longtime companion
bruce davison and mark lamos filming longtime companion at botel in may in 1989 .
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longtime companion (screenplay; adapted from his play), samuel goldwyn, 1990 .
june 4, 1999: hilda mae snoops, schaefer' s longtime companion, dies .
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despite its accolades and prominence in queer cinema, longtime companion has faded into virtual obscurity among younger audiences .
may 1986: with longtime companion hilda mae snoops at his side, schaefer declares his candidacy for governor .
it' s no coincidence that'' longtime companion'' only becomes urgent when it becomes specific and idiosyncratic .
we’d love your help. let us know what’s wrong with this preview of survived by her longtime companion by chris paynter .
rob olver reviews the early aids film longtime companion (1989) and says “i can’t recommend this movie highly enough. ”
he was the longtime companion of david quarles. survivors are his mother, camille scott, and a sister, mary jamison .
“ longtime companion is about friendship and loyalty about finding the courage to be helpful and the humility to be helped. ” — urltoken
editor’s note: longtime companion is still confusingly not available anywhere. we wish our readers luck in finding a copy somewhere out there .
upon the release of the normal heart, we look back at 1990' s longtime companion, one of the earliest cinematic depictions of aids .
featured in bird on a wire / last exit to brooklyn / back to the future part iii / cadillac man / longtime companion (1990). see more »
i drooled over adam “a twink in wolf’s clothing” nathan something rotten when i first watched parting glances, which i saw before both an early frost and longtime companion .
orson welles with longtime friend roger hill. (photo courtesy of todd tarbox) .
the cast members reunited in 1995 in los angeles to be presented with the video industry aids action committee' s' longtime companion' award, honoring aids awareness, education and care .
in her life: she was predeceased by her husband, carroll cole, two sons, warren cole and charles macpherson, a grandson, clayton cole and her longtime companion, leonard sargent .
@ brian jc kneeland: an early frost was a made for tv movie. it was great, but longtime companion was the first film that got a distribution deal to play in movie theaters .
the men in
longtime companion
may seem to belong to a culture far different from what many people are accustomed to, but their tragic circumstances are easily identifiable. much of that connection comes from the overall quality of the movie' s ensemble acting, particularly bruce davison as david, whose devotion to his stricken
longtime companion
sean (mark lamos) is an act of love approaching heroism .
in this fashion,'' longtime companion'' may be more prescient than it knows. this self - absorption is what makes the movie so tough to take, so depressing, not the grim subject matter .
by the new york times the “first mainstream american film about aids, ” the drama longtime companion, which was released in 1990. longtime companion, which was written by playwright craig lucas, both starts and ends at the beach. in the final, iconic scene three of the movie’s protagonists—one of the central couples and their female friend—envision being joined by their friends who were lost to the disease. it’s a moment, scored by the
though'' longtime companion'' is the first theatrical film about aids, it is hardly the first fictional word on the subject. it follows, among other things, larry kramer' s rudely angry play'' the normal heart,'' and television' s'' early frost,'' which, like'' longtime companion,'' is slick fiction but of a far more effective if more sentimental order .
talking about
longtime companion ,
rene said he believes general audiences will find identification with the characters .
the experiences that these people are going through are universal. death is something that happens to ...
the flaws in
longtime companion ,
which opens the laguna beach festival of arts'
windows onto an american landscape
series tonight, have always seemed a little insignificant in light of the movie' s subject .
'' i hope it' s a she - that would be very important to me,'' mr. allen said of the child he and the actress, mia farrow, his longtime companion, are expecting .
“funny, touching and vital, longtime companion is the best american movie so far this year. it is also, astonishingly, the first major feature to detail the gay community’s battle against the aids epidemic. ” — peter travers, rolling stone
one of the particular strengths of
longtime companion
is that it does not identify its characters only through their sexual preferences. it would seem bizarre to watch a movie in which heterosexual men were defined only by the fact that they like to sleep with women - but many films about gays have made the opposite error, and limited their characters as a result .
longtime companion
is about friendship and loyalty about finding the courage to be helpful and the humility to be helped .
heart tugging ending of
longtime companion ,
as the friends imagine the end of aids and seeing friends they' ve lost come running torward them on the beach. the song is zane campbell' s
post - mortem bar .
though it was made when the crisis was still ongoing, longtime companion now doesn’t have the urgency as hbo’s the normal heart, which has the power to galvanize a viewer thanks to kramer’s unrelenting will to fight. but longtime companion accomplishes what it set out to do: show what it’s like when a community of friends is forced to face widespread, persistent death. it’s also an important piece of history, as a movie that was made about aids when no one was making movies about aids .
