This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I highly recommend that anyone see this HBO movie!! Even if you're not in the health field like myself, anyone who wants to know more about a huge issue that affected industrialized and developing communities alike would benefit from seeing this movie. My life was changed after seeing this movie when I was 15 and it has continued to guide the future of my life. "And the Band Played On" vibrantly illustrated the original outbreak of HIV and AIDS across the world, with an A-list cast and great storyline depiction of a true historical event that significantly affected the world in the 1980s. It very accurately depicts the timeline and development of a disease of unknown origin that ended up in epidemic proportions, and showed it well from a scientific, sociopolitical, and epidemiologic point of view. It will continue to be one of my favorite movies that always provides the necessary inspiration for my career and life. Definitely recommend to watch!

And the Band Played On, essentially a drama documentary about the battle against one of greatest destructive forces man kind has ever faced and based on the book of the same name. Criminally, this film was all but overlooked in the UK on the time of its release, which was a complete travesty. Unfortunately it came out in the same year as the Tom Hanks vehicle, Philadelphia, which overshadowed any other film on the same subject, but arguably this film is also not only more important, but I would suggest more informative and ultimately more tragic and far more moving than the sentimental yet worthy Hanks/Washington effort.At the time with its chronological depiction of the unfolding of the AIDS crisis in America in the early 1980s this film received Luke warm reviews and a limited cinema release in the UK in 1993, but following the death of my cousin in 1991, I was keen to see it, and made the effort. When I came out of the cinema I was numb, angry and given a thirst for knowledge on the film. I immediately purchased the book by Randy Shilts, which told the story on a far wider perspective and from many more angles. One of those that were dropped were the perspectives of the Gay men from New York who made up its then social elite and enjoyed their summers on Fire Island. However, one can see that with the films limited budget and running time decisions had to be made to determine what were the right choices to take from the book, that would work effectively and distill into a manageable story. Fortunately all the choices made here, were the right ones. The story switches successfully between the small group of Doctors at the CDC working to combat the virus from day one in appalling conditions with little or no help from an uncaring Reagen era Adminstration who showed disgusting indifference at the events that were unfolding before them - and the group of Gay Activists that began to form in San Francisco who were having their own troubles convincing the gay community to unite under one banner against a disease that no one wanted to admit might be advancing rapidly in their own community through promiscuity. These difficult and complex subjects are well complimented by stock news footage of the time and the superb leading cast, all excellent, without exception are backed by all manner of big names in key supporting roles. (A worthy commitment from all those involved who did the film for basic scale pay) Director, Spottiswoode handles very moving scenes with great care and has the camera linger at all the right moments. Special mention must go to Lawrence Moonsoon, who deftly handles a dying mans confused re-collection of how his lover and friends died, to Swoozie Kurtz in the scene where her and her husband discover by accident she has been exposed to the virus through a blood transfusion. Ian McKellen is brilliant as gay activist Bill Krause, who tries to convince his own community to act before they have no community leftMathew Modine anchors the piece nicely as a doctor fighting the bureaucracy and sheer stupidity in a race against time to save lives as more and more Americans drop by the wayside. The subplot involving Doctor Gallo (Alan Alda) who tried to sideline the French and claim discovery of the virus gives real insight into the disgusting level of politics that went on even among health professionals during this critical time.This is a movie that every teenager in every school should be made to see, not only for the benefit of their own sexual health, but to honour those like Bobbi Campbell (Played by the brilliant Donal Logue) who stood up to be counted in their battle against the virus. It gives a brilliant overview of what happened back in the 1980s and the film has aged well and still stands up today, making it one of the most important films about the AIDS virus ever made.Prehaps it is time for a bigger budget mini-series which could cover the Eastern Coast perspective of the book, so as to not repeat all the same characters and material.For anyone with the slightest interest in this subject, this film is a must watch but I would go one stage further and say, that it is a film everyone should see in their life time, even if its not going to be the easiest two hours of your life.

