Movie Review – Long Day's Journey Into Night

Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962) – A drug addicted mother (Katherine Hepburn), an alcoholic, former stage matinee idol father (Ralph Richardson), the no account older son (Jason Robards) and the pampered baby of the family who has contracted tuberculosis (Dean Stockwell) slash at one another as their family begins its final descent into dysfunction.  They alternate between screaming insanity, caustic sarcasm and occasional glimpses of familial love as they deal with the issues between them by trying to avoid discussing those issues whenever possible.

This is not a pleasant family.  It sounds like they may have been once upon a time but even then you find tiny glimpses of the decay at the center of this family’s soul.  Did Jamey (Robards) intentionally expose his infant brother to the measles, resulting in the baby’s death?  Did James (Richardson) really get left, dead drunk, at his new wife’s hotel door on their wedding day?  The legends have become as much a part of their history as what actually happened.  They slash at each other verbally, then retreat, apologize and circle back around to do it again.

The story is based on playwright Eugene O’Neill’s life and the movie is based on the play of the same name.  This is a spectacular cast (there’s only one other actor in the entire movie, Jeanne Barr, who plays the house maid Kathleen.  It’s a tiny and inconsequential role) is spell binding to watch.  Stockwell is a solid actor who would go on to steady career on TV and in the movies, but it’s all he can do to stay with the others.  Robards brings a “dog who has been kicked too often” feel to the role of Jamey, the failed older son.  Lacking any ambition of his own he turned to his father to get him a job in the theater and then derides both his parent and the theater at every chance he gets.  But he never finds the spine to stand up to his father or move on.  Richardson is amazing as the older man who sees that he squandered his chance at greatness by settling for monetary success.  Once upon a time James had been one of the rising stars of the stage but chose to do the same role for years because it was guaranteed money.  When he realized it was time to do something else, it was too late.  He had trapped himself in the role and faded to obscurity.  His rise from poverty has made him a miser.  Not wanting to spend more money than he must has brought great pain to the family, including addicting his wife to morphine.

Which brings us to Katherine Hepburn’s Mary.  Mary is the most volatile of all the family, slipping from madness to despair to razor sharp verbal assault in seconds.  The role has to be exhausting and Hepburn carries every moment she’s on the screen.  Mary’s anguish at her addiction, the loss of her father to tuberculosis and now the diagnosis of her youngest child with the same, watching her beloved husband fade professionally and descend ever deeper into alcoholism, the complete failure of any sense of accomplishment in her life is soul wrenching.  This is a fabulous performer by one of the finest actors of her generation.

But this is not an easy movie to watch.  First of all, it’s six minutes shy of three hours long.  Three hours without a smile, let alone a laugh.  Three hours watching a family tear itself to shreds, pause to regroup, then do it all again.  The performances are stunning.  The act of watch those performances is an ordeal.  Add in the sometimes intrusive score by Andre Previn and it can be a struggle at times.

Well worth watching, but not for the weak of heart.  The ordeal just makes it too tough to rate any higher.

Rating – *** Worth A Look