The Night of the Iguana (film)

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The Night of the Iguana

Directed by	John Huston
Produced by	John Huston Ray Stark
Written by	Tennessee Williams (play)
Starring	Richard Burton Ava Gardner Deborah Kerr
Music by	Benjamin Frankel
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	August 6, 1964 U.S. release
Running time	125 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Night of the Iguana is a 1964 film based on the play by Tennessee Williams. Set in 1940s Mexico, the main character is an ex-minister turned tour guide, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon, who has been accused of statutory rape of a seductive sixteen-year-old in his party.

As leader of a tour party of church women, Shannon takes the group to a cheap hotel on the coast of Mexico run by an old friend of his named Fred. He soon finds out Fred has died and the hotel is now run by Fred's promiscuous widow, Maxine Faulk. Shannon, on the edge of a nervous breakdown, trying to manage both his tour party (who hate him) and Maxine (who is interested in him for purely carnal reasons), is struck by the appearance of the strangely virginal spinster, Hannah Jelkes, a painter who travels with her elderly poet grandfather. Hannah is at the end of her means and Shannon convinces Maxine to let her stay the night. Over a long night, and despite Maxine's attempts to separate them, Hannah and Shannon form a deeply human bond that dies out in a slow, tragic ending.

The Casa Iguana hotel in Mismaloya

The film was directed by John Huston and starred Richard Burton as Rev. Shannon, Ava Gardner as Maxine and Deborah Kerr as Hannah. It also featured Sue Lyon, Cyril Delevanti and Grayson Hall, who received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in this film. The screenplay was written by Huston and Anthony Veiller. The film won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design (B&W), and in addition to Ms. Hall's nomination, was also nominated for its Cinematography (by Gabriel Figueroa) and Art Direction.

The film version has removed the Nazi tourist characters from the original stage version.

The film was shot just south of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on "La Jolla de Mismaloya" (The Bay of Mismaloya). Due in no small part to the presence of cast member Richard Burton and actress Elizabeth Taylor,who were carrying on a very public affair at the time, in 1963, attracted large numbers of paparazzi, made international headlines, and in turn made Puerto Vallarta world-famous. Three of the film's stars were involved in romantic affairs while the film was made, and all four stars had their share of arguments with Huston. Today, there is a hotel and resort that now occupies the bayfront at what is now the village of Mismaloya; it maintains the old sets as restaurants and tourist attractions.