The Night of the Iguana (1964)

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:

Relationship | Hotelkeeper | Suicide | Schoolteacher | Spinster

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:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | UK:12 (video rating) (1996) | 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:

Nearly half the film's $3 million budget was used to pay the three major star's salaries: Richard Burton ($750,000), Ava Gardner ($400,000) and Deborah Kerr ($250,000).

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: Shannon walks barefooted over broken glass, leaving bloody footprints all over his hotel room, then chases Charlotte onto the terrace without leaving a trace of blood.

Quotes:

Maxine Faulk: So you appropriated the young chick and the old hens are squawking, huh?
T. Lawrence Shannon: It's very serious. The child is emotionally precocious.
Maxine Faulk: Bully for her.
T. Lawrence Shannon: Also, she is traveling under the wing of a military escort of a butch vocal teacher.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Undead (#9.6)" (1997)

All-Time Great

Watched this film recently for the seventh or eighth time -it' always a delight. Classic Burton hamming it up just enough. . . calm, cool Kerr proping up "Shannon's" sanity. . . free-spirited Gardner charging around trying to keep her sanity and reaching out for Shannon. . .Lyon, the "precocious" seductress. . . all were amazingly believable. I didn't have a problem with the black and white, in fact, I think it added to impact of the film, leaving it up to the actors to pull out the heart of William's magnificent play without the benefit of color, although I'm not sure color would have made any difference anyway. The final dialogue between Kerr and Burton was spellbinding: the meeting of two souls, if only for the moment.

Kerr, Burton, and Gardner were at their finest in this film.