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Liberace "Behind the Candelabra"
x-man:
I very well remember Liberace. Remember, I'm older than you guys.
I know he was very flamboyant and animated. At the time it turned me off, but I have lightened up a lot since getting older, and now think he had the right to be as nellie and campy as he wanted to be. I'm not criticizing Liberace at all. Go girl! Take it as far as you want to!
I am criticizing Douglas for his portrayal of the man. (Peter Garber did a much better job in the other Liberace movie.) And my pet hate is Matt Dillon. When I first saw him in a film, I thought "nice eye-candy." Then he had to ruin it by talking. Wooden, uninteresting, boring--that boy-next-door look will take you only so far----definitely not into Liberace's mansion.
Shakesthecoffecan:
Well, you know it is a movie, and they are actors. They did the best they could probably. I am amazed that the movie would ever be made, or more to the point I have lived to see the day it would be made.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: x-man on March 10, 2014, 11:34:16 am ---I very well remember Liberace. Remember, I'm older than you guys.
I know he was very flamboyant and animated. At the time it turned me off, but I have lightened up a lot since getting older, and now think he had the right to be as nellie and campy as he wanted to be. I'm not criticizing Liberace at all. Go girl! Take it as far as you want to!
--- End quote ---
And yet you have a problem that a movie portrayed him as exactly that?
--- Quote from: x-man on March 10, 2014, 10:07:15 am ---I finally saw Behind the Candelabra a few nights ago. I was not confused in the least--I was appalled. As a gay man I was greatly offended that this cartoonish effort was made in the first place, and then was celebrated as being of any worth at all.
Any gay man seeing this film without warning would be repelled.
--- End quote ---
Really, don't you think you ought to speak for yourself? You have every right to be appalled and disgusted by it, but you aren't "any gay man," you're one gay man.
--- Quote ---At its heart it was the story of a crazy, stereotypically gay, older sugar daddy (virtually a drag queen in pants), and his twinkie boyfriend who was out for everything he could get out of the old man.
--- End quote ---
Well, yeah. ...
--- Quote ---Douglas and Dillon could not possibly have been a worse case of casting.
--- End quote ---
It wasn't Matt Dillon, it was Matt Damon.
--- Quote ---I am criticizing Douglas for his portrayal of the man. (Peter Garber did a much better job in the other Liberace movie.)
--- End quote ---
If you're referring to Liberace: Behind the Music (1988), that was Victor Garber (who is gay, btw, and quite a good actor in whatever role he takes on).
--- Quote ---Scott Thompson was the only one alive to write the book--and profit from the movie royalties. That he was shamelessly using Liberace all along, and was a totally self-seeking bastard seems to have gotten lost along the way. Liberace sure had bad taste in men. He is the one to pity, not the sleazy hangers-on who took advantage of him.
--- End quote ---
Scott Thorson. ...
--- Quote ---And why do some of you straight people insist on calling the younger partners in gay relationships "boys?"
--- End quote ---
Maybe because some of us gay men do.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on March 10, 2014, 11:29:09 am ---My friend Offline Chuck loved the show and as an accomplished pianist, loved Liberace. Apparently he was really talented as a pianist. I barely remember him myself but enough to know that the costumes, candelabra and mannerisms were really there.
--- End quote ---
I've offered (threatened? ;D) to buy OCD a candelabra for that baby grand of his. ...
southendmd:
I didn't care much for the film, mostly because I thought the title should have used the single "candelabrum". :-X
I don't get upset at the subject matter: an aging celebrity and his loneliness, self deception; hooking up with young men and using each other. How many older straight celebrities hook up with lots of young women?
Surely, by his older years, he was a nelly caricature. It's hard to imagine how incredibly popular he was decades earlier. I was reminded of this old clip from the TV show "What's My Line" where Liberace was the mystery celebrity guest. Listen to the audience's reaction when he just walks on stage. And the first panelist's question/assumption that he must be an incredibly hot starlet to get that kind of response from the audience!
[youtube=425,350]http://youtu.be/bfHvAe3N9x8[/youtube]
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