Behind the Candelabra

An Opulent HBO Biopic Pulls Back The Curtain On The Tempestuous Love Life Of Liberace
Even though I was quite young, I can still remember the infamous palimony suit filed by Scott Thorson against Liberace in 1982. The story created national headlines and scandal at a time when homosexuality wasn't discussed as openly as it might be today. Despite his flamboyant stage persona, Liberace was NOT out of the closet and did not acknowledge the intimacy of this relationship. That's part of what fueled the attention, further adding to the controversy and media scrutiny. I won't discuss the outcome for those new to Thorson's memoir "Behind The Candelabra," which is the source material for this prestigious HBO project. Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic) teamed with Oscar nominated screenwriter Richard La Gravenese (The Fisher King) to adapt Thorson's book. Headlined by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, "Behind the Candelabra" was certainly one of the most anticipated TV movies of the year. As you might expect, though, this is told from Thorson's perspective...

A bio-pic that is worth seeing and I thought was good but the performance by Douglas was great. Watch for him. I say B
"I want to be everything to you Scott. I want to be father, brother, lover, best friend." This is the true story of Scott Thorson (Damon) and his relationship with the one and only Liberace (Douglas). Scott was a normal easy going gay man with a dream to become a vet. That all changed when he met Liberace. The small town boy became a drug addicted, paranoid, and revenge obsessed man. I wasn't totally sure what to expect from this movie. I knew very little about the real Liberace and nothing about this story at all. The movie shows the rise and fall Scott and the extreme things he goes through for the man he loves. The story is pretty interesting but the real reason to watch is the performance of Michael Douglas. He is great in this and turns himself completely into the character that he makes you forget you are watching a famous actor like Michael Douglas. Overall, a pretty interesting bio-pic that I thought was pretty good but the performance by Douglas is great. I give it a B.

Liberace the Legend Served Well
The film is based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Scott Thorson (with Alex Thorleifson) adapted for the screen by Richard LaGravenese about the tempestuous 6-year relationship between Liberace and his much younger lover Scott Thorson. This film along with SIDE EFFECTS are purported to be Steven Soderbergh's last films he will direct.

The cast is very solid. Matt Damon embodies the role of Scott Thorson well - a young apparently bisexual man who has been tossed from foster home to foster home while he does odd jobs (he is 17 years old) tending to animals. In a gay bar he meets Bob Black (Scott Bakula) who takes Scott to a Liberace concert (his first exposure to the megastar) and to meet Liberace afterwards. There is tension in the air with Liberace's current paramour and performing partner Billy Leatherwood (Cheyenne Jackson) and we soon discover that Liberace (impeccably played by Michael Douglas) only keeps his `boys' around for a while before his manager...

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