User Reviews

Coleen Dewhurst and Jason Robards, Jr. maintain their reputations as titans of the theatre in the roles of "Josie Hogan" and "James Tyrone, Jr." I found Ed Flanders a tad flat playing the father of "Josie", although others have praised him. Direction and editing in transferring this stage play to the TV screen are both excellent. The aim was clearly not to be cinematic, but to give the viewer the illusion of watching a play on stage. It works very well. "Josie" refers to herself more than once as "a big cow of a girl", and Dewhurst makes no effort to "pretty-up" the character. The beauty that "James" finds in her comes from character within, perhaps some might say "soul". Whatever, the lady puts the idea across wonderfully well. Robards tends a little more to bombast in portraying "James", but that works well too for a character portrayed in "Long Day's Journey into Night" as more-or-less a "loud mouthed drunk".

Eugene O'Neill has said that he felt he denigrated his brother too much in "Long Day's Journey into Night". This play was supposed to right what he felt was a wrong. Alas, it seems to me that "James" still appears a weakling, although he seems to hold his liquor well enough. What O'Neill created here was a Chekov style "comedy". There are no yucks, but how else can you interpret the obvious "fake" feud of father and daughter that goes on all through the play. They obviously love each other very much. There is one oddity in Collen Dewhurst's performance that I remarked. Close your eyes during some of her speeches and you will swear it is Katherine Hepburn talking! Watching this play for 135 minutes is a rewarding experience on more than one level. How do "Josie" and "James" make out at the end? Although I checked the "spoiler" box, I am not going to tell you. Get the DVD and find out.

With the cast of the Broadway revival of this Eugene O'Neill play reunited on a TV soundstage to recreate their award worthy prrformances, a great piece of art is forever available for enthusiasts to enjoy. Jason Robards, Colleen Dewhurst and Ed Flanders are riviting in this solud, serious drama about three people involved in a possible soul killing scheme to enrich their lives, one hoping for romance, one for a night of passion and the other for a financial plot, and it's obvious that none of them will come out the winner. Farmer Flanders uses his daughter Dewhurst in a scheme against Robards, hoping to get his hands on some property. Dewhurst hides her feelings for Robards behind a sarcastic nature, and when he gets drunk and visits her while her father is out, the stage is set for drunken confessions, desperate longing and ultimately a let-down of dreams broken.

The single farm set is absolutely beautiful, and I'm curious to see how close this was to the revival that had just taken Broadway by storm. The original production had not been well received but O'Neill finally got the praise due him with this revival being highly acclaimed. Dewhurst, with that raspy voice covering up a huge heart of gold, is one of those actors who could read the phone book and be riveting. Robards, then making great success as a character actor in film and on the verge of winning two consecutive Oscars, plays a terrific drunk, and having had his own drinking problems in real life, shows how brilliantly it can be done when the actor is sober. His breakdown in Dewhurst's arms is one of the greatest monologues In theater history. As the scheming father, Flanders is a delightful rogue, enjoying losing the battle as much or even more than he does when he wins it. Fortunately this is not a very lengthy play so it is easy to get through in just over two hours. Terrific direction and staging along with the acting elevates this from a simple TV special to an all-time TV classic.