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But then, 25 years ago, Hanks starred in a movie that radically upended perceptions of who and what he was as an actor. That film was, of course, Philadelphia , in which 37-year-old Hanks played a ...
- 3 min
- Ed Power
Story by Jorge Molina • 1mo. Sponsored Content. Even 30 years ago, 'Philadelphia' provided a surprisingly three-dimensional portrait of those living with AIDS.
- Philadelphia Then
- A Director on A Misson
- Roles with Heavy Meaning
- Life (and Bias) Imitated Art
- Life 20 Years Later
- ‘A Lot Has Not Changed’
- Philadelphia Now: Advances and Challenges
- Grounds For Hope
The year was 1993. The Phillies had just won the National League pennant. Ed Rendell was mayor. The Pennsylvania Convention Center had just opened. And, hundreds of thousands of moviegoers were about to meet Andrew Beckett in the movie Philadelphia. Played by Tom Hanks, Beckett is a bright young lawyer at a high-profile law firm. He’s gay and has H...
HIV is a virus that can wreak havoc on a person’s immune system. It’s spread through sexual fluids, blood-to-blood contact, and breast milk. By 1993, when the film came out, AIDS had killed more than 200,000 Americans and nearly 3,000 Philadelphians, according to one news report. “We got together and tried to come up with a movie that would help pu...
Philadelphiawasn’t just made in Philadelphia; the film was also made with the people of Philadelphia. About 50 extras in the film had HIV, some with visible signs of the disease. Producers made it a point to employ people with AIDS because of the difficulties they often faced getting jobs. The local service agency ActionAIDS helped recruit people t...
For Dr. Braffman, the film was difficult for another reason: medical realities aside, patients also faced social and legal challenges similar to Hanks’ character in the film. In the 1990s, Philadelphia had several high-profile AIDS discrimination suits that mirrored Philadelphia‘s plot. Braffman had to go to court and testify in the the case of one...
Twenty years since the film’s release, a prevailing attitude of those involved in the film and in HIV-related work is that things have changed for the better. Even so, many think the film and its themes still resonate in a lot of ways today. Suellen Kehler shares both perspectives. Today, she may very well be the only extra from the film still livi...
Kehler says, no doubt, life today is less isolated for her and others with HIV. She credits the film for a lot of that. After it came out, a coworker who’d moved her desk away pushed it closer again. Even so, Kehler says she’s reminded almost daily that the stigma is still out there. “I personally see for myself that a lot has not changed,” she say...
One thing that’s not happening anywhere near as often as in 1993 is people dying of AIDS. In 1993, when audiences first learned the Andrew Beckett character in the film had AIDS, they could conclude he would die by film’s end. Michael Braffman, the HIV doctor at Pennsylvania Hospital, stopped adding names to his memorial list a long time ago, thank...
Still, the contrast between the vintage 1993 Philadelphia shown in Jonathan Demme’s film and the Philadelphia of today offers many on the frontlines of HIV major grounds for hope. That’s certainly the case for 25-year-old Rafael Alvarez. Around Northeast Philadelphia and elsewhere, corner shops, street corners and local newspapershave featured post...
Jan 14, 1994 · Philadelphia: Directed by Jonathan Demme. With Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Roberta Maxwell, Buzz Kilman. When a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic-small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.
- (260K)
- Drama
- Jonathan Demme
- 1994-01-14
Written by Scott Anthony. Background in film, a cinephile enthusiast, who’s here to talk film, its talens, its history and its industry. "A FILM TO REMEMBER" series is of films who've reached a ...
Sep 1, 2015 · The movie’s worldwide earnings still eclipse those of Brokeback Mountain or The Dallas Buyers Club or any other GLBT film made since that time, making a re-evaluation of Philadelphia worthwhile. By 1993, theater and television had produced many offerings on gay themes and the AIDS crisis, but Philadelphia was the first big-budget, major ...
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Dec 22, 1993 · For a film maker who thrives on taking chances, "Philadelphia" sounds like the biggest gamble of all. As the first high-profile Hollywood film to take the AIDS plague seriously, Jonathan Demme's ...
