The Night of the Iguana (1964)
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The Night of the Iguana Movie Review
The Night of the Iguana is a 1964 drama film directed by John Huston and starring Richard Burton, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr. It’s a very good film that could have been better.
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“Miss Fellowes is a highly moral person.
If she ever recognized the truth about herself,
it would destroy her“
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Lawrence Shannon, a former minister, is a tour guide in Mexico. Leading a tourist group from a Baptist women’s college, he finds it difficult to avoid acting on his attraction to Charlotte, the young niece of the group’s leader, Judith Fellowes. When Fellowes swears to ruin him, Shannon strands the bus at a hotel to seek advice from the manager, an old friend. Over the course of one night, the alcoholic Shannon spirals out of control.
The storyline is pretty good, albeit not great. My main problem with this picture is its lack of more provocative dialogue, subplots and character backstories that other famous Tennessee Williams plays all share. So this is far from the playwright’s best works obviously.
But the biggest strength here is its empathy toward all of its characters, and the entire atmosphere to it which is very soothing, intriguing and different for a Hollywood picture of its time. The setting is so different and it provides a fascinating backdrop for all the drama that unfolds.
Let’s talk about the actors and their respective characters. This is where the movie shines. Despite these people not having a bigger edge to them, they are still highly believable, complex human beings and their interactions are uniformly superb.
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Richard Burton is memorably erratic in the role of Shannon. I found his backstory excellent, and he’s simply a very relatable person with his repressed sexual urges being stupendously showcased in a couple of sequences. And I loved his relationship with Hannah.
She’s not as edgy, but is still a very likable woman played so beautifully per usual by the great Deborah Kerr. Their conversation takes the majority of the film’s second half, and I could not complain too much as it was so good and pleasing.
Ava Gardner as Maxime is less utilized, but still a pretty memorable presence. The same goes for Sue Lyon’s Charlotte. And I really liked Grayson Hall in the role of Judith who is supposed to be a repressed lesbian, but I did not really get that from this film. What I got is one memorably bitchy performance that was deservedly nominated for an Oscar.
What I also found highly deserving was its nomination for Best Cinematography. And maybe it should have won in this category given that it looks so damn good. I found the Mexican setting beautifully utilized, and the iguanas were also very intriguing. The film’s very reliant on beaches and terraces and they all look splendid. It’s a very moody, weirdly relaxing film and the cinematography is the most responsible in creating those feelings.
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The costumes are great, but I don’t know about them being Oscar-worthy. The Art Direction nod was obviously deserved, though. The entire film is technically stupendous for sure. The night of the Iguana also features excellent dialogue, but it still has its cinematic qualities which I really appreciated. It’s a good movie, but not great as it really isn’t as edgy or as memorable as the other similar films from this period.
The Night of the Iguana is never as edgy or as provocative as other great Tennessee Williams works, but it still features strong, very well written characters performed so well by its terrific cast with the standouts being always great Deborah Kerr and memorably erratic Richard Burton. The dialogue is great, but its cinematography, its intriguing atmosphere as well as an interesting setting are the standouts.
