The Night of the Iguana (1964)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

John Huston

Writers:

Tennessee Williams (play)
Anthony Veiller (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 August 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Man And Woman - Love And Lust - Ruin And Redemption - One Night They All Meet.

Plot:

A defrocked Episcopal clergyman leads a bus-load of middle-aged Baptist women on a tour of the Mexican coast and comes to terms with the failure haunting his life.

Plot Keywords:

Bus | Hotel | Church | Virginia | Minister

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 12 nominations

Cast

Richard Burton	...	Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon
Ava Gardner	...	Maxine Faulk
Deborah Kerr	...	Hannah Jelkes
Sue Lyon	...	Charlotte Goodall
Skip Ward	...	Hank Prosner (as James Ward)
Grayson Hall	...	Judith Fellowes
Cyril Delevanti	...	Nonno
Mary Boylan	...	Miss Peebles

Runtime:

125 min | Germany:112 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:12 (video rating) (1996) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | UK:X (original rating) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16 (f)

Filming Locations:

Mismaloya Village, Jalisco, Mexico

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

According to one of the biographies of Tennessee Williams, "The Kindness of Strangers," by Donald Spoto, the character of Maxine, who is portrayed in this film by Ava Gardner, was purportedly based upon Williams' landlady of the apartment he rented in Santa Monica while he was working at MGM Studios in the 1940's. Her mannerisms, her attitudes and even her distinctive one-syllable laugh were detailed by Williams and are expertly performed by Ms. Gardner.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Sign in front of church reads "St. Jame's Episcopal Church". Also gives Morning Prayer and Holy Communion as a single service at an early hour (9:00?) with "Sermon" as a separate service at a later hour (11:00?). This movie took place during the 1928 Prayer Book period. Morning Prayer was one service and Holy Communion was another service, and a sermon could have been part of either service, but it would not have been a stand-alone event.

Quotes:

T. Lawrence Shannon: [talking to Maxine] I wonder how long it takes to sweat the faculty of a Baptist Female College out of a bus that's parked in the sun when it's a 100 degrees in the shade.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "What's My Line?: (1964-07-05)" (1964)

Long Day's Journey Into Night

A motley group of weary travelers converge on a rundown seaside resort in Mexico, and ruminate on the vicissitudes of life and on each other, in this Tennessee Williams play converted to film by Director John Huston.

The plot begins with the travails of the good Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon (Richard Burton) who, after having lost his temper in a pulpit tirade, takes a lowly job as a Mexican tour guide, driving a decrepit old tour bus. On his current assignment he hauls around a bunch of moribund old church hags, led by the humorless and rather butch Miss Fellowes (Grayson Hall). She constantly nags and pecks, hovering over our good reverend, like some bird that can't quite kill its stubborn prey, as characterized in this verbal outburst directed at Shannon. "Now you listen to me. We girls have worked and slaved all year at Baptist female college for this Mexican tour, and the tour is a cheat. For days we've been hauled in that stifling bus over the byways, off the highways, shook up and bumped up ...". It's enough to drive a tour guide to drink.

They arrive at the "resort", greeted by the effervescent manager, Maxine Faulk (Ava Gardner), saucy, sultry, and just as outspoken as Miss Fellowes, but much more worldly wise. Maxine gets assistance from two youthful Mexican beach boys who shake their maracas but never speak.

Into this sociological stew comes two proud guests, a wheelchair bound, senile old man (Cyril Delevanti) who writes poetry, and his New England, spinster granddaughter, Hannah Jelkes (Deborah Kerr), a sketch artist who peddles the two's artistry in lieu of payment, since they are penniless.

The characters in this film are all rather worn and beaten, physically tired from the Mexican heat, and mentally drained from life's burdens, as desperate as a captured lizard at the end of its rope. And therein lies the film's theme: to accept one's station in life regardless of circumstances, to cease struggling, to endure the hardships, and be on the "realistic level".

Although Burton does a fairly good job in the lead role, he's rather too Shakespearean, too theatrical, to be convincing as a priest, defrocked or otherwise. I would like to have seen what actor Maximilian Schell could have done with this role. Otherwise, the casting is great. Grayson Hall, Ava Gardner, and Deborah Kerr are all terrific in their parts.

As you would expect for a Tennessee Williams' creation, the film is very talky. The B&W cinematography is fine, but it would have been even better in color. The vegetation is lush; and we hear the sounds of tropical birds and the ocean surf. All of which makes for a tropical paradise, human iguanas notwithstanding.

"The Night Of The Iguana" is a high quality cinematic production that has a lot to say about the human condition, via the dialogue's subtext. The film's scenery, even in B&W, is beautiful. The acting is very good. The costumes are interesting. And John Huston's direction is flawless.