What it’s about
Fired from his job when his employers learn that he's HIV-positive, corporate lawyer Andrew Beckett (Hanks) hires the only person willing to take on his discrimination case: personal-injury specialist Joe Miller (Washington), a man who harbors his own anti-homosexual prejudice. Will this unlikely pair form a winning team in the courtroom?
Why we love it
The first mainstream film to deal squarely with the issue of AIDS, Demme's groundbreaking “Philadelphia” is a profoundly moving drama that digs into the ethics of how society views (or used to view) gay men. Strong performances — Best Actor winner Hanks as the ailing Beckett, and Washington as a city lawyer who comes to see his client's disease not as a scourge to fear, but as an opportunity for compassion — will leave not a dry eye in your den. Banderas is also effective as Beckett's heartbroken lover, Miguel. Visit “Philadelphia.”