The Night of the Iguana is a movie I have been wanting to see for sometime. It’s based on a Tennessee Williams’ play though John Huston and Anthony Veiller wrote the screenplay. Williams usually plumbs the depths of the human race’s deep dark secrets and, lately I have to be in the right mood for these descents. But this movie has so many talented people involved, the big names alone are an impressive list of Hollywood heavyweights — John Huston, Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, and Deborah Kerr — I knew that I would eventually breakdown and see the movie.

I was pleasantly surprised. First the story isn’t so dark as Williams usually portrays the world, There is an underlying positive feel that is missing from most Williams plays. The characters go through some challenging experiences but they aren’t destroyed by what happens to them. They pick up the pieces and carry on with their lives It may not be where they intended to go but at least they aren’t being carted off to the insane asylum like Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. They survive the storm.

For a movie that is over 60 years old, it aged well. It feels very much like a movie that was made in 2023 about life in the 1960’s. Richard Burton, who sometimes comes off like a stiff Shakespearean actor to me, particularly when in a Shakespeare play, is natural as the rascally defrocked minister who is reduced into being a tour guide in Mexico for good Christian women. Ava Gardner is a good time woman running a tourist hotel. She lives her life very much on her terms, even to the point of having two young men as lovers while her husband was still alive. Deborah Kerr is an unmarried artist struggling with poverty and caring for her aging grandfather. All these characters could easily be turned into caricatures but the actors give these characters a different look aided enormously by a script which surprises us with their actions while still being wholly believable.

The story takes surprising and interesting turns, the pace is crisp and unforced. and the acting is impressive. If you are looking for a good old movie, see this one.