All language subtitles for And The Band Played On_English

[stirring music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Sirs?
May I greets from your hello?

- Hello.

- Where's the doctor
in charge?

- Doctor?

- Dr. Aziz.

Doctor. Where is he?

- Doctor. Yes.
To be certain, I take you.

Doctor.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[quiet moaning]

[moaning continues]

- [moaning]

[speaking native language]

- [grunts]

[woman vomits]

[breathing heavily]

- Why? Why this happen?

You doctor!

How you don't know?

♪ ♪

[heart beating]

[heartbeat fades]

[both speaking Danish]

[melancholy music]

♪ ♪

[man groans]

- [speaking French]

man: Two months before
its nominating convention,

the Democratic Party began
preliminary work

on its 1980 platform.

- Fellow members
of the platform committee,

I am Bill Kraus, liaison between
Congressman Phillip Burton

and the gay community
of San Francisco.

The gay rights plank I'm asking
to be included

does not ask
for special privileges.

It does not ask anyone
to like us.

It does not even ask that
the Democratic Party give us

many of the legal protections
which are considered the right

of all other Americans.

What this amendment asks

is that the Democratic Party
recognize that we,

the gay people of this country,

are also human.

[scattered applause]

[cheering and applause]

- Thank you.

Thank you very much.

- How you feeling?
- Tired.

- [unintelligible]
- Yeah.

Reagan: Thanks very much.
[cheering continues]

Thank you.

- I'll be back.

woman: Doctor?

- No, not now.

Reagan: Here we are.

This is--
[crowd cheering]

- What is his T cell count?

- I got to tell you,
Dr. Gottlieb,

this is weird, man.

- What?

- He doesn't have any.

- How can he not have
any T cells?

- Well,
his immune system's gone.

♪ ♪

[Reagan continues speaking
on TV]

- Morning.
- Good morning, Dr. Guinan.

- Jim?
- Yeah?

- Can I talk to you
for a minute?

I just got this in the mail
from our man in LA,

Dr. Shandera,

who got it from a Dr. Gottlieb.

I think you ought to look at it
right away.

- Thanks.

- Jim,

It looks like there's
a very weird epidemic

breaking out among gay men
in Los Angeles.

There've been five cases
of pneumocystis

with no contributing disease
within the past few months,

and already two fatalities.

- Hot stuff.
- Mm-hm.

Plus I made some phone calls
to New York and San Francisco,

and it seems that they've
had similar cases.

I think this ought to go
into the weekly newsletter

as soon as possible.

- What did you do that for?

- I don't decide
what goes in the newsletter.

I can only recommend.
But, Mary,

we've got
a new administration.

Do you want to see this
published

so that people can read it,

or do you wanna see it killed?

- Thanks.

- Don? Is that you?

- Hey, Mary!
- Hi.

How are you?

- Good. Nice to see you.

- How long has it been?

- Smallpox in India.
- [laughs]

Come on. Join us.

- Dale, how long do you plan
on doing that?

- Till I get
my peanut butter cookies.

[coins clinking]

- [shouting]

Hi-yah!

- [laughs]

- Guys, I'd like you to meet
Don Francis.

- Hi. Just doing
a little demonstration

of the benefits
of a sound knowledge

of applied science.

Hi. Harold Jaffe,

Sexually Transmitted Diseases.
- Oh.

- Hi, Don.
Bill Darrow, Sociology.

You didn't shake Harold's hand,
did you?

- Don, hi.
Thanks for coming.

Did you meet everybody?
- Yeah.

- How's Phoenix?
- Warm.

- Don't we have a meeting
in my office at three o'clock?

What's everybody doing here?

- Trying to have lunch
in four minutes,

like you.

- If--if one of those is
peanut butter cookies,

that is mine.

- Let's go.

- Dale Lawrence,
Division of Host Factors. Hi.

- Okay, what we've got
in Los Angeles,

San Francisco, and New York

is a number of gay men
who've been hit

with a variety
of opportunistic infections,

and really, that's all we know.

I've asked Don to join us
because for the last three years

he's been tracking hepatitis B
virus in gay men,

and before that, worked on the
Ebola fever epidemic in Africa.

Thanks for joining us.

