Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

alyssalarraine 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!

Raul Faust I began watching this movie not knowing if this would be a fiction drama or a documentary involving everything that happened with AIDS in the nineties. The get go made me believe it would show the beginning of the disease's discovery, and would later focus on the bad lifestyle one or other character would face. However, "And the Band Played On" never decides where it wants to focus. Most of the time it gave me the idea that they wanted to show the political conspiracies that involved the subject-- and they really do that--, but there is too few about the lives of those who got infected. When director shows the political arguments between the important people involved in the problem, we aren't able to know whether he's telling a real story or not. The movie ends and we-- I, at least-- don't know if it really happened that way or not. That's why I think this could have been much better. I'm giving it 6 stars in respect of those who find the theme extremely delicate-- maybe due to personal problems-- and for the brave people involved in the project, but I'm not recommending it anyhow, since I believe there are better works involving such subject out there. If you know any, please let me know!

excalibur212 I was really disappointed to see how badly this movie was made. Obviously it was well received because of the subject matter, not due to the quality of the film itself. I lived and worked in Atlanta and have been to the CDC, and I can assure you no Georgians talk like the characters in this movie (mostly badly cast New York actors, with people like Richard Gere and Steve Martin brought in to do cameos). But this movie is just plain badly made, even for a TV movie. All the "stand up and shout" moments are clichéd one-liners ("How many people have to die before this disease is recognized?" "Do you mean to tell me, that they knew they were giving AIDS to people, and they continued to do it?" etc). At one point the researcher is drawing on a chalkboard and checking off items as if he's explaining it to a soccer mom, when the other character (supposedly another doctor) obviously wouldn't need the dumbed-down version the writers think the audience requires. It was like watching a bad play. I wish I knew of better AIDS movies out there. This is a really bad movie.

BeKind247 Well told history of the beginning of the AIDS crisis in America and the world. It showed the slow and inept response of the Republican lead government. The performances are brilliant. Ensemble cast brings a complicated story, to fruition by showing that AIDS is not merely a disease to study underneath a microscope, but a social typhoon that changed society as a hole. I think they should show this movie in high schools. An influential movie that stops and makes you think. I thought that Alan Alda's portrayal of Dr. Robert Gallo was a great departure from his normal "MASH" fare, I found a new respect for Matthew Modine after seeing his portrayal in this movie. Swoozie Kurtz is only on screen for a brief time, yet she pulls you into her characters desperation, sadness, and anger, at being kept in the dark by her own Dr's. Her Dr's never tell she has AIDS. The stigma of AIDS still stands today. I hope to one day live in a world when AIDS has been eradicated.