review: an american playhouse production, longtime companion is one of the few mainstream feature films to deal directly and seriously with the subject of aids and its specific impact on the gay community. as such, its intentions and message are largely unimpeacha… (more )
more than a quarter century later, longtime companion remains both an essential film in the history of the epidemic and an enduring portrait of grief and loss. yet in recent years, longtime companion has fallen into an undeserved obscurity: it’s currently not available on streaming platforms, and the dvd is out of print. so on the 25th anniversary of its release in theaters, we wanted to look back on the film and talk to the cast and crew about their remembrances of making one of the earliest movies about life in the plague years .
though it was made when the crisis was still ongoing, longtime companion now doesn' t have the urgency as hbo' s the normal heart, which has the power to galvanize a viewer thanks to kramer' s unrelenting will to fight. but longtime companion accomplishes what it set out to do: show what it' s like when a community of friends is forced to face widespread, persistent death. it' s also an important piece of history, as a movie that was made about aids when no one was making movies about aids .
anthony jannelli (cinematographer): you would open the new york times every single day and see on the obituary page a story about a young person dying at age 32 or 40, and the very last line would always be the same: survived by his longtime companion .
survivors include his longtime companion, deyanira murillo; sons, victor, luis, benjamin jr murillo; daughter, zorayada galvan, two brothers, two sisters, twelve grandchildren and seventeen great grandchildren. benjamin was preceded in death by two brothers, four sisters and a daughter .
*
longtime companion
screens tonight at 6 and 9 p. m. at the festival forum theatre on the festival of arts grounds, 650 laguna canyon road, laguna beach. tickets: $ 4 and $ 5. information: (714) 494 - 1145 .
its “bronze” awards were for the companion silva vs. sonnen event program and the winter 2012 / 2013 cover of the fashion magazine v .
a movie doesn' t have to mention everything going on in the world to convince the audience of its awareness.'' longtime companion'' appears to be as self - absorbed as its characters. it' s as if the rest of america didn' t exist .
he is survived by his parents, henry d. and katharine n. winslow of cambridge; a brother, henry n. winslow of north weymouth, mass. , and a sister, katharine w. herzog of glastonbury, conn. his longtime companion was harris m. sarney .
director photography (feature films) including longtime companion, 1989, billy bathgate, 1990, silence of the lambs, 1990, new york stories, 1988, (camera operator) house on carroll street, 1986, something wild, 1986, compromising positions, 1985, chud, 1983 .
july 1998: longtime state comptroller louis l. goldstein dies at age 85, shortly before election filing deadline. within days, schaefer enters race .
the auction is to offer most of the art and furnishings from mr. mapplethorpe' s manhattan loft, including the remaining pieces from the collection of sam wagstaff jr. , mr. mapplethorpe' s longtime companion, who died of aids in 1987. mr. mapplethorpe died of aids in march .
businessman and former investment firm ceo, creator of the annual chicago humanities festival, longtime leader of national and state cultural commissions promoting the arts and humanities .
he is survived ,
the obituaries sometimes say ,
by his longtime companion .
the phrase is taken by everybody to mean
lover ,
but newspapers prefer the euphemism, and only in the age of aids have they even finally admitted that homosexuals do not live, or die, alone .
norman rene' s
longtime companion
is a film that begins on the day when an obscure story in the new york times first mentions a disease that seems to be striking homosexual men, and it ends after aids has profoundly affected all of their lives - mostly, but not entirely, for the worse .
wlodkowski: i counted once in my address book — and then i threw it out because it was so depressing — that there were 22 people that i had crossed out who had died. to some extent making [ longtime companion ] was kind of almost healing, a way to address all the pain and all that loss .
most of the time the movie is too general. the young men, all handsome, seem interchangeable. until the advent of aids, life is a series of enchanted evenings. that stranger in the night might be tomorrow' s longtime companion. the movie reflects the characters' own estimate of things, which is limited .
longtime companion concludes with a sequence some may dismiss as too sentimental, a fantasy reunion among the living and the dead. beneath the scene’s obvious wish, though, is a subtler one — a wistful longing for the days when gays were liberated not just from oppression but from fear. longtime companion is both an unsparing chronicle of the aids crisis and an up - to - the - minute portrait of a gay community that has grown rife with terror, compassion, and a palpable yearning to return to a more carefree time. the film says that, as long as there are people who have to live with that kind of fear, it’s everyone’s tragedy .
longtime radio talk - show host, pulitzer prize - winning author, oral historian whose published interviews chronicle 20th - century life in the words of hundreds of ordinary americans .
the biograph is concluding its national gay and lesbian film tour' 91 this weekend. the festival includes short films and features from all over the world, with several programs each day; see film repertory listings for details. the series closes sunday with robert epstein' s and jeffrey friedman' s oscar - winning
common threads
at 7 and norman rene' s
longtime companion
at 9 .
companion' s
bruce davison has been nominated for an academy award for best supporting actor .
