Sirs Rex Harrison and Richard Burton must be one of the original odd couples on screen, coming out at about the same time as that of Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, but with a freer, more open approach to homosexuality.
Both Randy Rex and Rompin' Richard developed phenomenal womanizer reputations in their private lives, logging up just about every actress they worked with, from Vivien Leigh to Claire Bloom to Liz and Carole )who even committed suicide over Rex), and we will never know even the tenth of those shenanigans.
Thus, the greater those Sirs' courage in portraying a gay couple at a time when gays were maligned, scorned, and rejected both sociologically and religiously. And the greater their merit to pull off such convincing relationship routines and touches, always with a sense of humor pervading their alternately affectionate or barbed remarks to each other.
Nearly 60 years on and at a time when films about homosexual ties were box office poison, STAIRCASE sensitively depicts behavioral traits and social responses in a closeted world.
These days the gay community is spreading, coming out of the woodwork, and one sees more and more of their representatives in high positions, where they can get more of their own gainfully employed, thereby staking an ever stronger position in society.
Whether that will make for a better future for mankind, God only knows, but meanwhile I enjoyed this perceptive movie. 7/10.
Both Randy Rex and Rompin' Richard developed phenomenal womanizer reputations in their private lives, logging up just about every actress they worked with, from Vivien Leigh to Claire Bloom to Liz and Carole )who even committed suicide over Rex), and we will never know even the tenth of those shenanigans.
Thus, the greater those Sirs' courage in portraying a gay couple at a time when gays were maligned, scorned, and rejected both sociologically and religiously. And the greater their merit to pull off such convincing relationship routines and touches, always with a sense of humor pervading their alternately affectionate or barbed remarks to each other.
Nearly 60 years on and at a time when films about homosexual ties were box office poison, STAIRCASE sensitively depicts behavioral traits and social responses in a closeted world.
These days the gay community is spreading, coming out of the woodwork, and one sees more and more of their representatives in high positions, where they can get more of their own gainfully employed, thereby staking an ever stronger position in society.
Whether that will make for a better future for mankind, God only knows, but meanwhile I enjoyed this perceptive movie. 7/10.