Now it seems bizarre that many people although acknowledging Liberace was camp did not think he was gay. As a young child when his television specials were shown I was aware that there was something effeminate about him even though I had no idea what homosexuality was. He even would have a female companion in these shows, a wink at the audience that he was maybe straight.Behind the Candelabra is a film from Steven Soderbergh with Micheal Douglas playing the entertainer as a reptilian predator of young men. Preening, vain, bejewelled, promiscuous and yet empty. A bit like the top of his head when he took off his toupee.Matt Damon plays his teenage lover Scott Thorson, who is taken by a friend to see Liberace's Las Vegas show and then backstage is bemused by the attention lavished on him by the older star who showers him with gifts and love and eventually ejects him with little dignity as a newer, younger model enters the scene.Of course the film is based on the book by Thorson whose own veracity has been questioned and whose account might be self serving. It is not helped that although Damon looks buff in the disco infused late 1970s era, at the age of 43 when this film was made, he was frankly too old to be playing the teenage Scott Thorson.Douglas who for a period was a sex symbol with sex thrillers such as Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct is having a hoot camping it up as Liberace, not afraid to show his vulnerable side. Ultimately the only person he had a real relationship with was his mother played here by Debbie Reynolds.I found the whole drama too shallow and maybe even too safe. After all there is nothing here we have not seen here before, it is just that the gold digger would be a young woman who is the plaything of a successful older man.

I remember when this movie came out, I convinced myself I didn't want to see it, I wanted to remember Liberace for the entertainer I saw many times on TV shows over the years. But last week I found the DVD on the shelves at my local public library and decided to see it.It is interesting, in one scene late in the movie we see headlines of the death, via complications of AIDS, of Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., better known to most of us as Rock Hudson. The world was mostly shocked when we found this hunk of a movie star was a homosexual in private life.It was not such a surprise to find Liberace followed suit a couple of years later in 1987. We knew he was flamboyant but he was an entertainer, a pianist, and few really cared.The story here is based on the book by Scott Thorson who is played by Matt Damon. Thorson quite accidentally when he was still 17 visited the home of Liberace and began an attachment that last a number of years. But Liberace always seemed to have his eye out for young, attractive men and the natural tension and arguments ensued.Michael Douglas is pretty good as Liberace, he does the best he can to imitate the entertainer's mannerisms and way of speaking. But Douglas has a particular type of gravelness in his voice that worked great in 'Romancing the Stone' but it bothered me all the way through this movie.It isn't a great movie but it is often entertaining and gives an up- close glimpse into the world of Liberace, at least from Thorson's viewpoint.

This uncompromising backstage dramatisation of the turbulent relationship between celebrity pianist Liberace and his much younger lover Scott Thorson was a compelling watch. As I watched it, it took a little time for me to get over the sight of Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, two celebrated uber-masculine action heroes playing such camp characters plus their over-familiarity as stars if anything detracts from identification with their parts here but the fact that both absolutely throw themselves into their roles saw them convince me in the end.Liberace in real-life conducted himself as a family favourite, particularly with his female audience, playing popular piano pieces in cabaret and projecting a debonair if very camp image, on and off-stage, owning the inevitable L.A. mansion, with a grand piano in every room, innumerable fancy cars and of course his elaborate rhinestone-heavy stage costumes. Behind this facade however was a ruthless businessman, determined to preserve his self-image (woe betide the publication which levelled charges of homosexuality at him), in addition a controlling and sexually voracious individual who attended male-only brothels, watched hard-core gay porn and groomed young male wannabes into becoming his latest playmate. Douglas is excellent at portraying his character's at the same time compelling but repellant nature, flaunting his squeaky-clean image in public while living a life of decadent sleaze after hours.Into his orbit comes a young blonde bisexual country boy called Scott Thorson who very soon supersedes Liberace's then live-in boyfriend, attracted by the older man's charm, riches and power until too late he realises that he's being made over in his lover-employer's image and developing a drug addiction in the process. The power struggle between the two is fascinating to watch even if it is of course heavily slanted in Liberace's favour. The question here really is did Liberace corrupt and waste a young innocent's life or was Thorson a willing participant in the gravy train, happy to go along with it from the start.Director Siderburgh I think tends to the former viewpoint, although it's clear that Thorson is no angel himself. On the other hand, Liberace too is no one-dimensional character and it is the older man who calls up the younger as he nears his end from AIDS, fondly remembering their earlier happy times.I like this ambivalence, allowing the viewer to come to their own judgement on this particular lifestyle of the rich and famous. No corner is cut in exhibiting the pianist's excessive lifestyle although I was grateful that the love scenes between the two, although not ignored, was toned down somewhat for easier consumption. The acting is excellent, especially by the two big-name leads while Rob Lowe steals his scenes with a centre- parting like the Red Sea as a creepy plastic surgeon.I'm not surprised this film received so many Emmy plaudits and commend the director and cast for taking on a tricky subject and delivering such compelling viewing.

When this movie first premiered on the HBO channel I watched it not knowing what it was going to be about. As soon as I saw Liberace I thought maybe it will be about how good a pianist he was....I was in for a shock when they showed his relationship with Scott thorson. I had know of Liberace as he played my favorite rendition of the Tchaikovsky concerto in b flat minor but other than that I hadn't bothered to search his history. Throughout the movie it would keep you appealed to all the glamor and grandeur with the struggles and cheating. Throughout the story it progresses from the late 70's to the mid 80's and the story ends with Liberaces "controversial" death from the AIDs virus. The ending, to me, is one of the best final scenes in a movie. I won't spoil it you'll just have to go see for yourself. I still watch the film every now and then just to look and at the shiny crystals and such.