven back to the hotel. The car is stopped by an adoring fan who gets hit by traffic. Myrtle is horrified but they drive off. The rest of the group is more concerned with dinner. Myrtle is haunted by the young woman and then news come that she died. She is rejected by the grieving family. She goes to a seance. She starts to be literally haunted by her presence. Her performance gets ever more erratic as her drinking gets worst and she faces a crisis.

This is an unpolished, raw performance and movie. I certainly prefer a lot more polish but there is no denying the raw power of Gena Rowlands. The other thing I would like is a play that I know. It may be more compelling for the play to be something well known. It would allow the film audience to understand when it's going off the rails. I feel similar to the audience walking out of the play with varying opinions. Obviously, I would like for this movie to be tighter and shorter but it may not be Cassavetes' taste.

Damned good

[Cosmoeticadotcom · 10/10 · 15 September 2008]

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. But only Woody Allen's masterpiece, Another Woman, which also starred Rowlands, eleven years later, is a better portrait of the internal conflicts of an aging woman. Yet, Rowlands did win the Best Actress Award at the Berlin Film Festival for this portrayal, and it was well deserved. Often this film, written by Cassavetes, is easily compared to his earlier- and inferior- film, A Woman Under The Influence, but it's a spurious comparison. Rowlands' character in that film is severely mentally disturbed from the start, as well as coming from a blue collar background, while her characters in this film and in Allen's film are both artists who are haunted by apparitions. In this film it's the ghost of a dead young woman who can be seen as Myrtle's younger doppelganger, while in Allen's film it's her character's own past…. Many critics have taken this film to be a portrait of an alcoholic, seeing Myrtle surround herself with enablers, such as a stage manager who tells her, during opening night, 'I've seen a lot of drunks in my time, but I've never seen anyone as drunk as you who could stand up. You're great!', but this is wrong, for alcohol isn't her problem- nor is her chain smoking. They are merely diversions from whatever thing is really compelling her to her own destruction, and much to Cassavetes' credit, as a storyteller, he never lets us find out exactly what's wrong with Myrtle, and despite her coming through in the end, there's no reason to expect that she has really resolved anything of consequence. This sort of end without resolution links Cassavetes directly with the more daring European directors of the recent past, who were comfortable in not revealing everything to an audience, and forcing their viewers to cogitate, even if it hurts.

Yet, the film recapitulates perfectly the effect of a drunk or fever lifting out of the fog, and as such the viewer again is subliminally involved in its drama. Whether or not Myrtle Gordon does recover, after the film's universe irises about her is left for each and every viewer to decide, and as we have seen before that lid closes, one's choices do matter.

The Dizzyness of a Tightrope Walking Between Existence and Essence ...

[ElMaruecan82 · 10/10 · 29 July 2011]

Myrtle Gordon is like the cinematic daughter of Margo Channing, the capricious diva who couldn't handle the 'dura lex' of numbers in "All About Eve", and the mother of Nina Sayer who tried to reach a level of self-destructive perfection to better capture the essence of her titular character, "Black Swan".

It's a pity that "Opening Night" is not as revered as these two masterpieces … as it's a powerful and brutal depiction of the alienating effect of passion devouring self-awareness. It embarks us for a thrilling ride with Myrtle Gordon, played in an Oscar worthy performance by an extraordinary Gena Rowlands, who endures a terrible middle-age crisis, with alcohol as the only escapism from an asphyxiating stardom.

"Opening Night" opens a pivotal moment in Myrtle's life, basically trying to find herself, torn between the reality of a mysterious middle life age and a desperate attempt to seize the roses of a lost youth. This youth is incarnated by the hallucination of Nancy, a young overly emotional fan who was accidentally killed by a car, on a dark rainy night, right after having embraced Myrtle, visibly touched by her cries and sincere adoration. This brief and macabre encounter resonates like a symbolic farewell to youth … an intolerable situation aggravated by Myrtle's next role of an 'old' woman named Virginia.

Basically, Myrtle is torn between two extreme perceptions of her condition, Nancy, eternally young, and Virginia's, whose "Second Woman" titular nickname denotes the idea of a second virginity, as to imply, that age, is synonym of asexuality, absence of desire, menopause … with pause as a static, obedient position Myrtle, absorbed by her teenage angst-like crisis, can't tolerate. But this is Myrtle's conception of age; Cassavettes offers another one, more positive.

