Philadelphia (1993)

Starring: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, Mary Steenburgen, Charles Napier, Bradley Whitford, Tracy Walter, and Mr. Kruger from Seinfeld, with a cameo from Julius Erving
Grade: A-

Without the opera scene, Philadelphia was a “B+“.

Summary

Andrew “Andy” Beckett (Hanks) and Joe Miller (Washington) are two lawyers. In the opening, Beckett, defending a construction company, beats Joe, who wanted a restraining order on them so the building wouldn’t bother the nearby neighborhood. Unfortunately, it was decided by a judge that Joe’s case didn’t show enough irreparable harm.

Afterwards, Andy goes to the hospital to do some bloodwork and later goes to the office. There, we see how well-liked he is by everyone. Following a “wellness check” phone call to his mother, we see Andy working later that night at the office. Bob (Ron Vawter) interrupts, saying his boss Charles Wheeler (Jason Robarrds) wants to see him. Andy meets with Wheeler and the other partners, as they discuss the upcoming Highline Inc. V. Sander Systems antitrust action. Despite Wheeler sharing a friendship with the C.E.O. of Sander Systems, Andy makes it known he wants to see Highline win because he doesn’t want to see it be destroyed by an overbearing company trying to get away with antitrust and copyright issues. Wheeler then delivers the good news that Andy will help in representing Highline in the case. As Andy happily shakes everyone’s hands, he’s reminded that they have ten days to file because of the statute of limitations. Immediately after, Walter (Robert Ridgely) notes the lesion on Andy’s forehead, but Andy passes it off as a wound from playing racket ball. Eventually, Wheeler gives Andy a hug and instills a lot of confidence in him with their conversation. Sometime after, Andy goes to work and despite the lesions growing at a rapid pace, he finishes the Highline claim and leaves it on his desk for Jamey (Whitford). At this point, he’s called in sick for four days but continues to work out of his house diligently, telling his secretary exactly where the claim is. While at home, he has a friend put foundation on him to cover up his lesions, but it just makes him look like he was on vacation and got a tan. As he talks with his friends, he starts getting shooting pains and heads to the bathroom.

Following this, we go to the hospital where Andy’s boyfriend Miguel (Banderas) sprints over to see how he’s doing. Andy asks his doctor about his bloodwork, but the doctor says he’s waiting on the results. In the meantime, he wants to prep Andy for a colonoscopy. After Miguel argues with the doctor about going through such an uncomfortable procedure without going through all of the other possibilities first, Andy is able to mediate the situation by saying they’ll proceed once the bloodwork results are in and they have a better understanding of what’s going on. As we see Joe Miller in a commercial on the hospital television promoting his legal office, Andy calls his own office because Jamey has been beeping him all morning. Apparently, they can’t find the revisions to the Highline complaint even though Andy left it on his desk. To add to this, the statute of limitations runs out in 75 minutes. Andy has Jamey check his computer, but the file isn’t there! Trying not to panic, Andy leaves the hospital and heads straight to the office.

One month later, Joe and his wife have their first child. Sometime after this, Joe is visited in his office by Andy, a now visibly sick AIDS patient. After admitting to Joe that he has AIDS, he tells a noticeably uncomfortable Joe about how he got fired and is pursuing a potential wrongful termination lawsuit against Wyant, Wheeler and Wheeler’s partners. He’s seeking Joe to be his lawyer (after nine previous lawyers turned him down). It’s revealed that the Highline claim was found at the last minute miraculously, even though he never lost it. Though the case was saved, Wheeler and his partners argued that him losing the claim in the first place proved his negligence. On top of that, Wheeler also accused Andy of having an attitude problem. Andy tells Joe they couldn’t fire him because he has AIDS, so they sabotaged him by “misplacing” the file. However, when combined with the fact that Andy concealed his illness to his employers on top of everything, Joe tells him he doesn’t see a case. Following this, we learn a little bit more about Joe. Soon after he goes to see his doctor to ask about AIDS possibly being contracted through touch, we see him at home with his wife, as they discuss Joe’s problems with gay people in general.

Two weeks later, Joe is seen studying in the same library as Andy is. Andy is given a book by the librarian regarding HIV-related discrimination. As they converse aloud, many people around them look uncomfortable, including the librarian himself. The librarian suggests Andy go to the private research room available, but Andy refuses. Seeing the man getting Andy angry, Joe goes over and drives the dude away while engaging in conversation with Andy. After finding out that Andy is going to try and represent himself after not finding a lawyer to help him, Joe starts to ask questions about Andy’s case. The first question being how he thinks that Walter noticing his lesion led to him being fired for having AIDS since the lesion could’ve been for anything technically. Andy notes that at the previous firm Walter worked at in D.C., a paralegal there named Melissa Benedict showed lesions on and off for two years, and it was common knowledge around the office that these lesions were caused by AIDS, but they didn’t fire her. Andy’s relevant precedent is a Supreme Court case that resulted in the Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, prohibiting “discrimination against otherwise qualified handicapped persons who are able to perform the duties required by their employment”. Subsequent decisions have held that AIDS is protected as a handicap under law. Because of this, Joe decides to take the case.

