Philadelphia is a 1993 American drama film and one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS, homosexuality, and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner, directed by Jonathan Demme and stars Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.
Hanks won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Andrew Beckett in the film, while the song "Streets of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. Nyswaner was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, but lost to Jane Campion for The Piano.
Plot[]
Andrew "Andy" Beckett is a senior associate at the largest corporate law firm in Philadelphia. He hides his homosexuality and his status as an AIDS patient from the other members of the firm. A partner in the firm notices a lesion on Andy's forehead. Although Andy attributes the lesion to a racquetball injury, it indicates Kaposi's sarcoma, an AIDS-defining condition.
Shortly thereafter, Andy stays home from work for several days to try to find a way to hide his lesions. While at home, he finishes the paperwork for a case he has been assigned and then brings it to his office, leaving instructions for his assistants to file the paperwork the following day, which marks the end of the statute of limitations for the case. Later that morning, he receives a call asking for the paperwork, as the paper copy cannot be found and there are no copies on the computer's hard drive. The paperwork is finally discovered in an alternate location and is filed with the court at the last possible moment. The following day, Andy is dismissed by the firm's partners.
Andy believes that someone deliberately hid his paperwork to give the firm an excuse to fire him, and that the dismissal is actually as a result of his diagnosis with AIDS. He asks several attorneys to take his case, including African-American personal injury lawyer Joe Miller. The homophobic Joe appears to be worried that he could contract Andy's illness. After declining to take the case, Joe immediately visits his doctor to find out if he could have contracted the disease. The doctor explains that the routes of HIV infection do not include casual contact.
Unable to find a lawyer willing to represent him, Andy is compelled to act as his own attorney. While researching a case at a law library, Joe sees Andy at a nearby table. A librarian approaches Andy and announces that he has found a book on AIDS discrimination for him. As others in the library begin to first stare uneasily, the librarian suggests Andy to go to a private room. Feeling discouraged by the other people's behavior and seeing the parallels in how he himself has faced discrimination due to his race, Joe approaches Andy, reviews the material he has gathered, and takes the case.
As the case goes before the court, the partners of the firm take the stand, each claiming that Andy was incompetent and that he had deliberately tried to hide his condition. The defense repeatedly suggests that Andy brought AIDS upon himself by having gay sex, and is therefore not a victim. In the course of testimony, it is revealed that the partner who had noticed Andy's lesion, Walter Kenton, had previously worked with a woman who had contracted AIDS after a blood transfusion and so should have recognized the lesion as relating to AIDS. According to Walter, the woman was an innocent victim, unlike Andy, and further testified that he did not recognize Andy's lesions. To prove that the lesions would have been visible, Joe asks Andy to unbutton his shirt while on the witness stand, revealing that his lesions are indeed visible and recognizable as such.
Andy eventually collapses during the trial and is hospitalized. After this, another partner, Bob Seidman, who noticed Andy's lesions confesses that he suspected Andy had AIDS but never told anyone and never gave him the opportunity to explain himself, which he regretted very much. During his hospitalization, the jury votes in Andy's favor, awarding him back pay, damages for pain and suffering and punitive damages, totaling over $5 million. Joe visits the visibly failing Andy in the hospital after the verdict and overcomes his fear enough to touch Andy's face. After the family leaves the room, Andy tells his partner Miguel that he is ready. At the Miller home, Joe and his wife are awakened by a phone call from Miguel, who tells them that Andy has passed away. A memorial is held at Andy's home following the funeral, where many mourners, including Joe, view home movies of Andy as a happy child.
