MovieChat Forums > The Night of the Iguana (1964) Discussion > The ending ***spoilers****

The ending *spoilers**

posted 18 years ago by Sebastian76
23 replies | jump to latest

Ok, loved this one. Loved Burton, Gardner and Kerr. Loved the witty dialogue, the bruised and battered characters. Loved the black and white photography and loved the "subtle" storyline. The only thing I have a problem with is the ending. Somehow it feels awkward how Shannon decided to stay with Maxine in the hotel. I can see how she needs this, at one point she even litterally gives him the shoes of her former compagnion, but his motivations I do not understand. Isn't it so that Hannah was the only person he had a brief but profound connection with? He wants to go with her, but she declines, so he stays with Maxine?
I heard the original play by Williams has a different ending, that Maxine offers Shannon to stay with her, but we never get to hear his answer.

Any thoughts on this?

[–] debblyst 17 years ago

If you read Huston's biography, you'll find that is was he who convinced Tennessee Williams of the need of a new "upbeat" ending. Williams was not satisfied with the solution, but agreed to it. Many years later, Williams would still tease Huston about how he thought the ending was contrived and abrupt.

[–] bhoover247 17 years ago

I thought the ending was somewhat abrupt and maybe contrived, but certainly not upbeat. First of all it's still Maxine's place and she still has her boys that she goes swimming with. She also knows that Shannon is staying with her after Hannah left and refused to have him tag along. Throw in Shannon's restless soul and the future is certainly cloudy if not doomed.

[–] Zando777 8 years ago

Nah, she's ready to settle down. She only banged cabana boys because her really old hubby lost interest in sex, and then died.

And he belongs with someone more open, like her, because he was too impulsive for someone more staid like Hannah.

[–] Donato 17 years ago

This is one of my favorite films, and I frankly think the screenplay improved Williams' play, as did the dynamite cast. Just having Ava Gardner (sexy, earthy) instead of Bette Davis, who played Maxine in NYC in 1961, was an improvement. Burton, with his grand English accent made his character's plight even more tragic than had he been some guy from, say, Brooklyn. Kerr, also, was terrific. In the play, the last moment is when the old poet (Nonno) dies after having finished the poem he had been working on so long. Hannah's wandering with him is finally over. She's free now, just as Shannon cut loose the iguana and let it run free. Right before Nonno dies, Maxine proposes that Shannon stay and help her run the establishment and that, meanwhile, they both go down to take a moonlight swim. Shannon says he can make it down hill but not back up. Maxine says, "I'l get you back up the hill." (Very similar to the last part of the film.) So we clearly feel Hannah will go off free from her grand-father, and that Shannon will possibly take Maxine up on her offer since he's running out of options. I don't think the film ending was particularly happy given all that had come down, but at least there was a ray of hope for Shannon and Maxine both.

[–] Sebastian76 17 years ago

Thank you all. That was helpfull.

[–] panik65 17 years ago

Hannah is a lesbian, in case you did not notice. Listen to her dialogue more carefully with this in mind - especially the scenes where she has Shannon tied up in the hammock. You must remember, it was the 1950's when this was written, and Williams placed veiled gay characters in almost all of his plays.

At any rate this is why insists on being alone at the play's end in my opinion. Who knows - perhaps she may actually stop playing the saint and start her life now that her grandfather has passed away.

The play gives her character more attention than the film treatment.

[–] ShakespearesSister 17 years ago

It seemed to me Hannah liked Shannon sexually. But I'll watch it again to see if I pick up on her lesbianism.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] pogostiks 16 years ago

You've got things mixed up... Miss Fellowes is a repressed lesbian, but there is nothing in the script for anyone to imagine Hannah as anything but heterosexual. The two "love stories" she tells Shannon were both about men, and just because she is a spinster doesn't mean she is gay. You are way off base here...

[–] panik65 16 years ago

Why?

Obviously Fellowes is.

Her two "pathetic little episodes" of "love stories"?

I don't think I'm off base here at all; in my opinion she is meant as a counter balance to Ms Fellowes, the "good" repressed gay.

It is clear that Hannah is a highly sexually repressed woman, I don't think I need to argue that. Lesbianism is a matter of debate, but I believe myself to be, if not correct, at least intelligible.

Listen (or read) her words following Shannon's reproachement regarding "building a house in a fallen down tree" - I believe it to be fairly clear.

[–] forgether 15 years ago

Well, people have their own interpretations but you aren't really making sense there. There are highly sexually repressed "hetero" women anyway. It seems your mind is so set and every conversation looks suspicious...

> At any rate this [that she's a lesbian] is why insists on being alone at the play's end

Since Nonno the poet is dead after the long wandering together, Hannah is now free... without leash. "Staying" wouldn't have really suited there. It could be why as well.

[–] arirod 14 years ago

I disagree that Hannah is a lesbian. She is the quintessential Tennessee Williams asexual character that connects in a spiritual but not physical level. She is a contrast to Shannon's sexuality which he cannot tame. He has developed a crisis of spirituality. This duel between sexuality versus spirituality (or desire versus purity) is a frequent Williams theme. Hannah will go on surviving as single, spiritual artist. Shannon will tame his sexuality with the earthy Maxine.

