The Night of the Iguana (1964)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Elvira B

  
  <p>The Night of the Iguana is adapted from a play by Tennessee Williams and directed by John Huston. That said, it's almost unnecessary to explain the combination of intense, believable and uninhibited drama and towering performances from all actors. We are told the story… More
  <p>The Night of the Iguana is adapted from a play by Tennessee Williams and directed by John Huston. That said, it's almost unnecessary to explain the combination of intense, believable and uninhibited drama and towering performances from all actors. We are told the story of Reverend Shannon, a clergyman gone astray, torn to the bone between his passions and his devotion, who has gone to conduct religious-themed tours across Pacific Mexico after a "spooky" episode during a sermon in his former church. During the tour, an overexcited young girl does her best to take him over the edge and he enters a feverish, almost insane state of mind; from this point on he is left to battle the ill influences of the rest of the tourists, takes refuge at a friend's bungalow complex in Puerto Vallarta, and comes across a world-wandering sketch artist and her poet grandfather.</p> <p>The character of Shannon is played brilliantly by Richard Burton: an epic performance, one that flows effortlessly and empathetically from the wildest to the most peaceful states of mind. His portrayal of a man fighting his demons, slowly losing track of the limits between the "realistic" and the "fantastic" is perfect. Ava Gardner plays his hotel-owner friend, a smaller but fascinating role, also a collision of passion and frailty. In all truth, everyone, from Sue Lyon and her annoying squeals and Deborah Kerr's quietly dignified bohemian deliver solid work. </p> <p>However, in spite of all this, the most remarkable aspect of The Night of the Iguana, aside from the lush cinematography and scenery, is the way in which so much emotional turmoil happens in such short episodes. Passion and despair overflow in every scene, in every word -the dialogue is brilliant, absolutely quotable-, all while the film itself, the shots even, are very closed and restrained. It feels as if the entire film is about to implode. I still have to look more into Huston's work but The Night of the Iguana is a remarkable film and completely recommended.</p>

• Conner R

  
  Great acting, great directing and great writing. You can't ask for much more in a drama. This is a lot different than most Southern centric Tennessee Williams plays, but it's actually a warm welcome to me. It just proves that a great writer can change settings and normal… More
  Great acting, great directing and great writing. You can't ask for much more in a drama. This is a lot different than most Southern centric Tennessee Williams plays, but it's actually a warm welcome to me. It just proves that a great writer can change settings and normal trends and still be effective. Richard Burton is at the top of his game, playing a tragic drunkard on the verge of madness. I also think Sue Lyon's performance is a great spin on hers from Lolita. While John Huston may be known for his action adventure movies, this is given just as much effort and skill.

• Saskia D

  
  I loved this movie. It has this clammy, sweltering feel to it. Ava Gardner was beautiful in her role as the nervous and passionate Maxine. Richard Burton was just as entertaining as in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The movie is based on a play by Tennessee Williams, and… More
  I loved this movie. It has this clammy, sweltering feel to it. Ava Gardner was beautiful in her role as the nervous and passionate Maxine. Richard Burton was just as entertaining as in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. The movie is based on a play by Tennessee Williams, and perhaps because of that, the words and dialogs are superb (for me personally anyway). The characters of the three women are antagonistic and that's what makes it a joy to watch. Another plus: I thought the movie would be about a man lusting for different women, but that's not at all the direction it took! <div style="width:400px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/photos/the-night-of-the-iguana-the-night-of-the-iguana-12328623"><img src="http://content9.flixster.com/photo/12/32/86/12328623_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">

• Pierluigi P

  
  One thing that fascinates me about John Huston's body of work is the way he sympathizes with his characters, usually men drowned by sorrow and guilt whose dreams blew up on their faces and now only long for self destruction as the only way out. Yet, this great film is somewhat… More
  One thing that fascinates me about John Huston's body of work is the way he sympathizes with his characters, usually men drowned by sorrow and guilt whose dreams blew up on their faces and now only long for self destruction as the only way out. Yet, this great film is somewhat less pessimistic, more restrained and a lot more hopeful than some of Huston's best exemplifications of inner turmoil. Richard Burton shows once more the brilliant actor he was.

