Liberace: Behind the Music

Too much is attempted to be told in 1 hour and 36 minutes.

Victor Garber does turn in a convincing performance as the flamboyant Lee. Maureen Stapleton is his doting mother who appeared on the way to another wonderful performance when the writing for her part did her in. As is the case with all those who orbited around his life, she was there to take full advantage even if it meant attempting to sabotage his one brief stab at a female romance. That being said, even the female took advantage of Lee as well.

The music is nicely staged. There is an all too brief scene with his father, the latter having abandoned the family years before. Years later, the father, an apparent Alzheimer's victim, doesn't even remember his son.

The film tries to convey that Liberace was virtually trapped by his homosexual tendencies. The film begins to fail as the men in his life begin to come and go. The most tragic of his guys was the 18 year old that he took in to make his chauffeur, only to see him become a cocaine addicted victim who is thrown out by Liberace. He retaliates by filing a palimony suit for millions.