Man and woman – love and lust – ruin and redemption – one night they all meet.

Former priest T. Laurence Shannon (Richard Burton) now works as a travel guide in Mexico; when also that job is about to go south, he takes drastic measures. One of Tennessee Williams’ last great plays has become a funny, fascinating movie, one that has the chance to add real, beautiful, sweaty Mexican locations to the material. The cast is pure dynamite, including Ava Gardner as the unhappy, high-strung owner of a hotel, Deborah Kerr as the sexually inexperienced but nevertheless insightful visitor, and Grayson Hall as the spinster with a secret. Burton certainly holds his own, and as the night progresses the more interesting the conversations get.

1964-U.S. 120 min. B/W. Produced by John Huston, Ray Stark. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay: John Huston, Anthony Veiller. Play: Tennessee Williams. Costume Design: Dorothy Jenkins. Cast: Richard Burton (T. Laurence Shannon), Deborah Kerr (Hannah Jelkes), Ava Gardner (Maxine Falk), Sue Lyon, Skip Ward, Grayson Hall.

► Bosley Crowther wrote: “It has difficulty in communicating precisely what it is that is so barren and poignant about the people it brings to a tourist hotel run by a sensual American woman on the west coast of Mexico. And because it does have difficulty—because it doesn’t really make you see what is so helpless and hopeless about them—it fails to generate the sympathy and the personal compassion that might make their suffering meaningful.” (Review from the New York Times)

Oscar: Best Costume Design.

film movies richard burton ava gardner deborah kerr john huston IMDb

Published 2008-02-15 10:11