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And the Band Played On

And the Band Played On

Drama · TV Movie · 1993

The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.

Movie details

And the Band Played On

“Strength. Friendship. Courage. Sometimes that’s all you have.”

1993 Drama · TV Movie 2h 20m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

7.8 / 10

11.5K votes

Rotten Tomatoes

100 %

Tomatometer

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over And the Band Played On?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Where it lives

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Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.

Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Roger Spottiswoode

Written by

Arnold Schulman

Matthew Modine

Matthew Modine

Dr. Don Francis

Alan Alda

Alan Alda

Dr. Robert Gallo

Patrick Bauchau

Patrick Bauchau

Dr. Luc Montagnier

Nathalie Baye

Nathalie Baye

Dr. Françoise Barre

Christian Clemenson

Christian Clemenson

Dr. Dale Lawrence

David Clennon

David Clennon

Mr. Johnstone

Phil Collins

Phil Collins

Eddi Papasano

Court is in session

Put And the Band Played On on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Prestige Tourist

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Adrenaline Seeker

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.