[[quoteright:298:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Philadelphia_113.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:298:''[[Music/BruceSpringsteen Oh brother, are you gonna leave me wastin' away\\
On the streets of Philadelphia?]]'']]
''Philadelphia'' is a 1993 drama film directed by Creator/JonathanDemme, starring Creator/TomHanks and Creator/DenzelWashington.

The film centers around a man named Andrew Beckett (Hanks), who is an up-and-coming lawyer until his employers figure out that he has AIDS. Then an important complaint is suddenly misplaced and his contract is terminated on that account. Suspecting that his disease was the true cause of his firing, Andrew approaches an old rival lawyer named Joe Miller (Washington) to plead his case in a lawsuit for discrimination. The two eventually team up to fight Andrew's firm while Joe struggles with his own homophobia and Andrew himself fights a losing battle against his disease.

''Philadelphia'' is notable as one of the first Hollywood movies with a large-scale distribution to bring up the subject of AIDS. It won two UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s: Tom Hanks' first for Best Actor in a Leading Role (he won another one year later for playing the title role in ''Film/ForrestGump''), and Music/BruceSpringsteen for Best Original Song ("Streets of Philadelphia"). It was notably Hanks' first successful dramatic role (following ''Film/NothingInCommon'' and ''Film/EveryTimeWeSayGoodbye'', both flops), resulting in a major career shift from comedies to drama and [[TomHanksSyndrome naming a trivia-trope]].
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!!''Oh troper, are you gonna leave me tropin' away on the streets of Philadelphia?''

* AmbulanceChaser: Joe, as we see in his first courtroom encounter with Andrew.
* AmoralAttorney: Andrew's former employers.
* BasedOnATrueStory: The film's story is very similar to two real-life ones. The first one was that of Geoffrey Bowers, who sued Baker [=McKenzie=] for wrongful dismissal after they fired him for getting [=AIDS=], even though he had a satisfactory evaluation two months prior to getting sick; the case took six years to be solved, in favour of Bowers, who actually died two months into the trial, to the tune of $500,000 in compensatory damages and the back pay he would have earned had he remained employed. Clarence Cain was an attorney for Hyatt Legal Services who was also fired for having [=AIDS=], sued Hyatt and won just before his death.
** Bowers's family sued the writers and producers of the film since producer Scott Rudin had actually interviewed them, with promises of compensation, for a movie project which he claimed he had abandoned. The family claimed 54 scenes in the movie were very similar to Bowers's real life that they could have only been sourced for the interview. They ended up settling, and the settlement was not disclosed, although the makers of the film were forced to acknowledge the film was partly based on Bowers's story.
* BigBrotherInstinct: Andy is worried that the ensuring spotlight from the trial will hurt the lives of his siblings and their families, and asks them (along with their parents) for input before going ahead with the trial. They all tell him not to worry about it, and that they're proud of him.
* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: Just count the babies at that funeral…
* BittersweetEnding: Andrew wins his case, but is unable to be present when it happens and dies soon after.
* BuryYourGays: Poor Andrew. However, his lover Miguel lives and, it is specifically noted, has not been infected with AIDS.
* ButNotTooGay: It received (and continues to receive) a lot of criticism for this, to the point where Tom Hanks addressed the issue in ''Film/TheCelluloidCloset'' by explaining this was because of ExecutiveMeddling, and that if they hadn't allowed for the edits the studio wanted, the film might never have gotten a release.
* CampGay: Several of the guests during the party that Andrew and Miguel hold. Quentin Crisp, who is a real-life example of a Camp Gay, also makes an appearance, though without any dialogue. However, Andrew also shows shades of this in a scene where he puts on opera music and explains it for Joe. (The scene comes very late in the film and is more about [[http://operawire.com/opera-meets-film-analyzing-the-transcendent-power-of-the-maria-callas-scene-from-jonathan-demmes-philadelphia/ opera as a passionate expression of universal emotion]]: it's about a woman devastated by tragedy, who feels redeemed by love and realizes that God is Love.)
* CatchPhrase: Joe: "Explain it to me like I'm a two/four/six-year old".
