The Night of the Iguana
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The Casa Iguana hotel in Mismaloya |
The Night of the Iguana is a play by
Tennessee Williams about American tourists in
Mexico. It has been made into movies twice, in 1964 and 2001, with a
new movie version in production. Its 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 hates 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 1964
John Huston film was shot just south of
Puerto Vallarta,
Mexico on "La Jolla de Mismaloya" (The Bay of
Mismaloya).
Gabriel Figueroa was in charge of the cinematography. Due in no small part to the presence of cast member
Richard Burton, the shooting of the film during 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.
Primary cast (1964)
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Richard Burton : Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon
*
Ava Gardner : Maxine Faulk
*
Deborah Kerr : Hannah Jelkes
*
Sue Lyon : Charlotte Goodall
*
Skip Ward : Hank Prosner
*
Grayson Hall : Judith Fellowes
*
Cyril Delevanti : Nonno
