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The Night of the Iguana Overview:

The Night of the Iguana (1964) was a Drama - Black-and-white Film directed by John Huston and produced by Ray Stark, Emilio Fernández and Sandy Whitelaw.

SYNOPSIS

Huston's adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play is a sometimes confounding, sometimes penetrating film. A defrocked, dissolute Burton squires teachers around Mexico while getting into hot water over a romantic dalliance with a much younger Lyon (in her first role after Lolita). Gardner crackles as the hotel owner who tries to keep him from being torn in two by heaven and earth, but he meets poor, wandering artist Kerr and begins a romantic triangle with her and Gardner. The tour leaves, followed by Kerr, and moral exhaustion or inertia holds Burton and Gardner together at the hotel.

(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).

Academy Awards 1964 --- Ceremony Number 37 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best Supporting ActressGrayson HallNominated
Best Art DirectionStephen GrimesNominated
Best CinematographyGabriel FigueroaNominated
Best Costume DesignDorothy JeakinsWon
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The Night of the Iguana BlogHub Articles:

The Night of The Iguana (1964) and The God-Shaped Hole

By 4 Star Film Fan on Aug 26, 2021 From 4 Star Films

It’s a Sunday morning in St. James Episcopal Church. The minister pulls his sermon from Proverbs 25:28: “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” But there is an elephant in the room, an unspoken force coming between the shepherd and his sheep... Read full article

The Night of the Iguana (1964)

By Beatrice on May 25, 2018 From Flickers in Time

The Night of the Iguana Directed by John Huston Written by Anthony Veiller and John Huston from a play by Tennessee Williams 1964/USA Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer First viewing/Netflix rental I expected something heavy and depressing but was pleased to get a poetic black comedy.  John Huston is still battin... Read full article

The Great Dramas: The Night of the Iguana (1964).

By Dawn on Nov 24, 2010 From Noir and Chick Flicks

The Night of the Iguana (1964). Based on the 1961 play The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams. Directed by John Huston.Cast: Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, and Deborah Kerr. It won the 1964 Academy Award for Best Costume Design, and was nominated for the Academy Awards for Best Art Direction an... Read full article

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The Night of the Iguana Quotes:

Judith Fellowes: [Yelling at Shannon] You thought you outwitted me, didn't you, having your paramour here cancel my call.
Maxine Faulk: Miss Fellowes, honey, if paramour means what I think it does you're gambling with your front teeth.
Hannah Jelkes: Nothing human disgusts me, Mr. Shannon, unless it's unkind, violent.
Hannah Jelkes: Who wouldn't like to atone for the sins of themselves, and the world, if it could be done in a hammock with ropes, instead of on a Cross, with nails? On a green hilltop, instead of Golgotha, the Place of the Skulls? Isn't that a comparatively comfortable, almost voluptuous Crucifixion to suffer for the sins of the world, Mr. Shannon?
Maxine Faulk: What..uh..subject do you teach back in that college of yours hunny?
Judith Fellowes: Voice...if that's got anything to do with it.
Maxine Faulk: Well geography is my specialty. Did you know that if it wasn't for the dikes, the plains of Texas would be engulfed by the gulf?
Hannah Jelkes: Oh God, please can't we stop now?
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The Night of the Iguana Facts
The original Broadway production of "The Night of the Iguana," which made its Broadway debut on December 28, 1961 and ran for 316 performances, was Tennessee Williams last hit play. Iguana was nominated for the 1962 Tony Award for Best Play.
The characters of the Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon (Richard Burton), Maxine Faulk (Ava Gardner), and Hannah Jelkes (Deborah Kerr) were played in the original 1961 Broadway production by Patrick O'Neal, Bette Davis, and Margaret Leighton. The play, its producer and Leighton all were nominated for 1962 Tony Awards, but did not win.
Nearly half the film's $3 million budget was used to pay the three major star's salaries: Richard Burton ($750,000), Ava Gardner ($400,000) and Deborah Kerr ($250,000).
Sue Lyon's then-fiancé, Hampton Fancher III, accompanied her to the set, but after interfering with production too many times, John Huston had him banned from the set.
Ava Gardner kept changing one of her lines in the film from "In a pig's eye, you are!" to "In a pig's ass, you are!", much to the delight of the rest of the cast and crew, including director John Huston.
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