Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962)

Director:

Sidney Lumet

Writer:

Eugene O'Neill (play)

Release Date:

4 October 1968 (Finland)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

PRIDE...POWER...PASSION...PAIN!

Plot:

Author Eugene O'Neill gives an autobiographical account of his explosive homelife, fused by a drug-addicted mother...

Plot Keywords:

Actor | Sailor | Brother Brother Relationship | Irish American | Alcoholism

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 5 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Katharine Hepburn	...	Mary Tyrone
Ralph Richardson	...	James Tyrone
Jason Robards	...	Jamie Tyrone (as Jason Robards Jr.)
Dean Stockwell	...	Edmund Tyrone
Jeanne Barr	...	Kathleen

Directed by
Sidney Lumet

Writing credits
Eugene O'Neill		(play "Long Day's Journey Into Night")

Produced by
Jack J. Dreyfus Jr.	....	executive producer
Ely A. Landau	....	producer (as Ely Landau)
Joseph E. Levine	....	executive producer

Original Music by
André Previn

Cinematography by
Boris Kaufman

Film Editing by
Ralph Rosenblum

Production Design by
Richard Sylbert

Set Decoration by
Gene Callahan

Costume Design by
Sophie Devine		(as Motley)

Makeup Department
Herman Buchman	....	makeup artist
Mary Roche	....	hair stylist

Production Management
George Justin	....	executive in charge of production

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Larry Sturhahn	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jack Flaherty	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Kenn Collins	....	sound effects
Jim Shields	....	sound (as James Shields)
Mark Wortreich	....	sound effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Howard Fortune	....	chief electrician
Edward Knott	....	key grip
Albert Taffet	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Flo Transfield	....	wardrobe

Other crew
Marguerite James	....	script supervisor
Stephen F. Kesten	....	production associate (as Stephen Kesten)

Distributors

• Embassy Pictures Corporation (1962) (USA) (theatrical)
• Olive Films (2012) (Canada) (DVD) (DVD and Blu-ray)
• Olive Films (2012) (USA) (DVD) (DVD and Blu-ray)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1992) (USA) (video) (LaserDisc)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Republic Pictures Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

174 min | 170 min (TCM print) | 134 min (edited version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Argentina:16 | Canada:14A | Finland:K-16 | Iceland:L | Norway:16

Filming Locations:

21 Tier Street, City Island, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Trivia:

Marlon Brando was offered the role of Jamie Tyrone in the film, but turned it down after walking out of the play halfway through a performance.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the very beginning of the film, when James sits, his cigar jumps from the left to the right hand.

Quotes:

James Tyrone:[Edmund has just recited a piece of poetry] You recite it well... Who wrote it?
Edmund Tyrone:Baudelaire.
James Tyrone:[Dismissively] Never heard of him. Where you get your taste in authors...
James Tyrone:[Motioning to Edmund's bookshelves] This damned library of yours: Voltaire and Rousseau and Schopenhauer. And Ibsen... Atheists, fools and madmen! And your poet, this... "Baudelaire." And Swinburne, and Oscar Wilde. Whitman and Poe... Whoremongers and degenerates! When I've got three good sets of Shakespeare there you can read...
Edmund Tyrone:They say he was a souse, too.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Charmed: A Wrong Day's Journey Into Right (#6.20)" (2004)

Brilliant performances

When you read them from a book, Eugene O'Neill's plays seem kind of flat. The dialog seems ordinary and uninspired compared to more poetic U.S. playwrights like Tennessee Williams.

But the brilliant acting in this film version of "Long Day's Journey" - especially the delicately nuanced work of Katharine Hepburn as the mother and a sensitive performance by Dean Stockwell as the younger son - shows me what a magnificent playwright O'Neill was. At times this tragic play seems almost Shakespearean.