La escalera

Burton and Harrison mince, preen, prance, and flounce about the screen in a horrendous display of bad acting. This movie would set gay rights back a century if it weren't so badly made and badly dated. One must wonder what made it a hit on Broadway at the time. The score is an especially abysmal atrocity by Dudley Moore. All those involved (especially Donen) should be ashamed.

Hollywood went slumming into the gay demimonde of London with the 1969 film "Staircase". The result was a fascinating mess becoming one of the worst films ever to come out of the latter part or the end of the 1960's. Producer-Director Stanley Donen(whose work includes working with stars like Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in "Charade"),had started out to make a small film about the human need for relationships in even the most desperate times. With the casting of Richard Burton and Rex Harrison as aging gay lovers,however,it turned into the kind of Hollywood tribute to "the little people" that inevitably comes off phony. There was too much talent involved in this film not display moments of insight,but as a whole the picture left audiences wondering just who was the intended audience for it. And furthermore,who would have thought that two of the greatest actors in the history of film cinema---Richard Burton("Cleopatra","Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?", "Becket"),and Rex Harrison("The Ghost and Mrs. Muir","Cleopatra","My Fair Lady",and Doctor Doolittle")stoop to a piece of dung like this to even knowing that their careers would be jeopardize by this?

However,Stanley Donen must have felt the same way after seeing the original London production starring Paul Scofield and Patrick Magee. When "Staircase" came out in 1969,and with the decline in film censorship,Hollywood was opening up to films about the subject of homosexuality. Whereas previous literary properties with gay or lesbian characters had been avoided or "straightened out" by the big studios. By the late 60's,such prominent works as D.H. Lawrence's novella "The Fox",Carson McCullers' "Reflections In A Golden Eye",and John Herbert's play "Fortune and Men's Eyes",not to mention the stage version of "The Killing of Sister George" were all brought to the screen with a certain degree of faithfulness. In that spirit,20th Century-Fox agreed to take on the film version of "Staircase". The result was one of the biggest mistake Richard Burton and Rex Harrison ever did,resulting in becoming one of the worst films of the year,since "Staircase" came out in around Christmas of 1969. Along with it the bad reviews this movie received especially by some critics who blame director Stanley Donen for making Burton and Harrison exploitations of a sideshow attraction. To make things even worst getting stage veterans Cathleen Nesbitt and Beatrix Lehmann as the strong supporting mothers was probably the best part of the whole movies,since they actually stole the show. The rest of it was a bonafide mess. Check it the musical score composed by Dudley Moore-- yes,that Dudley Moore(from the "10" and "Arthur" movies).

All this film does is insult the intelligence and lifestyle of adult gay men. The shock value of watching two famously heterosexual male actors primp and mince about as poofs is about all this mixed up mess has going for it. I don't recall (for some strange reason) much of the specific lines of dialog, but I do remember that much of that was just as bad as most of the acting and all of the direction. This film survives the years as a curio only. If the director wanted to make fun of gays, he should have made a film with Nazi punks beating up their fellow gay officers, or better yet killing them-or something.

BTW, the Burton character is not a hairdresser, he's actually a barber, cutting men's hair--not necessarily a gay profession. Sexy Rexy plays a down on his luck, never-was actor who helps his boyfriend around the shop. Talk about stereotypes--neither one dresses ladie's hair!

When I think of how hard it is even now to cast heterosexual men in gay roles just the fact that Richard Burton and Rex Harrison consented to play gay in Staircase might make this a landmark film of some note. But a lot of the ground covered in Staircase was far better done in Boys In The Band a much better work. Charles Dyer's play only ran 61 performances on Broadway even with Milo O'Shea and Eli Wallach in the roles that Burton and Harrison do.

Two of the most aggressively heterosexual men in the history of film star as a pair aging hairdressers who live together over their shop where Burton's mother whom he takes care of. These two are sadly aware that youth trumps all in the gay male culture. Burton's taking it far worse because he's grown bald and is afraid to show his new Kojak like looks. He goes nearly the entire film with some kind of skullcap that makes him look like a conehead who met with an accident.

Dyer himself expanded his two person show to include some small speaking parts. Cathleen Nesbitt is Burton's mom and she's a bedridden old crank that Burton is tied to. None of the others have any great speaking roles. Some blond trick Harrison picks up is involved in an extended scene with Burton, Harrison, and Nesbitt, but he has as much dialog as one of those extra Bowery Boys.

Boys In The Band has it way over Staircase other than actor's salaries.

I don't know what movie the other reviewers were watching, or why they are so bitter. I agree completely with the contemporaneous reviews, which praised the movie highly. Two fine actors spend the entire movie, out of their normal characters, showing off to each other and producing a gem as a result. The contrast between Burton's prissy old woman and Harrison's aging swish -- that so embarrassed the Burton character -- was wonderfully portrayed. Yet they managed to demonstrate that querulous yet enduring relationship that often results between an aging couple that experience each other's foibles, constantly express annoyance at them, and yet have too much basic affection to part. This is a marvelous movie, and I regret that I can't find it on video to share with others.

Maybe it's that I'm not gay that allows me to appreciate the fine craft it exhibits, since it doesn't threaten me personally.