Buddies

Arthur J. Bressan, Jr. (Gay USA) created this indie masterpiece in 1985, which was the first feature length drama about AIDS. When 25 year-old gay yuppie David (David Schachter) volunteers to be a "buddy" to an AIDS patient, the gay community center assigns him to Robert (Geoff Edholm), a 32 year-old politically impassioned gay California gardener abandoned by his friends and lovers. Revolving around the confines of Robert's Manhattan hospital room, Bressan skillfully unfolds this devastating two-hander (the rest of the cast is only heard off-screen). As David gazes out at the piers and rooftops of Manhattan, we hear his deftly scripted diary entries in voiceover. And as David is changed by knowing Robert, so, too, are we. In the simplicity of the story and the elegance of its unfolding, Buddies achieves a rare perfection. It's a timeless portrayal of an entire era in gay history.