Cast[]
- Tom Hanks as Andrew Beckett
- Denzel Washington as Joe Miller
- Jason Robards as Charles Wheeler
- Mary Steenburgen as Belinda Conine
- Antonio Banderas as Miguel Álvarez
- Joanne Woodward as Sarah Beckett
- Robert W. Castle as Bud Beckett
- Ann Dowd as Jill Beckett
- Charles Napier as Judge Lucas Garnett
- Roberta Maxwell as Judge Tate
- Daniel von Bargen as Jury Foreman
- Karen Finley as Dr. Gillman
- Robert Ridgely as Walter Kenton
- Bradley Whitford as Jamey Collins
- Ron Vawter as Bob Seidman
- Anna Deavere Smith as Anthea Burton
Release[]
The film was the first Hollywood big-budget, big-star film to tackle the issue of AIDS in the U.S. (following the TV movie And the Band Played On) and signaled a shift in Hollywood films toward more realistic depictions of people in the LGBT community. According to a Tom Hanks interview for the 1995 documentary The Celluloid Closet, scenes showing more affection between him and Banderas were cut, including one with him and Banderas in bed together. The DVD edition, produced by Automat Pictures, includes this scene.[8]
The screenplay was also republished in a novelization by writer Christopher Davis in 1994.[9]
Box office[]
Philadelphia was originally released on December 22, 1993, in a limited opening of only 4 theaters, and had a weekend gross of $143,433 with an average of $35,858 per theater. The film expanded its release on January 14, 1994, to 1,245 theaters and opened at #1, grossing $13,817,010 over the 4-day Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, averaging $11,098 per theater. The film stayed at #1 the following weekend, earning another $8,830,605.
In its 14th weekend, the weekend after the Oscars, the film expanded to 888 theaters, and saw its gross increase by 70 percent, making $1,941,168 and jumping from #15 the previous weekend (when it made $1,141,408 from 673 theaters), to returning to the top 10 ranking at #8 that weekend.
Philadelphia eventually grossed $77,446,440 in North America and $129,232,000 overseas for a total of $206,678,440 worldwide against a budget of only $26 million, making it a huge box office success, and becoming the 12th highest grossing film in the US of 1993.[3]
Critical response[]
Philadelphia earned mostly positive reviews from critics, with Hanks and Washington receiving wide praise for their performances, and garnering a 78% approval rating at online movie critic site Rotten Tomatoes, based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10.[10] In a contemporary review for the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars and said that it is "quite a good film, on its own terms. And for moviegoers with an antipathy to AIDS but an enthusiasm for stars like Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, it may help to broaden understanding of the disease. It's a ground-breaker like Guess Who's Coming to Dinner(1967), the first major film about an interracial romance; it uses the chemistry of popular stars in a reliable genre to sidestep what looks like controversy."[11]
Christopher Matthews from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote "Jonathan Demme’s long-awaited Philadelphia is so expertly acted, well-meaning and gutsy that you find yourself constantly pulling for it to be the definitive AIDS movie."[12] James Berardinelli from ReelViews wrote "The story is timely and powerful, and the performances of Hanks and Washington assure that the characters will not immediately vanish into obscurity."[12] Rita Kempley from The Washington Post wrote "It’s less like a film by Demme than the best of Frank Capra. It is not just canny, corny and blatantly patriotic, but compassionate, compelling and emotionally devastating."[12]
Home media[]
Philadelphia was released on VHS and DVD on September 10 1997.[13] Philadelphia was later released on Blu-Ray on May 14 2013.[13] To celebrate Philadelphia's 25th anniversary, the film was released on 4K UHD Blu-Ray on November 27 2018.[14]
Accolades[]
| Award | Category | Subject | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Academy Awards | Best Actor | Tom Hanks | Won |
| Best Makeup | Carl Fullerton and Alan D'Angerio | Nominated | |
| Best Original Song | Neil Young ("Philadelphia") |
Nominated | |
| Bruce Springsteen ("Streets of Philadelphia") |
Won | ||
| Best Original Screenplay[15] | Ron Nyswaner | Nominated | |
| ASCAP Awards | Top Box Office Films | Howard Shore | Won |
| Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures | Bruce Springsteen ("Streets of Philadelphia") |