After giving Wheeler a summons at a 76ers game to show up in court, Wheeler and his partners discuss the next step. As Wheeler demands to know everything about Andy’s hangouts and whatnot, Bob argues for a settlement off the bat but is shut down by Wheeler who is angry that Andy “brought AIDS” into their offices, bathrooms, and even the family picnic. Walter even chimes in saying they should be suing him if anything. As Bob talks about compassion, Wheeler says they fired him over incompetence not because of AIDS. Then, he questions if Bob knew about his illness, with Bob answering with an unconfident “no”. Regardless, the war is on as Andy and Joe look to do the impossible and defeat Wyant, Wheeler, Hellerman, Tetlow, and Brown.

My Thoughts:

Being the first major Hollywood production to talk about both AIDS and homophobia openly, you have to take the good with the bad with a movie like Philadelphia. It’s very well acted and a great legal drama but also very much a product of its time. Considering where we’re at now, some scenes and moments feel dated. For a random casual viewing, some might be put off by its elementary takes on very serious topics. With that being said, I can still watch this film with these thoughts on mind and not have it obstruct my grade. You have to take these sorts of things into account when reviewing an older film like this. At the same time, you can’t let it get a total pass either. It’s a bit of a battle.

Think about the characterization of Joe Miller, played by the always game Denzel Washington. He’s a family man and a solid lawyer, but he’s not a fan of the homosexual lifestyle. He makes it very clear to his wife in a rather aggressive way, with it funnily enough segueing into him holding the door open for someone at the store and donating money to some guy dressed as Santa for a charity. Joe’s personal stance is only intensified when Andy reveals he has contracted AIDs. When Andy and Joe first talk in his office, everything is fine and they happily greet each other, but the mood changes as soon as Andy drops the bomb. Joe’s easygoing demeanor changes. He takes a few steps back from Andy and even looks at his hands worryingly since he just shook hands with him. Mentally, Joe becomes dejected from the conversation before it even begins. It shows on his face as Andy gets situated, and Joe takes a mental note of everything he touches, as we see from the POV shots (an excellent touch I might add. It was a great way to show things from Joe’s perspective). Andy sees a picture of Joe’s daughter and asks about her, and Joe responds as if Andy has a gun to her head. Following this, Joe keeps the conversation focused on business, and it becomes disheartening to see how he responds to Andy’s plight because we know it to be out of character for him, considering how he agreed to handle the case of the client before Andy walked in. Joe didn’t even know that guy and the case seemed preposterous, but he was down to help him win some money without question.

With Andy, a man he’s already come into contact with before and was relatively friendly with, Joe drops everything after the AIDS reveal and shoots most of what Andy says down. Even as Andy heads out the door, Joe, trying to save face and act somewhat sympathetic, lets out the uncomfortable don’t-know-what-to-say statement with, “I’m sorry what happened to you. It’s a bitch, you know?”. Not only was it funny to see Joe trying to figure out how to end the conversation, but it’s a good example as to how uninformed people reacted to illnesses such as this one. The scene after shows Joe talking to his doctor asking desperately if AIDS can be contracted through touch. Obviously in hindsight, this seems like a waste of a scene because it’s general knowledge in today’s age that something like this would be impossible, but as I mentioned before, this was the general attitude for a lot of uninformed people back in the early 90s. We have to give them a pass here.

Plus, it’s kind of funny to watch now, so there’s that.

A good percentage of this movie’s goal was to remove the negative stereotypes and stigmas that came with topics such as AIDS and the gay community as a whole. Many times, we see it directly with Joe’s arguing in court. There’s one big scene where he implies one of his witnesses is gay with his questioning while shouting at him, and Judge Garnett (Napier) even asks him what his point is. Joe tells him directly that everyone is afraid of the topics he’s bringing up, so he is using the moment to bring it out in the open, so they stop shying away from the main subject. Essentially, that’s exactly what this movie was doing for American audiences at the time. With that being said, the argument seemed somewhat irrelevant because it’s already established that Andy is gay. This is just the beginning of the questionable parts of Philadelphia. Now, I’m no lawyer, but I’ve seen a lot of courtroom films. Is it just me, or does Joe Miller’s case seem rather childish compared to the defense?

When he continuously asks for things to be explained to him like he’s a “six-year-old”, it becomes laughable because it just starts to make him look stupid.

