While it is always considered a crime, it should be noted that statutory rape differs from usual interpretations of rape in the sense that both partners are acting under each other's consent and there is usually no use of force or threat. Gardner, however, was apparently kept in good company by the beach boys off-screen, with little interest in the Old Welshman.Statutory rape is a term referring to sexual activities in which at least one of the partners is below the legal age of consent, specifically in the teenage years. Liz Taylor apparently made frequent visits to the set in order to make sure her incorrigible Dickie behaved around his co-star. His friend, however, is dead, having left the hotel to his wife (a smouldering Ava Gardner) who runs it with her duo of native, shirtless “beach boys” with whom she partakes of saucy late-night frolics in the sea. Unable to endure the temptation and stresses closing in on him, Burton shanghais the bus and brings the group to a friend’s hotel, gutting the engine so as to trap them there.
The woman’s constant threats to report Shannon’s behavior result in his alternate panic and drunken insouciance.Ĭomplicating matters is a precocious teenager (Sue Lyon of Lolita) in tow with the group who repeatedly throws herself at the reverend.
It is for him the final stop before the “long swim.”Īfter unceremoniously chasing his parishioners from his church at the film’s opening, we find the sweaty, booze-soaked Shannon leading a tour group (needy middle-aged women from a music class lead by a bitter lesbian, where “Happy Days are Here Again” is sung repeatedly on the bus to Burton’s great distress).
Veiled allusions to statutory rape suggest the cause of his ostracism, reducing him to a job he considers the last grasp at existence, which happens to be leading bus tours in Mexico. The Night of the Iguana features Richard Burton at his most manic (is that saying much?) as the disgraced, defrocked Reverend Shannon. Lobby Card: The Night of the Iguana (woodcut and drypoint with embroidered border)
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