Cassavettes describes every wrinkle in an old person's face as a heritage from the past, painful, happy, emotional, a precious memory cherished like a treasure. Aging is also incarnated by the character of Joan Blondell, Sarah Goode, the 65-year old woman who wrote the play, she and Rowlands, beautifully underline the self-reflexive nature of the film. The wise Sarah tries to explain that age is less a doom than an enrichment, but she forgets two essential elements on Myrtle's personality, which explain her defensive attitude and obstinacy in not telling her age.

First, Myrtle is an actress so dedicated to her profession that her aura transcends the limits of stage, Manny Victor, the director, played by the magnetic and suave Ben Gazzara is like hypnotized by Myrtle, and shows an extreme patience despite her incessant caprices. Secondly, Myrtle can't embody Virginia, as she rejects the sinister reality that aging can crystallize, still convinced about Nancy's inner youth inhabiting her heart. The conflict is here, Myrtle is so dedicated to one character that if she ever tried to Virginia, she will become Virginia, and then she must overpower this "Second Woman" even if it implies a total detachment from Sarah, an obvious motherly figure. This rebellion leads to some very eloquent moments in their awkwardness.

I realized while watching "The Opening Night" how my shy nature makes me fear improvisation, because I hate embarrassing situation, but in Cassavetes' view, improvisation is totally conscious. Myrtle doesn't know what to say, but she know what she's doing, hence the suspenseful embarrassing moments where she doesn't get up after a 'slap' or when she leaves an actor who tries to handle the critical situation by mechanical laughs, while a close-up shows Cassavettes' close-up show his tongue nervously rolling in his mouth, expecting boos like the explosion of a psychological ticking bomb. No other film-maker than John Cassavettes had this ability to make my heart pound with such realistic situations.

The film is full of such moments, where the eye of the camera shows what the stage spectator can't. The theater becomes an allegory of our own lives, while the eye of the cinema vérité allows us to see what really goes backstage. The truth, the authenticity this eternal quest of Cassavettes found an even more powerful meaning with the theater, which is the Art where no mistake is allowed. But in a masterstroke, Cassavettes reconciles the two notions by showing that even in a restricting context, you can improvise and touch the hearts.

Virginia's unpredictability makes everybody nervous, but there's something that rings profoundly true, because she –like in real life- doesn't do what she's told to do, she just expresses feelings. The whole role is about overcoming an intolerable reality, and Myrtle's improvisation is like a psychological rodeo where at any moments, she can fall. But as Cassavettes, an artist, above anything must "dare to fail".

And failure was a close call: in a booze-driven self-destructive impulse, Myrtle drinks, tries to flirt with Nancy in one side, and dominate Virginia in another, in the play, no one knew how to handle her during the Opening Night in Broadway. Sarah was resigned while Manny, finally punished her by letting her crawl in the floor while she was dead drunk, and maybe this sudden outburst of violence ignited the flame burning in Myrtle's heart … Myrtle who, in a climactic fight, got rid of Nancy because she understood that was the salvation, the only way to understand and dominate Virginia.

Myrtle domesticated all her fears and gained enough courage to finally be 'herself' on-stage, by commanding the spirit of the Second Woman. Her improvisation inspired Cassavettes' improvisation, and the result was transcending to a point we could wonder if the public didn't applaud for John and Gena, a touching inside joke confirmed by the presence of old friends like Peter Falk, and Seymour Cassel at the premiere. Myrtle proved Cassavettes' theory that life is all about 'improvising and daring to fail'.

Did she stop drinking? Is her existential crisis over? Cassavettes doesn't embarrass himself with such certitudes, "Opening Night" is simply an existential coming-of-age story and a poignant hymn for self-conquest

Well, it certainly won't be confused with a Michael Bay film!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 3 August 2011]

Despite the very, very positive reviews for this film and a very high score of 7.9, this film is NOT for everyone. I think had the film been shown to a hundred people and they reviewed and scored it, it would have been a lot lower--and with a WIDELY skewed distribution. People would either love it or hate it. However, the average person also would not just pick up a film directed by John Cassavetes. They might love him in "The Dirty Dozen" or "Rosemary's Baby"--but these are his commercial projects and ones in which he only acted. His own films are very personal and don't even attempt to be commercial but are artsy and often about topics that aren't all that marketable. The bottom line is that he did films he loved to make and didn't seem to care if the public embraced them--at least that's the perception most people 'in the know' have of his movies.