Won | |
| BAFTA Award | Best Original Screenplay | Ron Nyswaner | Nominated |
| Berlin International Film Festival | Golden Berlin Bear | Jonathan Demme | Nominated |
| Silver Berlin Bear for Best Actor[16] | Tom Hanks | Won | |
| Casting Society of America | Artios for Best Casting for Feature Film, Drama | Howard Feuer | Nominated |
| Chicago Film Critics AssociationAward | Best Director | Jonathan Demme | Nominated |
| Best Actor | Tom Hanks | Nominated | |
| Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics AssociationAward | Best Actor | 3rd place | |
| GLAAD Media Award | Outstanding Film – Wide Release | Jonathan Demme | Won |
| Edward Saxon | Won | ||
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama | Tom Hanks | Won |
| Best Screenplay | Ron Nyswaner | Nominated | |
| Best Original Song | Bruce Springsteen ("Streets of Philadelphia") |
Won | |
| Golden Screen, Germany | TriStar Pictures | Won | |
| Grammy Award | Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television |
Bruce Springsteen ("Streets of Philadelphia") |
Won |
| MTV Movie Awards | Best Movie | Jonathan Demme | Nominated |
| Edward Saxon | Nominated | ||
| Best Male Performance | Tom Hanks | Won | |
| Best On-Screen Duo | Nominated | ||
| Denzel Washington | Nominated | ||
| Best Song from a Movie | Bruce Springsteen ("Streets of Philadelphia") |
Nominated | |
| National Board of ReviewAward | Top Ten Films | Won | |
| Writers Guild of America Award | Best Original Screenplay | Ron Nyswaner | Nominated |
This film's protagonist, Andrew Beckett, is listed at #49 among the heroes on the AFI's list of the Top 100 Heroes and Villains.
The film was ranked #20 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers.
Soundtrack[]
A soundtrack album was released in 1993 containing the main music featured in the film.[citation needed]
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Artist(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Streets of Philadelphia" | Bruce Springsteen | 3:56 |
| 2. | "Lovetown" | Peter Gabriel | 5:29 |
| 3. | "It's in Your Eyes" | Pauletta Washington | 3:46 |
| 4. | "Ibo Lele (Dreams Come True)" | RAM | 4:15 |
| 5. | "Please Send Me Someone to Love" | Sade | 3:44 |
| 6. | "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" | Spin Doctors | 2:41 |
| 7. | "I Don't Wanna Talk About It" | Indigo Girls | 3:41 |
| 8. | "La mamma morta" (From the Opera Andrea Chénier) | Maria Callas | 4:53 |
| 9. | "Philadelphia" | Neil Young | 4:06 |
| 10. | "Precedent" | Howard Shore | 4:03 |
The album was re-released in 2008 in France only as a joint CD and DVD pack with the film itself, with the same track listing (catalogue number 88697 322052 under both Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Sony Classical labels)[citation needed] The director deliberately asked Bruce Springsteen to make the main song for this film in an effort to try to get more people who don’t know much about AIDS to be more comfortable with viewing the film, and to raise awareness overall.[12] However, Springsteen's first contribution, "Tunnel of Love", was rejected by Demme.
Certifications[]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium (BEA)[17] | Platinum | 50,000* |
| Canada (Music Canada)[18] | 3× Platinum | 300,000^ |
| France (SNEP)[19] | 2× Gold | 200,000* |
| Germany (BVMI)[20] | Gold | 250,000^ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[citation needed] | Platinum | 100,000^ |
| Switzerland (IFPISwitzerland)[21] | Platinum | 50,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[22] | Gold | 100,000^ |
| United States (RIAA)[23] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
| *sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone | ||
References[]
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- ^ Philadelphia. Dir. Jonathan Demme. Perf. Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington. TriStar Pictures, 1993.
- ^ Emmanuel S. Nelson, Encyclopedia of Contemporary LGBTQ Literature of the United States. Greenwood Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-313-34859-4. p. 169-171.
- ^ Philadelphia. Rotten Tomatoes. Flixter. Retrieved 14 October 2012.
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- ^ a b c d
- ^ a b
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- ^ Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Philadelphia in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
- ^ If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.