The Night of the Iguana
Director: John Huston
Year Released: 1964
Rating: 2.0
'Defrocked' priest Richard Burton goes to Mexico to act as a tour guide and run, run, run from his demons, but those demons are quite limber and have no trouble catching up - while there he has to deal with various women that will tempt him (Ava Gardner and an awful Sue Lyon), sympathize with him (Deborah Kerr) or outright loathe him (the 'butch,' conservative Grayson Hall). It's overheated and obvious - dare I say I would have preferred Richard Brooks to direct this over John Huston - and not above droll philosophizing (the last thirty minutes) and heinous symbolism: the sexually tortured Burton literally walks on broken glass at one point. Gardner is magnetic in what's probably her most underrated performance: she's jittery, knowledgeable and always seems like she's on the verge of completely breaking down.
