Let's be the overrated, clichéd "film" PHILADELPHIA

The scene with Hanks and the Callas recording had me rolling in the aisles. Denzel must have had a tack in his shoe.

I am the URGENCY in Bruce Springsteen's singing.

The opera scene screams “acting”. Painfully cliched movie - but necessary and valuable at the time. And even now, a flashback to a period than many will want to forget. Glad it was memorialized so people remember how horrible it was.

I am Tom Hanks Oscar bait.

I'm "In & Out", the only good thing to come out of this corny mess of a film.

I'm warm yogurt on your back

And what R3 said

I am every line of the script.

I am PROFOUND and MEANINGFUL.

I am the overwrought Springsteen song. I am not nearly as good as “walking in the rain in the Mission”.

I love Streets of Philadelphia. It's the only worthwhile part of the movie.

I have no wit to contribute to this thread, but I've finally watched this garbage film and it was cringe inducing. Same for Wizard of Oz.

I'm Ann Dowd. I'm quite unrecognizable in this. I am beautiful.

AI I low brow or just a cunt for thinking this is an incredible film.

Aunt Lydia is in Philadelphia? Who does she play?

A sister or somebody. She's the blond one with the baby in all the family scenes R13.

See what I meant?

I'm in shock. I've also just realized she played Kim Kelly's abusive mother in Freaks and Geeks. Where was I that I didn't connect the dots?

Aunt Lydia

Christ. Who did the publicity? Olan Mills?

Here she is playing Busy Philips crazy mom on Freaks and Geeks.

Say what you will but it was revolutionary for its time and no mainstream straight actor had done a role like this before. Was it over the top? Maybe. But gay men were being fired(my roommate being one) for being HIV + It gave visibility to those who were being marginalized. Cackle all you want but maybe a little respect for those who literally gave their lives so you sit in your rent controlled studio and judge about something you didn't experience and no nothing about.

Ah to be young and cynical without a wit of knowledge. This story is very much how this played out for my generation among the professional ‘class’- and worse- rejection and isolation both professionally and from family. I could tell you stories all day. The Hanks character is an opera fan- I can get pretty worked up about a Callas or Price aria too- my guess is most posters on this thread think Katy Perry is the standard. The Stonewall Foundation in NYC was created in large part from successful gay men who had been reflected by the establishment due to AIDs. So they created another outlet for their estates. They were the lucky one who were able to do this- other died in obscurity.

I’m all the babies and children in the very last scene at the memorial event. Children represent HOPE! And the FUTURE! And the circle of LIFE!

Yes, producers, WE GET IT!

Rejected, not reflected

I'm the South Park parody, JARED HAS AIDeS.

"He likes to eat his sandwiches with Philadelphia...cream cheese"

R21 seriously get help you awful human being.

Someone with an ounce of decency please delete this thread immediately.

We're laughing at the cringe performance and camp factor of this garbage film, not the situation gays had to go through in the 80s, are you guys always this condescending with people younger than you? Get a clue. We know what went on in the 80s with the AIDS epidemic, you can never shut up about it, how can we not know it?

This film IS terrible, campy, overacted, with terrible dialogue and story. I bet they could do a great drama today for Hulu or Netflix with the exact same premise and it wouldn't be as cringeworthy as this hot mess.

While we're at it, the opera scene is terrible and we laughed hard when it came on.

Oh I dont know R26 maybe because 90% of my friends died and I'm a bit touchy about that period of time. When a thread about Schindlers List starts up get back to me. In the mean time fuck you.

Pull that stick out of your ass R27, this thread isn't about YOU. We all lost loved ones to it. The film was a clichéd mess.

R21 - No, I don't think you read that right. It was pictures of him growing up, being part of a family - being the baby boy, in a Halloween costume, etc. It was meant to humanize him and to show how it could be anyone's child.

Believe it or not, one of my best friends/co-workers at the time said that, before that scene, she had never thought of gays as having families. I know that sounds weird - but gays were considered to be the 'other' - these strange human beings that were so different and even dangerous.