BTW the old man was not Hannah's grandfather. He was another drifter that traveled with her.

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[–] 14 years ago

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[–] littlekaren 16 years ago

Hannah seemed kinda asexual to me.

[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] npaxton-3 15 years ago

I think the ending made perfect sense. Hannah will always be the wandering, enigmatic Christ-like figure. She helps people to live and die. She passes through their lives, but never stays to become a part of anyone or anything. She has the ability to accept people as they are so that they have a chance to look at themselves more clearly. Shannon is attracted to Maxine but doesn't like her because he feels she has betrayed his friend (her husband) by going off with the beach boys while he lay sick. What we later learn is that Maxine's husband could not physically love her so she kept the beach boys for sex and to alleviate boredom. Presumably with Shannon having somewhat cleaned up his act, he will be able to take care of Maxine, hence no more beach boys. The iguana is set free just as Nonna is set free from life after his poem is finished and as Shannon is set free of his destructive behavior by commiting to Maxine and a new life. Happy ending? Not necessarily. Humans are flawed and can slip back into familiar, destructive behaviors and Hannah has moved on.

[–] mackjay2 15 years ago

That's a good interpretation. You could also ask, "who is the iguana?" Everyone is an 'iguana'. This is a play/film about compassion, the human need to empathize and accept others as they are, also to accept oneself. It might be William's greatest work, and I agree with statements above that Huston et al improved on the play in this great film.

[–] mptnla 15 years ago

I think this is one of those very rare movies where EVERY performance is a great one. One of my all time favorites and I've seen it a dozen times, but never got the idea that Hannah was from the Isle of Lesbos.

"I hope she didn't take my attempt to destroy her too seriously."

[–] perorewen 14 years ago

Tennessee Williams was gay and usually put gay characters in his plays: Bricks friend who died in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (and possibly also Brick himself (debateble)), Sebastian in Suddenly, last Summer.
The lesbian in this play is miss Fellowes, allthough she can never admit it to herself. Whether Hannah is lesbian is debateble, I'm not going to argue with anyone on this. Also, about the ending seemed a little forced to me, because up until the ending Shannon seems gay to me as well. That's why he can see through miss Fellowes (what he is himself, he recognises in others), and doesn't show any interest in Sue Lyon.

**********
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[–] dark_frances 14 years ago

But Maxine had also spotted miss Fellowes' issue immediately, and Maxine was definitely not a lesbian. Also, I think that Shannon was *trying his best not to* show any interest towards Charlotte because he had already been defrocked (partially) due to a love affair, and he knew that Charlotte would bring his final downfall if he gave in to her insistent requests. ...Which he eventually did, and it had indeed almost destroyed him.

The ending seemed unexpected to me too - but just because it looked so bright. Didn't mind about it too much, though, after having no idea about how I should react to things during most of the movie (was it a drama? was it a comedy?). The ending made things a bit more clear for my until then slightly unnerved self. (metaphors aside, a darker ending would have shifted the happy-sad balance of the movie too much on the sad side)

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[–] vonziggy 11 years ago

hmm was it happy? Shannon made the connection with Hannah, not Maxine. He wanted to travel with Hannah and be free like the iguana. He had no choice but to stay with Maxine, hopefully it was a good one.

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[–] 8tangerines 10 years ago

I think Shannon made connections with both Hannah and Maxine: Hannah spiritually, and Maxine sexually. This was the constant struggle in his life, either to be the upright Episcopal priest, "grandson of two bishops," or a sexually free person. (Not that Episcopal priests have to be celibate, but they do have to be conventional.) I've seen this movie several times but I just watched it tonight on TCM and I noticed how often he repeats "I am not defrocked!" and "I'll show you!" He's actually walking on glass, an old form or Christian penance, he's so overwrought by the temptation of Sue Lyon.

I think his "rope" was his his constant feeling of moral peril due to sexuality, which Hannah recognizes. She may not have strong sexual desires herself, but she sees them and accepts them in other people, e.g. Maxine and her beach boys. Shannon wants to go with her at the end in a non-sexual relationship, but she immediately says no, that would just be embarrassing, because she sees his giant need for a physical connection she can't provide. She sees he needs Maxine, just as Maxine needs him. She basically says no, you need to stay here and boff your brains out and I know just the gal for the job, the gal who loves you and by the way, stop judging her and her beach boys, she's just doing what she needs to do. So in effect Hannah cuts him free of his rope, his punitive priestliness, and blesses his fully human reciprocal relationship with Maxine. And because he deeply respects Hannah, he is able to accept himself and Maxine (at least for this moment) seen through her eyes.

Will this be a happy ending? Well, it's Tennessee Williams, and there's that cart full of booze sitting there the whole time…

[–] vonziggy 10 years ago

Thanks for the thoughtful reply. Shannon sort of remind me of Saint Augustine when he said: "God grant me clemency! But not yet! Not yet!