classicsoncall
If this film were made in the Thirties, it might have been one of those exploitation films delving into taboo subjects like repressed sexuality, homo eroticism and substance abuse. But by 1964, actors of considerable name recognition lent their services to this Tennessee Williams play and put it on the big screen. It's an odd name for a film, but the symbolism involved with the freeing of a creature at the end of it's rope does much to explain the characters of Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon (Richard Burton), hotel proprietress Maxine Faulk (Ava Gardner) and itinerant sketch artist Hannah Jelkes (Deborah Kerr). All three appear to be at the end of their rope in one way or another, the script deftly exploring their inner fears and motivations as they come together in the Mexican coastal village of Puerto Vallarta.The film brought to mind the oddest of connections for me, such as Maxine's reference to her 'beach boys' and the way she picked up on those 'vibrations' between Shannon and Hannah. So a couple of years later in 1966, The Beach Boys released 'Good Vibrations', written by Brian Wilson in response to his mother's explanation of dogs barking at people who give off bad vibrations. It would all be just a little too surreal to draw a connection between these two instances, but you know what they say about life imitating art.This is probably one of those movies one needs to watch more than once to pick up all the innuendo and nuance in the characters. A sit up and take notice moment for me was when Maxine offered the shrewish Judith Fellowes (Grayson Hall) some pot to mellow her out (see earlier comment). And didn't the choice of 'Happy Days are Here Again' strike anyone else as the last thing that would be on anyone's mind as the 'Tour of God's World' bus made it's way along the Mexican Coast with a band of female Baptist sight seers? With all that, the film is rich in dialog and the manner in which Hannah bares her soul to Shannon is truly heart rending. Definitely recommended for fans of character driven films.
lasttimeisaw
Another terrific Tennessee Williams cinematic presentation after the contently controversial SUDDENLY, LAST SUMMER (1959, 7/10), THE NIGHT OF THE IGUANA is directed by the almighty John Huston, starring a trio of A-list names Burton, Gardner and Kerr, with a show- stealing supporting performance from the unknown Grayson Hall (who is the sole cast member reaps an Oscar nomination), and it also includes Sue Lyon's follow-up role after Kubrick's LOLITA (1962, 7/10), which foreshadows her career being typecast as a precocious siren with an ingénue disguise.Shot in standard Black & White, the opening scene is inside an episcopal church, we see Rev. Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon (Burton) normally preaches to his parishioners in a ceremony, but slowly he turns emotional and apoplectic-ally lashes out at them, we have no idea what has happened, then the opening credits jump in, and next thing we know, he is in Mexico and becomes the tour guide of a group of Baptist women, headed by a high-strung Miss Judith Fellowes (Hall). All the way, Lawrence is tantalized by an underage girl Charlotte Goodall (Lyon), who is under the supervision of Miss Fellows. Until one night, he succumbs to the temptation and is caught in the act by Miss Fellows. In order to keep his job and prohibit Miss Fellows from calling to his boss, Lawrence arbitrarily bring the group to a hotel, which is overlooking a sea view from the top of a hill and now run by a middle-age woman Maxine Faulk (Gardner), who is newly widowed. Meanwhile, a pair of uninvited guests arrive in the off-season, a spinster Hannah Jelkes (Kerr) who is peripatetic around the world with her ailing grandfather (Delevanti), who is a poet seeking the inspiration to finish his new poem. While Charlotte's caprice of carnal desires can be feasibly veered to another prey, and his job cannot avoid being sabotaged by Miss Fellowes' obduracy, Lawrence comes to term with the situation with the help from Maxine and Hannah, the growing attractions take the main stage, and it is a love triangle needs one to take the moral high ground, which is quite similar to John Ford's MOGAMBO (1953, 6/10), also stars Gardner with Clark Gable and Grace Kelly, in an exotic location (African safari). A decade later, Gardner remains and inherits her flair of being fierily passionate and emotionally unconstrained, more unadorned in her raw beauty, her Maxine is never afraid of betray her feelings, she will flip her lid immediately when witnessing the chemistry between Lawrence and Hannah. She is boldly spontaneous, she will not hesitate to enjoy a threesome with two young Mexican boys on the beach at night after being snubbed by the one she loves, but when she thinks it through, she will generously make the sacrifice to take the egress and fulfill others' happiness. Gardner is great, but Kerr is even more admirable in her refined mien and dignity, Hannah is altruistic, sensible and well-bred, she possesses a rare quality of being both sophisticated and naive, she embraces life in the direst situation (penniless, and scrapes a living by selling her scratch to hotel clientèle), her independence is super-modern at its time, and we will presumably fear she will fall into the victim of a dog-eat-dog world, but she is not the one who needs salvation, Kerr instills a steady crescendo of fortitude onto her character's eccentric life pattern, unlike Maxine, she doesn't need a man to compensate her sense of insecurity, she is fearless and awe-inspiring. Maxine and Hannah represent two sides of one mirror, a perfect woman for Burton's Lawrence, who is miserably lagging behind (being defrocked and jobless) to be the owner of his fate owing to his defects, there is no repulsive male-chauvinistic undertone which fatally tarnishes MOGAMBO. Burton's macho appearance may jar with Lawrence's innate vulnerability, but never judging a book by its cover, Burton sympathetically discloses his wounds with adequate pathos, eventually he will grow on you too like Gardner and Kerr, and their upshot considerably suffices our expectation and doesn't fall into stale cliché.Grayson Hall and Cyril Delevanti, both deliver indelible performances as well, the former completely overshadows Burton and Lyon in the first act, although one can argue, her character is basically one-noted, but she succeeds in setting off a fusillade of aggressiveness with her raspy squawk and acerbic accusations. As for the latter, great line- delivery of his last poem alone can neutralize the cringe-worthy disappointment of his prefigured destiny to consummate his life in the journey. It is a great showpiece with a brainy script, powerful acting and compassionate score, with one conspicuous slip-up, paraphrasing Lawrence earlier in the film, "(Mexico) It is a lost world of innocence", unfortunately, we fail to acknowledge that throughout the film and the native inhabitants are conveniently and consistently portrayed without any gusto apart from being pigeonholed as wacky exotica (catching iguana for food) or laughing stock (two Mexican guys persistently playing with maracas), so, why Mexico? It could be "The Night of Anywhere".
