The Years With Lee

Rating: 9/10 (18 September 2013)

With same sex marriage now becoming a reality in many areas it's a good thing to examine some of the relationships that were and still are considered the norm in the gay world. Such a relationship involved Liberace and Scott Thorson played with extraordinary verisimilitude by Michael Douglas and Matt Damon in Behind The Candelabra. This film directed by Steven Soderbergh should have received a big screen release.
There's a whole generation of people who have grown up and another one growing who have no knowledge of Liberace the entertainer. Now with so many show business celebrities never even entering the closet let alone emerging it almost seems quaint how Liberace took such pains to hide who and what he was as if such a flamboyant personality ever could.
With the kind of wealth he amassed Liberace could get just about anyone he wanted and on his own terms. So when young Scott Thorson came back stage one fine afternoon and Liberace took one look at him it was lust at first sight. His current flame went and Scott was ensconced in the palatial estate in Las Vegas which he lived in luxury as a kept boy toy.
These relationships are always dangerous. Scott may have the attractiveness, but Liberace had the money and the power. Years ago when I worked at New York State Crime Victims Board I had a case where a man in his 60s was killed and left a surviving partner in his 40s and they had been together for about 20 years. It was a relationship like Liberace and Thorson had. The older man was a business executive and the younger did nothing but keep house. Because there was no same sex marriage when the older man died, the younger inherited nothing that was not in his name. But worse than that he had no job or trade he could fall back on, he was completely dependent on the older for support. Scott Thorson wanted to be a veterinarian when he met Liberace. I'm sure he's sorry he didn't learn some kind of job to fall back on. The palimony suit that he brought against Liberace was out of sheer necessity.
Douglas and Damon bring both men alive for a younger generation, more importantly a younger generation of LGBT young people who can see what it was like in the bad old days which aren't quite over. The two truly dominate the film, but Debbie Reynolds as Liberace venerated mother and Dan Aykroyd as business manager Seymour Heller and most of all Rob Lowe as a quack doctor who hooks Damon on diet pills are quite memorable. Matt Damon who is getting on should have done this project in the 90s. But his skill pulls off the part where he's clearly too old.
I recommend this film highly for young gay audiences.