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Longtime Companion

Play trailer Poster for Longtime Companion R Released May 11, 1990 1h 36m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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92% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 83% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
During the 1980s, a group of gay men and their straight female friend confront the spread of AIDS. Personal trainer Willy (Campbell Scott) watches the epidemic grow, advocating for awareness. Willy's friend John (Dermot Mulroney) is the first to be infected, but soon it becomes clear that a pandemic is underway in the gay community. Willy, boyfriend Fuzzy (Stephen Caffrey) and his adopted sister, Lisa (Mary-Louise Parker), look on as their friends and loved ones succumb to the disease.
Longtime Companion

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Critics Consensus

Longtime Companion is a sensitive ensemble AIDS drama, lensed with sympathy which builds to a moving finale.

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Critics Reviews

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Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly Rated: B+ Sep 7, 2011 Full Review Nell Minow Movie Mom Rated: 4/5 Oct 3, 2002 Full Review Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times Longtime Companion is about friendship and loyalty about finding the courage to be helpful and the humility to be helped. Rated: 3.5/4 Jan 1, 2000 Full Review Terry Lawson Dayton Daily News It is a moving piece, especially in its last half. Rated: 3/4 Jul 17, 2025 Full Review Terry Francis Southern Voice (Atlanta) It's an ambitious approach... but Rene and Lucas gamble that by dramatizing the effects of AIDS on singular characters rather than generic representations, they will humanize the disease in a way that statistics cannot. Their gamble pays off. Rated: 3/4 May 9, 2023 Full Review Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) This film is heartbreaking, but replete with courage and macabre fun. [Full review in Spanish] Nov 16, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Robert V Masterpiece! My God it captures the whole nightmare of AIDS in the 80's and 90's and is also so full of love. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/14/25 Full Review PridePosterStudios Sweet, but there are stronger films about AIDS. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/26/24 Full Review steve d Important and hard hitting film with a fantastic performance from Bruce Davison Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Eschewing the trappings of the daytime soaps the characters follow, this one of the earliest depiction of the the AIDS crisis is a beautiful moving story of friends mourning their immediate loss to the epidemic and blessing the strength they muster after each death. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member The best romance movie ever made! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member Longtime Companion is a timely cinematic achievement that sheds light on the AIDS crisis of the 1980s and the scores of gay men affected by it. Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, and Dermot Mulroney give tender and endearing performances as three friends who traverse the new world filled with paranoia and guilt about the outcomes that surround them. The film is heavily whitewashed; which could lead one to believe that the AIDS crisis only impacted well-to-do white men, but with an ensemble as talented as this it manages to pull more emphatic viewing of a group of people who are often relegated to the backseat in storylines. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Longtime Companion

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Cast & Crew

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Norman René

Director

Bruce Davison

David

Campbell Scott

Willy

Stephen Caffrey

Fuzzy

Mark Lamos

Sean

Patrick Cassidy

Howard

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Longtime Companion

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Movie Info

Synopsis During the 1980s, a group of gay men and their straight female friend confront the spread of AIDS. Personal trainer Willy (Campbell Scott) watches the epidemic grow, advocating for awareness. Willy's friend John (Dermot Mulroney) is the first to be infected, but soon it becomes clear that a pandemic is underway in the gay community. Willy, boyfriend Fuzzy (Stephen Caffrey) and his adopted sister, Lisa (Mary-Louise Parker), look on as their friends and loved ones succumb to the disease.
Director
Norman René
Producer
Stan Wlodkowski
Screenwriter
Craig Lucas
Distributor
Samuel Goldwyn Company
Production Co
American Playhouse
Rating
R
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 11, 1990, Original
Release Date (DVD)
Jan 23, 2001
Box Office (Gross USA)
$4.6M
Runtime
1h 36m