Philadelphia (1993)

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Demme was smart. He got the greatest actors of the time: Hanks, Washington, Robards, Steenburgen, Banderas, and Woodward

It was a decent movie for its time....though it was definitely tragedy porn in some ways.

Brilliant film. It inspired me to come out.

It's amazingly mature compared to what's made today. Demme was a very sensitive filmmaker. It would be flammed today because the central character dying of a brutal disease and being fired for it has too much "privilege" compared to a black trans woman. Everyone involved needs to apologize.

I always cry at the end of this film.

great film

One of the first films I saw with my boyfriend, now husband. It had us both in tears at the end and oddly enough we ended up in Philadelphia 3 yrs later for a fellowship at CHOP. It doesn’t seem possible that it was 30 yrs ago!

Longtime Companion was a far superior movie in every way.

Earnestly of it's time. Painfully so.

I missed the sex scene when the man goes up into the man.

Let’s not discuss this and leave it where it belongs. An earnest well attempted film where I believe all parties did their best. Let it lie.

Mary Steenburgen was great in this. She played the defense attorney who was so obviously discussed at what she had to do.

Who did she discuss it with?

Disgusted, sorry!

sad

I vividly remember the day I saw this at the theater with my mom & sister, it was the day of the Northridge earthquake, MLK Day ‘94, so we were off from junior college & Mom was off from work. I’d been out of the closet for a few years but was still leery of seeing the film with them, lest there were any sex scenes. I couldn’t have been more wrong: the film was very sterile & far from edgy, but worth seeing nevertheless. I’d previously disliked Springsteen, wrongly assuming his Born in the USA song was indicative of a right-wing streak in him, especially as it had been co-opted by the GOP. I was so pleased he did the theme song for the film & I did a 180 on him then.

I'll never forget the scene where Andrew comes out the Lawyers office and is standing there outside feeling hopeless. It was heartbreaking and I have never forgot that scene. I haven't watched it in so long, but I may watch it today, because of this thread. It's a very good movie, but so sad but moving.

It really was.

R18 I agree! 100%

Hanks, Washington, and Steenburgen gave some of the best performances of their careers.

[quote]It was a decent movie for its time....though it was definitely tragedy porn in some ways.

Agree with R3, it was a decent, well constructed, well acted film, but the story was told just adequately, with little finesse, no surprise, nothing to give it dimension beyond beyond a ruthlessly sad bit of tragedy porn.

Streets of Philadelphia by Springsteen and Philadelphia by Neil Young are two of the most depressing songs I've ever had to listen to

I loved Steenburgen's "I hate this case" line.

R24 she is so composed and tough throughout the entire film, but with that one line you understand everything about her.

Honestly THIS is the role Denzel should have won an Oscar for - for supporting actor. He played the idealistic (in that the firm shouldn't be doing this to Hanks no matter what he thought of homosexuality), but homophobic and ignorant attorney to perfection.

If he was going to win for Best Actor, it should have been for Malcolm X, not Training Day.

R2-I thought it sucked.

R26 he won for Training Day because it was against type.

It still wasn't that good. I mean, it was a perfectly a fine cop role, but Oscar worthy? It was a career Oscar, not recognition of some incredible, memorable performance.

R9 is correct- Longtime Companion was a much better film& made me cry. I loved Jason Robards as the sleazy main attorney of Hanks old law firm that fired him-WASP! Antonio Bandares because he's delicious looking in the movie, and Denzel because he was really good in a supporting role, should have won an Oscar for BSA in the movie. I didn't like the Bruce Springsteen or Neil Young songs in the movie& still agree with that decision.

My mom took us to see this when we were kids, I was 13. I admired very much that she did this, especially for someone as catholic as she was. We were all very moved. Not one homophobe in my family.

Yes, its a bit one dimensional and is tragedy porn, but I think its what was needed at that time. For a more layered, nuanced, more clever take we had "And the band played on" that same year.

R29 it was the very definition of NOT a career Oscar.

It gave a generation of Middle Americans a very outdated understanding of AIDS. Thirty years later, a gay boy in Kentucky who comes out has to hear his mother screech at him about ending up like that Tim Honks in that movie with the Black Fella.

My intro to Antonio Banderas. I had no idea who he was but good lord, he was beautiful.

Still handsome, btw.

It was a career Oscar, R32.

His career is still going two decades later. 🫣LOL

Jessica Tandy or Paul Newman have career Oscars. That’s not Denzel.

^^^But Paul won a competitive Oscar a year after being honored with a honorary Oscar^^^ The Color of Money with Miss Cruise

Color of Money WAS the career Oscar —duh.

R26/R28 -

Denzel won for 'Training Day' because Russell Crowe was acting like a major a-hole during Oscar season. He had won for Gladiator and like Tom Hanks, he would have won back to back Best Actor Oscars. In an interview Julia Roberts mentioned (she had just co-stared with DW in 'Pelican Brief') that it was a shame the he hadn't won a Best Actor Oscar because he was and extraordinary actor. This was pretty much why RC lost that year, while A Beautiful Mind won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress

Honorary Oscar does not = career Oscar. In Oscar history, a career Oscar is most often used to describe a late in life competitive winner, at the end of a career ….and many times for sentimental reason rather on pure “worthiness.”

R39 he won because he played a bad guy, extraordinarily well. It was against type compared to his many “noble” toles. He earned it… they just didn’t vote 🤷🏻‍♂️who else.

PS. Even if your version is correct, that’s still no definition for a career Oscar.

roles*

Quentin Crisp is in the party scene, and looks like he already knew that the movie was a stinker.