* CharacterDevelopment: Joe Miller came a long way, from wanting to get as far away from Andy as possible when he admits to having AIDS to straightening Andy's oxygen mask with a relaxed tenderness.
* CutHimselfShaving: Andrew explains the first mark on his face as a bruise caused by a racquetball.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Even with Joe's views on homosexuals and already refusing to help Andy, after witnessing the way Andy was being treated in the library because of his AIDS symptoms, he takes up the case with him against his former bosses.
* EvilLawyerJoke: "What do you call a thousand lawyers chained together at the bottom of the ocean?" "A good start."
* FanDisservice: Andrew opening his shirt to show the jury his lesions.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Charles Wheeler pretends to be friendly and sympathetic as he's about to fire Andrew.
* FiringDay: Andrew is asked to attend a meeting with his bosses. They outright tell him that he is incompetent and that he is fired.
* FiveTokenBand: Well, it was TheNineties, after all.
* ForegoneConclusion: Andrew's status as an AIDS patient ensures that he doesn't have long to live thanks to the lack of reliable and accessible antiviral medications at the time[[note]]some real-life AIDS patients were able to survive despite this, but the chances were low enough for the disease to be regarded as a death sentence prior to the 2000s[[/note]]. Consequently, the film derives its drama from whether Andrew can win the case against his former employers in what little time he has left.
* GayAesop: Likely the TropeCodifier in film.
* GayBravado: Joe pulls this in a bar on a colleague who implied Joe is gay for participating in the case.
* GoodAllAlong: During the proceedings, the head juror is shown repeatedly nodding his head and smiling when the lawyers for the firm Andy is suing discuss how his dismissal was due to poor performance, not AIDS, or about how his condition had nothing to do with their decision. You think all along that he's clearly in their corner and Andy's case has no chance. When the jury sequesters, however, he immediately points out the flaws in their defense (using an excellent military analogy) and makes the rest of the jury see how all their arguments against Andy is basically smooth-sounding bullshit. If you watch the movie again after that, it's plain he sees through their crap from the get-go and is amused at how hard they're trying to weasel out of it.
* GoodVictimsBadVictims: {{Invoked}}. When Andrew is suing his former firm for AIDS discrimination and brings up a woman working at the firm who also had AIDS, Andrew's former co-workers point out that she had contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. They make it clear that they reserve their sympathy for those who contracted the disease "through no fault of their own."
** That woman herself defies this, though, when testifying about how Walter Kenton would have recognized Andy's AIDS scabs, stating that she just considers both herself and Andy to just be victims trying to survive.
* HappierHomeMovie: Andy's family reminisce with a few clips after he gets fired. Also the final scene.
* TheHeroDies: Andrew himself at the end.
* HeteronormativeCrusader: A group of them, based on the infamous real-life Westboro Baptist Church, can be seen protesting on the courthouse steps during Andy's trial. WBC leader and famed asshole Fred Phelps would later call this movie [[SarcasmMode his favorite comedy]].
* {{Hypocrite}}: Many of the old men at Andy's firm are okay with doing stuff like skinny-dipping together in their gentleman's club pool, but the moment their golden-boy junior lawyer admits he's gay they treat him like a subhuman and fire him on trumped-up [[strike:immorality]] incompetence charges.
* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Andrew can be seen as this.
* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Andy is a graduate of Penn, and so is the only student that we run into.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Joe Miller is shown to be homophobic and believes in some of the stereotypes regarding gays (i.e. the conversation with his wife). He even initially disagreed to help Andy because of this prejudice. However, Miller does agree to help Andy because he witnessed Andy going through discrimination, [[CharacterDevelopment and he begins to see the error of his ways during and after the trial]].
* LoveRedeems: The theme of Maria Callas' aria ("La Mamma Morta" from Giordano's ''Andrea Chenier''). Joe takes it to heart.
* MagicalQueer: The main character of the film is arguably Joe, as he is the one to go through character development. Andrew opens up his world (and the viewer's) by being endlessly patient and humble with both his disease and any prejudice surrounding it and his sexuality. He shares his wisdom and his loving family and social circle, and any lingering detractors (both in and out of story) is dealt the coup de grace when he [[TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth dies peacefully]] in the end.
