What sounds like a cheesy horror is actually based on a Tennessee Williams drama. His plays have a good track record on screen, if not even better than on stage (see A Streetcar Named Desire; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; and Suddenly, Last Summer). This appears to be the last silver-screen feature in his lifetime, affording more suggestiveness than the '50s would allow. Having John Huston at the helm couldn't hurt either.
Disgraced Rev. Shannon (Richard Burton) finds work as a tour guide in Mexico. He regards his present company as mostly annoying biddies, one of whom, Miss Fellowes (Grayson Hall), accuses him of molesting teen Charlotte (Sue Lyon), who actually put the moves on him to no avail. In order to postpone his firing until he can regain the tourists' support, he abandons the itinerary and drives to a remote, inexpensive hotel that belonged to a late friend of his, sabotaging the bus to prevent an escape. The widow and current owner, Maxine (Ava Gardner), likes him just enough to reopen off season. Soon after, Hannah (Deborah Kerr) and her nearly gone grandfather "Nonno" (Cyril Delevanti) show up, hoping to buy room and board with art and poetry; Shannon talks Maxine into a tentative agreement. From there, Shannon, Maxine, and Hannah share the main focus.
If you have any experience with Williams, you know to expect great dialog...and a lot of bitterness and hostility bouncing around among characters. You may also anticipate an unappealing, potentially bigoted depiction of Hispanic culture -- not nearly as horrific as in SLS, but when Maxine's two gigolo-servants, Pepe and Pedro, shake maracas wherever they go and never utter a syllable, they come across as a device more than characters. With the strong female presence, I considered that the film might be sexist as well, but let's face it: The men are no better.
Indeed, Shannon is hard to like. He insists that he has not been defrocked, merely "locked out" of his parish, albeit with too little faith to try again. Why the dismissal? A combination of drunkenness, at least one genuine sex scandal, and a heretical tirade at the lectern to shame his judgmental congregation. He continues to drink in secret and deny it. He also retains a tendency to snap, not always at others. It takes a long while to see the good in him -- or what that brat Charlotte sees in him. Sweet Hannah and even vampish Maxine have more tolerable faults. I can see why critics would be divided on Burton's performance.
Thankfully, the ending is happier than usual for a Williams story. It wasn't hard to guess how the arc would play out for Nonno, who's been working on a poem for years. Things even work out for the titular captive iguana, which comes to stand in for Shannon in its travails.
I have trouble ranking Williams films, but I wouldn't blanch (heh) at putting TNotI on the same tier as any of the others. I think I'll put Sweet Bird of Youth on my queue.
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