MovieChat Forums > The Night of the Iguana (1964) Discussion > Just rewatched this on VHS!

Just rewatched this on VHS!

posted 5 years ago by CharlotteXavier (2357)
16 replies | jump to latest

I belong to a VHS/Cassette culture hobby group and I got this off of eBay. I just love it.

Couple of things:

My 1994 copy was edited! The only part that was obvious was when Maxine and Miss Jelkes were having words and they edited out a curse word by Maxine. Makes me wonder what else they took out. But they left the make out threesome scene in the water with the maraca boys!

Speaking of maracas: aren’t those Caribbean? Still, I thought that it was a great touch to have them constantly shaking them even when they were fighting the bus driver.

Also, the ending was loaded with sexual innuendo! “I can get down but I can’t get back up.” ! “Oh, I’ll always get you back up..” LOL

[–] brux (14724) 4 years ago

They actually censored this movie on the VHA tape? How ridiculous.

I love this movie. It is so funny, my family was staying at my grandparents house, and I wanted to watch TV since I was kind of bored. So I, a teenage boy at the time, looked for something interesting, and Night of the Iguana sounded like Science Fiction movie about giant iguanas.

I was initially confused and disappointed to see Richard Burton's chubby Welsh face in church garb, but as I watch it I got more and more interested until this became one of my favorite movies. I must have seen it now 20 times including seeing a local theatrical production of it. I don't know what it is about this movie that resonates with me so much.

Maybe it is a guy who can find no real place in the world and yet can still connect with others.

I just love both Deborah Kerr and Ava Garder!

[–] CharlotteXavier (2357) 4 years ago

Brux, you’ve kind of given me new hope for the MovieChat boards.

That was an incredibly poignant take on the movie that I completely agree with.

It’s great how you came upon this film. You chose it from a vhs tape collection?

[–] brux (14724) 4 years ago

It was listed as playing that night on broadcast TV ... remember that?

[–] CharlotteXavier (2357) 4 years ago

Haha, I’m laughing because I still feed off of broadcast tv.
Of course I no longer use the TV section from the local newspaper.

I use the TV Guide app. It’s wonderful actually.

I was inspired by your post to watch my vhs copy of Creature From the Haunted Sea last night. So convoluted!

[–] Kowalski (75537) 4 years ago

I STRUGGLED THROUGH CREATURE FROM THE HAUNTED SEA RECENTLY...IT WAS A GOOD PICK UP ON DVD FOR 3 BUCKS...THE COLLECTION MUST BE FED!...BUT DAMN WAS IT A TEST OF MY RETRO CRAP TOLERANCE.🙂

[–] CharlotteXavier (2357) 4 years ago

I know! There’s so much going on with the Cuban exiles, the singing lady, the fake creature and then the real creature.. oy.

I also felt seasick. Haha 🐉 🌊

[–] brux (14724) 4 years ago

I've seen Creature From The Black Lagoon ... even on the silver screen, but never even heard of Creature From the Haunted Sea.

It appears to be on YouTube ... is this right?
https://youtu.be/uvp5bEePClY?t=4309

Sorry, but that looks dreadful.

[–] CharlotteXavier (2357) 4 years ago

Hahah! Oh, that’s it. It’s a Corman picture. And it is rather dreadful.

Do you know of him? If yes then you know that he has had a huge cult following for decades.

I’m happy to elaborate on how he got some of Hollywood’s most celebrated luminaries off to a fresh start, how he economised, the value of his silly B pictures, etc.

Don’t let this haunted sea movie deter you from the classic Corman pics. He actually did some bigger budget stuff with Vincent Price and a young Jack Nicholson, whose first starring role was in Crybaby Killer, a Corman pic.

My all time faves are The Wasp Woman with Susan Cabot (look her up for a fascinating read) and The Terror with Jack Nicholson and Boris Karlov. That movie has tons of stories on how is was made and who made it. But I saw it as a kid on the Late Show Friday night. It has the colours, the music, the total vibe of early 60’s B movies that I grew up watching on TV when my mom would let us stay up late.

[–] brux (14724) 4 years ago

Yeah, the first Corman picture I remember seeing on TV as a kid was "Attack Of The Giant Crab Monster" ... starring the Professor from Gilligan's Island. We saw it while visiting the Maryland shore and crabbing ... so it was a running joke with the family.

Can't say I like Corman's movies though.

[–] CharlotteXavier (2357) 4 years ago

Well, you don’t have to like him, whatever.
He’s 94 years old and still going strong. Pretty impressive career, even if he never became a household name. He was one of those people who propelled others towards super stardom. But imo, he didn’t have the star quality that they had: Ron Howard, Francis Ford, Jack Nicholson...
But he brought the artful films of the foreign market to drive in theatres- Federico Fellini, Ingmar Bergman, Akira Kurosawa.

Pretty cool bunch. He produced tons of art films as well as all of the exploitation stuff.

Make no mistake, Roger Corman is a Hollywood legend.

[–] brux (14724) 4 years ago

I don't dislike HIM, Roger Corman, you are right, he has his body of work, and proteges whose careers he has started. I just do not care for most of his movies.

[–] brux (14724) 3 years ago

Definitely a force greater than just his movies in cinema!

[–] [deleted] 3 years ago

I realize that was probably a typo, but "Gilligan's Islam" sounds like it would be a really weird show.

[–] brux (14724) 3 years ago

Hahaha ... that's weird, thanks for pointing that out. Auto-corrupt is not my friend!

[–] CharlotteXavier (2357) 4 years ago

I just read the other posts about how it was on TV. That’s funny. Sounds like you were expecting a Corman type B picture like Creature From The Haunted Sea (I have that on VHS) and you got Tennessee Williams! Are you a fan of his other works like Streetcar and Cat On A Hot Tin Roof? I love everything he wrote. Summer and Smoke is one of my favourites but it’s very sad, as are most of his stories. Iguana is the only one I can think of that actually has a happy ending.

As for the editing, I think it may have been for the distribution and PG rating. It could have some racy scenes but if they used the word ass it would get an R rating.

[–] brux (14724) 3 years ago

I have not seen that movie lately, and I want to see it again. I was just thinking about it.

I like Tennessee William's movies, but there is just something that got to me about about the characters in Iguana. I think it was Richard Burton of course in his best role, but the two strong but different women, which you rarely see in movies like this ... Ava Garder and Deborah Kerr. I want to see this again to see if I can get what it is exactly about his movie that is so great.

I looked up some Roger Corman involved movies that I liked
- It Conquered The World
- The Undead .... one my major favorite guilty pleasures as Siskel and Ebert would call them.
- The Last Woman on Earth
- X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes