The two leads supposedly hated playing their roles, and it shows. Burton isn't bad, but Harrison is just awful. Toward the end when he does his "not alone, not alone" speech, it's just hollow words. But we have to remember the time it was made. Boys in the Band, like this film, also sends the message that gay people hate themselves and their lives. I have to laugh at the guy above who wrote that he's not gay, so he likes the movie because it doesn't threaten him. How pompous! I AM gay, and the movie doesn't threaten me at all. A bad film is a bad film, no matter what the subject matter; and this is a baaaaad film! Also the scene in the park where Harrison is checking out kids playing sends that old "gay people will threaten your innocent children" message. And how about that old ugly "hustler" in the blonde wig that Harrison picks up! Were we meant to believe he was a young guy? Also the idea of Burton wearing a surgical bandage all the time to cover his baldness was ridiculous. There WERE realistic toupees even then. As I said, NOTHING rings true.
Review of Staircase