What we've got to do is
hit the phones and spread out,

contact the health departments
in all major metropolitan areas,

as usual, so they can do

a hospital-to-hospital search
for cases.

- Basic shoe-leather
epidemiology.

Jim: That's it. We've got
to talk to the patients,

talk to the doctors who may have
treated those patients,

and friends, relatives.

No question too stupid
or too personal.

- Sexual relationships too?
- Lifestyle stuff.

- Household chemical, cleaning.
- Diet.

Harold: Could be a bad batch
of street drugs.

- Pets.
- Yeah, maybe they all get

the same kind of kitty litter.
[all chuckle]

- Don, I'm gonna go
to New York this afternoon,

take a look at this disease...
can you come with me?

- Sure.

- If I knew these blotches
would turn purple,

I'd have bought some bags
to match.

Here, look at my book.

When I was still human.

I was the best in the business.

Ask anybody.

Leave it to me to get some
disease nobody ever heard of.

Kaposi sarcoma.

Even my doctor had
to look it up.

"Nothing to worry about,"
he said.

"Usually happens
to Italian men in their 60s

"who continue to live
a normal life

till they die
of something else."

Do I look like an Italian man
in my sixties?

Now I do.

160.

Why do they make things
like this

that nobody can ever solve?

- Oh, excuse me.

I'm sorry.

- Hello.

- Would you like me
to come back?

- Can I help you?

Mary: I'm from the CDC,

the Centers
for Disease Control.

Are you one of the interviews

that Dr. Freedman-Kien set up
for me?

- I'm sorry--I'm just having
a little spot looked at.

- Oh, Gaetan Dugas,
Dr. Mary Guinan.

If you have a few minutes,
it'd be very helpful

if you'd talk to Dr. Guinan.

Gaetan: I'm sorry,

but I'm barely going
to make my plane as it is,

if I'm lucky.

I'm a flight attendant.

- Well, would you mind
answering a few questions

while you're getting dressed?

- What kind of questions?

- I assume from
what Dr. Freedman-Kien told me

that you are gay.

- Also homosexual.

- [laughs]

And how long have you been
having sex with men?

- [laughs]

About ten years, I guess...
- Ten--

- Openly.

- And could you
roughly approximate

how many sexual encounters
you have in one year?

- In a year?
Mary: Mm-hm.

- [scoffs] Are you ki--
you're serious?

- Yes.
- I don't know.

- Roughly?

- About, um...

250.

- 250.

- Actually, now that I think
of it,

that would be
a very conservative estimate.

Mary: And of these partners,
how many--

- Look, I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.

I would love to chat forever
about my sex life.

And we could.
If I don't leave this minute,

I'm going to miss my plane.

- Oh.
- Maybe next time, huh?

- Okay.
- All right.

Doctor,
I'll call you next month.

doctor: Fine.
- All right.

I look okay?

- Great.
- Of course I do.

Thank you.
Mary: Thank you.

- Doctor.
Mary: Bye-bye.

- Bye-bye.
doctor: Bye.

Bill Kraus: Do you have
many gay friends, Harold?

- Not too many, no.

Two doctors I knew
in medical school.

I still stay in touch
with them.

- Are they a couple?

- Yeah, actually,
15 years at least.

- Kico and I--
Kico's my lover--

we've got
a wide circle of friends,

and most of them are
in relationships,

or want to be
in a relationship.

- So, what
are you saying?

- Lots of men go
to these bathhouses.

But there are tens of thousands
of gay men in this city,

maybe a couple of hundred
thousand.

They're just cops and waiters
and teachers

and lawyers and ditch diggers
and athletes.

- Bill--Bill,
talk a little louder.

They can't hear you
down the block.

- I'm sorry.
I don't mean to lecture.

I just don't want you
to come away

from your tour
of the bathhouses

thinking that's
how all gay men live.

- Last night
we lost another one.

In less than three weeks,
this handsome young guy

turns into the Elephant Man,

which we found out was caused

by some rare parasite
that only sheep get.

So I called a vet

to ask what they do
when sheep get it.

They shoot them.

- Good luck.
- Thanks.

- Selma.
- Bye, Bill.

Hi. Selma Dritz,
Department of Public Health.

We're here to inspect
the premises.

