Philadelphia (1993)

When a man with HIV is fired by his law firm because of his condition, he hires a homophobic small time lawyer as the only willing advocate for a wrongful dismissal suit.

Director:

Jonathan Demme

Writer:

Ron Nyswaner

Stars:

Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Roberta Maxwell

Won 2 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 22 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tom Hanks	...	Andrew Beckett
Denzel Washington	...	Joe Miller
Roberta Maxwell	...	Judge Tate
Buzz Kilman	...	Crutches
Karen Finley	...	Dr. Gillman
Daniel Chapman	...	Clinic Storyteller
Mark Sorensen Jr.	...	Clinic Patient
Jeffrey Williamson	...	Tyrone
Charles Glenn	...	Kenneth Killcoyne
Ron Vawter	...	Bob Seidman
Anna Deavere Smith	...	Anthea Burton
Stephanie Roth Haberle	...	Rachel Smilow (as Stephanie Roth)
Lisa Talerico	...	Shelby
Joanne Woodward	...	Sarah Beckett
Jason Robards	...	Charles Wheeler

Storyline

Fearing it would compromise his career, lawyer Andrew Beckett hides his homosexuality and HIV status at a powerful Philadelphia law firm. But his secret is exposed when a colleague spots the illness's telltale lesions. Fired shortly afterwards, Beckett resolves to sue for discrimination, teaming up with Joe Miller (Denzel Washington), the only lawyer willing to help. In court, they face one of his ex-employers top litigators, Belinda Conine.

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Plot Keywords:

aids | city name in title | listening to opera | lawyer | gay | 

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Taglines:

No one would take on his case... until one man was willing to take on the system.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some graphic language and thematic material

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

14 January 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

At Risk

Filming Locations:

City Hall - Broad and 15th Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$26,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$143,433, 26 December 1993, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$77,324,422

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$206,678,440, 31 December 1994

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures, Clinica Estetico

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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.

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Goofs

When Joe Miller walks out of the pharmacy, after his altercation with the gay man, he walks past the cashier without paying for his items.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Andrew Beckett: [making their cases before the judge in her office] This 'pestilent dust' that council refers to has appeared on only three occasions. Each time it was tested and the results: limestone. It's messy, but innocuous.
Joe Miller: [leans in toward Andrew] Innocuous?
Andrew Beckett: Defined by Webster's as 'harmless.'
Joe Miller: I know what it means. May I?
[takes the packet of dust]
Joe Miller: Thank you. Your honor
[takes a whiff of the dust]
Joe Miller: , imagine how the children in this neighborhood are being made to feel: the constant pounding o-of...
[...]

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Crazy 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."

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Alternate Versions

The cable and network television versions of Philadelphia edit out portions of the pharmacy scene where a gay University of Pennsylvania law student attempts to pick up Joe Miller. These two versions end this scene with the law student responding "Do I?" to Joe Miller's question concerning whether Miller looked gay. In the theatrical, home video and premium channel versions, Joe Miller continues to berate the law student with bigot remarks regarding homosexuals.

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Connections

Referenced in The Little Death (2014)

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Soundtracks

All The Way
Written by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen
Performed by Gary Goetzman

User Reviews

Script Hedged Bets Every Which Way

Others have commented on caricatures and on "heroes versus villains" simplicity of the characters. I generally agree. I should point out, however, that the plaintiff is portrayed as having succumbed to casual sex and professes to have been very naive about the etiology of HIV. As some have noted, the plaintiff's attorney is a homophobe and, Demme and the script make it clear, overcomes that tendency but a bit in the course of the film.

The caricatures to which I should draw attention are the lawyers in this lawyer-laden film. Demme and the script have created a festival of lawyer jokes. The advertisements and literal jokes ["What do you call 1000 lawyers chained to the bottom of the sea?" is an example] MAY have been an attempt to analogize between stigmatized social groups [such as gays] and stigmatized occupational groups. If so, I do not believe the effect was achieved. Instead, the film plays to stereotypes and mythology about law and lawyers.

Take the brief interview in which Denzel Washington's character establishes that a injured man is pushing a lawsuit without merit. Added to Washington's TV ads, the ambulance-chaser stereotype is realized -- but to what end? How does it advance anything to play to slander and innuendo about plaintiffs' attorneys? At best the viewer sees that, confronted with a genuine case, Washington turns it down to get Hanks' character out of his office.

Moreover, the laughable testimony by the law partners virtually handed the plaintiff the case. Why would lawyers tell stories about Navy latrines or expound on the Bible when they knew it would hurt their case?

So, when you hear that this film is sappy and politically correct, please realize that such comments are slightly off center. The film is sophomoric rather than sappy. The humanity of the Hanks character is actually realized deftly, in my viewings of the film. The film IS politically correct -- but the political correctness is in slurring lawyers as a class. It is politically correct to castigate lawyers.

Could have been a much better film with a little thought and care.