Rating: 
Summary: Heartbreaking but Eye Opening
Review: Even though this film may not have had the full impact of it's original version found in type, it had all the necessary ingredients to help one understand the impact of AIDS and it's debut into our society. Without films of this type, people may never understand that AIDS is not predjudice to race, religion, gender or sexual preference. No one is immune from this horrible disease and in my opinion, the purpose to educate people was accomplished. There may be other films that are more graphic or less watered down, but in the end any film about AIDS has value and should be viewed as a valuble learning tool.
Rating: 
Summary: A Sad Commentary
Review: This film graphically illustrates the downfall of the American Red Cross. Victims of political pressure to a president who refused to recognize HIV as the deadly menace it is, both the Red Cross and researchers more attune to personal gain than to the needs of the general populace allowed a countless number of innocent Americans to become exposed to HIV. Regardless of your sexual orientation, HIV can affect you. This film points out the senseless acts of so many once held in high regard, and the unwillingness to spend a few extra dollars to protect the public at large. May we all learn a lesson from this debacle and strive to continue improving healthcare in America.
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't get into it
Review: I tried to watch this film, and I stayed with it all the way through, but I found it to be drawn out and depressing. I'm not belittling the AIDS crisis, but this movie didn't do anything for me. The only part that really caught my eye was the end when they played a touching Elton John song and they showed clips of famous people and others who had died from the disease, and the AIDS quilt. You'd do better to read the book that this movie was based on. A more interesting film about AIDS, I thought, was PHILADELPHIA.
Rating:
Summary: Simply brilliant!
Review: This film shows how things <<really>> work in government and how the system and the people within it reward those who put their careers above the lives of ordinary people.
Rating: 
Summary: Not abysmal, BUT...
Review: For heavens sake, read Randy Shilts' book instead of watching this mediocrity! The man wrote like a dream and covered the beginning of the AIDS era like no one else could.
Rating:
Summary: Informing and Inspiring
Review: I just saw this movie on December 1st (World AIDS Day). Before this movie I didn't know anything about the history of the AIDS virus and the impact it had on society. I now know about the devastation and fear it caused, and how the government chose to ignore it because it only primarily affected gay men. What was sadder then the tragic effects of the disease itself was the way society viewed and treated those infected with AIDS. I think everyone in the world should watch this movie to be better informed about AIDS. This movie made a big difference in my life and I know it will in others.
Rating:
Summary: Weak and Uninspired
Review: Although the film will be an eye-opener for viewers who know little if anything about the factors which encouraged AIDS to move from a disease afflicting the few to a full blown epidemic, to any one in the least knowledgeable it will prove singularly uninspired. Based on the powerful book by Randy Shilts, And The Band Played On had the potential to be one of the single most galvanizing films (and not to mention a fascinating story) ever made. Instead, we receive a watered down, fairly sanitized version of everything which make the book such a knockout. See the film if you must, but you're much better off with the book. If you are interested in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic, I also recommend the film Longtime Companion, which traces the impact of AIDS on a circle of friends living in New York when the disease first began to spread.
Rating:
Summary: A Change of Mind
Review: I am only 17 and saw this when it came out when I was just 11. After seeing this movie my views and opinion on AIDS changed completly. I went from knowing next to nothing about it to being enraged at president Reagan for not giving money to reaserch the unknown pathogen. This movie is one that really makes you think about how much red tape there is for researchers when all they want to do is save lives. This is well represented in the movie when a character says when he dies he does'nt want the cause of death to be "red tape." One of the most didturbing things in the movie is the "butcher's bill," which shows the date, the number of cases and the number of deaths. The cast including Matthew Modine and Richard Gere do an excelent job with this difficult topic. ATTENTION ALL TEACHERS!!!! this is a must for a clasroom pic.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Great movie about the start of AIDS in United States. Shows how everybody (government, gay community, and society in general) dropped the ball in fighting this terrible disease.
Rating:
Summary: sad but well done
Review: This movie relates the red tape and bureaucratic mess made by many of the people in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic and how hard a few fine scientists had to work to get the word out. Well made;but all too real.
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