Philadelphia

Plot synopsis:
Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. Although he lives with his partner Miguel Álvarez (Antonio Banderas), Beckett is not open about his homosexuality at the law firm, nor the fact that he has AIDS. On the day he is assigned the firm's newest and most important case, one of the firm's partners notices a small lesion on Beckett's forehead. Shortly thereafter, Beckett stays home from work for several days to try to find a way to hide his lesions. While at home, he finishes the complaint for the case he has been assigned and then brings it to his office, leaving instructions for his assistants to file the complaint in court on the following day, which marks the end of the statute of limitations for the case. Beckett suffers from bowel spasms at home and is rushed to the hospital. Later that morning, while still at the ER, he receives a frantic call from the firm asking for the complaint, as the paper copy cannot be found and there are no copies on the computer's hard drive. However, the complaint is finally discovered and is filed with the court at the last possible moment. The following day, Beckett is dismissed by the firm's partners, who had previously referred to him as their "buddy", but now question his professional abilities in light of the misplaced document.
Beckett believes that someone deliberately hid his paperwork to give the firm a pretext to fire him, and that the firing is actually as a result of his diagnosis with AIDS. He asks several attorneys to take his case, including personal injury lawyer Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), with whom he had been involved in a previous case. Miller, who is admittedly homophobic and knows little about Beckett's AIDS, initially declines to take the case and immediately visits his doctor to find out if he could have contracted the AIDS through shaking Beckett's hand. The doctor explains the methods of HIV infection. The doctor then offers to take a sample of Miller's blood, suspecting that Miller was asking about AIDS because he suspected he had contracted it and was trying to hide it. Miller dismisses the request by laughing it off, thinking it a joke. Unable to find a lawyer willing to represent him, Beckett is compelled to act as his own attorney. While researching a case at a law library, Miller sees Beckett at a nearby table. After a librarian announces that he has found a book on AIDS discrimination for Beckett, others in the library begin to first stare and then move away, and the librarian suggests Beckett retire to a private room. Disgusted by their behavior, Miller approaches Beckett and reviews the material he has gathered. It is obvious he has decided to take the case. Upon receiving a summons by Miller, the head of the firm, Charles Wheeler (Jason Robards), worries about the damage the lawsuit could do to his business and reputation, although one partner (Ron Vawter) unsuccessfully tries to convince them to settle out of court with Beckett.
As the case goes before the court, Wheeler takes the stand, claiming that Beckett was incompetent and claiming that he had deliberately tried to hide his condition. The defense repeatedly suggests that Beckett had invited his illness through promiscuity and was therefore not a victim. In the course of testimony, it is revealed that the partner who had noticed Beckett's lesion had previously worked with a woman who had contracted AIDS after a blood transfusion and so would have recognized the lesion as relating to AIDS. To prove that the lesions would have been visible, Miller asks Beckett to unbutton his shirt while on the witness stand, revealing that his lesions were indeed visible and recognizable as such.
During cross-examination, Beckett admits that he was originally planning to tell his law colleagues that he was gay, but changed his mind after hearing them make homophobic jokes in the sauna of a health club. When asked about the truth of how he got infected, he confirms that he engaged in anonymous sex with another man at a pornographic movie theater. However, he and Miller gain an advantage when the partner who advised settling out of court confesses he long suspected Beckett had AIDS but never said anything, and how he regrets his inaction.
Beckett collapses during Wheeler's testimony. During his hospitalization, the jury votes in his favor, awarding him back pay, damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages totaling nearly $4.5M. Miller visits Beckett in the hospital after the verdict and overcomes his fear enough to touch Beckett's face. After Beckett's family leaves the room, he tells Miguel that he is ready to die. A short scene immediately afterward shows Miller getting the word that Beckett has died. The movie ends with a reception at Beckett's home following the funeral, where many mourners, including the Millers, view home movies of Beckett as a healthy child.

Tags: dramatic, cult, queer, romantic, home movie

Review:
Denzel Washington was well cast as the homophobic lawyer who ultimately takes Hanks' case, and Mary Steenburgen is surprising in an uncharacteristic villain role.Ron Vawter, who played one of the lawyers in the firm from which Hanks was fired, and also appeared in Silence of the Lambs, was himself suffering from AIDS at the time of filming, and he eventually succumbed to it a few years later.
but the two best things about it was Tom Hanks' performance as the lawyer with aids and Bruce Springsteen's song " Streets of Philadelphia".
Tom Hanks gives the performance of a lifetime as AIDS-afflicted lawyer Andrew Beckett, fired from his law firm after they discover his condition.
Equally good is Denzel Washington as homophobic lawyer Joe Miller, who is forced to ignore his own stereotypes in taking Andrew's case.
