Opening Night

Myrtle Gordon is a Broadway actress in her forties who is days away from the opening of a new play. The part she has been pushed into is that of a woman who cannot accept growing older, and Myrtle resists it, fearing it will define her from then on. After a young admirer is killed by a car while chasing her limousine, Myrtle's drinking and erratic behaviour worsen and threaten the production. She continues to attend rehearsals while clashing with the director's reading of the play, and the conflict between her own life and the role she must perform becomes increasingly difficult to separate.

John Cassavetes directed and wrote the film, which followed The Killing of a Chinese Bookie in his filmography, and produced it with Michael Lally. Gena Rowlands plays Myrtle, with John Cassavetes as Maurice Aarons, Ben Gazzara as the director Manny Victor, Joan Blondell as the playwright Sarah Goode, Paul Stewart and Zohra Lampert. The cast runs to thirty-three credited performers.

Opening Night was released in December 1977 and runs 144 minutes. Its reputation has held up: on IMDb it holds 7.8 from about 14,000 votes, higher than the 7.6 from roughly 267 votes on TMDB, and its critics' rating of 7.9 from 27 reviews is close to the audience scores, indicating broad agreement rather than division over the film.