We were over 10 years into the AIDS crisis without any major films being made about it. Think about that. Tens of thousands of Americans had died and there were 0 major release films in 12 years? And independent films don't count - even so, there were only a couple of films about it.

Say what you will - and it was heavily criticized when it came out too - but it was a watershed moment for gay rights and visibility.

R28 seriously get some help or get fucked. Whatever you need to stop being so ugly. Have someone cum in you ass to calm you down.

[quote] When a thread about Schindlers List starts up get back to me. In the mean time fuck you.

Unlike this garbage, Schindler's List was a good movie, but we could make fun of Life is Beautiful if you want, its just as cringy as Philadelphia.

Now, I ain't see none of my friends laughing at the Normal Heart, and that's a movie about the same period, it so happens it's a good movie.

I thought the whole point of the thread was to make fun of this garbage? Guess I was wrong.

What a dreadful movie. I remember watching it - and thinking - wait - does being gay mean going mad listening to opera? Cause I ain't doin it right...

R31, cunts like R27 are turds in punchbowls who can't stand not being the center of attention.

[quote]Have someone cum in you ass to calm you down.

Did you get a dirty load, R30? Is that why you're such a cunt?

I'm the anonymous person who sabotaged Andy's work so they would have an excuse to fire him. Who am I?

R31 - well, there were many Jews who criticized Schindler's List as well and thought it was too Hollywood and even thought it was 'light' on the abuse and atrocities. I thought it was OK, but not a great film and fell short in many places.

But I will tell you this - I spoke to several people who, prior to Schindler's List, had never seen a Holocaust film and knew nothing of the extent of suffering. That boggled my mind - but it was very much a parallel with Philadelphia.

Personally, I don't think it's wise to trash films that actively moved the needle for our rights and understanding. Are you going to put up a 'Let's be Schindler's List' next? Philadelphia had been criticized before it came out, during its release and now for the last 25 years.

I can't think of any other major, wide release films about gay life that have been made since. A couple of comedies, yes - where everyone laughs at us. But dramas?

[quote]I can't think of any other major, wide release films about gay life that have been made since.

Love Simon did just that, worldwide and it made money less than 2 years ago.

[quote] Are you going to put up a 'Let's be Schindler's List' next?

Schindler's List has no cringe acting or camp factor why would we laugh at the movie? Life is Beautiful which won an Oscar for best foreign language film has many cringe factor and as a half Jew I've laughed at this film when I saw it. There you have it.

R37 - Love Simon? A RomCom about teenagers? It made money, but it was not a major film - and even so, there were 24 years between.

And I'm half Jewish too. There were several cringe scenes, perhaps not acting, in Schindler's List. And it had that typical Spielberg feel-good spine - 'The List if Life!"

The point is that everyone knew Philadelphia wasn't perfect when it came out and some of it was heavy-handed, but it was an important film. I didn't love it when I first saw it - but grew to appreciate it for the time and for what it did.

R29, watch the scene again. I wasn’t talking about the video (which was actually pretty touching). Look at the crowd at the memorial. Denzel and his wife brought their infant(!). Another couple holding an infant! Kids prominently featured in the scene.

[quote]Say what you will but it was revolutionary for its time and no mainstream straight actor had done a role like this before.

Yeah, and done, R19, with a competent director (speak DIRECTLY to the camera. Action!) and a screenplay that was WASN'T cut and pasted from stitched pillows (I didn't raise my kids to sit on the back of the bus) this movie could have been a fucking classic.

Instead the entirety of it shit all over the promise it had.

Love the song, I still cry when I hear it. The movie has it's problems, but it was an important moment in time. We needed allies and Hollywood stepped up. The worst part of the whole experience was Tom hanks Oscar speech.

Whats wrong with it? Half way through it I thought he wasn't gonna acknowledge us gays, then he talks about his drama teacher and a friend who are gay. It's corny and cheesy, just like the movie.