- I'll see
if I can find the boss.

- Thanks.

[sighs]

- Those two guys there--
they're strangers?

Selma: Maybe.

Probably.

- They just met, and now they're
gonna go in the...

- Right.

- It's interesting.

Selma: Listen to me.

Imagine yourself
in a place like this,

only it's filled with women.

I mean really beautiful women.

I mean, imagine one of those
"Penthouse" women,

and she wants to go
into that little room with you,

and there's nothing between you
but a little towel.

Are you gonna tell me

that you wouldn't go
into that little room

and seriously consider dropping
that little towel?

- Possibly, yeah.

- Yeah.

I know men who would
give up food for it.

Hi, Eddie.
- Darling, how are you?

- Good.

Eddie Papasano,
Dr. Harold Jaffe

from the
Centers for Disease Control.

- Hi.
- Hi.

- So, what's the problem?

- Well, there may be some kind
of an epidemic spreading

in the gay community,

and I'd like to just come in
and have a look around.

- I'm sorry. That's impossible.

We have to protect the
confidentiality of our clients.

- I know, but Eddie, you know
that I speak on behalf

of the Gay Liberation Committee,

the City Council,
the State Assembly.

I can tell you
without fear of contradiction

you are regarded second
only to Abe Lincoln

as a citizen who would fight
to the death

to preserve civil liberties.

So let's cut the crap.

It's ten o'clock in the morning,
for God's sake.

Let us in.

- Selma, only for you.

- Thank you.
- Thanks.

- You're a real mensch, Eddie.

- So, how many men come here
a night?

- Hundreds,
every night of the week.

Some bathhouses,
more than a thousand.

- What's this?

Mary: Poppers.
They're a quick, cheap high.

- What are you doing here?

- What are you doing here?

- Oh, God,
my wife's gonna kill me.

Did you get the results
on the amyl nitrite study?

- Yeah.

You can forget about poppers.
We ran every test there is.

The worst thing that happened
was two mice started dancing

with a rubber glove.

- Go home.

- So far, not one TV station has
even mentioned it.

Not one word
in the straight press--nothing!

The number of patients
that I'm treating for it is

growing so fast I don't
even want to think about it.

I don't know why.

I mean, is anything happening
in Washington?

Do these people even know
it exists?

- If they do,
they don't discuss it.

- When do you go back to D.C.?
- Tomorrow.

- Well, then that's the first
thing we have to deal with.

You just have to make people
aware of it.

- Well, how, Marc?

The media all say
the same thing:

there's no story.

One journalist said to me,
"The only people interested

"in reading about gay men dying
are gay men

and the ones who wish
they'd all die."

Marc: I'm late for a meeting.
Bill Kraus: Good luck.

If we don't get money
for research, and soon--

a lot of it--

God help everyone.

- Okay, Marc.

What is it?

- Nothing.

- Can't you tell me?

- Look, you have things to do,

and they're
very important things,

and I can't tell you
not to do them.

I guess I'd hate you
if you didn't do them.

But I just want--

I just wish that we could--

I want us--

all I want is
a place where we--

this isn't--

I don't know what I want.

- All right, what do we think?
What do we know?

What can we prove?

- Zip.

Jim: Only gays?
- Think, but can't prove.

- Only males?
Harold: Think, but can't prove.

- The semen depositors.
If it's in the semen,

unless there's something
specifically unusual

about this disease,

it shouldn't make a difference
where the semen is deposited,

whether in the anus
or in the vagina,

which could mean that women
will be getting it also.

- That's a good point.
You should focus on that.

- All we know so far is

that the immune system stops
functioning completely.

- In all cases?

- Know, but can't prove.

- You know,
what we have here looks

more like a sexually transmitted
disease

than syphilis does.

- Think or prove?
- I can't prove

that the sun isn't gonna turn
into a bran muffin next Tuesday,

but after 20 years of
doing this, I know what I know.

- That's not
what I'm talking about.

- Don't say it.
I know it's pure supposition,

but it's more than strong enough

to justify a definitive study.

- I agree.
- I agree with Bill.

It's a single infectious agent

with a high probability
of sexual transmission.

- Well then,
viral or bacterial?

