Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

In Eugene O'Neill's play, Katharine Hepburn plays the fragile, weak matriarch in a highly dysfunctional family. Just as the title implies, the entire story takes place during one day, and just as the title implies, it's an incredibly long day. Ralph Richardson is the pontificating former actor who longs for his glory days, Jason Robards is the hard-drinking older son with contempt for every member of his family, and Dean Stockwell is the youngest son who's ill but has just as much of a temper as his healthier counterpart.While the family awaits the doctor's diagnosis of Dean's persistent cough, they're also watchful of Kate. She's in perpetual denial, refusing to believe her son is sick, refusing to acknowledge her former battle with morphine addiction, and refusing to admit tat she might be succumbing to temptation again. Each actor has long, boring monologues that don't contribute to the plot; each actor has long, emotional outbursts that show the audience a highly trained therapist probably couldn't help them. This is the type of play that people who say, "I don't like plays" refer to.While there are plenty of reasons that could make you feel like you should watch this film—famous actors, famous playwright, famous director—there isn't really any reason to watch it if you're actually looking for an enjoyable evening. Rent The Glass Menagerie instead if you want to see Kate in a dramatic play; it's actually good instead of pretending to be.

As I watched this movie again tonight, I was forced to the conclusion that this is really a second-rate play. ENDLESS speeches that do nothing with the English language. NO sense of dramatic arch. It's really a poor play.And then there are the three lead performances, by Ralph Richardson, Katherine Hepburn, and Jason Robarts. If anyone could turn a second-rate script into what you think is a masterpiece, indeed something not far short of Shakespeare itself, it is these three actors. They take the endless speeches in the last hour of the movie and, wringing everything out of every carefully enunciated word, they turn what is basically not far short of dross into pure acting gold. The endless speeches they deliver become masterpieces of acting. You really have to marvel at what they do with little more than nothing.So this movie is worth watching for the acting. But don't read the play. You'll wonder what you could possibly have seen in it.

The film spends one day and night with the dysfunctional Tyrone family. Mary Tyrone (Katharine Hepburn) is an unstable mother addicted in morphine that recalls moments of her life in the past to escape from her reality. The Irish patriarch James Tyrone (Ralph Richardson) is a cheap and alcoholic man and former successful actor. The older son Jamie Tyrone (Jason Robards) is an alcoholic idle man that loves and envies his brother and is blamed by his mother for the death of his younger brother. Edmund Tyrone (Dean Stockwell) is an aspiring writer that has consumption (tuberculosis) and tried to commit suicide. The theatrical "Long Day's Journey into Night" is an adaptation for the big screen of a play and recommended for fans of the author only. For average viewers, it is a long, boring and depressive film with a day of a dysfunctional American family from the beginning of the Twentieth Century. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Longa Jornada Noite Adentro" ("Long Journey Into Night")

Eugene O'Neill, considered the greatest playwright of the twentieth century, spills the harsh life he had growing up in the story about his drug-addicted mother, abusive father, and alcoholic older brother, all who influenced him dramatically. This film version of his play is a tired, relentless tale that from the beginning is painted as an ultimately tragedy. Though it is a bit long to watch in one entire sitting, the acting holds up for the most part and makes some scenes so full of bold and bruising power. Katharine Hepburn gives one of the greatest performances in her storied career as Mary, the mother who loves all yet cannot defeat the inner demons that torment her. Ralph Richardson is also very strong as the vindictive father James. Jason Robards and Dean Stockwell give perhaps the most complex and depressing performances as two brothers whose relationship is estranged due to the dysfunctional situation of their family. This isn't a happy movie by any means and it is quite long at almost three hours. But, for those willing to watch, it is a powerful story about pain and suffering and family relationships; all filled with amazing performances.