Rating: 
Summary: Stunningly wonderful
Review: I am a playwright, a straight forty two year old teacher who writes a lot of pieces about homophobia and aids for my high school students. I must believe that this film, and the play Our Town are the two most influential pieces in my writing life...This probably shouldn't matter to you but it matters to me. Many of my friends think there are better films...but this is such a beautiful work . The acting in it, Bruce Davidson, Mark Lamos, Stephen Caffrey, Mary Louise Parker,....so miraculous, so rich. The movies is heartbreakingly sad, the plague in human terms, but at times, extremely funny. The string quartet of ymca is quite amazing. And I won't give away the last scenes...but...for me, they some very influential sentiments and concepts. I can't praise this thing enough.
Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant handling of a subject few understand.
Review: I had seen Longtime Companion in it's first release, and, ironically, have received it as part of my home collection from a friend who passed from the disease.My assessment of a great film is that it makes you relate to a world that is completely foreign to you. Being a straight woman with a circle of gay, male friends, this was not a subject I was unfamilliar with. I have, however, screened this film for several friends who weren't so familliar with gay culture and the issues that surround it. They were astounded at how powerfully this film conveyed the lifestyle and terror in a way that never bordered on melodrama. There are two scenes that are gripping, one of which comes near the end and I won't destroy it's intent by revealing it here. The first scene that will just leave you numb is Bruce Davison's character at his lover's side urging him to 'just rest,' as he essentially begs him to die. It is quietly and poigniantly stoic and will break your heart. Davison's Oscar nod for this performance was WELL deserved. This is a movie that requires an open mind, but if you are looking for a film that will give you an enlightening view of a lifestyle you don't live, this is a great film for you and will not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT GAY AND AIDS LOVE STORY
Review: I HAVE SEEN THIS MOVIE 4 TIMES,AND THINK IT IS ONE OF THE MOST HEART WARMING, INFORMATIVE STORYS. IN THE TIME OF AIDS, AND THE REPULICANS, IT REALLY TOLD A STORY. I LOVE IT BART C.--CHICAGO,IL.
Rating: 
Summary: A Powerful film that could have been better...
Review: I remember liking this film much more when I saw it the first time when it was released. I cried from the cathartic experience of watching beautiful young (and even beautiful middle-aged!) men die of this dread disease. It was an important film that NEEDED to be made. Re-watching it now, however, with 13 years distance, it comes off a bit heavy-handed and lacks plot and character development. I hope we can now study the film as a film with a slightly more critical eye. Most notably, "Longtime Companion" does an injustice to its characters by focusing more on the "topic" of AIDS, paying special attention to the fear and the "cures" that were beginning to circulate in the 80s. Characters get sick and die, but I get the feeling that we are supposed to care about them simply because they are victims of AIDS. If I had known these characters like they ostensibly know each other, it would be much more emotionally powerful. There was much potential in the relationship between Willy and John that was only hinted at. Their "reunion" at the end of the film still packed an emotional punch, but I wanted more story-telling. I want to mourn with these men, but I guess I have to do so vicariously by thinking of the friends I've lost to AIDS. In some ways AIDS is a more developed character than many of these human characters. Time skips by too quickly, and I also felt the ending was rushed and does come-off a bit forced. I'm not asking for a three-hour film or a miniseries, but I just didn't "connect" with many of the characters like I hoped I would. A similar film I now find more compelling is "An Early Frost" which takes more time to develop its characters and has (for me) a stronger emotional core. "Longtime Companion" is a good and powerful film but the director and writers needed to linger in the rooms and by the bedsides of these wonderful characters much longer.
Rating:
Summary: Good story line but skips a bit
Review: I'd heard a lot about this movie and finnaly got my hands on it. I expected a tear jerker like "It's My Party" but it only lived half up to the tear-pulling ideology. Longtime Companion is about a group of friends in New York when the sudden discovery of a "gay cancer" begins. The rumors start and one by one the friends drop like flies. The movie follows them through the 80's but you don't really get a good feeling for who is who and what is what. By the end i was a little confused as to what characters I was watching and who they were when the whole thing started. Longtime Companion is a good movie but its failing is that it skips around. You're watching one scene then suddenly it will display a date and you're suddenly somewhere else looking at an entirely different scene. Watch it twice and it will make more sense.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic FINALLY back in print! :)
Review: I've been lucky enough to view an advance promotional copy of MGM Home Entertainment's brand new dvd version of the classic AIDS themed film, "Longtime Companion." Well, I have to say this film has never had such clear sound and beautiful picture quality. The Letterbox transfer is perfect and the Stereo is VERY nicely done. We watched it on a very large, THX system and the sound was channeled very well. I have to give many votes of praise to MGM for re-releasing this wonderful title that was out of print for much of the 90's. I can't say how happy I am to see a quality, letter-box release of this movie! It's about time!! :) So, PLEASE, don't waste another dime of your money paying for the poor quality, out-of-print version Vidmark released of this in 1990. I know you're gonna have to wait until January for the official release of this dvd, but, believe me it's worth it!