As for "Opening Night", it's clearly not intended as a crowd pleaser! Like many of his film, it stars his wife, Gena Rowlands, and is VERY introspective and non-traditional in style. In many ways, it plays like an Ingmar Bergman film as made by an American. And so, if you love Bergman, you'll probably love this film--and if you think Bergman is dull, then you'll DEFINITELY think this film is as well.

The film also stars Ben Gazzara--another actor frequently used by Cassavetes. A couple other very interesting choices for major roles are Paul Stewart (a great heavy from the 1940s and 50s) and Joan Blondell (a star from the 1930s). It's nice to see these familiar faces late in their careers--as Hollywood seemed to have no interest in these veteran actors--yet Cassavetes just didn't seem to care about marketability.

"Opening Night" is a film that is about an opening night of a play. Unexpectedly, one of the star's fans VERY obsessed fans is killed outside the theater--and the star (Rowlands) begins to suffer what appears to be a nervous breakdown through the course of the movie. As far as the film's structure goes, it was VERY unconventional--with long scenes from the play interspersed throughout the movie. Also, like many Cassavetes films, it features odd camera work and occasionally use of a deliberately bad focus. Fans of Cassavetes will eat this up but the average person (if they even see the film) will be confused and probably very bored by the whole thing. I am not a typical film viewer and like a lot of artsy films--yet I must admit I did not enjoy this film. Perhaps if I see a few more of his films, then I will find myself a fan (this has happened on a few occasions with other beloved film makers). What I did like and appreciate is that at least the film took some risks and was not conventional. I really wanted to like this movie a lot more than I did.

Cassavetes, Rowlands, Gazzara in an interesting experiment

[silentgpaleo · 6 May 2000]

From what I gather on the making of OPENING NIGHT, the plays that are performed in the film are real. The audiences are supposedly real, and the flubbed lines are also real occurrences. Of course, since there is much improvising, it is sometimes hard to see where the energy originated from. But with OPENING NIGHT, Cassavetes brings us into the world of theater, and some of his comments are harrowing.

Rowlands stars as Myrtle Gordon, a serious stage actress with a large following. She has fans that follow her before and after her performances, beg for her autograph, and generally leave Myrte cold. Gazzara is Myrtle's director, a manipulator who knows how to handle his actors. Cassavetes plays Myrtle's costar, a relationship that leads to fights with Myrtle, on and off-stage.

Meanwhile, Myrtle is starting to lose her grip. She is having difficulty grasping the character she is playing in her latest performance. She has trouble remembering her lines, and staying in character. Her personal life begins to take over.

This is due to her witnessing a death of one of her fans. She brushes off this Anne Baxter( in ALL ABOUT EVE) wannabe, and moments later learns that this fan was killed in a car accident. This brings out guilty feelings in Myrtle, that her life and the lives of others are empty. And that she may be the cause of some of these problems.

Myrtle is a lonely character. She lives for acting, and when she loses her focus, it eats away at her confidence. Myrtle feels unable to express what she already knows. She forgets how to be herself.

OPENING NIGHT is a very powerful film. It demands that we, as the audience, become involved emotionally with the characters. Cassavetes is a loose director who knows how to evoke feelings through character improvisation and crude camera techniques. His films are always professional, but there is a certain gritty quality as well that lends atmosphere and a sense of geography to his work. Cassavetes was a true film artist, and his actors are artists as well.

Rowlands is fearless; she is one actress who rips into herself to release the characters that she play. This often leaves her naked, and that can be fascinating and entertaining. Gazzara is wonderfully pompous as the director, and he plays with a perfect combination of relaxed confidence and creeping self-doubt. And Cassavetes is no slouch as an actor; his work in other directors' films show that he was versatile and inspired without necessarily having to steer.

