Philadelphia (film)

Philadelphia is an Academy Award-winning 1993 drama film revolving around the HIV/AIDS epidemic, written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme. It stars Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards, Antonio Banderas, Lisa Summerour, Chandra Wilson, and Mary Steenburgen. It was partly inspired by the story of Geoffrey Bowers, an attorney who in 1987 sued the law firm Baker & McKenzie for unfair dismissal in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases.

Plot summary
Twenty-seven year old Andrew Beckett (Hanks) is a University of Pennsylvania graduate who works for the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. Andy is successful, easy-going, secretly gay, and an AIDS patient. Because his boss (Robards) has a strong prejudice against gay people, he hides the truth about his sexuality along with his boyfriend, Miguel (Antonio Banderas) from the members of the firm. Though not a full partner in the firm, his legal performance is exceptional, and he is promoted to the post of Senior Associate (one step beneath full partnership) and he is assigned the most important case the firm has taken on.

His condition has reached the stage when he has developed Kaposi's Sarcoma, a form of cancer marked by multiple tumors on the lymph nodes and skin. He has been using make-up to cover the lesions, but a member of the firm notices one that has appeared on his forehead. On the last day that they can file the papers in the case he has been assigned, he has finished the necessary forms for the case to be submitted. Leaving the paperwork on his desk in plain sight, he informs the clerk about it, instructing him to file them with the court, and he leaves. An hour later, the clerk phones him asking where the papers are — they are not on his desk. Additionally, all of the copies on his computer's hard drive have been erased. His work had been sabotaged and he is promptly fired from the law firm the next day.

Andrew tries to hire a lawyer to take his case and sue the firm for illegal dismissal, lost earnings, and punitive damages, but nobody will take an AIDS patient as a client. One of the attorneys he attempts to hire is Joe Miller (Washington), a family man and injury lawyer against whom he had argued in an earlier case and who is secretly homophobic himself. Ultimately, Andrew is compelled to act as his own attorney. They encounter each other again at the Philadelphia Library where he has been doing research; people in the room are leaving the immediate area when they see him and one librarian attempts to persuade him to move to a private room. Miller is disgusted with the behavior he is witnessing — behavior he was guilty of when earlier discussing the homosexual lifestyle with his wife — and, after going over some of the material Andrew had already prepared, decides to take the case. After Miller gives the firm a summons during a basketball game, they discuss wanting to find out if Beckett is a member of any LGBT rights groups and frequents gay bars.

Both gain great trust and respect for each other as they fight a David v. Goliath case, 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 under fraudulent pretenses as he begins to realize that gay and bisexual people are still human beings with feelings. As the case goes before the court, the partners of the firm take the stand one-by-one, and commit open perjury — smearing Andrew's name, claiming he was incompetent, and deliberately tried to hide his condition and sexual orientation. Andrew had planned to tell his employers about his homosexuality, however, after hearing his coworkers and the firm's head lawyer, Charles Wheeler, tell a homophobic joke in their athletic club's sauna, abandoned the idea.

Andrew has a blackout in court and dies soon after. Andrew does, however, succeed in court and the firm is ordered by the jury to make a large payout, consisting of $140,000 in back pay, $100,000 for pain and suffering and four million dollars in punitive damages.

Trivia

 * Philadelphia refers not merely to the city in which the story takes place. Philadelphia is also known as the "City of Brotherly Love" (from Greek: Φιλαδέλφεια, "brotherly love" from philos "loving" and adelphos "brother"). This in turn refers to two major themes of the movie, namely gay love and love between humankind.
 * The late Quentin Crisp has a cameo appearance in the film when Hanks's and Banderas’s characters throw a gay costume party.
 * An anti-LGBT group protesting against Andrew Beckett outside the courtroom is loosely based on the reactionary Westboro Baptist Church. The WBC pastor Fred Phelps commented Philadelphia as "one of his favorite comedies" since he hates gays, bisexuals, and transgender people, as do most of his family and all of his church congregation.
 * Tom Hanks had to lose almost thirty pounds to appear appropriately gaunt for his courtroom scenes. Denzel Washington, on the other hand, was asked to gain a few pounds for his role.  Washington, to the chagrin of Hanks, who practically starved himself for the role, would often eat chocolate bars in front of him.
 * The following message appears in the end credits: "This motion picture was inspired in part by Geoffrey Bowers’ AIDS discrimination lawsuit, the courage and love of the Angius family and the struggles of the many others who, along with their loved ones, have experienced discrimination because of AIDS."

Awards
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).

This film's protagonist, Andrew Beckett is listed at number 49 on the AFI's list of the Top 100 Heroes and Villains.

Controversy
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 homosexuals. 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, produced by Automat Pictures includes that scene and many of the principals discuss the criticisms leveled at the film. However, a flashback which shows Andrew sitting next to another guy named Robert in a gay pornographic theater known as the Stallion Showcase Cinema is the one he claimed to have had a sexual encounter with as he revealed it in court.