“longtime companions” probably served a good purpose in its day but, i prefer zero patience by john greyson. attaching “major hollywood film” to companions doesn’t make it the better story .
if longtime companion was one of the early movies to dramatize aids, it was also the rare film to present gay men as normal, unremarkable people — all of them living, as lucas described it “ rather quotidian middle - class lives. ” that’s why it was perhaps ironic that a lot of the men in the cast were actually straight .
longtime companion is best when depicting mourning and loss. it’s anchored by an oscar - nominated performance by bruce davison, who delivers a heartbreaking monologue to his dying lover. and while the movie does show how the disease was responsible for physically and mentally deteriorating people, it doesn’t come close to showing the full extent of the medical horrors it inflicted .
rene and lucas do let their concern veer to teary sentimentality at several turns in
longtime companion ,
and their anger over society' s neglect smacks of sermonizing. this is, however, a film that is intended to take drama into the arena of awareness, and the rhetorical sway isn' t anything the movie - makers apologize about .
being the first didn’t ensure rave reviews. “‘longtime companion, ’ directed by norman rene from a screenplay by playwright craig lucas, isn’t much more than a moderately competent melodrama, ” dave kehr wrote in the chicago tribune. “yet as the first mainstream fiction film to openly solicit an emotional response to the aids crisis, it fills an important social role. ”
longtime companion directed by norman rené was released to universally positive acclaim. the title itself is a reference to the term that newspapers solely used in that time period to refer to a gay partner in obituaries. many praised the film for its depiction of real issues affecting the gay community, rather than succumbing to typical and saccharine storytelling. review our gay themed films here
longtime companion is best when depicting mourning and loss. it' s anchored by an oscar - nominated performance by bruce davison, who delivers a heartbreaking monologue to his dying lover. and while the movie does show how the disease was responsible for physically and mentally deteriorating people, it doesn' t come close to showing the full extent of the medical horrors it inflicted .
although aids cut a devastating swath in the creative professions throughout the 80’s it is perhaps surprising that, released in 1989, longtime companion was the first wide - release film to relate what life was like in the early years of the aids epidemic in america. it was preceded only by the tv movie, “an early frost” and the excellent but obscure, “parting glances” .
born march 12, 1931 in peoria to walter scott and pearl a. (matthews) davis, she first married edmond schonert in 1950. she later married corbin alexander. she married john alfs on december 31, 1982 in pekin. he died on april 30, 1996. she also was preceded in death by her parents and a longtime companion, ernie wileman .
on this day in 2011, after 16 years on the run from law enforcement, james “whitey” bulger, a violent boston mob boss wanted for 19 murders, is arrested in santa monica, california. the 81 - year - old bulger, one of the fbi’s “ten most wanted” fugitives, was arrested with his longtime companion, 60 - year - old ...
lindsay law (executive producer, longtime companion): “we’d done a [ tv ] movie version of craig’s play blue window, which is how i’d met both of them…. it got some notice, and suddenly they were able to have those kinds of meetings. [ but ] if they brought up a gay storyline, that did indeed shut down the whole conversation. ”
an american playhouse production, longtime companion is one of the few mainstream feature films to deal directly and seriously with the subject of aids and its specific impact on the gay community. as such, its intentions and message are largely unimpeachable. artistically, however, it leaves something to be desired. the film opens on july 3, 1981, the... read more
born march 12, 1931, in peoria to walter scott and pearl a. (matthews) davis. she first married edmond schonert in 1950. she later married corbin alexander. she married john alfs on december 31, 1982, in pekin. he died on april 30, 1996. she also was preceded in death by her parents and a longtime companion, ernie wileman .
this ensemble piece centers on a group of gay men in 1980s new york city whose lives are changed by the puzzling new
gay cancer .
the first film to have aids as its main subject, longtime companion is a powerful mix of historical realism and bittersweet drama. winner of the sundance audience award and numerous supporting actor accolades for bruce davison, including an oscar nomination .
rené’s and lucas’s response to all this overwhelming sadness was to keep stripping away overly dramatic moments. one of the striking things about longtime companion is how funny it actually is, and how often those moments — from fuzzy lip - synching the dreamgirls theme to lisa and willy discovering a glamorous beaded gown in sean’s closet — come immediately before or immediately after some of the film’s darkest scenes .
