The Night of the Iguana
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Movie Reviews of The Night of the Iguana
Movie Review: An amazingly good film!
Summary: 5 Stars
I just recently decided to go back and review the films of Richard Burton -- at least the ones I liked. The short list includes: Virginia Woolf, Night of the Iguana, and Becket.
"The Night of the Iguana" comes very close to being a masterpiece. Consider the talent on board: Tennessee Williams for the story, John Huston to write the screenplay and direct, and then: Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, and Deborah Kerr! I regard the casting of Deborah Kerr as particularly brilliant, but the whole film is superbly filmed, and superbly acted.
It's an old movie, so you will look in vain for car chases, aliens, and explosions: what it is, is non-stop story from beginning to end. And talk. REAL talk: about God, about life, about the meaning of life. I feel that the film's climax comes when Deborah Kerr explains the meaning of the word "home" to Richard Burton. "Home" is not a place built of bricks and mortar, it is not necessarily a place where procreation takes place, but it is a place where two people can live happily together, sure that they are loved, and that they will never be alone. In the film, Deborah Kerr (Mrs. Jelkes) has built her home with her aged grandfather -- very aged: at 97, he is the world's oldest living and practising poet.
But -- what a thought! Ava Gardner is a woman of middle age who has just lost her husband, and is currently seeking solace in the arms of a pair of very handsome, young, and uncommitted beach-boys. Richard Burton, the Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon -- defrocked -- is a man at the end of his rope.
Telling you anything more would ruin the film for you. But I have always loved the poem which the aged poet recites towards the end of the film -- to me, it's evidence that Tennessee Williams could write a superb poem, as well as his superb plays.
Very high recommendation!
Movie Review: Fine Adaptation
Summary: 5 Stars
One of the finest film adaptations of a play, Tennessee Williams pulls all the stops so that Richard Burton can go gaga as the sex obsessed defrocked minister in a tropical setting surrounded by women that think he's "so hot." No doubt, Burton in 1964 is at the top of his game, oozing sensuality while walking on glass to deny it.
It comes to my attention that today great plays solely reside on the big screen. Few productions are accessible to the public, and how many times can you tolerate Cats? Hence, Hollywood must carry the torch, but with great abridgment, because plays are two hours plus and films are usually ninety minutes at the most. That's why Shakespeare on film is so awfully butchered. I have no idea if Iguana met this fate, having never seen the play.
Ah, the woman of Iguana, Deborah Kerr portrays the most complex combination of spinster and romantic adventurer. At least she does not shirk from accommodating a rather strange admirer. Her grandfather has one more poem in him and she'll care for the invalid till the last prophetic word. A distraction, Burton is soothed by her strength.
Sue Lyon's shtick I have seen before in the Southern ingénue version. The sweltering heat and the wiggling butt are appendages to the honey voice, the single-minded hunt of the lioness. The good Reverend is the target. Good luck!
Ava Gardner, her career ending, has Island boys with noise makers to keep her happy, but when Burton arrives, she goes into schoolgirl swoon complete with temper tantrums. By the way, those noise makers, they seemed awfully cheesy and stereotypical. Calling immigrant protection!
Movie Review: Classic Work All Around
Summary: 5 Stars
The increasingly philosophical mid-60's work of director John Huston met a perfect match in the self-absorbed sexual lyricism of Tennessee Williams. Along with co-writer Anthony Veiller, Huston turned Williams' morality play into a stunning hothouse ensemble piece, with Richard Burton ideally cast as a defrocked minister reduced to guiding old women through Central America's "places of God" and who is awash in temptation; a teenage tease (Sue Lyon), a lovely spinster (Deborah Kerr), and a sensual, middle-aged widow (Ava Gardner).
Huston uses this dramatic base as a springboard for examining a number of moral issues, played in the heat of the Mexican sun between the polar guardrails of the lustful Lyon and the priggish Miss Peebles (Mary Boylan), Lyon's guardian. Peebles is a bible-thumping Wicked Witch, one-dimensional as character but a perfect foil for one of Burton's great performances. Running the gamut from reflective man of God to babbling nutcase and back again, Burton brilliantly portrays a fallen cleric trying to maintain his sanity while picking up the pieces of his life. Almost as riveting as Burton is Gardner, whose Maxine is a freer mid-life extension of the barefoot contessa. She is all earthy sexuality and raw emotion, a stunning counterpoint to Kerr's restrained moral compass.
As with most films based on a Williams work, "Night of the Iguana" has its share of poetic pretensions, but they are easily forgiven. The steamy tropical setting, the depth of the script, and the work of a fabulous cast make "Iguana" a minor classic, one that presaged the permissive watershed of the late 60's while revealing life's great moral comedy.
Movie Review: Great
Summary: 5 Stars
As usual, the Amazon reviewers tried to (successfully) give the plot away, and got things wrong. Don't these dunderheads watch the movies they spoil?
The dialogue was stilted. That's the only thing wrong with this wonderful, insightful movie. Well, that and the rattles Ava Gardner's boys shake constantly. That was a little childish, especially since she was closed for the season.
When I was in high school, Tennessee Williams (along with Kaufman & Hart) was my favorite writer. "The Glass Managerie" and this were my 2 favorite plays. I no longer like either Williams or Managerie, but I still love this. Everyone acted his part to the hilt. The plot was complex and profound. But it wasn't ponderous, and it didn't take itself deadly serious as it could have. There's nothing much I can say without giving away the story and its twists and turns. I assume it was Miss Fellowes who won the Oscar nomination. Either she's the meanest human being who ever drew breath, or she deserved her nomination. I thought everyone deserved an Oscar, of the principals that is, though the others played their parts to perfection as well, just no one else had much to do (thinking of the ladies).
Though it had its rougher moments, I would call this a kind movie. Will I be buried in "not helpfuls" if I say that Deborah Kerr (or her character or her direction) was a little cloying? I can't recommend this flick highly enough. At least, I love it.
Movie Review: NIGHT OF THE IGUANA - Still Wonderful After 45 Years!
Summary: 5 Stars
Forget the heat surrounding Liz and Dick, high off of Cleopatra. Forget how this film helped put Puerto Vallarta on the map. Forget all the tabloid stuff that surrounded this film. (I do think fondly, however, of the statue of John Huston that stands in a charming tourist section of Puerto Vallarta.) Just focus on this wonderful film and the performances of the four principals: Burton, Kerr, Gardner and Lyon, with a special nod to Grayson Hall. I once read that Huston regretted having filmed it in black and white. Imagine for a moment if the great Ingmar Bergman films like Wild Strawberries and The Silence had been in color. Color would have ruined the underlying drama of those pieces just as it would have ruined Night of the Iguana. This is not a feel-good movie in which pretty pictures and fluff abound; rather, it's about people who have arrived at the last leg of their physical and emotional journeys and have to learn what's in store for them after they've gotten to the end of the proverbial line. Not a pretty place for one to be, so black and white captures that essence better than color ever could. I watch this film about once a year and it amazes me how well it holds up. This may be Burton's best performance, and Kerr is magnificent. I can't think of another play that was ever adapted for the screen with this much skill and which still packs such a punch after 45 years. The DVD is quite good and contains some entertaining extras.