capone666 The Ryan White Story The only disease children had to worry about contracting in the early-1980s was Cabbage Patch Fever.Unfortunately, as this biography shows, by the mid-1980s HIV/AIDS appeared.In one fell swoop, 13-year-old Ryan White (Lukas Haas) contracted the virus through a blood transfusion and was given 30-days to live.But it was not only the disease that weakened him, but his school banning him from attending, out of fear of infection.Unwilling to accept the fate the doctor had prescribed and the principal has assigned her son, Ryan's mother (Judith Light) hires a hardnosed lawyer (George C. Scott) to take the school to task.Based on the true story of one of the first non-homosexuals to get the disease, this heart wrenching made-for-television movie may be schmaltzy, but it helped bring sympathizers to the syndrome.Mind you, the new poster child for the fight against HIV/AIDS is now Magic Johnson's robot.Green Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

Tss5078 Ryan White became the face of AIDS in 1985. He was a 13 year old boy who was denied the right to go to school, because he had AIDS. Back then, people didn't know that AIDS was relatively hard to contract and that you couldn't get it from casual contact. When this young High School boy tried to attend school, in Kokomo Indiana, the towns people fought back. The hatred and torture this family had to go through was utterly shocking and eerily similar to the plight of the first African American students, who tried to attend all white schools. Lukas Haas stars as White in this 1989 film. Even 5 years later, there was still a major stigma attached to AIDS and it must have been an extremely difficult role to play. Judith Light, of Who's The Boss Fame, plays his mother. As is the case with most of these made for TV films, she was pretty good, but gave a performance that was way over the top. Being made for TV, especially in the 80s, films had to be extremely toned down. They would make up for what they couldn't show, by really playing on your emotions and really pushing these over the top performances, to the point where they become almost laughable. The cast is rounded out by the legendary George C. Scott who plays White's attorney, a man who took the case for free and gained none of the recognition that he deserved. Finally, White himself makes a cameo as another AIDS patient in the pediatric wing. Today, we don't see many people in the final stages of AIDS, as people with the disease can now live for 20-30 years without complications. To see this young kid with his pale skin, weighing about 100 pounds, featuring lesions on his face, and showing everyone his feeding tube was truly heartbreaking. Sometimes it takes the most unlikely of heroes to open up the minds of the public. Ryan White never made it out of his teenage years, but was still a man of tremendous courage who will be remembered and honored for generations to come.

princesskelli8 Ryan White was an absolutely amazing boy. It's incredible that for such a young kid to be hit with everything he was, that he could so many wonderful things and touch the hearts of so many people. This movie tells the story of Ryan first contracting AIDS and what the city of Kokomo, Indiana put him through when he attempted to return to school. Thankfully he was able to escape most of the prejudice and live out the remainder of his life surrounded by people who loved him and cared about him. He was my hero. I named my son after him. If you don't know who he is, I highly recommend watching this movie.

brableyjam As a Hemophiliac who contracted HIV... Ryan White Story,The was important and made survival seem like an option. so here i am today a disease inside of me that has lived longer than my girlfriend and I'm 23. and that's how i told her. It's not at the caliber of "And the Band Played" on, but jeez it's better than most network movies... I was relatively lucky to be a little bit younger... I was only exploited and shunned by a few... but the fight of irish blood and a good survival-istic sense of humor. And Ryan White is in it...