Product Details

• Actors: Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr, Sue Lyon, Skip Ward
• Directors: John Huston
• Writers: John Huston, Anthony Veiller, Tennessee Williams
• Producers: Emilio Fernández, Ray Stark, Sandy Whitelaw
• Format: Black & White, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Warner)
• VHS Release Date: June 30, 1994
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (75 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301977769
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,168 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The Night of the Iguana may be Richard Burton's finest hour on the screen: beautifully cast as an anguished, defrocked reverend, doomed to his own purgatory in Mexico as tour guide to a group of nattering biddies. (The expression on his face as the ladies warble "Happy Days Are Here Again" on the tour bus is worth a Shakespearian monologue.) John Huston's clean, black-comic adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play is a forceful snapshot of a man down to his last chance, and the superb black-and-white location photography by Gabriel Figueroa captures the end-of-the-world vibe. The women who tempt and taunt the reverend are Ava Gardner (with her maraca-shaking beach boys), Deborah Kerr, and Sue Lyon. The movie--and its backstage publicity, with Burton and Liz Taylor carrying on their Cleopatra affair--put Puerto Vallarta on the map, but it deserves notice for Burton's gutsy acting and Huston's characteristic sympathy for life's losers. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Powerful!, September 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Night of the Iguana [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Tennesse Williams has rarely fared well in the transfer from stage to screen, but Night of Iguana is evidence that his work makes for powerful viewing. Stark visuals play against the subtle script and performances, with Ava Gardner giving perhaps her finest performance as the over-sexed, hard-bitten hotel owner who conceals a loving heart and honest nature behind an "I don't give a damn" mask. Burton has rarely been seen to such effect, and Deborah Kerr is quite fine. The supporting cast, featuring Grayson Hall and Sue Lyons, is remarkably strong as well. A powerful and unstinting screen adaptation of one of Williams' most powerful and unstinting plays.

42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Film, June 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Night of the Iguana [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is arguably the best film made of any of Tennessee Williams plays. It's greatness is due in great part to the direction of John Huston and the magnificent cast he has assembled to tell this story. Richard Burton and Deborah Kerr, two of the finest actors from England,give terrific performances as a tortured, defrocked priest and a strong-willed woman who has learned to survive in an unkind world. Ava Gardner proves in this film that she was a marvelous actress capable of giving a gutsy, heartfelt performance of great complexity. Grayson Hall is also quite remarkable as a hateful woman whose nasty actions are sparked by her jealousy and desire for a young woman played by Sue Lyon. The stark black and white photography of this film beautifully contributes to the mood of Tennesse William's story. This is really one of the finest films of the 1960s. It is one you can view many times over and find many pleasures.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Excellent !!, April 13, 2001

By 

B. J Robbins (La Quinta, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Night of the Iguana [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Great play ... Great acting ... Great direction ... although nobody won Oscars. Who cares? John Huston wisely filmed this in stark black and white reflecting its somber tone. Burton gives the performance of lifetime as Shannon at the end of his rope, and Kerr is fantastic, as always, imbuing a tender role with even more humanity. T. Williams' play, one of the best from America's best playwright, has everything. Conflict, strong characterization, wisdom, and of course humor. Some of the coarseness of the play has been excised (Shannon's), thus making him a more sympathetic character, but this does not hurt the movie. Huston sticks pretty much to the actual play, except for the ending, which was not in the play. However, this does not really hurt the film. Anyway, buy this film and enjoy it again and again. Your life will be richer for it.