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Poster for Opening Night
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Released
1977 · FILM

Opening Night

A troubled actress, reeling from a fan’s fatal accident, battles alcoholism and a crumbling psyche as she races to deliver a triumphant performance on opening night.

The Show Must Go On…

Directed by
Written by
Runtime
144 min
Drama
Streaming on
  • The Criterion Channel

Synopsis

Actress Myrtle Gordon is a functioning alcoholic preparing for the opening night of her latest play, which centers on a woman troubled by aging. A few days before the performance, a fan chasing her limousine is struck and killed by a car. Myrtle becomes deeply affected by the incident and embarks on a spiritual journey in search of meaning, but does not find the answers she seeks. As the opening night approaches, the emotionally fragile Myrtle must find a way to carry on with the show.

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 14

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Tom CornwellShot by Al RubanScored by Bo Harwood

Also known as

  • Noche de estrenoes
  • La sera della primait

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