Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Campbell Scott | ... | Willy | |
Patrick Cassidy | ... | Howard | |
John Dossett | ... | Paul | |
Mary-Louise Parker | ... | Lisa | |
Stephen Caffrey | ... | Fuzzy | |
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Tanya Berezin | ... | Office Manager |
Welker White | ... | Rochelle | |
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Michael Piontek | ... | Office Worker |
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Joyce Reehling | ... | Office Worker |
Bruce Davison | ... | David | |
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Mark Lamos | ... | Sean |
Dermot Mulroney | ... | John | |
Michael Schoeffling | ... | Michael | |
Brian Cousins | ... | Bob | |
Marceline Hugot | ... | Soap Opera Reader |
Longtime Companion follows the lives of a small circle of friends from the first mention of the disease in the New York Times in 1981. First referred to as "Gay-Related-Immune-Disorder," we watch the effect of the disease as it devastates the lives of our protagonists. Jumping between Manhattan and Fire Island, vignettes carry us from the it-couldn't-happen-to-me mentality of the early days of the disease to the invasive effect it has had on all of our lives, today. The title of the film comes from the New York Times' refusal to acknowledge homosexual relationships in their obituary section during this period. Instead, survivors were referred to as "Longtime Companions" of the deceased. Written by Mark Fleetwood <mfleetwo@mail.coin.missouri.edu>
A landmark film, not only in that it is the first film to deal with the AIDS crisis, but also in its portrayal of gay men and their friends. Sitting on the cusp between earlier depictions of gays as murderous or suicidal and later caricatures of funny, sexless "best friends", the men shown here are very real and very honest in their decade long struggle with death and illness. I defy you to watch Bruce Davison's heartbreaking farewell speech and not be choked up on some level of emotion. And Mary Louise Parker add a special touche. This movie has arguably the greatest final scene in gay cinema.