John Huston's adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play stars Richard Burton as the protagonist, Reverend T. Lawrence Shannon. An alcoholic, Shannon has been kicked out of his own church and is now working in Mexico as a bus tour guide. He takes a group of schoolteachers to a dilapidated hotel run by widowed Maxine Raulk (Ava Gardner), where they all are soon stranded. The youngest of the group, Charlotte Goodall (Sue Lyon), is attracted to Shannon, but Judith (Grayson Hall), the group's leader, is set against it. After catching Shannon and Charlotte together, Judith threatens to report Shannon's behavior to his employers to have him fired. Soon Hannah (Deborah Kerr), an idealistic young artist, and her poet grandfather (Cyril Delvanti) arrive at the hotel while Hannah and bus driver Hank (James Ward) begin to grow closer. As with many of Williams' works, Night of the Iguana explores sexual desire and repression between various characters while not disregarding a sense of underlying humanity and compassion. Oscar-nominated screenwriter Anthony Veiller skillfully adapted this drama to the screen--his last credited project before his death in 1965.