He regularly uses outlandish comparisons for shock value that sort of have a point but still don’t seem strong enough to make a difference. His witnesses fucked him over twice, and the whole Melissa Benedict thing blew up in his face. One of his early witnesses goes back on their key statements that he was “delighted” and “impressed” by Andy’s work on the case he hired him for, changing his statement to Andy’s work being merely “satisfactory”. On the stand, he even glances over at Wheeler’s defense team when Joe questions why he changed his mind. How does Joe not jump on this? He wonders aloud questioning what “powerful force changed his mind” but doesn’t go any further. On top of that, why does the judge see nothing wrong with the witness changing his statement completely? How does the judge see this as acceptable? Why doesn’t Joe scream aloud, “How come when I said that you looked directly at Wheeler? Are you implying they forced you to change your statement?”? You may say this suggestion is ridiculous for a courtroom setting but let me remind you that Joe accused two people of being gay during this trial despite it having almost nothing to do with the case. At least what I’m saying could show that there are forces behind this thing trying to make Andy lose, which is what Andy has been arguing from the beginning.

Honestly, there’s only two things that went right in their case and only one of them was Joe’s doing. The moment I’m speaking of is when Joe shoots down Belinda’s (played by an insufferable Mary Steenburgen) argument of the lesions by showing the court how bad they were on Andy’s bare chest. The other moment was when Andy passes out in the courtroom. You could argue that these two moments were the only legitimate reasons Joe managed to pull this thing off with his relatively weak case. Without it, it’s doubtful the jury would’ve felt for Andy emotionally at all. Speaking of the lesion thing, what the hell was Belinda on about? At that point of the trial, it was already established from Melissa Benedict that the lesions can come and go, so when she shows the jury that they can’t currently see his lesions, why does she act like such a badass? This proves jack shit! Then, she has the audacity to say Joe’s asking for Andy to remove his shirt to show the ACTUAL lesions comparable to the one’s he had at the time of his firing is “unfairly influencing the jury”? She’s the one that brought up the lesion argument in the first place! In my opinion, both lawyers seemed out of their league. The jury comes up with their answer based off a very simple fact that was addressed in the first day of the trial. If it was laid out in writing, before the trial even began, there’s a good chance this group of jurors (or any group of jurors chosen for this case) would’ve come to this conclusion regardless of what Joe and Belinda said.

Wheeler sends what he refers to as a “mediocre” lawyer on his biggest and most expensive case?

Yeah, that’s bullshit. Anyone could’ve seen through that.

I watched Philadelphia right after The Lincoln Lawyer and Primal Fear, and I’ll tell you right now, Mickey Haller, Martin Vail, and even Janet Venable would mop the floor with Joe or Belinda.

Additionally, I don’t understand the bullshit brought up about Andy’s work ethic and performance. Belinda brings it up constantly and so do the partners. Not once is this shown to us in the first act of the film to prove they may have a bit of an argument about Andy. All we see is that he’s hard-working and well-liked. Even the Highline claim that was “lost” was still found, so I can’t say that this one mistake is worthy enough of Andy’s firing because once again, nothing else is shown to the audience to at least tease us to think these guys have more of a defense. Wheeler may fully believe in what he’s saying when he’s on the stand but unless he’s knowingly committing perjury, I have no idea where he’s getting these baseless claims. There’s no other instance that proves Andy was bad at his job. Even in Belinda’s opening statement she passes off these lines as “facts”, but it just came off as her sounding like a lying bitch because we have no reason to believe from the beginning that Andy has done a single fucking thing wrong! Andy is also accused of having a bad attitude on multiple occasions and when he rightfully protests, Walter makes a snide remark about how him arguing this proves his point. Why wouldn’t he defend himself? Everyone’s lying through their fucking teeth! Once again, we see NOTHING beforehand for us to think that Andy has a bad attitude.

Maybe the intention was to make Wheeler, Belinda, and all the partners one-dimensional villains, but this is a clear Oscar-bait film. You think they would be written to be much more than that. It’s hard to say what the intention here was. Going along with this, the one-dimensional villain argument comes into play when Wheeler is first given the news of Andy suing them. His reaction seemed like we were in a TV movie because of how corny it was acted out. He gets all angry saying, “Andy brought AIDS into our offices…” (amongst other places), but when Bob tries to tell him to have compassion, he randomly switches and says that Andy was fired for incompetence not because he has AIDS. What? Which one is it? Your entire argument in this scene was that you have a vendetta against the man because he was at work with AIDS. This was a major inconsistency and one we never got an answer for. If anything, it gave us sympathy for the bad guys because he admitted in private that this wasn’t the reason that they fired Andy…or was it? I got no clue.