Good support also comes from Jason Robards as Andrew's vicious ex-boss, Joanne Woodward as Andrew's ever-loving mother, and Antonio Banderas as Andrew's companion.Maybe this is just me, but I think that "Philadelphia" was released at just the right time.
By placing the film in the "City of Brotherly Love", hiring Bruce Springsteen to sing the title song and having an up-and-coming Tom Hanks star, director Jonathan Demme wisely readied an ignorant America for our first, uninhibited glance into the face of AIDS.
Tom Hanks embodied his role in an Oscar-worthy performance, allowing us to watch as his lovely and lively Andrew Beckett deteriorate before our eyes.
Tom Hanks and the writers took to task the difficult and annoyingly controversial hurdle of playing the "gay" character and placing the "straight" audience into that different world.
The most powerful argument against this film seems to be that it is anti-homosexual propaganda in how it shows the relationship between Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas.
I suppose that most gay viewers saw that message as something along the lines of "Gays are everywhere...watch out!"  If that were the case, the film would have glorified Washington's character, but instead we feel sorry for liking Denzel.
Viewers have to remember that controversial topics like these have to be handled carefully, and it could not have been done better than in "Philadelphia."  If all gay people are looking for is a depressing, uninventive, inaccurate P.O.S. that emphasizes homosexual kissing rather than acceptance and integration, then maybe they should remain alienated.
Tom Hanks' performance was obviously worthy of his first Oscar for his portrayal of Andrew Beckett, a gay, AIDS-stricken man who was fired from his job for what he believes to be discrimination against his sexual orientation and disease.
Denzel Washington, in his portrayal of Joe Miller, the ex-homophobic who decides to help Andrew win his case, is excellent, deserving of a Best Supporting Actor award.
Instead, the film plays to stereotypes and mythology about law and lawyers.Take the brief interview in which Denzel Washington's character establishes that a injured man is pushing a lawsuit without merit.
There is a moment in the film in which I looked into his character's eyes and believed that Tom Hanks was actually gay.
Tom Hanks plays a gay man who for a brief, sad time in his life was sexually promiscuous.
They are the Cold-Hearted Homophobes.Denzel Washington is Hanks' lawyer, the Homophobe-Who-Becomes-More-Human by knowing the Gay Man.Sound puerile?
This movie had the potential to tell a compelling story, but they did it all wrong.The movie had good believable acting from Hanks and Denzel Washington, but they completely failed in the way they chose to tell the story.
The central story of Beckett is good but he is never allowed to be just a person -he is representing bigger things and thus, occasionally feels a little distant.I felt at the time Hanks got his Oscar for the nature of the role rather than his performance and I still feel that way.
Seriously, the thing that stood out for me in this film was Andrew Beckett's (Tom Hanks) great family straight out of a Norman Rockwell illustration.
His parents are still together after 40 years, he was raised in a large home in a good suburb, he has numerous siblings and numerous nieces and nephews, and all are accepting of his being gay and supportive of his lawsuit when he is apparently sabotaged at work and then fired for incompetence when he believes the law firm partners actually fired him because he had AIDS and was gay.This film was made almost a quarter of a century ago, and I guess to make Beckett sympathetic in those times there had to be nothing negative in his background.
Andrew Beckett as the plaintiff who cannot find a lawyer to take his case, and Denzel Washington as the attorney who ultimately takes his case, although he is initially scared of Andy, scared of AIDS, repulsed by the idea of gay people.
Directed by Jonathan Demme (the same director of Silence of the Lambs) and starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington focuses on the case of Andrew Beckett, an HIV positive gay lawyer at a growing law firm.
Over the course of the film Miller begins to change his homophobic thoughts while Beckett fights to win his court case before he succumbs to the AIDS disease.
There was a lot of tender scenes between Joe and his wife, and missing that in the film felt like the movie was trying too hard to appeal to heterosexual audiences despite being a film about a gay man.
"Philadelphia" might be 1993's best film for one it's relative for the fact that it was based on a real life case in the city during the 1980's and it's theme of AIDS, discrimination, and homophobia, is downright appealing.
And the performances and acting from both Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington makes the film a winner as their chemistry is unmatched.
From the opening scenes of the city the song from Bruce Springsteen called "Streets of Philadelphia" really draws you into the movie.Based on a true story in the city of Philadelphia, Pa Andrew(in Tom Hank's best role)is a hot young lawyer at a big high dollar firm and after years of being with the firm he's suddenly let go.
So it's a visit to Joe(in a wonderful supporting turn from Denzel Washington)a tough and macho type money hungry ambulance chasing lawyer who takes his case of discrimination by bringing a lawsuit for personal and emotional damages against the high powered law firm.
