And the Band Played On ««««
PG-13, 141m. 1993
Cast & Credits: Matthew Modine (Dr. Don Francis), Saul Rubinek (Dr. Jim Curran), Lily Tomlin (Dr. Selma Dritz), Glenne Headley (Dr. Mary Guinan), Charles Martin Smith (Dr. Harold Jaffe), Alan Alda (Dr. Bob Gallo). Teleplay by Arnold Schlman based on the book by Randy Shilts. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
The young man, his face covered with lesions brought on by Kaposi’s Sarcoma, plays with a Rubik’s Cube as he discusses his sexual lifestyle with two baffled scientists from the Centers for Disease Control.
The doctors can come up with no reasonable explanation why this once vibrant man in his early 20s is now suddenly dying. As he toys with his Rubik’s Cube, the patient asks, “Why do they make things like this nobody can solve?”
The scene is one of a few tragic ironies in the film, “And the Band Played On”, offers in reference to the early years of the AIDS virus. The HBO made-for-cable movie is based on the 1987 bestseller by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts who died of AIDS in February 1993.
Shilts’ book was an engrossing and epic chronicle of how the disease began and how it eventually spun out of control. Detailed stories were covered on hundreds of people from then President Ronald Reagan’s administration and government agencies to the straight press, who at first wouldn’t take the risk of running many stories about AIDS until the virus struck one of Hollywood’s own, Rock Hudson, in 1984. The book was also filled with personal and often sad accounts of people coming down with the disease and how their dilemma affected others.
“And the Band Played On” does not just center on the ignorant, stubborn bureaucracy Dr. Don Francis (Matthew Modine) and gay activist Bill Kraus (Ian McKellen) encounter in their attempts to warn city officials and the public in San Francisco about the virus. Like the book, the film is told through the eyes of numerous people from CDC officials and doctors to victims of the disease.
The movie falls into the same category as other controversial movies like “JFK” (1991) and “Philadelphia” (1993) that portrayed their main character’s oppositions as the villains. In “JFK”, director Oliver Stone wanted audiences to think the government, among others, carried out the Kennedy assassination. By comparison, audiences loathed the executives of a prestigious law firm for firing Tom Hanks’ successful AIDS stricken lawyer in “Philadelphia.”
Like those two movies, “And the Band Played On” displays a sordid cast of villains as the sole causes of AIDS from hospital administrators who refuse to scan blood donors who may have HIV to Dr. Bob Gallo (Alan Alda); an egomaniacal retrovirologist who wrongfully takes credit for the supposed host French scientists discover that causes the virus.
CDC officials are depicted as nothing more than “company men” who won’t write proposals asking for more funding because the government says AIDS is only a gay disease. In an early scene, Dr. Jim Curran (Saul Rubinek) crosses out the word homosexual in a report before submitting it to the Reagan Administration.
“We’ve got a new administration coming in. Do you want to see this published, or do you want to see it killed,” Curran tells a fellow doctor.
As the number of people infected with the disease rises, President Reagan delivers speeches on inflation, unemployment, and defense without once mentioning the deadly epidemic until the end of his first term.
The movie features numerous cameos from Steve Martin, Anjelica Huston, Swoosie Kurtz and Genesis singer Phil Collins. The most outstanding cameo performance is from Richard Gere as a gay choreographer; loosely based on A Chorus Line’s late theatrical creator Michael Bennett, who tries to put up a brave front about his illness.
I have heard “Philadelphia” was the first mainstream Hollywood film about AIDS. What made that film controversial was the fact many people in today’s job market are fired either because they have AIDS; they are of some ethnic origin; or are too obese or too sick to do the job. “Philadelphia”, however, was the story about one person afflicted with the disease.
“And the Band Played On” goes a step further. The movie proves it doesn’t matter who or you are. Whether you are an adolescent, black, white, gay, straight, movie star, athlete or a musician, AIDS doesn’t affect just one group of people or one person. It affects everybody.
©3/24/94
Cast & Credits: Matthew Modine (Dr. Don Francis), Saul Rubinek (Dr. Jim Curran), Lily Tomlin (Dr. Selma Dritz), Glenne Headley (Dr. Mary Guinan), Charles Martin Smith (Dr. Harold Jaffe), Alan Alda (Dr. Bob Gallo). Teleplay by Arnold Schlman based on the book by Randy Shilts. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode.
The doctors can come up with no reasonable explanation why this once vibrant man in his early 20s is now suddenly dying. As he toys with his Rubik’s Cube, the patient asks, “Why do they make things like this nobody can solve?”
The scene is one of a few tragic ironies in the film, “And the Band Played On”, offers in reference to the early years of the AIDS virus. The HBO made-for-cable movie is based on the 1987 bestseller by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts who died of AIDS in February 1993.
Shilts’ book was an engrossing and epic chronicle of how the disease began and how it eventually spun out of control. Detailed stories were covered on hundreds of people from then President Ronald Reagan’s administration and government agencies to the straight press, who at first wouldn’t take the risk of running many stories about AIDS until the virus struck one of Hollywood’s own, Rock Hudson, in 1984. The book was also filled with personal and often sad accounts of people coming down with the disease and how their dilemma affected others.
“And the Band Played On” does not just center on the ignorant, stubborn bureaucracy Dr. Don Francis (Matthew Modine) and gay activist Bill Kraus (Ian McKellen) encounter in their attempts to warn city officials and the public in San Francisco about the virus. Like the book, the film is told through the eyes of numerous people from CDC officials and doctors to victims of the disease.
The movie falls into the same category as other controversial movies like “JFK” (1991) and “Philadelphia” (1993) that portrayed their main character’s oppositions as the villains. In “JFK”, director Oliver Stone wanted audiences to think the government, among others, carried out the Kennedy assassination. By comparison, audiences loathed the executives of a prestigious law firm for firing Tom Hanks’ successful AIDS stricken lawyer in “Philadelphia.”
Like those two movies, “And the Band Played On” displays a sordid cast of villains as the sole causes of AIDS from hospital administrators who refuse to scan blood donors who may have HIV to Dr. Bob Gallo (Alan Alda); an egomaniacal retrovirologist who wrongfully takes credit for the supposed host French scientists discover that causes the virus.
CDC officials are depicted as nothing more than “company men” who won’t write proposals asking for more funding because the government says AIDS is only a gay disease. In an early scene, Dr. Jim Curran (Saul Rubinek) crosses out the word homosexual in a report before submitting it to the Reagan Administration.
“We’ve got a new administration coming in. Do you want to see this published, or do you want to see it killed,” Curran tells a fellow doctor.
As the number of people infected with the disease rises, President Reagan delivers speeches on inflation, unemployment, and defense without once mentioning the deadly epidemic until the end of his first term.
The movie features numerous cameos from Steve Martin, Anjelica Huston, Swoosie Kurtz and Genesis singer Phil Collins. The most outstanding cameo performance is from Richard Gere as a gay choreographer; loosely based on A Chorus Line’s late theatrical creator Michael Bennett, who tries to put up a brave front about his illness.
I have heard “Philadelphia” was the first mainstream Hollywood film about AIDS. What made that film controversial was the fact many people in today’s job market are fired either because they have AIDS; they are of some ethnic origin; or are too obese or too sick to do the job. “Philadelphia”, however, was the story about one person afflicted with the disease.
“And the Band Played On” goes a step further. The movie proves it doesn’t matter who or you are. Whether you are an adolescent, black, white, gay, straight, movie star, athlete or a musician, AIDS doesn’t affect just one group of people or one person. It affects everybody.
©3/24/94