We don’t even find out who lost the Highline claim or who deleted the file from his computer. By the way, there’s another great argument for sabotaging that Joe never uses. Clearly, there was someone involved because why the fuck would Joe delete the file from his own computer to put his own job at stake? Yeah, that makes a lot of fucking sense! Why didn’t Joe think to bring this up? It would’ve helped immensely with his case. Even so, this fact was never brought up again, and we never get a payoff to it.

Tom Hanks was an excellent choice for the lead role. In an interview for The Celluloid Closet, Hanks talks about how he was chosen because of his nonintimidating screen persona, and it’s hard to argue with that. Hanks always seems like a wholesome dude in a majority of the roles he plays. In order to make American audiences empathize with a gay character for a mainstream film, you have to admit Hanks was a great choice to open that door. Even in this film, he’s such a likable, kind-hearted soul. He tries to stay positive in every situation and is the exact opposite of his hothead boyfriend Miguel, played by Antonio Banderas. I loved the scene at the hospital when the doctor says they’ll have to prep him for a colonoscopy. There’s a significant pause, but Andy responds right after with a smile (knowing that this is going to suck) saying, “Sounds delightful”. It was really funny but also shows you who Andy is as a person. He’s a warm presence to be around, a genuinely positive guy, and works hard trying to avoid being flustered, even when the situation may call for it. He even plays mediator for Miguel and the doctor as they argue over his sickness, and when he’s told about the missing Highline claim initially, we see him say calmly to himself, “Every problem has a solution”. Andy is intelligent, thoughtful, incredibly nice, and reasonable to everyone he’s in contact with. If they wanted people to empathize with a gay character back then (when this sort of thing wasn’t the norm), then not only did they make a well-written character, but they picked the perfect actor to bring him to life. It sets us help very well for what’s to come.

Seeing the world turn on him after his illness becomes public is about as unfair as it gets, giving life to the statement from the additions to the Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding AIDS and the “social death” that “precedes the actual physical one”.

There was a missed opportunity with Andy’s family though. When he delivers the news about the trial to everyone, they’re all strangely okay with it. I don’t think this is realistic, especially for the time period. It would make sense for at least one family member to not be okay with Andy’s lifestyle. It would add some internal depth to Andy’s family but also add some much-needed realism and layers to the story. At times, it felt like they were trying too hard to make us feel for our main character by making everything right with him and everything bad with everyone else. It’s a little one-sided and comes off as a bit melodramatic at times as well, as they try and pull at the heart strings a lot in the third act so much that it comes off as ineffective. We already felt for Andy in the first half. We needed some drama or something more added to these one-note personalities surrounding Andy and Joe. Things still would’ve worked out if he had a family member that didn’t like him because with the trial and subsequent hospital visit, it could’ve been enough for the family member to apologize and realize he was wrong. Honestly, the message they were trying to push to the masses would translate even better if it was taken in this direction because it would show mainstream America how wrong they are about the disease.

As up and down as Philadelphia can be, the scene in which Andy emotionally translates the opera song playing, as Joe watches him break down, is not only the best scene in the movie but easily one of the most memorable of the 1990s as a whole. I can only tolerate opera music if it’s used in the right situations, and this was exactly that. Seeing Andy fall apart for the first time in the film is heartbreaking. Physically, it’s been happening for a while, but this is where it starts to hurt emotionally and mentally, and we don’t think about him possibly dying before the trial is over until he mentions it. Everything comes to a fever pitch in this very scene, and I sat there in full silence, hypnotized by the view, looking down on Andy as he explains this woman’s plight in the song. He’s hurting on the inside, but he refuses to let it out. It just comes out physically as he translates the pain of each lyric. Joe’s speechless response is very telling too. Though he’s still trying to do his job, he’s very much affected by Andy. The fire flickering on his face as he tries not to react, the dark red filters on Andy as he tries to hold on for dear life, it feels as we are watching a play unfold on stage. It’s incredibly enthralling to see in context and absolutely unforgettable.

Philadelphia tries way too hard to make you cry and fails because it’s that noticeable. If you’re interested in the courtroom stuff, it feels a little too dumbed down as well. Even then, it still did a lot right. It successfully pulled off the goal of taking down the negative stereotypes of its controversial topics, was very well-acted, and even with its one-dimensional supporting characters, it gave us enough for us to want to root for our heroes to pull this one off. Tom Hanks was fantastic too. Andy Beckett, like most of Tom Hanks’s characters, is incredibly likable and is able to keep us invested in the narrative from the start to the teary-eyed finish. It may not hold up entirely, but there’s no way you won’t be entertained. Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington make a great team and together, they helped make a very good movie.

Fun Fact: Daniel Day-Lewis turned down the lead role of Andrew Beckett. Bill Murray and Robin Williams were both considered for the role of Joe Miller. Honestly though, they both would’ve been solid choices for Andy, especially Williams. John Leguizamo was offered the role of Miguel but turned it down in favor of Super Mario Bros.

Man, he fucked up.