• Cassandra M

  
  It is possible to watch a film on a wide range of emotional and intellectual levels. One can pay attention only to the visuals, only to the minute trivia related to actors and actresses, to the most obvious displays of physical action, to appeals to one's sympathies, or to the… More
  It is possible to watch a film on a wide range of emotional and intellectual levels. One can pay attention only to the visuals, only to the minute trivia related to actors and actresses, to the most obvious displays of physical action, to appeals to one's sympathies, or to the underlying content and profundity trying to be expressed and communicated to the viewer. Thus, films can be judged to fail on the one hand when they succeed on the other, and this, I think, explains the lukewarm response to what is the finest films ever made in the English language. Whether or not Richard Burton always plays a drunk, whether or not it should have been in colour, are not in the least bit relevant to the significance, the concepts and the issues at play in this brilliant film, this monument to the resilience of human souls, to the compassion that can bring such succour on long, tortured nights, to the precious decency that is for some a perpetual struggle to attain, and the search, the life-long search, for belief, love and light. The backdrop to the exploration of these issues that are so fundamental to individual lives is a Mexican coastal hotel. The central character is a de-frocked and unstable priest, T. Lawrence Shannon (Richard Burton) who, like the iguana that is tethered up in preparation to being eaten, is at the end of his rope. He walks alone, without the crutch of facile beliefs or human companionship beyond sterile physical conquests which only serve to heighten his own self-loathing and isolation. He arrives at the hotel in search of sanctuary in light of his mental deterioration. On his arrival he meets his old friend, the lascivious but no less desperate Maxine (Ava Gardner), a poet on the verge of death who is nevertheless striving for one last creative act, one last stab at beautiful self-expression, and his grand-daughter Hannah (Deborah Kerr), a resilient woman painfully trying to reconcile herself to loss, loneliness and the bitter struggle she faces with her own personal demons. They are united in that they are divided, in that they are all tortured souls seeking beauty, life, meaning and engaged in battles to stand tall, to live with integrity and love. On a hot, cloying night, a night of the iguana, when all their ropes snap taut, they meet. The pivotal and most crucial part of this film is the conversation between Lawrence and Hannah. The former is in the throes of a nervous breakdown, the latter has survived and endured through the same. They are kindred souls that aid one another through the therapy of human connection, of empathy in the long, lonely walk. It is in this conversation that Tennessee Williams explores the issues make this film so important: through his characters, who are throughout depicted not as mere shallow cliches but individuals with histories and feelings that run deep, with subtleties that bring them to life, he meditates upon the struggle to find meaning in one's life, the need for companionship, the importance of compassion, and the way in which people endure, all the time grasping at what dignity they may have, and which may be forever threatened by trials, doubts and pain. These are not issues that date, that diminish in relevance, or that relate only to certain people - they are concepts that are universal, that speak to each individual and relate to fundamental facets of the human mind and spirit. Because Night of the Iguana sets out to tackle such issues, it is elevated far beyond the level of most films. It is profound, but also deeply emotional, made more so by the superb characterisations (aided, in addition, by universally superb performances). One is afforded an insight into characters, into people, who live, breath, cry, shout, scream, and endure. They are fallible, capable of spite, caprice, and baseness, but they are also thoughtful, courageous and strangely noble. To watch them interact, thrown together as they are on a Mexican veranda, is affecting both emotionally and intellectually, and it is this interaction which is responsible for creating a film that stands (tall and dignified) above nearly all others.

• jay n

  
  Ava Gardner steals this.

• Michael G

  
  Burton is fantastic, Gardener is a great burn-out and Sue Lyon rehashes her Lolita persona. But somehow I like it...

• Emily B

  
  Great film with a great cast. Richard Burton is brilliant as always, as is Deborah Kerr. Also a good performance by Sue Lyon in another Lolita style role. Must mention the brilliant B/W cinematography too.

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