Longtime Companion

This film is an unwelcome jolt back to the early 1980s, when a mysterious malady began afflicting gay men. The speed with which AIDS spread was almost unfathomable. Soon 30-year-olds could be seen in the Castro leaning on canes. Social calendars filled up with funerals. Made in 1990, “Longtime Companion” is generally acknowledged to be the first major feature to focus solely on this epidemic. (“Philadelphia” came out in 1993.) “Companion’s” 25th anniversary is an appropriate occasion to see whether the film retains its impact.

It does quite well by putting a human face on the disease. It follows a group of gay friends living in New York City and vacationing on Fire Island. The original script is beautifully written by playwright Craig Lucas, whose characters’ sound the way people talk when faced with adversity. He and the film’s director, the late Norman Rene (who had AIDS), depict the paranoia that swept through the gay community, with people anxiously inspecting their bodies for any kind of mark that might be an early sign of AIDS. The film captures the easy friendships among gay men and their propensity to laugh even in bleak times. There is a generosity of spirit when a well partner in a relationship becomes a self-appointed nurse to keep his lover out of the hospital. In a strong cast that includes Campbell Scott, Mary-Louise Parker and Patrick Cassidy, Bruce Davison is a standout as David, one of the caretakers. The love he feels for his partner (Mark Lamos) is palpable. David comes from family money, and Davison shows how this noblesse oblige translates into him being a rock for everyone. Davison wound up with a muchdeserved Oscar nomination for best supporting actor. — Ruthe Stein LONGTIME COMPANION 1990 RATED R MGM HOME $23.99