Rating:
Summary: Chillingly real and gut-wrenchingly moving
Review: I've seen this film many times. I bought a copy as soon as it became available. I've seen too many friends die of AIDS, and I am fortunate enough to have been spared catching it or HIV - and, this film is just the sort of propaganda to help younger people also avoid catching the disease. The characters in this film are real people, with real lives, and they think they will go on living forever - and they don't. No one's life go untouched by this most unbiast of diseases. I had my folks watch this film with me once. My father thought it was extremely depressing and wondered why anyone would pay to see it. But he thought the same of Brian's Song and Love Story too. See this film and if you've got young teens who are possibly gay - or even straight - sit them down and watch this film with them. Maybe the reality of death portrayed in this film will help them make the right decisions - and save their life.
Rating:
Summary: A movie that rips and moves your heart!!!
Review: If you have seen 'Philadelphia', you need to see this movie. 'Longtime Companion' is perhaps the first film to put a human face on the AIDS epidemic. Longtime Companion follows the lives of a small circle of friends from the first mention of the disease in the New York Times in 1980. First referred to as "Gay-Related-Immune-Disorder," we watch the effect of the disease as it devastates the lives of our protagonists. Jumping between Manhattan and Fire Island, vignettes carry us from the it-couldn't-happen-to-me mentality of the early days of the disease to the invasive effect it has had on all of our lives, today. The title of the film comes from the New York Times' refusal to acknowledge homosexual relationships in their obituary section during this period. Instead, survivors were referred to as "Longtime Companions" of the deceased. Whether Gay or Straight, you must see this movie. It will confirm that no matter your thoughts on lifestyles, Everyone has the right to live and love.
Rating:
Summary: Tough to Watch
Review: If you lived through the 60s, 70s, 80s - keep Kleenex handy. This one hits the heart. I'm still aching...
Rating:
Summary: Social document recalls dark chapter in gay history
Review: Initially conceived as a response to Hollywood's hypocritical reluctance to depict the AIDS crisis within mainstream cinema, "Longtime Companion" (1990) limped into production in 1989 on half the projected $3 million budget, generously donated by producer Lindsay Law and the American Playhouse company, only to face another uphill struggle as soon as the movie was completed. Until the Samuel Goldwyn company bought worldwide distribution rights (somewhat reluctantly, it must be said), most mainstream and independent distributors were disinclined to tackle a movie which concentrates exclusively on the devastating effects of AIDS on a group of middle-class gay men from the years 1981 to 1988. Apparently, it's OK if the drama involves a cute kid who was accidentally infected by a tainted blood transfusion, or if it features a teary-eyed heterosexual mom who inadvertently 'contaminates' her big butch heterosexual husband, but not if it's about a bunch of (gays). Aware of this sickening double standard, writer Craig Lucas and debut director Norman Rene held back on the explicit love scenes and aimed their film at the widest possible audience. That it still works is due in large part to a fantastic ensemble cast headlined by Bruce Davison as the 'mother hen' figure who holds court over a disparate group of writers, actors, businessmen, and their various friends and associates. Davison was Oscar-nominated for his strong performance, though he's matched every step of the way by Campbell Scott (son of George C.) as a young man who struggles desperately to hide from the reality of the horrors around him after his best friend (Dermot Mulroney) becomes one of the first casualties. Beefcake is provided by Patrick Cassidy and John Dossett as a loving couple whose lives are torn apart by the disease, while Mary-Louise Parker portrays one of the few straight characters in the group, a woman whose life revolves around her dwindling circle of gay friends. Lucas' insightful script uses these characters to describe the progressive response of the gay community to the unfolding crisis, from the casual dismissals which greeted the first reports of a 'gay cancer' which appeared in 1981, through to the fear and confusion which descended as the disease began to dominate daily life. Hope breeds a certain amount of naivety in some of the early scenes (one character's philosophy is basically 'think happy thoughts and everything will be fine'), until the threat is finally absorbed and accepted, culminating in militant action against an ultra-conservative Establishment which seems determined to ignore the unfolding situation. Lip service is paid to some of the important social issues which arose from the AIDS epidemic, but the film refuses to become sidelined by politics - Reagan is mentioned but not criticized, and there's a brief tirade against a health care system which seems more concerned with insurance than patient welfare - and instead focusses its attentions on people whose lives are ravaged by circumstances beyond their control. Director Rene, who had worked almost exclusively in theatre beforehand, is reluctant to allow sentiment to prevail, to the point where even the heaviest scenes are almost drained of genuine emotion, and some of the many dialogue exchanges which make up the bulk of the film should have been tightened during the editing process. But the cast breathes life into a broad range of recognizable characters, and the film survives primarily as an invaluable record of a dark chapter in gay history. If the drama seems a little dated by subsequent advances in the treatment of HIV and AIDS, and if the subject no longer commands the same level of attention which existed when the movie first opened, its educational value remains intact. One gets the sense from this kind of movie that, even when a cure is eventually found, very little will change in the short term. Too many wonderful people have died and taken all their priceless ideosyncracies with them to the grave, and too many others have lost precious companions and loved ones for the sudden discovery of a cure to make much of a difference. But when future generations are finally released from the tyranny of AIDS, movies like "Longtime Companion" will always be there to remind them of a time when the world wasn't such a carefree place, and when the kindness and compassion of devoted friends was no guarantee of their immunity from loss and devastation. MGM's region 1 DVD runs 99m 24s and is letterboxed (1.85:1) for the first time on home video. The image is a little soft in places due to the lack of anamorphic encoding, but it's generally OK. Closed captions are included and there's also a full-screen trailer. Sound format is 2.0 mono - given the film's production history, a Dolby Stereo soundtrack was probably the least of the filmmakers' concerns.
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