CHAPTER I

Originally this play by Tennessee Williams is set in Acapulco, one of the most popular beach resorts of the world during the sixties.

Why then, was the movie filmed in Vallarta? The story goes as follows: Guillermo Wulff, one of the first developers in town and a man of the world, had discovered PV in the late fifties and established there with his family.

During a trip to LA he met his friend John Huston, in a restaurant. Over dinner, he invited the famous director for a weekend in this newly discovered paradise. While Huston was relaxing in one of WulffÕs houses in Conchas Chinas, he received a telephone call. He was supposed to start looking for a location for the movie a.s.a.p.

Why not do it in PV?, suggested Wulff, who offered to have everything ready to start filming in three months (and, against all odds, succeeded).

With Huston, they chose the mouth of the river Mismaloya in a small, beautiful cove south of PV, at the time a wild site with no roads or electricity. The set was miraculously ready and shooting began on time.

The cast members, Richard Burton, Ava Gardner, Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon were supported by some extras, one of them, Bernice Starr, still lives in Vallarta.

As everyone knows, she would not be the only one to fall in love with the place.

Richard Burton and Liz Taylor built their houses in the area known as Gringo Gulch and John Huston had his own private haven built in a southern inlet called Caletas.

Both TaylorÕs and HustonÕs places can be visited today.

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