hired to work on a biography of the late film star, daphne demonet, bailey hampton arrives to conduct an interview with eleanor burnett, daphne’s
longtime companion .
to bailey’s dismay, she learns eleanor has set up a co interview with bailey’s ex - partner, chelsea parker. estranged for eleven months, the two women hide their painful memories and strain to be civil to one
longtime companion
is about aids and the effect the disease has on three gay couples and their constellation of friends. as we watch one after another die during the course of the 1990 film, the cinematic equivocations tend to become secondary. you give the movie some slack because it' s so timely and because you know the story reflects the pain that' s out there .
longtime companion is the story of the effect of aids on a group of friends and lovers over eight years. it opens in 1981 with the characters reading a new york times story announcing the discovery of a rare form of cancer in 41 men in california and new york. ”the cause is unknown, ” the article says, ”and there is as yet no evidence of contagion. ”
longtime companion [ vhs ] [ 1989 ]: bruce davison, stephen caffrey, patrick cassidy, mary - louise parker, campbell scott, dermot mulroney, brian cousins, michael schoeffling, john dossett, michael piontek, joyce reehling, mark lamos, tony c. jannelli, norman rené, katherine wenning, lindsay law, lydia dean pilcher, stan wlodkowski, craig lucas: urltoken video
director norman rene and writer craig lucas - - the same team now getting accolades for their feature
prelude to a kiss
- - do have a narrow point of view, and they' ve been criticized for that. with aids reaching well beyond the gay community, some have said that
longtime companion
is superficial and sacrifices an opportunity to explore the virus' s full consequences .
when a movie goes so wrong, so consistently and with such evident determination, you can bet that the film makers' intentions were high.'' longtime companion'' was written by craig lucas and directed by norman rene, the team responsible for the current broadway hit'' prelude to a kiss.'' though it is their first film, they certainly knew what they were doing .
lucas and rené devised an ending for longtime companion that seemed a direct response to all the death around them. in the final scene, three of the surviving friends, willy, fuzzy, and lisa, are walking on an empty beach. their conversation turns to — what was in 1988, at least — an impossible future. “i just want to be there. if they ever do find a cure, ” willy says .
chris paynter is the author of eight novels, including
survived by her longtime companion ,
the winner of the 2013 golden crown literary society ann bannon popular choice award and finalist for the 2013 lambda literary award in lesbian romance. her latest release is
more than a song ,
a romance set in small - town georgia. she has been a three - time gcls finalist for the ann bannon award. she was a
the film both places the disease in an historical and sociological context and depicts complex and meaningful relationships between and among the characters. one of the most poignant expressions of love and loss on celluloid is the gentle, selfless care given by david (bruce davison) to his dying partner, sean (mark lamos). or to use the most common euphemism found in the many obituaries of the time, his
longtime companion .
q: in your chapter on muriel spark (author of
the prime of miss jean brodie
and other novels), with whom you had a long friendship, there' s a sort of mystery about whether she and her longtime female companion were lovers or not. spark denied it, and yet it seems they shared a bed. you were fairly satisfied in your own mind that they probably were lovers, but that either way —
longtime companion ,
which will initially play in 19 major cities around the u. s. , then expand if audience reaction warrants, will eventually air on
american playhouse
sometime next season. on monday, it will screen at the cannes film festival as part of the
un certain regard
section, a non - competetive series that features new filmmakers. and lucas and rene are there, of course, and probably pacing .
for several months after longtime companion was finished in october 1989, distributors apparently had a similar concern. the same studios that did not want to make the film also did not want to distribute it. ”just about everyone said they liked it, ” wlodkowski recalls. ”and that although they couldn’t take it, we’d have no problem getting a distributor. of course, if they all had said that, the movie never would have been seen. ”
law: i do remember the new york times making the note that the visual media was completely ignoring this terrible event that was going on across america. it’s not like today, when you watch television, and whatever’s on our minds is repeated on every sitcom. i thought, “well, we’re one of the few organizations who can decide, ‘hey we should do this. ‘” so i commissioned two different pieces, one of which was longtime companion .
law: i do remember the new york times making the note that the visual media was completely ignoring this terrible event that was going on across america. it’s not like today, when you watch television, and whatever’s on our minds is repeated on every sitcom. i thought, “well, we’re one of the few organizations who can decide, ‘hey we should do this. ’” so i commissioned two different pieces, one of which was longtime companion .