- If you skip
"think" and "prove,"

I'd guess viral,
but it's only a guess.

- A guess.
- Definitely.

- Okay, well, let's assume
that it's a virus.

- Now, the question is:
is it one that we already know

that has become lethal,

or is this some kind
of brand-new virus

that we've
never even seen before?

- Here's a little stat
to chew on:

in seven months,
the number of cases jumped

from 5 to 152 in 15 states.

- Seven months?
- Yeah, but the spooky part is

that so far the mortality rate
has been 40%.

Mary: 40%?
- And according to the doctors

taking care of these patients,

the mortality rate could
ultimately turn out to be 100%.

- 100%.

- My God.

- All right, let's set up
a case control study

based on the premise
that it's sexually transmitted.

Don, I've been talking
to the director.

We want you
to set up a lab here, run it,

and handle the causative end
of this study.

If it's a bug, find it.

I've just been given approval
to have a task force

for three months, which,

if this disease is
like any of the others,

ought to be, you know,
plenty of time.

And, of course, no money,

so we're gonna have to moonlight
this epidemic.

- What else is new?
- That means I can't

guarantee you a staff
or equipment...

- Trust him on this.
Jim: Until I juggle the budget

around a little bit.

- So, you gonna show him
where the lab's gonna be?

- You wanna see it right now?

- Oh, I think you should, Jim.

- Sure. Come on down.

Harold: You got a flashlight,
by the way?

- It's not that bad.
- You know, one of those

miner's things with a little
light in the middle.

- It's the only space
we have left,

so it's gonna look
a little hopeless.

- Only because it is.
- No comment.

It's--actually,
it's bigger than it looks.

Tom Spira, Paul Fiorino.
Don Francis.

- Oh, nice to meet you.
- Hi, Don.

- What is this? An incubator
from the Smithsonian?

- [laughs]
You know it too well.

- Where's the CO2 attachment?

- We had to put the CO2 tanks
in the next room

because we couldn't get approval
for a real CO2 incubator.

- Hopeless I can live with,
but this is ridiculous.

- Hey, watch out.

[crowd cheering]

[crowd roaring]

- Look, stick around here.
I might be coming right out.

Dr. Mary Guinan, please.

- Your name?

- I'm a friend of Dr. Conant's.

- Your name.

man: You can tell him.

He has no idea who you are,

and we'll pretend
we never heard of you.

- You guys ahead of me?

- You can go ahead.
We got nothing to do

except go to a Halloween party.

And you're in rehearsal.
I know.

It's tres gauche to fawn, but I
happen to think you're a genius.

I mean, a double genius,

as a director
and a choreographer.

- Is that you?

- Yeah. Bobbi Campbell,

self-appointed KS poster boy.

You look surprised.

- No, no.
I'm...curious, maybe.

- Well, you know,
if the gay community doesn't

start raising hell,

do you think Reagan's gonna do
a damn thing?

- I wish I had your courage.

- Courage? No.

I'm scared to death.

I just have this absurd
determination to live.

Don't you?

[knocking at door]

- It's open.

- Dr. Guinan?

- Yes.

- Uh...
[chuckles]

I'll tell you:
I expected the neighborhood,

the hotel, this room even,

but I think
it would take Fellini

to cast such a beautiful
young woman in a sweat suit

as the doctor
I'm supposed to reveal

my most intimate
sexual eccentricities to.

- Hello.
- Hi.

- I'm Mary Guinan,

and the reason
for the sweat suit is

somebody stole every piece
of clothing I brought with me

from the laundromat
this morning.

Um, would you mind signing
these two consent forms?

One is for the questionnaire,

and one is for the specimens
I need to collect.

- Which specimens?
- Blood, urine,

a swab from the inside
of your mouth,

and another from your rectum.

In this study,
some have the disease,

and some, like you,
have no symptoms.

- Hm.

[scoffs]

You know, I really don't mind
if you know all this about me.

I'm just not too sure
that I want to know.

Is there a name yet
for this disease?

- The gay press calls it
gay pneumonia or gay cancer,

and the straight press
doesn't mention it at all.

- I was hung up in traffic
coming over here.

The gay--
gay Halloween parade was on.

Have you seen it?

- I didn't know they had one.

