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.

One day and night with the dysfunctional Tyrone family. Mary 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 is a cheap and alcoholic man and former successful actor. The older son Jamie 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 is an aspiring writer that has tuberculosis and tried to commit suicide.I have never been a fan of Katharine Hepburn and this film is a great example of why. Despite being considered a great actress, it is clear that she is really a great stage actress. Her words and actions are always exaggerated, which is perfect for the stage but looks silly on screen.Because this was a play, it might make sense to act it as a play. Indeed, the lack of locations makes it very much still a play. But Hepburn shows us the difference -- she is still over-acting, whereas everyone else is toned down and realistic. Dean Stockwell is especially excellent. Why did Hepburn never learn to act on screen?

A day in the life of Eugene O'Neill's spectacularly dysfunctional family would be an endurance test for any normal person. The morphine-addict mother, alcoholic older brother and skinflint father gather around the youngest son as he is about to leave for a sanitarium for consumption. They rationalize, get nostalgic about earlier times and think wistfully (not to mention self-deludingly) of the lives they might have led, while dissecting each others' faults as only family members can. The characters (and by now the audience) begin to dread the coming of night as the brother's drinking and the mother's drug use threaten to turn them by turns nasty and insane. Since the script is the star, the direction consists mostly of camera movement into and across and amongst the various pairings and groupings of the principles, which would seem a sound choice. The stage-bound claustrophobia which so commonly results in filmings of great plays is a virtue here, as the family members literally cannot get away from one another. They are held together by blood and co-dependency. Little actually happens and the action is kept to a minimum, but the dramatic fireworks keep things moving along.

This movie is a compelling illustration of the dark human emotions that afflicted famous author, Eugene O'Neal!! "Long Day's Journey Into Night" is an account of the somber trenches that reflects Eugene O'Neal's life when he was growing up!! Eugene O'Neal writes this wonderful work of art, and "Long Day's Journey Into Night" became the recipient of a Tony award!! This dramatic query of Eugene O'Neal's life evokes a bevy of stellar accomplishments which became an auspicious mark of theatrical excellence!! This intellectually spellbinding stage play was later made into a major motion picture!! Famous director, Sydney Lumet, (Most famous for "Network") directs this masterpiece, and convincingly asserts an intentionally dreary aura of sadness and miserly despondence which author, Eugene O'Neal, articulated with such a succinct accountability!! The acting is uncompromising, basically second to none: This movie stars; Katherine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, Jason Robards, and Dean Stockwell!! All of the characters in this movie have been victimized by one form of abuse after the next!! The father, being an Irish immigrant in the late 1800's, grew up his whole life having been labeled a non-refined American.... Regardless of money, the Tyrones were categorized as shanty Irish!! The older brother, (Jason Robards) was a disgruntled drunk who drummed up all kinds of excuses for his resounding failure as an adult!! The Mother (Katherine Hepburn) was a drug addict, her love for her family was ossified and obtuse by the demeanor with which it was expedited... Her family's problems were always seen through rose colored glasses!! The youngest son, (aka) Eugene O'Neal, (Played by Dean Stockwell) was the misunderstood underling who became plagued with consumption... The intensity of emotions in this movie were incredible... The entire family was keenly aware of all of their adversities which were dragging them down (i.e. alcohol, penuriousness, sleeping pills and morphine, and consumption) and yet, they also knew that they were not strong enough to overcome them... The psychological perspectives that the Tyrone family got relegated to were accurately portrayed in terms of the realistic cynicism which inevitably ensued with their lives!! If the situation changes, it will only change for the worse!! The pitfall of human despair prevailed as an ugly adversary that decimated virtually every one of the Tyrones.... For Eugene O'Neal, the petty consolation prize for having such a dark and ugly citadel of unhappiness for a home life, was that he became a marvelous writer... The Tyrone family's attitudes and feelings were desperately real, they mirrored the sorry end result which was caused by the unfortunate decisions that all of these four people made!! These decisions gridlocked each and every one of them, and manufactured a genre of arctic desolation which centralized their aggregate misery right down to the core of a dreadfully genuine ideological doom!! These feelings manifested a crystal clear conceptualization of hopelessness that the Tyrone family was perennially burdened with!! I thought "Long Day's Journey Into Night" was one of the best movies I have ever seen.. The acting, the directing, and the writing, were all by the best in the business... Cerebral torment is not always pleasant to witness, but, the authenticity of such a fate is empathetically indulged with a pejorative passion in this film!! The motif of rivalry and bitterness in "Long Day's Journey Into Night" is depressing with a capital D, then again, that was the movie's intention... Having explained that, it is extremely safe to say that "Long Days Journey Into Night" is a film which is; AN ABSOLUTELY EXCELLENT ONE!!!!