My only complaints here are that the film has a few too many ideas. This is a minor complaint for such an engrossing film, but the movie becomes top-heavy from all of the threads that the audience is trying to follow. While Cassavetes' HUSBANDS and WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE ran on a straight time-line, OPENING NIGHT is much more loosely structured. This can lead to mix-ups, but as I say, this is only a minor gripe.

OPENING NIGHT is definitely not the film to start with if you are just getting into the Cassavetes film catalogue. It may seem pointless at times, and the running time is a tad long. But, mark my words, there are many points made in OPENING NIGHT, and if the viewer is more familiar with Cassavete's aspirations, the film can be quite a good viewing. For fans of different acting techniques and independent film, I highly recommend this film. I own a copy, and I'll probably never give it up.

Cassavetes is uncompromising and Rowlands is sublime!

[lasttimeisaw · 8/10 · 16 July 2015]

Myrtle Gordon (Rowlands) is a theatre actress, who is headlining a play named "The Second Woman", directed by Manny Victor (Gazzara), written by Sarah Goode (Blondell) and co- stars Maurice Aarons (Cassavetes) and Gus Simmons (Tuell). Myrtle is not a nice woman, middle-aged, unmarried, and quite a big name in her line of work in light of the crazed groupies waiting for an autograph at the theatre, she is self-absorbing and emotionally unstable, especially when a young fan Nancy (Johnson) died in a horrific road accident after expressing her frenzied admiration. Myrtle's world begins to unravel, to a point where it seems to inevitably endanger the entire project on the opening night when Myrtle arrives seriously late and is beastly drunken.

Again, Myrtle is not a likable woman, anyone can condemn her being morally irresponsible, almost, yes, almost singlehandedly sabotages the play which is a labour of love of many many people, yet still, everyone has to treat her as a queen and patronise her every need, even in the last minute, there is no plan B, Myrtle has to be on stage, and act out regardlessly. But, Myrtle is such a real woman, we might not like her, but we understand her, we can relate her feelings, all her fear and confusion, thanks to Rowlands second-to- none competence, another towering achievement after her Oscar-nominated turn in A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974), both under the aegis of her hubby Cassavetes, however, this time, she has been scandalously overlooked by Oscar voters (a Silver Berlin bear can do her some justice), Myrtle is a polarised opposite of the working-class housewife Mabel in AWUTI, even conforms to the stereotype of an over-the-hill celebrity, doted on by producers and directors, hoity-toity and capricious, dreads the loss of her youth and refuse to face squarely with her age. Rowlands indulges ravishingly in such a rich showcase with authenticity and empathy.

The Second Woman is about a woman who faces the music and lets go of her youth self, so as to embraces the next chapter of her life anew, which is exactly why Myrtle dithers, she is so afraid if her performance is good, she will be typecast as an older woman, which in the ageism showbiz, means the death knell of her illustrious career. And as her career is the only thing she can cling onto, to feel respected and loved, subconsciously she wants the play to bomb, thus she imagines the dead Nancy as a haunting figure, her vaporising youth, as the shackles to her commitment.

On many levels, OPENING NIGHT is the female counterpart of BIRDMAN (2014), thematically particularly, whereas BIRDMAN is invitingly engaging in its cinematographic gimmick, Cassavetes pierces his scalpel more astutely into the anatomy of Myrtle's deterioration and those who are around her and in desperate state to pull herself together with persistent close-ups and intimate soft focus. Moreover, when the play is on, Cassavetes firmly places his camera among the audience for theatre simulation, which comes to a climax in the final act (both in the film and in the play), viewers cannot tell whether Myrtle and Maurice are improvising or acting according to the script, but utterly captivated by the spontaneous involvement of their quick-witted wordplay and top-notch dramaturgy. By the way, Cassavetes corroborates that he is a brilliant actor too, what a matchless triple-threat! I should also namedrop Gazzara and Blondell for their fine performances, although both pre-determinedly overshadowed by Rowland's excellence, their reactions stand for the perspectives from a more objective angle, no matter how frustrating they are sometimes. To say the least, if you are stunned by BIRDMAN, Cassavetes' decades-earlier OPENING NIGHT can genuinely blow your mind!