Charles Dyer (Rex Harrison) and Harry Leeds (Richard Burton) are a middle-aged gay couple that have been living together for nearly 20 years. Both earn a living as barbers in the West End of London and both care deeply for their mothers, but not each other as time apart takes its toll on their relationship when Harry has to care for his invalid mother who constantly snaps at him. Harry is round, fearful, fussy, and possesses a terrible secret. His head underneath the fake surgical bandages is bald. Charlie, in his fifties and still handsome, is a waspish queen who favors tight pants and a little make-up around the eyes."It's permitted now, you know, Harry. It's permitted," says Charlie, who says everything twice. That is just one of the things that drives Harry nearly crazy. Harry and Charlie are exploited as gay freaks, because Burton and Harrison are interesting actors whose styles command attention even when the material does not. "Staircase" is essentially a stunt movie, full of substitutes: false teeth, false hair, and feminine pronouns for masculine.
What story line there is concerns the increasing tension between Harry and Charlie as the latter prepares to answer a summons for having appeared at the Adam's Apple nightclub in drag, or, as the summons put it: "in a manner calculated to bring depravity." Harry reassures Charlie that everything will be all right, and Charlie, in turn, can't resist heaping insults on Harry, whom he describes as flabby, wrinkled, paunchy, freckled, sagging, bloated and veined, among other things. But so is everyone in the film, from the male hustler Charlie brings home one night to Harry's arthritic old mum (Cathleen Nesbitt), who lives with Harry and Charlie. The movie, like Charlie, says everything at least twice, and Charlie's mum is no better, a 90-year-old lady whose mind is turning to pudding in an old people's home, but who comes to her senses long enough to scream "Sodomite!" when Charlie comes to visit. The two stars seem uncomfortable, perhaps to call attention to the real distance that exists between the actors and their roles.
The film is adapted from Charles Dyer's 1966 two-character play with the action taking place over the course of one night as they discuss their loving but often volatile past together and possible future without each other. Dyer adapted his play for the movie and opened up the script to show the couple's neighborhood, expanded the action to cover a period of ten days, and added characters. The music score was composed by Dudley Moore. Stanley Donen directed.
