MovieChat Forums > The Night of the Iguana (1964) Discussion > observations /questions

observations /questions

posted 9 years ago by TVguy80
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I just watched it and I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I love film adaptations of Williams plays even when they're not entirely successful.

1. Sue Lyons is very intriguing. Interesting that she's playing another " Lolita " to an older British actor in this movie also. Typecasting that damaged her career?

2. Burton is very good but he seems miscast. Am I right that the character is supposed to be an American southerner?

3. First time I have ever been impressed with Ava's Gardner's acting. Huge oversight that she wasn't nominated for an Oscar.

4. Deborah Kerr was terrific.

5. I appreciated Shannon's compassion for the professor who may not yet have accepted her own sexual orientation. Interesting moment in the plot that seems unusual for the era.

6. The "beach boys": yowzah!

[–] ncgraham 9 years ago

Burton is supposed to be playing an American, and his parish was in the South, but that doesn't mean he wouldn have grown up there--I believe that in the Episcopal church, like in many denominations, one can receive a "calling" to serve a parish/congregation far away from one's point of origin. He could very well have been from the Northeast. Much is made of his ethnic background in the play, with Maxine derisively referring to him as "black Irish" multiple times.

I'm surprised Gardner AND Kerr weren't nominated, especially over Grayson Hall. I mean, she was good overall, and kept the role from devolving into a total caricature, but there were a few moments when she just seemed "off" to me.

Interestingly, Shannon's compassion for Miss Fellowes is not original to Williams--it was added for the movie. Maxine's dig about dykes in Texas is said by him in the play.

[–] bhoover247 9 years ago

I liked the fact that Shannon showed a bit of compassion for Miss Fellows. She had been nothing but hateful to him.