the publication of altman’s article was a turning point in awareness for many gay men. it served that role dramatically in the movie “ longtime companion ” and in larry kramer’s play, “ the normal heart. ” as the play opens, dr. emma brookner recounts to the protagonist, ned weeks, how inattentive the press had been. “last week, which brought you running, the times ran something on some inside page. very inside: page 20. ”
now the smiles are thawing. thanks to the collective social conscience of a dedicated cast and crew, and to the commitment of some movie industry mavericks, longtime companion, lucas’ first screenplay and the first major feature film about gay men and aids, opened last week to admiring reviews. although it remains to be seen how the movie will fare against the summer’s blockbusters, the story of the odds it overcame to be a contender should at least sweeten its appeal .
longtime companion drew strongly favorable reviews. rolling stone contributor peter travers proclaimed it a
vital
work, and david ansen, writing in newsweek, deemed it
remarkable .
kevin thomas, in a los angeles times review, described it as
an illuminating, deeply moving experience .
for lucas, who had explained to jan hoffman in village voice that he longed to render homosexuals as
like everyone else ,
the film constituted a considerable success .
“he said he had never seen a black journalist, and the only stories he had read (about black people) in the tuscaloosa news were for a white person needing a black person to clean their house or something that was negative, ” recalled ann ragland, curry’s longtime companion. “he was determined that he was going to write something more positive for black people. he wanted the generation that followed him to know that there are black journalists out there. ”
the team waited months to hear some news. just before it was to screen at the sundance film festival in january 1990, longtime companion finally got some interest from the samuel goldwyn company, which was run by future sony pictures chairman tom rothman. at the time, rothman was quoted as saying the movie would be a “harder sell than shakespeare, ” but “ whatever happens, i can say right now that i’m glad we were willing to take that chance. ”
possibly because it is the first mainstream american film about aids,'' longtime companion'' is a lot gentler and even more upbeat than it need be. it is instructional, mannerly and, with the exception of a couple of scenes and performances, insipid. it' s as if it didn' t want to offend people who don' t want to think about the plague (but who probably won' t go to see the movie anyway) .
craig lucas (screenwriter, longtime companion): i was invited by a number of film producers to meet about possible projects. they all said more or less the same thing: “what would you like to write about? ” i would say, “something about the community out on fire island as it was hit by the aids epidemic. ” and they would always respond with something like, “oh wow, great. but after that, what would you like to write? ”
while there are parts of each work that resemble one another—including, unfortunately, the lack of attention paid to minorities—longtime companion never bristles with the same anger that define kramer’s writing and activism. though protest and the gay men’s health crisis both work their way into the film by its end, it focuses less on mobilization and more on how the crisis affected the interpersonal relationships of gay men in the era. it begins with the characters reading and reacting to the new york times’ famous 1981 report
but the filmmakers don' t deserve that knock; they made the kind of story they wanted to. besides, by focusing on the impact on homosexuals, the group hardest hit by aids in the' 80s, rene and lucas underline how much time has gone by without any substantial progress made to fight the disease. it doesn' t take much to realize that the heartache and sense of futility described in
longtime companion
are felt by all who are touched by aids .
until the release of philadelphia (see annotation) in 1994, longtime companion was the only feature - length film to deal explicitly with aids. and although the representation of people affected is undeniably narrow, the film is uncompromising in its honest depiction of the effects of aids and in its balanced portrayal of gay relationships, albeit white gay relationships. moreover, the insularity and privilege of the characters effectively dramatizes the very human incredulity that the horror of something like aids can happen to anyone and everyone .
chris paynter is the author of eight novels, including
survived by her longtime companion ,
the winner of the 2013 golden crown literary society ann bannon popular choice award and finalist for the 2013 lambda literary award in lesbian romance. her latest release is
more than a song ,
a romance set in small - town georgia. she has been a three - time gcls finalist for the ann bannon award. she was also a gcls finalist in traditional lesbian romance for
come back to me .
in the few previous films that have dealt with aids (the tv - movie an early frost, the 1986 independent feature parting glances), only one character, in each case, has the disease; the effect, though chastening, has been similar to that of watching any other movie about a terminal illness. in longtime companion, more characters end up succumbing than we’re geared to expect. and so the film — in its very structure — mirrors the ravaging toll aids has taken on the gay community .
i remember reading the description of survived by her longtime companion by chris paynter when it came out and thinking it sounded too sombre for the kind of story i was in the mood for, but ever since i’ve kept hearing how much people have loved this novel. so when it came up as the book of the month on the facebook lesficreader group, i thought i would take a look at it, and i’m extremely glad that i did. the rekindling of the relationship between the younger protagonists, although harrowing a
for a while, i felt myself quietly protesting the design, thinking, ”wait a minute — you’re not going to tell me this guy gets it, too. ” then i realized that was the whole point. there’s a raw audacity to this film’s approach: it means to wake us up, and does. while undeniably a message movie, longtime companion is pleading not just for the better treatment of people with aids (though that’s implicit) but for a more humane understanding of what gays are going through .
