AND THE BAND PLAYED ON (TV)
Summary
This made-for-television film is a dramatization of San Francisco Chronicle reporter Randy Shilts's 1987 best-selling book, which chronicles the early years of the AIDS epidemic and its spread. The program focuses on the efforts of epidemiologist Dr. Don Francis and others to identify the AIDS virus, discover how it is transmitted, and prevent the spread of the fatal illness -- against the obstacles of government indifference and underfunding, societal hostility, gay civil rights arguments, and battles over credit. The program opens as Dr. Francis, a medical researcher, is brought to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta in 1980 to help investigate why so many homosexual men are dying from diseases that their bodies should be able to fight off, but cannot because their immune systems have been destroyed. The doctors and researchers from the Center deduce that whatever is causing the breakdown of these gay men's immune systems is sexually transmittable and the infection's spread is not limited to the gay community. The CDC research team also learns that the micro-organism is present in the blood supply and that people are also being infected through transfusions. Problems arise for the doctors of the Center and AIDS activists, who are trying to stop the micro-organism from spreading, when blood banks are unwilling to test their blood supply, the gay community refuses to close down its bathhouses, and the CDC is turned down for the funding it needs from the government to do necessary research. Dr. Francis and a teacher of his from Harvard attempt to gain the assistance of a prominent doctor, Dr. Robert Gallo. Gallo, who only appears interested in winning awards for his work, agrees to help them when he learns that the unidentified micro-organism they are looking for may be related to a retrovirus he discovered years earlier. Meanwhile, doctors in France manage to identify the virus that is causing the unexplainable deaths occuring around the world. Dr. Gallo becomes irate when Dr. Francis assists the French by sending them blind samples on which to test their results and he decides to stop assisting the Center and take credit for discovering the virus. Knowing that the French doctors will sue and that it will set research back many years, Dr. Francis sets up a meeting between the French doctors and Dr. Gallo. They decide to share the credit. However, Dr. Gallo reneges on their agreement and patents the virus as his own discovery. The French doctors plan to retaliate and defend their work. Also included are clips of President Ronald Reagan; Ed Koch, Mayor of New York; Dr. Alfred Katz; Gen. Edward Huycke, Dep. Surgeon General, Army; and Rep. Henry Waxman. Dr. Francis visits with his friend Bill Kraus, an AIDS activist, who has been admitted to the hospital with AIDS. Meanwhile, the French doctors hold a press conference in which they attempt to prove that Dr. Gallo does not deserve a patent for the discovery of the AIDS virus. At the program's conclusion, a list of information relating to Dr. Francis, Dr. Gallo, blood banks, bathhouses, and the AIDS virus appears on screen. Also featured is a montage of clips of memorials and tributes to people suffering from AIDS-related complications and those who have died from the disease. ("And the Band Played On" was first screened at the Montreal Film Festival on September 2, 1993.)
Cataloging of this program was made possible by Blake Byrne.
Details
- NETWORK: HBO
- DATE: September 11, 1993 Saturday 8:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 2:02:36
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:31833
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; AIDS (Disease); History; LGBT Collection
- SERIES RUN: HBO - TV, 1993
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Aaron Spelling … Executive Producer
- E. Duke Vincent … Executive Producer
- Midge Sanford … Producer
- Sarah Pillsbury … Producer
- Edward Teets … Co-Producer
- Arnold Schulman … Co-Producer, Writer
- Marcia Basichis … Associate Producer
- Mazen, Omneya "Nini" … Associate Producer
- Albert Shapiro … Associate Producer
- Roger Spottiswoode … Director
- Randy Shilts … Based on the book by
- Carter Burwell … Music by
- Sarah Elgart … Choreographer
- Matthew Modine … Cast, Dr. Don Francis
- Alan Alda … Cast, Dr. Robert Gallo
- Patrick Bauchau … Cast, Dr. Luc Montagnier
- Nathalie Baye … Cast, Dr. Francoise Barre
- Christian Clemenson … Cast, Dr. Dale Lawrence
- David Clennon … Cast, Mr. Johnstone
- Phil Collins … Cast, Eddie Papasano
- Bud Cort … Cast, the Antique Shop Owner
- Alex Courtney … Cast, Dr. Mika Popovic
- David Dukes … Cast, Dr. Marvin Silverman
- Richard Gere … Cast, the Choreographer
- David Marshall Grant … Cast, Dennis Seeley
- Ronald Guttman … Cast, Dr. Jean-Claude Chermann
- Glenne Headly … Cast, Dr. Mary Guinan
- Anjelica Huston … Cast, Dr. Betsy Reisz
- Ken Jenkins … Cast, Dr. Dennis Donahue
- Richard Jenkins … Cast, Dr. Marc Conant
- Tcheky Karyo … Cast, Dr. Willy Rozenbaum
- Swoosie Kurtz … Cast, Mrs. Johnstone
- Jack Laufer … Cast, Brian McDonough
- Donal Logue … Cast, Bobbi Campbell
- Steve Martin … Cast, the Brother
- Richard Masur … Cast, William W. Darrow, Ph.D.