* ManlyTears: As Andrew translates the words of Maria Callas' aria, he is openly weeping, and you can just barely see tears in Joe's eyes.
* MeaningfulName: As is {{lampshaded}} in the film, Philadelphia is from the Greek for "City of Brotherly Love". The plot centers around a man who is ostracized and fired for being gay.
* MythologyGag: A meta-example in multiple ways: the film features a cover of [[Music/FearOfMusic "Heaven"]] by Music/TalkingHeads, performed by American DarkWave singer Q Lazzarus. ''Philadelphia'' director Creator/JonathanDemme had not only previously featured Q Lazzarus' "Goodbye Horses" in both ''Film/MarriedToTheMob'' and ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', but had also directed the Talking Heads concert film ''Film/StopMakingSense'', which features the band performing "Heaven".
* NiceGuy: Andy is this. Even with the (initial) prejudice he received from Miller, Andy still remains patient and respectful.
* NobleBigot: Joe Miller is personally repulsed by homosexuals, but he believes that a gay man should have the same protection under the law as any other person.
* ObligatoryJoke: It's a movie centering on lawyers, so at least one EvilLawyerJoke is expected.
* PhraseCatcher: Joe Miller, "the TV guy."
* {{Pun}}: The intro shows a store named "Condom Nation". At a costume party, Joe wears a suit covered in pages torn from a law book. Or, as he describes it: A Law Suit.
* PunchClockVillain: The lawyers representing Andrew's former employers. Belinda hates the fact that she has to hit Andrew below the belt with attacks on his personal life and character, but it's her job.
-->'''Belinda Conine''': (as a quiet aside) I hate this case.
* SatelliteCharacter: Arguably Andrew's entire family.
* ShoutOut: Joe's newborn daughter is named Clarisse. Creator/JonathanDemme's previous film was ''Film/SilenceOfTheLambs''.
* SlutShaming: At one point in the film, the defense begins focusing on Andrew frequently going to [[WhereEverybodyKnowsYourFlame gay bars and other gay-focused establishments]] and even having had anonymous sex with another man at a pornographic club while still living with Miguel.
* StraightGay: Andy and Miguel act more like [[ButNotTooGay best friends than lovers]]. The student who tries to proposition Joe in the drug store is also an example.
** Arguably, this plays into the plot, as Andy exhibited no obvious or stereotypical signs of being gay to his bosses, so for the longest time, they never suspected a thing.
* TitleDrop: Just about inevitable, given [[UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} the setting]].
* TokenGoodTeammate: Bob Seidman is the only senior man at the firm to demonstrate a conscience, admitting on the stand that he suspected Andy was sick. He's also the only one seen at Andy's funeral at the end.
* TragicAIDSStory: Andrew Beckett develops AIDS symptoms around the beginning of the film, is fired from his job once word gets out, and dies of it by the end. However, his lover Miguel lives and, it is specifically noted, has not been infected with AIDS. In addition, [[spoiler:Beckett won his case against his former law partners for firing him on the basis of his suspected illness and sexuality]].
* TroubledSympatheticBigot: Joe is himself quite homophobic at the outset. Getting to know Andrew over the course of the trial changes this.
* UnconventionalCourtroomTactics:
** Joe has a couple of unconventional tactics in his toolbox, such as questioning the defendants' sexual orientation.
** {{Discussed|Trope}} by Joe in the beginning of the trial, when he tells the jury: "Forget everything you've seen on television and in the movies. There's not going to be any last-minute [[SurpriseWitness surprise witnesses]], nobody is going to break down on the stand with a [[ThePerryMasonMethod tearful confession]]."
* TheUnreveal: It is never definitively established if somebody did deliberately hide the file to sabotage Andrew, or if it was a normal mix-up that happened at the right time to give the partners the excuse they needed.
* WhamShot: Andrew's sudden collapse in the middle of the trial. Also, Andrew showing the court the lesions on his chest at the film's climax.