longtime companion chronicles the first decade of the aids epidemic, with the movie split into sections by year and date. in 1981 will (campbell scott) and his partner john (dermot mulroney) spend time with another gay couple, one of whom, sean, is a screenwriter for a popular soap opera. meanwhile, howard (patrick cassidy) is preparing to audition for a role in sean’s show. that morning, the new york times publishes the first article about a “gay cancer”, and howard lands the role .
then the plague strikes. reports of the disease escalate, and before we’re quite prepared, one character is struck down, and then another, and another still. set over a period of several years, longtime companion presents the onslaught of aids as a series of increasingly ominous rituals, from the anxious reading of newspaper reports to the funerals that come to seem more and more inevitable. the film gives us an intimate view of those who are stricken and those who can do little but stand by and watch them deteriorate .
then, on the morning of nov. 1, 2014, funeral home workers arrived with a hearse and, according to a lawsuit filed march 22, removed his casket from its tomb and hauled it to louisiana. the woman who had planned to one day join him in that now - vacant mausoleum, o' quinn' s longtime companion and self - described common - law wife, darla lexington, is seeking unspecified damages from the funeral home and to have his body shipped back from a cemetery in pollock, louisiana .
creator, writer and host of minnesota public radio' s weekly variety program, a prairie home companion; host of the writer' s almanac, a five - minute radio program about literature broadcast daily on stations throughout the nation; author of several bestselling books .
one of the first films to offer a thoughtful treatment of the aids epidemic and its effects on the gay community, longtime companion was directed by norman rene, who would die of aids himself in 1996. the ensemble drama is told through a series of vignettes that begins with the first new york times report on the mysterious
cancer
that had resulted in the deaths of a growing number of homosexual men and ends eight years later, after the disease has thoroughly and devastatingly affected the movie' s close - knit core group of characters .
funny, touching and vital, longtime companion is the best american movie so far this year. it is also, astonishingly, the first major feature to detail the gay community’s battle against the aids epidemic. the disease has been killing homosexual men for a decade now — 50, 500 at last count. artistic responses have been varied, ranging from the decorous tv drama an early frost (1985) to larry kramer’s angry off - broadway play the normal heart (1987). but hollywood, ever fearful of risk, has kept silent .
longtime companion had as difficult a time finding a distributor as it did getting financing. law, for one, had expected that since the film was already getting good responses at early screenings, finding a distribution company would be relatively easy. but while there were a lot of compliments, there was no contract. “they all said, ‘i know you’ll find a distributor. it’s a really good film — it just doesn’t seem like a good fit here, ’” he says. “i don’t think they were necessarily euphemisms, but maybe they were. ”
longtime companion had as difficult a time finding a distributor as it did getting financing. law, for one, had expected that since the film was already getting good responses at early screenings, finding a distribution company would be relatively easy. but while there were a lot of compliments, there was no contract. “they all said,' i know you’ll find a distributor. it’s a really good film — it just doesn’t seem like a good fit here, ’” he says. “i don’t think they were necessarily euphemisms, but maybe they were. ”
enter tom rothman, head of worldwide production at the samuel goldwyn company. rothman had worked with law as an entertainment lawyer in new york. so when he heard about longtime companion, he ”paid attention because i know lindsay has good taste. ” rothman screened the movie at his office. ”you never get a picture where there is a unanimity of opinion, ” he says. ”but this was an exception. every person in the company felt strongly that this was a good movie. ” the crucial question remained: ”but could we sell it? ”
perhaps the most amazing fact about
longtime companion
is how recently it was released. as early as 1981, reports of a mysterious epidemic among gays was making headlines, but it took nearly 10 years for a major movie on the subject to hit theaters. even then, it started out as a pbs
american playhouse
production, and, after being released to movie houses, had trouble finding venues. many theater owners balked, perhaps worried that the film had limited commercial appeal; or, they may simply have been uneasy about the topic .
she is predeceased by her former husband oliver w. (bill) (1982), her sister sylvia and her brothers charlie and gerald. she is survived by her three daughters, catherine e. swiger and her husband eugene, roseanne (molly) clancy and her longtime companion jerry lessard (molly changed her name to ‘clancy’ in honor of her mother and her irish heritage), elizabeth (bette) j. milliken and her husband charles. also surviving her are five grandchildren, katie, jonathan, laurie, angela, matty, and many nieces and nephews .
