Philadelphia (film)
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Hanks' character, Andrew Beckett, is a homosexual attorney working for a prestigious law firm in Philadelphia. When he is unable to hide the fact that he has AIDS from the partners in the firm, he is fired. Beckett hires a homophobic attorney, Joe Miller (Washington), to fight for him.
The movie won Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Tom Hanks) and Best Music, Song (Bruce Springsteen for "Streets of Philadelphia"). It was also nominated for Best Makeup (Carl Fullerton and Alan D'Angerio), Best Music, Song (Neil Young for "Philadelphia") and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen (Ron Nyswaner).
The film was the second Hollywood big-budget, big-star film to tackle the issue of AIDS (following TV movie And the Band Played On) in America and also signaled a shift in the early 1990s for Hollywood films to have more realistic depictions of gay people. However, the fact that Hanks' and Banderas' characters do not display normal relationship affections such as kissing, and the absence of gay women drew criticism from some gay film critics. In an interview for the 1996 documentary The Celluloid Closet, Hanks remarked that some scenes showing more affection between him and Banderas were cut, including a scene showing him and Banderas in bed together. The DVD edition of the film includes that scene and many of the principals discuss the criticisms leveled at the film. To make people come to the film, Bruce Springsteen wrote "Streets of Philadelphia," which was nominated for Best Song.
Plot
Twenty-six year old Andrew Beckett is a Penn graduate hired in a corporate law firm, the largest in Philadelphia. Despite his success, friendly-going demeanor, and his handsome figure, Andrew is actually a homosexual trying to hide the truth about his sexuality, along with his "friend," Miguel. When he feels ill and develops Kaposi's Sarcoma lesions on his face, his worst fears are confirmed: he has contracted HIV, and he cannot hide the truth anymore. He is promptly fired from the law firm by his boss, who is revealed to have a strong prejudice for gay people. Andrew tries to hire a defense lawyer to take his case and sue the firm for dismissal, lost earnings, and punitive damages, but nobody will take his case. As a last resort, he turns to Joe Miller, a family man and lawyer of a lower law firm who is secretly homophobic. However, after they spend time together, Joe realizes that Andrew is a normal person like anybody else. Both gain great trust and respect for each other as they fight the system that calls itself the law, much to the shock, admiration, and, for some, disgust of the population. Joe must show that Andrew is a good man, not a threat, and that his boss fired him just because he was gay, before AIDS takes his life.
Cast
- Tom Hanks (Andrew Beckett)
- Denzel Washington (Joe Miller)
- Jason Robards (Charles Wheeler)
- Antonio Banderas (Miguel Alvarez)
- Joanne Woodward (Sarah Beckett)
- Mary Steenburgen (Belinda Conine)
- Charles Napier (Judge Garnett)
- Edward Rendell (Mayor Edward Rendell/himself)
- Karen Finley (Dr. Gillman)
- Robert Ridgley (Walter Kenton)
- Jane Moore (Lydia Glines)
- Bradley Whitford (Jamey Collins)
- Lauren Roselli (Iris)
- Tracey Walter (Librarian)
- Anne Dowd (Jill Beckett)
- John Bedford Lloyd (Matt Beckett)
- Robert Castle (Bud Beckett)
- Daniel von Bargen (Jury Foreman)
According to the Internet Movie Database [link], "there was a statistic that there were 53 gay men who appeared in various scenes in this movie and within the next year, 43 of them had died."
External links
MLA Citation
Philadelphia. Dir. Jonathan Demme. Perf. Tom Hanks, Denzel Washing. TriStar Pictures, 1993.
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