IMDb RATING
7.6/10
6.1K
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The emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic is chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s.The emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic is chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s.The emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic is chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 6 wins & 6 nominations total
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe title refers to the only way that newspapers at the time would allow a gay man's lover to be listed in an obituary.
- GoofsIn the second act, dated April 1982, Howard and Paul are discussing how Howard will play one of the first gay characters in a daytime soap opera. Howard says it's fine for an actor like William Hurt to play a gay character but not him. He is obviously referring to Hurt's role in Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which Hurt won an Academy Award for Best Actor. But that film came out in 1985, three years after the time in which this scene is set.
Featured review
...touchingly real...
As far as I know, Longtime Companion, released in 1990, is the first American motion picture to deal head on with AIDS (whereas Philadelphia (1993), staring Tom Hanks, receives the honor of the first STUDIO film about AIDS). Made on an obviously minuscule budget, this film nevertheless captures an honesty about AIDS and its effects through touchingly real vignettes of a the lives of a group of friends. Some of these mini-stories fall a bit flat, and the film's politics at times seems overly optimistic -- we're supposed to believe that on a TV soap opera a full and deep man-on-man kiss would have happened in 1984.
The unfettered filmmaking and straightforward acting (especially by the subsequently Oscar nominated Bruce Davison), however, keep both the story and the audience grounded -- there are several scenes that seemed so very real that my heart truly ached for these characters. In today's age of expanded understanding of the homosexual heart (that it is, in fact, in no way different from any other heart), the Longtime of Longtime Companion may not seem too terribly extraordinary; within the context of American cinema, however, I have a feeling that history will see this film for the landmark it truly is.
The unfettered filmmaking and straightforward acting (especially by the subsequently Oscar nominated Bruce Davison), however, keep both the story and the audience grounded -- there are several scenes that seemed so very real that my heart truly ached for these characters. In today's age of expanded understanding of the homosexual heart (that it is, in fact, in no way different from any other heart), the Longtime of Longtime Companion may not seem too terribly extraordinary; within the context of American cinema, however, I have a feeling that history will see this film for the landmark it truly is.
helpful•125
- ToooNman
- Nov 2, 1998
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $3,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,609,953
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $50,525
- May 13, 1990
- Gross worldwide
- $4,609,953
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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