- [laughs]
Yeah.

Yeah, they do.

It's really pretty amazing.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

The party's over.

♪ ♪

- You scared me.
I'm sorry.

- Jesus.
- Sorry. Sorry.

What is that?

- It's today's figures.

- No, no, no.

"Butcher's..."

- In the war against Napoleon,

when Admiral Nelson wanted to
know how many people were dead,

he'd yell to his orderly,

"What's the butcher's bill
for today?"

Jim: God.

- We've injected Mary's samples
into mice and rabbits

and guinea pigs,
and we're gonna try monkeys.

So far, we haven't found
any evidence of parasites,

fungus, or viruses--
nothing.

- You mean the case control
study yielded zilch?

- Yeah. All we know so far is
that the disease is caused

by some unknown organism
or organisms,

which we can't see or find.

We don't know
if it's a single agent

or a combination of causes.

We don't know
how it's transmitted.

We don't know--
[clattering]

Don't touch that!

Christ.
Don't you know there's

about a million things in there
that could kill you?

I'm sorry.

[siren wails]

- [speaking French]

[both speaking French]

- Politically, as far as the
next election's concerned,

we're not dead,
but we're in a coma.

- For 20 years
I've built that coalition.

So solid,
nobody could touch me.

- The only group
you can count on

to vote as a solid block,

because it's literally
life and death for them now,

is the gay vote.

And San Francisco is probably
the only city in the world

where that group is big enough
to swing the election.

Without them, you're the
ex-godfather of San Francisco.

- What do they want?

- Disability insurance for GRID,

if they get it, for one thing.

Gay Related Immune Deficiency.

And money, money, money
for research.

That is crucial.

Nobody knows
what's causing this thing.

- I'll introduce a bill.

But if all the angels came

dancing down to Earth
like the Rockettes,

even they couldn't get a dime
out of this administration

for anything
with the name "gay" on it.

man: In New York today,
President Reagan

asked voters in Little Italy

to support
his economic recovery program.

- I've never seen so many
calories lined up in one...

We have to turn
the direction around

that we've been going

in order to end inflation,

end unemployment,

and get this country
back where it should be

in the eyes of the world.

- But at year's end, it appears
that there will be less money

to spend for public health
next year.

- I'm sure
there is one department

you've been waiting
for me to mention:

The Department of Defense.

It's the only department
in our entire program

that will actually be increased

over the present budgeted
figure.

[applause]

- I don't suppose you heard back
on the requisition I put in

for an electron microscope.

- Well, how can I put this
to you diplomatically?

- Not approved.
- Not approved.

- I don't know how I'm supposed
to run this lab

without the basic,
fundamental--

every month, I write a memo
asking,

"Where's the $196,000 I need
to run this lab?"

I can't even get
a simple yes or no.

- I'm tired.
I'm gonna go home.

I'm gonna go to bed.
And, really,

I suggest you do the same thing,
all right?

- Not approved.

woman: Dr. Curran?

- Yeah? What is it?
- Jeff called.

There's been an outbreak among
the Haitian population in Miami.

- [sighs] How many?

woman: Four known dead,
but they said

that since most of them are
hiding from Immigration,

there could be dozens more.

None of them were gay, he said.
Just Haitians.

- What do you mean,
"just Haitians"?

- That's
what he said to ask you.

- Okay. Thanks.

Oh, boy. "Just Haitians."

I don't know.

This disease does not make
any sense to me.

I don't get it.
It's completely off the wall.

You know, a doctor in the Bronx
has just announced

that 11 newborn babies have
got it.

And now Haitians.

It's not just a gay disease
anymore.

- The National Center
for Disease Control is reporting

more cases
of two rare and deadly diseases

found in homosexual men.

There is no apparent explanation
for the outbreak,

but health officials are
urgently looking for an answer.

man: It appeared a year ago
in New York's gay community,

then in the gay communities of
San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Now, its been detected
in Haitian refugees.

No one knows why.
Specialists argue

that millions of dollars should
be spent for research now.

- Bobbi Campbell is fighting
for his life.

One of a rapidly growing group

whose battle has fascinated
and frightened modern medicine.

He has Kaposi sarcoma,

a deadly skin cancer
that first appeared

on the bottom of his feet

as spots the size of a quarter.