I know I'm in the minority here, but I swear the only reason this movie did so well is because the main character(Tom Hanks) was gay and had AIDS.
Philadelphia is a usual courtroom drama, however it has a topic on it's side (2 to be precise) that probably no other film before 1993 had- gay people with the AIDS virus.
Tom Hanks plays a lawyer here who gets supposedly fired by his firm due to the fact that he has aids.
The scene where Andrew talks with his caring family, the famous opera scene with virtuoso performances by Hanks and Washington, and the final heartbreaking scene, showing Andrew as a child playing in the ocean.The theme of this film, I think, is spoken by a previous employee of Andrew's lawfirm who received HIV by transfusion.
You'd think a film with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington would be a pretty good one, right?
I can't believe intelligent people like Jason Robards, Tom Hanks, and Denzel Washington would ever lend their names to Philadelphia, let alone accept an Oscar because of it.
I'm talking about two scenes in particular: the scene where we see Tom Hanks contract AIDS (by having sex in a gay porno theater with the man who is sitting next to him) and by having Hanks's character bring Washington to a homosexual party where everyone is dressed in drag.
As herald of a social problem, Philadelphia seems to have been made for another country or an earlier decade.Similarly, if the movie meant the audience to believe that the character played by Jason Robards (described as brilliant, incisive, and well-educated) and all his partners, were truly fearful of contracting AIDS from an attorney in the office, the idea was simply bizarre for such bright people in one of America's most cosmopolitan cities by the mid-1990s.If instead, the movie meant to show that the villains DID know there was no danger of contraction, but simply wished to exclude homosexuals from their law firm, using AIDS as an excuse (the likelier meaning given the different treatment meted the woman who contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion), then prejudice about AIDS victims was really not the issue in this movie but a mask: the issue is really the acceptance of homosexuality.
I certainly don't begrudge Hanks his Oscar - he gives a fine performance - but the Academy's reaction to the movie as a whole, seems to me to be primarily an attempt to show common feeling with the unfairness of excluding homosexuals and sympathy for AIDS sufferers- not really a judgment on this movie.The movie does indeed induce bathos - but this decent movie just didn't have anything to say beyond what had been said for a decade - and wasn't imaginative enough to create whole rounded characters that would have meant a memorable drama.
PHILADELPHIA - * * * * out of * * * * * D: Jonathan Demme S: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Jasob Robards, Mary Steenburgen, Antonio Banderas"Philadelphia" is a sometimes overbearing but nevertheless enjoyable film about a gay man (Hanks) infected with AIDS, who sues his employer (Robards) for firing him over prejudice.
"His work was satisfactory," one of his employers says on trial later in the film.Hanks, realizing this is all a lie (and rightly so!), goes to attorney Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), who at first turns down Hanks' case.
I am not homophobic, but the constant agenda gets tiring.Hanks outplays Denzel Washington and everyone else in his Oscar-winning role, but to tell you the truth I've seen him do better and I wondered if he got this Academy Award simply because of the subject matter at hand.
I remember Tom Hanks's character left an important file on someone's empty desk and walked away; later on, that file turns up missing causing the firm to lose a case and that was the ostensible reason for his getting fired.
I felt like the movie was trying to manipulate me and it was failing at it.There was a scene where Tom Hanks's character is listening to some opera ("La mamma morta" from "Andrea Chenier", I believe).
It is the story of two men, Andrew Beckett and Joe Miller, who fight against the discrimination against gays and AIDS sufferers.
After such a tragic story, that is all that remains for us.Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks both deliver stellar performances, and I don't know why Washington was not recognized for his first-rate portrayal of Joe Miller, the homophobic ambulance chaser who suddenly realizes that Andy Beckett (Hanks) is a victim of the same discrimination that Miller might have experienced at some time in his life as an African American.
When a man with AIDS (Tom Hanks) is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer (Denzel Washington) as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.I absolutely love seeing Roger Corman on the stand...
And it's funny how the Oscars work; it's evident that Tom Hanks gave an award-worthy performance (transformation and all), but I was genuinely surprised that Denzel Washington was completely looked over by the Academy.
Tom hanks and Denzel Washington, some of Hollywood's most powerful actors, come together in this powerful drama about fighting for your rights and equality.
Tom Hanks plays Andrew Beckett who works at a Philadelphia law firm.
Unable to find an attorney due to his condition, he enlists the help of a personal injury lawyer Joe Miller (Washington) to assist him in the case.Philadelphia fell thoroughly nothing short of a timely and deeply riveting story, and succeeds at both a courtroom drama and a family drama.
There is no doubt that this very powerful, very moving, and does not fail to grab at your heart strings.Philadelphia is one of the best films with Tom Hanks as well as Denzel Washington.
Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is a gay lawyer with boyfriend Miguel Alvarez (Antonio Banderas) who finds out that he has AIDS.
We are so frightened of gay people or people with AIDS that we alienate these people completely ignorant of the fact that they are part of the "all men created equal".Before Philadelphia was made, Tom Hanks was just a comedic actor.
In the movie, Hanks portrays Andrew Beckett, a gay lawyer stricken with AIDS who is fired by his bosses.
Also supporting them are Jason Robards as his boss, Mary Steensburgen as the opposing lawyer who gives a great villainous performance, Joanne Woodward as Tom Hanks's mother, and Antonio Banderas as Tom Hanks's gay partner.Director Jonathan Demme, coming off of a huge success in The Silence of the Lambs, does even more in Philadelphia.
Jonathan Demme was a Genuine Truly Master of every his work at cinematic landmark.After The Greatest Masterpiece of all time,A Suspenseful and Thrilling "The Silence of the Lambs",He made the next MasterWork in a different genre:humanity drama.But,If the Master did a work,even it was very different area,They still showed the Powerful-hands they had in everything.included this.No doubt,i truly amazed this Powerful-Grand Drama.This was very touching and simply made me cry afterward.It was one of the Most Perfect drama film ever made!The Directing was so Genius and Great,The Casting was Incredible and Extraordinary,Tom Hanks in one of his finest and brilliant performance,Denzel Washington was the Amazing and Adorable one and Antonio Banderas was Unbelievable!The Plot Story was so Exceptional and Perfect!I can't afford to find a drama film as great as this one again to put it in front of me.WOW!Just feel so delight after i watched this greatest present and define of all time.Never regret it!
Talk about "stereotypes!!!" Anyway, all the characters in the movie are interesting ones, especially the two leads, played by Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, two of today's best actors and closet Liberals.
I hate to blast this movie because Hanks was so great but...As a gay man I was both horrified and pleased by this film.
Philadelphia (1993)Tom Hanks pulls out all the stops in this performance as a man, Andrew Beckett, dying of AIDS in the 1980s.
i figured this would be good movie,given that it stars Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks,two acting greats.but given its subject matter(homosexuality, and AIDS discrimination)i thought it would also be depressing.in fact,it isn't at all.there are some sombre moments,to be sure.it is very touching at times.i liked how the film doesn't take side on this issue.it merely present a story,and it's up to the viewer how they respond to it.i mentioned Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks.however,Mary Steenburgen also impressed me a lot.Antonia Banderas was also good in what i believe is his first English speaking role.the reasons this film is so good(in no particular order)are three fold.one-the acting.2-the confident direction of Johnathon(silence of the Lambs)Demme.3-the economical writing.i also have to mention the musical score as well as the theme song by Bruce Springsteen.both really complemented the movie well.overall,this was a good movie.one thing i didn't like is that one or two scenes went on a bit too long.however,those were few and far between.my vote for Philadelphia is a 7.5/10.
But this one is different thanks to its subject.Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) is a gay lawyer with AIDS who has lost his job at a conservative law firm because of his disease.
Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) is a homophobic small time lawyer who decides to defend him anyway, only because the law has been broken, not because he likes Beckett all that much.Like I already said, this movie could have gone by unnoticed, but it didn't.
This movie would have been OK anyway thanks to the good direction and the story, but it is thanks to the great performances of Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington that this movie has become an icon.
I saw this movie when it came out and thought it was ok, I mean Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks how could you miss?
The highlight of the film and the thing that holds it all together is without a doubt the performances, Tom Hanks is a down on his luck homosexual, he is believable in every moment, a well deserved Oscar win.
Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) was a top attorney with one of Philadelphia's top law firms, when all of a sudden he's fired.
It also didn't remind me of any other AIDS related movies, which makes it unique.Praise- This movie contains 2 of the best performances that Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks have given in their career.
Its good for anyone who likes Tom Hanks, or was interested in the story of how some people with AIDS were mistreated.
Directed by Jonathan Demme, it relates the story of Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks) a dedicated, successful and superior attorney working for a prestigious Philadelphia Law firm when they decide to fire him for incompetence.
Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, perhaps the most revered white and black male actors of their generation, respectively -- in a film about homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic.
It's as if to say that we've broken a social barrier like this before and we'll do it again.The film follows Hanks as Andrew Beckett, a young stud lawyer in a major Philadelphia firm who learns his HIV has become AIDS just as he is promoted.
While best actor awards tend to make people think of the most dramatic performances, it is the way Hanks shows the debilitating effects of the disease through the course of the film that makes him Oscar-worthy.
Too bad.) But in 1993, Mr. Washington made a wonderful movie called "Philadelphia" with Tom Hanks, and Antonio Banderas.