A blurb about The Night Of The Iguana

    For some reason, I imagine that Tennessee Williams pictured himself in the role of Ava Gardner as Maxine Faulk. I mean, who wouldn't want to be in a cabana boy sandwich, with those gyrating pelvises that sound like rattle snakes?  We all fight off the Blue Devil in our own way, and this is how Maxine chose to fight off hers, and can you blame her?  Richard Burton's Shannon is like, 'What?!' Ava Gardner's Maxine is like, 'You're an idiot Shannon if you think I wouldn't do that in a heartbeat.'
     Who is the Blue Devil you ask? Why it's depression and anxiety, of course. Before Paxil, before Prozac, there was alcohol, and barbituates, and sex, and marijuana, and the occasional cabana boy.  If there's one thing you can't do, it's play dumb with Tennessee Williams. There is something painful about watching another person have a nervous breakdown. It makes me want to lie down on the couch and drawl,'I have a nervous condition,' as I sip mint juleps. 

 

     I never thought I'd see Richard Burton's junk in wet tighty whities. Ever. But here you go. Proud as a peacock. Maybe this is where the expression Liz and Dick came from. I don't know.  Sue Lyon is like, "Help me, save me from this creepy middle age guy."

    I remember one time when I was in San Juan, Puerto Rico.  I was walking across the bridge to Old San Juan to catch the ferry to the Bacardi factory. A boy on a bicycle was riding toward me with an iguana in his arms. He held it up towards me an shouted, "Meester, Meester". After he passed me, he stopped and tossed the iguana over the railing and it swam away. True story.  This must be some kind of game boys in the Caribbean play.  It was just like the scene in Houston's movie where the boys hold an iguana up to the passing bus of tourists.

 Preston Sinclair

The Film Experience