- When I first came down
with the disease,

I found this button

which absolutely reflected
my position at the time.

I may be down, but I'm not out.

- Gay plague that's sweeping
across our country.

Say, God is not mocked.
You can't fool God.

You break all His laws,

and God Almighty will
judge you.

[horns honking]

- Hey, Don.
- Hey, Dave.

- Hey, Dr. Jaffe.

- Listen--can I get, like,
a really big chunk of meatloaf

with gravy
and a couple of pickles?

- Absolutely.
- Thanks.

Hello?

What's the matter?

- What do we think?
What do we know?

What can we prove?

I'm so sick of that.

I mean, the only thing
we know for sure is

that we don't know anything,

which also happens to be
the only thing we can prove...

we think.

Or do we know,
or do we think we know?

I don't know
what the hell it is. It's--

- It's a jelly donut.

- Oh, well, thanks, Harold.
It's a jelly donut.

- You're very welcome.

I owe you a buck
and a quarter.

[coins clink]

[video game beeping]

- Something's gobbling up
the T cells.

I'm telling you, Max,

feline leukemia might be
a clue.

Really looks infectious to me,

just like your favorite bug,
the feline leukemia virus.

Look, they both cause cancer,
right?

- Okay.

- They both cause
immune suppression.

Something's gobbling up
those T cells.

Max: Okay.

- They both have
long incubation periods.

- Suspect or know?

These guys have had
swollen lymph nodes, fevers,

all sorts of things for years
before they get Kaposi sarcoma.

- Good.

It's hardly scientific proof,
but it's good.

- All right,
let's add hepatitis B.

It causes cancer, right?

- Right.

- Immune suppression? No.

Has a long incubation period.

Can take up to 30 years
to give cancer to the liver.

- Right.

- Transmitted by sex?

No.

Yes.

It all fits.

It fits.

The disease
that we're looking for

looks like a combination
between feline leukemia

and hepatitis B.

So isn't it likely, Max,
what we're looking for is

some kind of new virus?

Like the retrovirus
that causes feline leukemia?

- Possible.

It's also possible that since
your two fields of expertise are

feline leukemia and hepatitis B,

what looks
like a scientific eureka

might only be
a case of wishful thinking.

- It's possible.
It's maybe likely.

Max: Actually,
it could be a retrovirus,

in which case we need Bob Gallo.

- Will we have to kiss his ring?

Max: Probably.

But here's a man who became
world famous for having found

the first human retrovirus,
HTLV.

But he still hasn't found
a major illness to link it to.

And if this turns out
to be the one...

- Then Bob Gallo gets
the Nobel Prize.

- [grunts]
Shit!

- Sorry, Dr. Gallo.

- What are you sorry about?
Winning?

Never be sorry about winning.

When you don't get
your promotion next month,

that's when you should be sorry.

[both chuckle]

- Dr. Gallo? Telephone.

- Gallo here.

- Bob, Max Essex.
- Max, how are you?

- Are you working
on that new gay disease yet?

- No, Max.
- Well, Don Francis

used to be my student--
he's with the CDC now--

and he's found enough evidence
to suggest

that it might be caused
by some retrovirus

possibly in the same family
as yours.

I'm gonna explore this with him,

and I think it's something
you ought to look into.

Bob: Well, why don't you--

why don't you send me
what you have,

and I'll put somebody on it.

Max: Excellent.

Bob: Thanks for the call, Max.
Bye.

- What did he say?
- We got it.

- Jim, I got a call from LA.

- Wait a minute.
I'm on the phone.

- I got a call from LA.

This could be
the first real lead

to prove this thing is
sexually transmitted.

My plane leaves in 40 minutes.

- We don't have the budget yet--
- No, don't sweat it.

I'll front the money.
You'll pay me back.

- Okay, well, if you think
you have definitive proof

it was brought in by a UFO,
please send it in to us.

Thank you.

[siren wails]

- 666.

- Excuse me?

- That is my room number.

That's when I called
the Public Health Department...

When I saw
what room they put me in.

But nobody will listen to me.

Nobody listens in this place!

[coughing]

- I'll listen to you.

That's why I'm here.