American doctors from the under-funded Center for Disease Control scramble to figure out the origin of--and the causes behind--the alarming rate of homosexual male deaths in the early 1980s; as a fatal strain of pneumonia and hepatitis B cases begin appearing, as Reagan-era Washington apparently vetoes the mysterious disease as non-newsworthy, and as the gay community (shown as not one radically adept at helping their own cause) label the early cases as products of the Gay Cancer, the CDC battles with the Blood Industry in coming up with an inexpensive way of filtering out contaminated blood. Adaptation of Randy Shilts' frightening, groundbreaking book was seemingly an impossible undertaking, yet HBO Films and co-producer Aaron Spelling manage to lay all Shilts' information out adroitly and adeptly, with some of the character interaction awkwardly interjected but with most of the principal players doing very well with technical roles. Alan Alda positively revels in the opportunity to play sniveling medical scientist Dr. Robert Gallo, who felt usurped when French scientists initially gained prestige for isolating the virus; as Dr. Mary Guinan, Glenne Headly does some of the best work of her career (while interviewing a sexually promiscuous airline steward, one of the earliest men to fall prey to the disease, Headly is remarkably natural and charming); and Saul Rubinek as Dr. Curran, who initiates the investigation and helps sort out all the jargon, is in masterful form. Some of the high-profile cameos aren't shaped for much satisfaction--they stick out as artifices--such as Richard Gere's bit as a stricken choreographer (it is commendable that Gere is here, yet his movie star aura looms larger than his part). The film isn't compact--it isn't a quick-fix wallow or a time-filler--it is a serious, frustrating, angry movie with no easy answers. And that's as it should be.

This is a movie based upon the late Randy Shilts book AND THE BAND PLAYED ON , a book that I have never read but know has been critically acclaimed and praised for its readability since it is very similar in structure to a detective novel as scientists try to track down and identify a virus that is killing gay men . I also know the book also received some criticism because it was written by a HIV+ homosexual who seemed to have a political axe to grind . If that's the case ( Again I confess to never reading the book ) then all I can say is that this is a very well adapted story Certainly the story works best when the scientists are on the case . If the story about the nationalistic rivalries and plain old fashioned egotism ( A Nobel prize to the first person to identify this illness is a certainty here ) of the scientific community had been the main focus this would have been superb drama but ironically because of a need to make the drama more human we're introduced to far too many characters so that the story soon descends into mawkish melodrama and yes I did notice something of an agenda in here Take the bath house sequences for example where gay men congregate for casual sex and a character points out to Dr Harold Jaffe ( In reality it's being pointed out to a mainstream audience ) about how a hetrosexual equivalent would be somewhere a man would be able to meet lots of beautiful women for meaningless but great sex . This equivalent doesn't actually exist in reality though and we a mainstream audience are being asked to sympathise with homosexual promiscuity . In many ways it's a form of emotional blackmail , if we can't empathise with this lifestyle that marks us down as " homophobic " when homophobia doesn't come into it - Promiscuity is the problem here . Later the owner of the bath house Eddie Papasano speaks about how he's not going to shut his premises down because he'll lose money . Oh boy you can see where this is heading , greed is good for the pocket and bad for people who choose to have sex with complete strangers . Are we to take it the greed of Eddie Papasano and the people who use his bath house are comparable to the blood bank executives who scared of losing their profits don't screen blood donations for HIV+ Of course not , but this TVM makes out anyone wants to make money in whatever form is a cold hearted villain and anyone committing promiscuity is a hard done by victim . It should be pointed out that Phil Collins is laughable in the role of Papasano Phil Collins isn't the only inapprotiate cameo in this television movie , the whole TVM drowns in them , it's even more distracting than THE LONGEST DAY with big name or familiar face actor appearing in the shortest scenes: Alan Alda , Richard Gere , Anjelica Houston , Steve Martin , Ian Mckellan and Saul Rubinek to name but some all make appearances which seems more like a parade of Hollywood liberals and makes you realise that you're watching a TVM . Like the story the familiar faces should have only been confined to the scientists working on the case rather have appear in pointless cameos AND THE BAND PLAYED ON ends with a poignant epilogue made even more poignant when one of those featured is Elisabeth Glaser who died on December the 3rd 1994 , the day after this TVM received its British network premier