Two years before Villain came out Richard Burton along with Rex Harrison went gay in a film called Staircase. But he was about as opposite a gay character as you can get in Villain.
In Staircase both Burton and Harrison play a pair of prissy old hairdressers and the film talked about the problems that aging gay men face. Here Burton is as the title says, one of the deepest and darkest of villains, a brutal man who has a hair trigger temper, who kills without the slightest compunction and dearly loves his mother Cathleen Nesbitt.
Burton has an almost pathological fear of stool pigeons, will kill you even if he has just the slightest suspicion. It's what makes him difficult for Scotland Yard Inspector Nigel Davenport to catch. But that fear can also be his biggest weakness.
One man who is in deadly fear of Burton is Ian McShane who is a bisexual hustler who if he hadn't become the object of Burton's affections would be a lot happier. But Burton is not the kind of guy you say 'no' to.
Burton who had one of the most commanding and beautiful voices in the English language managed to retain most of that beauty even slipping into some London cockney speech patterns. And he has the air about him of an unexploded nuclear bomb.
It's something different for Burton and should be worth a look.
In Staircase both Burton and Harrison play a pair of prissy old hairdressers and the film talked about the problems that aging gay men face. Here Burton is as the title says, one of the deepest and darkest of villains, a brutal man who has a hair trigger temper, who kills without the slightest compunction and dearly loves his mother Cathleen Nesbitt.
Burton has an almost pathological fear of stool pigeons, will kill you even if he has just the slightest suspicion. It's what makes him difficult for Scotland Yard Inspector Nigel Davenport to catch. But that fear can also be his biggest weakness.
One man who is in deadly fear of Burton is Ian McShane who is a bisexual hustler who if he hadn't become the object of Burton's affections would be a lot happier. But Burton is not the kind of guy you say 'no' to.
Burton who had one of the most commanding and beautiful voices in the English language managed to retain most of that beauty even slipping into some London cockney speech patterns. And he has the air about him of an unexploded nuclear bomb.
It's something different for Burton and should be worth a look.