Reflection absorption IR (RAIR) spectroscopy was used for structural studies of films cast from tetraalkylammonium bromides and their composites with colloidal clay. The dependence of p-polarized spectra on the angle of incidence of source radiation was used to find reference transition dipoles. Orientations of the symmetric SiO4 stretch of clay in composite films and the symmetric C-N stretch in hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide films were found to be nearly normal to their film planes. These bands were used as references to estimate orientations of other transition dipoles. Hydrocarbon chains were found to tilt 20-40-degrees to the normal. Frequencies for CH stretching and bending were sensitive to surfactant hydrocarbon chain conformations, which control the thermotropic phase of these films. Band positions for surfactant films in solidlike and liquid crystal phases were similar to reported values for these respective phases for a lamellar water-dialkyldimethylammonium system. Phase-sensitive band frequencies for surfactant in composite films gave poor correspondence with the latter system. Water interacts mainly with head groups in the pure surfactant films, but did not influence RAIR bands in composite films. Results are consistent with a previously proposed multibilayer structure of the films, but clearly reveal the tilt of the surfactant hydrocarbon tails.