- It all--
it all started with a barbecue.

It was in the summer of 1980.

We had it in our backyard.

And it was just me and my lover

and a gay couple
from up the street.

Now, one of them died

on October 6, 1981.

And one died
on February 6, 1982.

And the other one died
on March 6, 1982.

There are three sixes, you see?

- Yes.

Yes, now, all of them died
of this new disease?

- There are three sixes.

There are three sixes, so I--

- Do you see any of the names
of those men on this list?

- October 6 is '81.

February 6 is '82.

And March 6, '82.

Wait--

- Good. Now...

you had sex
with all three of these men?

- Listen.

Can you hear that?
- What?

- Do you hear that?

♪ Da-dun da-dun-dun ♪

The music.

♪ Da-dum ♪

It's playing--
it's playing upside down.

It's instead of backwards
means--

oh, oh,

I'm number four on the list.

I'm number four...
and two makes--

Wait. Would you--

would you--would you--

would you tell me
the absolute truth?

Would you? No matter
how terrifying that may be?

- I'll try to.

- Does it make a difference
if I was cremated?

- I--I don't understand.

I'm sorry.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- [crying]

man: Him, him,

and him.

And--

I miss him very much.

- I am 32 years old,
and I'm dying.

Can you just leave me alone?
[coughs]

- I'm sorry.
- Get him out of here!

- Here's my card, if you--
- [coughing]

God damn it, Blaine,
get him out of here!

[coughing]

Bill Darrow:
Sorry to bother you.

- Mr. Darrow?

I'm not his lover.

I'm just a friend who takes care
of him on Thursdays.

We take turns
in a buddy program.

I'm not sure if this is
what you're looking for,

but I think Greg got it
from a man from New York.

- You don't know a man
from New York

with a French Canadian accent,
do you?

Very handsome, I was told.
Very chic.

- I don't think so.

I mean, I very seldom--

Wait a minute.

This might help somebody else,
right?

- Right.

- Of course I know him.

From the bathhouses.

I never had sex with him,

but almost everybody I know has,
or wants to.

- I was so fond of him.

Then again, he gave me
hepatitis,

so it's quite possible he gave
me this, too.

From the moment
I first spied him at the tubs,

I was so crazy about him.

He was so gorgeous.

- Can you just give me
his phone number or address,

or anyway I can get
a hold of him?

- All I know is
he's French Canadian,

and he's an airline steward
based in New York.

I don't even know
which airline.

- That's okay.

If you can just give me
his name.

- I called him Dougie.

Nick--nickname.

- Dougie.

And his full name?

Hi, Mary.

- Hi.

You back in town?

- No. Just for the night.

I'm probably nuts,
but I'm on my way to New York

to try and find
a very sexually active

French Canadian
airline steward.

Gaetan Dugas?

Bill Darrow.

- Hello.

Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.

- Sit down.

Take all the time you need.

- Thank you.
- Thank you.

- Thanks very much
for coming in.

- Oh, well, I'm very flattered
to be asked,

although I have no idea
what I'm here to discuss.

Would it disturb you
if I smoke?

- If you need to, go ahead.

Mr. Dugas,

have you had sex
with any of these people?

- Is that what I'm here for?

To talk about
my beautiful lovers?

[laughs]
Now I am flattered.

Although,
if you don't mind my saying,

I cannot possibly imagine
why you'd be interested.

- We've been finding
substantial evidence to suggest

that one of the ways
this disease may be transmitted

is sexually.

- Now, wait a minute.

Look, all I have is skin cancer,

which is not contagious,
and you know it.

- No one's accusing you
of anything.

We just need to know
as much as we can.

- You know, I adore doctors,
but I must say,

if it is an epidemic,

this gay plague thing,

it's your fault
for not stopping it, not mine.

Bill Darrow: That's exactly
what we're trying to do.

And we need everybody's help

so if you could give me
the names and addresses

of all your lovers,

and start with the people
on this list, please?

- [laughing]
What?

My friend, we're talking
about thousands of men

all over the world

whose faces
I cannot even remember,

and you want names?

- Well, as many
as you can remember would help.

- My book's in my apartment.

You call me, eh?

Bill Darrow: What's the number?

- I'll call you.