longtime companion begins on july 3, 1981, the day that the new york times printed its first major story about a rare disease, kaposi’s sarcoma, which was affecting gay men. the opening images of fire island’s beaches and woods and brunches and discos convey an idyllic
before aids
world - - a dream of beauty and immortality, a world of innocence and freedom. what follows, in a series of vignettes, is the devastating and far - reaching impact of the epidemic on the lives of seven gay men: all white, all attractive, all successful .
longtime companion has been justly criticized for the absence of safer sex information - - decreasing risk is equated with enacting monogamy - - and the sentimentality of its ending. however, the film deserves credit for attempting to bring an aids movie to a hopeful close. in keeping with the dominant tone of nostalgia, the film ends with an evocative return to the paradisiacal
before aids
world in which the same fire island beach stretches before the surviving characters as not only a seascape of loss but also as a symbol of eternity in which the living and the dead will be reunited .
on the other hand, the notion that this film — much less a more honest portrayal of harvey milk — would somehow have won votes for gay marriage is laughable. the film, probably accurately, doesn’t shy away from the promiscuity of the characters involved. men hop into bed together literally at first sight. indeed, one of milk’s election promises noted in the film was his public announcement that he would no longer visit san francisco’s famed bathhouses. hmmm. no longer seeking out anonymous sex with multiple partners even while living with a longtime companion? what a concession to respectability .
welles acquired the film rights to williams' book shortly after it was published in 1963, and retained it for the next 22 years. three months after his death in october 1985, his companion oja kodar sold those rights for $ 180, 000 in a deal which nearly went sour .
then, on nov. 8, in a city still rebuilding from days of violent riots ,
angels in america: a gay fantasia on national themes
opened at the mark taper forum. there had been successful plays and films that positively depicted gay lives —
torch song trilogy ,
la cage aux folles
— and later the devastation of aids with
the normal heart
and
longtime companion ,
but nothing like
angels in america ,
which put aids into such heaving, glorious context that it finally and irrevocably became part of the national narrative .
longtime companion
begins like a mystery. the story opens on the day in june 1981 when the new york times first published a report about a rare disease - - perhaps a cancer - - that had afflicted a number of gay men in the city. the movie then tells how 11 individuals, some friends, some lovers, react to the news report - - at first with disbelief and unconcern as they go about their lives in manhattan or in the perennial party atmosphere of upscale fire island. the film then revisits the same group of people one day each year, through 1989 .
longtime companion grossed $ 4. 6 million and was considered a modest success for an indie movie. “bruce was nominated for an oscar — nowadays little movies get nominated all the time, but back then, it really was kind of unusual, ” says wlodkowski. any first - time director would have been thrilled, but for norman rené, time was already running short. he and lucas would go on to work on the film adaptation of prelude to a kiss (1992) and a movie version of their play reckless (1995). rené and his partner kevin mckenna would even live in italy for a time .
i love this novel, am sure i' ll read it many times. there are two love stories, separated by time, in the novel and the way chris paynter weaves the two stories together is amazing. the main story is about a hollywood star and her female lover. i grew up with hollywood stars, in films and my dreams, so it was fascinating to read about one, she felt so real! the characters are so lovable, and the novel is beautifully written! ! lately, i' ve lost my faith in lesbian romance but
survived by her longtime companion
may just have restored it !
unless i' ve missed a random nomination somewhere - - and you may correct me gently in the comments if i have - - it occurs to me that dallas buyers club is the seventh non - documentary motion picture with a prominent hiv / aids story to receive oscar nominations. (there have been more films with supporting characters who were living with hiv, but these are the major films that are more focused on it *). oscar' s history with this feature topic stretches back 23 years through one best picture nominee, a pre - mcconaughey best actor, two foreign films, and 1990' s longtime companion after the jump
besides her husband and her mother, survivors include a daughter, olivia ruth brophy - forst; a brother, mark d. brophy and his longtime companion, tracy vokey, of bartlett, n. h. ; her mother - in - law, linda (hutchinson) forst of pitman, n. j. ; her father - in - law, james w. forst and his wife, doris, of voorhees, n. j. ; a brother - in - law, christopher j. forst and his wife, sarah, of bristow, va. ; a niece, catharine forst; and a nephew, brandon forst .
although probably best known for his stage work, lucas also won praise as the author of longtime companion, director rene' s film about a group of gay friends. the film begins in 1981 on the day when the new york times first reported on the aids virus, which attacks the human immune system and leaves its victims susceptible to a variety of fatal diseases. the movie ends eight years later after several of the protagonists have succumbed to aids. in the film' s most wrenching portions, a dying man is tended—fed, washed, and clothed—by his lover. by film' s end, both men are among the aids dead .