- Dakin Mathews … Cast, Congressman Phil Burton
- Ian McKellen … Cast, Bill Kraus
- Peter McRobbie … Cast, Dr. Max Essex
- Lawrence Monoson … Cast, Chip
- Jeffrey Nordling … Cast, Gaetan Dugas
- Saul Rubinek … Cast, Dr. Jim Curran
- Charles Martin Smith … Cast, Dr. Harold Jaffe
- Stephen Spinella … Cast, Brandy Alexander
- Lily Tomlin … Cast, Dr. Selma Dritz
- B.D. Wong … Cast, Kico Govantes
- Walter Addison … Cast, a Blood Bank Executive
- Jill Andre … Cast, the Red Cross Spokesperson
- Alan Barry … Cast, the Hemophiliac Patient
- Neal Ben-Ari … Cast, Dr. Tom Spira
- David Bottrell … Cast, the 3rd Man
- Rico Bueno … Cast, the Bellevue Hospital Patient
- Bill Carmichael … Cast, the Delivery Man
- Christopher Carroll … Cast, Dr. Aaron Keller
- Reg E. Cathey … Cast, Staff Doctor #2
- John Del Regno … Cast, the Man in Grand Central
- John Durbin … Cast, the 6th Man
- Mogens Eckert … Cast, the Chief Executive (Copenhagen)
- Carey Eidel … Cast, the Tennis Player
- Robert Brisco Evans … Cast, the 2nd Reporter
- Richard Fancy … Cast, Dr. Michael Gottlieb
- Keythe Farley … Cast, the Lab Technician
- Christopher John Fields … Cast, the Lawyer
- Dave Florek … Cast, the Doughnut Shop Counterman
- Niki Gilbert … Cast, the Sudanese Girl
- Yasmine Golchan … Cast, Dr. Francoise Brun-Vezinet
- Patrick Gorman … Cast, Charles Dauget
- James Greene … Cast, Dr. Alvin Friedman-Kien
- Jeffrey Hayenga … Cast, Dr. Bruce Voeller
- Daniel Henning … Cast, Blaine
- Ike Ikediashi … Cast, the Sudanese Boy
- Laura Innes … Cast, the Hemophiliac Representative
- Laura James … Cast, Margaret Heckler
- Michael Kearns … Cast, Cleve
- Erasor Kemie … Cast, the Sudanese Student
- Jack Kenny … Cast, the San Francisco Activist
- Thomas Kopache … Cast, a Blood Bank Executive
- Clyde Kusatsu … Cast, a Blood Bank Executive
- Frank Li'Bay … Cast, the Desk Clerk
- Rob LaBelle … Cast, the Gay Rights Activist
- Neal Lerner … Cast, the 1st Man
- Rene Levant … Cast, a Blood Bank Executive
- Geoffrey Lower … Cast, Dr. David Simpson
- Anthony Lucero … Cast, the Mailroom Man
- James Mastrantonio … Cast, the 8th Man
- Jon Matthews … Cast, Greg
- Rosemary Murphy … Cast, a Blood Bank Executive
- Edafe Okurume … Cast, the Sudanese Driver
- Susanne Olsen … Cast, the Intern (Copenhagen)
- Angela Paton … Cast, the Woman in Denver
- Sierra Pecheur … Cast, the Female Reporter
- Miguel Perez … Cast, the Reporter
- Martin Raymond … Cast, the 4th Man
- Jeremy Regan … Cast, the Ticket Seller
- Robert Martin Robinson … Cast, the Chief Administrator (French)
- Valeri Ross … Cast, Jim's Secretary
- Hildur Ruriks … Cast, a Female Danish 2nd Executive
- Tom Schankley … Cast, Walter
- Sean Whitesell … Cast, the Country Club Attendant
- Michael Winters … Cast, the Middle-aged Man
- William Wintersole … Cast, Dr. Paul Fiorino
- Lenny Wolpe … Cast, Dr. Joseph Bove