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In Pictures: Night of the Iguana
By Tom Adkinson
January 19, 2024
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PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – “The Night of the Iguana,” the 1964 movie based on a Tennessee Williams play, got an Academy Award nomination for cinematography, but that’s not what created the buzz about the film’s location – Puerto Vallarta, a then-smaller fishing community on Mexico’s west coast. No, what put Puerto Vallarta in the spotlight was the romantic activity of the lead actor, Richard Burton, and his companion, Elizabeth Taylor, who didn’t even have a role in the movie. The movie magazines and newspaper gossip columnists of the day had plenty of story fodder.
Now, 60 years later, Puerto Vallarta continues to benefit from the tale of the two superstar lovebirds, and there are reminders of them and the movie in several places in the old part of the city, the Romantic Zone. They range from the ridiculously bad to a “my, that’s an interesting mural” that is a mash-up of the face of movie director John Huston and an iguana.
That’s Liz and Richard . . . really
You almost have to read the plaque beside this statue to be sure that it depicts Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It is behind a wire cage along the sidewalk on Avenida de los Insurgentes, one of Puerto Vallarta’s main streets. Image by Tom Adkinson
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Cleopatra, Marc Antony, an iguana and a seahorse
Deciphering this mural at the Arte Vallarta Museo is fun. Its main elements are Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra, Richard Burton as Marc Antony (the two became lovers while filming “Cleopatra,” even if they were married to others), an iguana (a reference to “The Night of the Iguana”) and a man on a seahorse (a municipal symbol of Puerto Vallarta). Image by Tom Adkinson
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John Huston in bronze
Puerto Vallarta admires film director, screenwriter and actor John Huston and honors him with this bronze statue in a quiet park along the Rio Cuale. He directed 37 feature films, including “The Night of the Iguana,” “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” “Key Largo” “Asphalt Jungle,” “The African Queen” and “Annie.” Image by Tom Adkinson
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Art along a riverwalk
This bust of Elizabeth Taylor is at the end of a walkway along the Rio Cuale just before it reaches the Malecón, Puerto Vallarta’s famous beachfront walk along Banderas Bay. Nothing indicates why it is located there. Image by Tom Adkinson
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An artistic hybrid
A mural that features the face of film director John Huston and the body of an iguana is a fitting marker for the exterior of the Arte Vallarta Museo. The museum is a popular attraction for visitors who have made Puerto Vallarta a major vacation destination. Image by Tom Adkinson
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Oh, those blue eyes
Artist Billy White, a longtime Puerto Vallarta resident, captured the radiance of Elizabeth Taylor in this painting that grabs everyone’s attention at the Casa Kimberly, a nine-room boutique hotel that plays a prominent role in the love affair saga of Taylor and Richard Burton. Image by Tom Adkinson
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Trip-planning resources: VisitPuertoVallarta.com, ArteVallartaMuseo.mx and CasaKimberly.com
(Travel writer Tom Adkinson’s book, 100 Things To Do in Nashville Before You Die, is available on Amazon.com.)
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