bond was a 22 - year - old film school student when he was hired by welles' longtime private secretary, ann rogers, to deliver ten 400 - foot rolls of 35mm film, and 100 no 1 montecristo havana cigars to welles in yugoslavia, where the director was filming on a yacht in the adriatic port of split .
in a movie market where mutant turtles and men in bat suits represent the holy grail, it isn’t surprising that a film about a contemporary plague did not ignite a bidding war. according to hollywood marketing wisdom, a film like longtime companion (a euphemism in newspaper obituaries for lovers of gay men and women) is a long shot barely worth a meeting. it’s not just about aids. it’s about upper - and middle - class gay men with aids — instead of the more popular theme, innocent children who are infected with tainted blood transfusions. the shudders from potential financers constituted a west coast tremor that could have been mistaken for a shift in the san andreas fault .
personal: born august 26, 1904, in high lane, cheshire, england; immigrated to the united states, 1939, naturalized citizen, 1946; died of cancer, january 4, 1986, in santa monica, ca; son of francis edward (a military officer) and kathleen (machell - smith) isherwood; longtime companion of don bachardy (an artist). education: attended repton school, 1919 - 22, and corpus christi college, cambridge, 1924 - 25; king' s college, university of london, medical student, 1928 - 29. politics: democrat. religion: vedantist. hobbies and other interests :
i was a born film fan .
new york, july 30, 1984, p. 53; october 10, 1988, pp. 75, 78; march 26, 1990, pp. 87 - 88; may 14, 1990, pp. 125 - 126; september 30, 1991, john leonard, review of longtime companion, p. 64; january 4, 1993, john simon, review of orpheus in love, p. 51; february 13, 1995, john simon, review of missing persons, p. 103; june 22, 1998, john simon, review of the dying gaul, p. 60; october 30, 2000, john simon, review of stranger, p. 97 .
the movie’s depiction of the emotional and physical toll the disease takes, on both its victims and those around them, is devastating. but its strength lies in its unexpected bursts of humor and anger. as they deal with overwhelming tragedy, the characterizations deftly avoid cliche and sketch a tribute to the nature of human resilience. ultimately, longtime companion manages to be hopeful. it is no more a story about aids than terms of endearment is a story about cancer. ”craig has a way of imbuing his scenes with a magical color that’s very dark, ” says parker, who plays lisa, a close friend of the other characters. ”you laugh, but it hurts. it’s like seeing a skeleton with a cape and a rubber nose. ”
creel’s winning entries span high - end fashion and entertainment magazines, event programs, magazine covers, and softcover books. each honor was achieved on behalf of longtime customers for whom creel provides a host of services across printing, publishing solutions, and supply chain support. creel also won a gold in “magazine covers” with v87 magazine’s printed plastic overlay cover, collaboratively produced with deux - points .
the producers sent the script to william hurt, jeff bridges, ed harris, james spader, and kiefer sutherland, among others. they sent it to holly hunter for the only female character of note. no bites. ”we couldn’t get the names, so we couldn’t get any money, ” wlodkowski says. as the process dragged on, the casting directors joked that the movie should be renamed longtime .
longtime companion ‘s cast is predominantly straight. ”as for playing a gay man, i just used my imagination, ” mulroney says. it was, the actors say, a nonissue. ”once you decide to do it, you just do it, ” scott says. occasionally, rené had to rein in the acting, but for the most part the men were quick studies. ”these guys, a lot of whom had just had their first babies, would sit and hold hands during rehearsals and lean against one another, ” lucas says. ”it was too cute for words. ” during shooting, girlfriends tended to show up on days that called for their boyfriends to kiss other men. ”or there would be a lot of talk about wives, ” rené says. ”maybe it was subconscious. but it happened all the time. ”
longtime companion is a 1989 film with bruce davison , campbell scott , patrick cassidy , and mary-louise parker . the first wide-release theatrical film to deal with the subject of aids , the film takes its title from the words the new york times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of someone who had died of aids during the 1980s . 
longtime companion is a 1989 film with bruce davison, campbell scott, patrick cassidy, and mary-louise parker. the first wide-release theatrical film to deal with the subject of aids, the film takes its title from the words the new york times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of someone who had died of aids during the 1980s.
longtime companion is a 1989 film with bruce davison, campbell scott, patrick cassidy, and mary-louise parker. the first wide-release theatrical film to deal with the subject of aids, the film takes its title from the words the new york times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of someone who had died of aids during the 1980s.