- Listen.
Help me, don't help me--

that's up to you,
but don't fuck with me.

I'm not playing games here.

- Not before 6:00,
and not after 6:30.

- Thank you.

- And remember something.

Whatever it is,

if I've got it,

someone gave it to me.

man speaking over PA:
Train number 17

with chair
and sleeping car service

to Albany, Syracuse...

- Do you mind?

- Sorry.

- Whoa, whoa, whoa!
This is important.

- Not to
me!

- I've got to go.

- Uh-uh!

[overlapping chatter]

Dugas: Hello?
- Yes. Oh, hello.

It's Bill Darrow from the CDC.

Dugas: Got plenty of paper?
I've got 73 names.

- 73--sure. Yeah.

Uh-huh.

All right,
this is how it breaks down.

This is Patient Zero,

an airline steward
from New York,

and the starting point
of this particular group.

Now, these are the eight
with whom he had

direct sexual contact.

These four in New York,
these four in LA.

This is LA Three.

He had sex with LA Two,
this man from Florida,

who in turn had sex
with this Florida man,

two from Georgia,
one from Texas, and so on.

In all, 40 cases in 10 cities

are verifiably linked
to Patient Zero,

which strongly suggests this is
a sexually transmitted disease.

- That's great. That's
absolutely terrific work, Bill.

- Bill, that is the first sign
of real proof.

Mary: Mm-hm.
Dale: Good job.

- Is there any indication
why Patient Zero is still alive,

and others in this cluster died
almost immediately?

- Well, we just have to assume
a variable incubation period.

- Yeah.
- How many of these connections

were made in bathhouses?

- Most of them.
- Most of them?

We know what we have to do.
We have to close the bathhouses.

- The federal government doesn't
have authority to do that.

How soon before you can write up
a full report?

- Four or five days.
- Listen, Jim,

I'm from the Bay Area--
I could just go up and start--

- Don--Don, could you stay
out of this, please?

It's not my decision what to do
with this information,

and it's certainly not yours.

Something this important
has to go upstairs first,

and based
on what they recommend,

we can act.

- Are you saying that the public
might not even be told

what we just found out?

- Are you saying this is
or is not

a sexually transmittable
disease?

- The existence
of a cluster study

provides evidence
for an hypothesis

that people in the study are not

randomly associated
with each other,

and the study is
a sexual cluster.

On the other hand, we don't have
enough scientific evidence

to say for certain
that one person gives it

to another person.

We have to focus much more
research into this area

so that we don't
prematurely release information

that's not validated.

On the other hand, we're
not holding back any information

that might provide important
health benefits.

Thank you.

Don: In a situation that might

cause the White House
a little embarrassment,

your idea is just to roll over
and play dead.

- All right, what is this?
I am the bureaucratic whore--

you're Lawrence of Arabia?

You think I like doing
everything that I have to do?

- I don't know. Do you?
- Look. One of my jobs is

to make sure that I don't
start a nationwide panic.

- Is that worse
than an epidemic?

- I am not gonna make enemies
of the people who can cut off

what little funding
that we have left.

- Don, I am juggling
a dozen balls here:

political, bureaucratic,
public.

- What about science
and medicine?

- What I said in there was
pure science, and you know it.

Now, there is strong evidence,
but there is nothing

that we can prove
scientifically,

and without that, we're--

- You know it can take
up to five years

to establish scientific proof.

How many people are
gonna get sick in that time?

- Okay, fine. Let's just say
that we get rid of the idea

of scientific proof.

What are you gonna
replace it with?

The Ouija Board School
of Epidemiology?

- When a house is on fire,

you don't wait
for scientific proof.

You grab the first hose

and you start putting out
the fire.

[indistinct chatter]

man: I never said that! You're
putting words in my mouth.

[overlapping shouts]

man: Let me just say something.
Pat, Listen to me.

[overlapping shouts]

- You keep saying community!
Why would you--

- Wait a second.
- Great medical--

- Community--
- If you can't organize

your own people,
how do you expect--

man: Just wait a second.

[overlapping conversations]

- I am just talking
about a modern--hold on.

Just wait a second.

If somebody has--
somebody has to--

- God damn it!
Just shut the hell up.

My God. I can't believe that
every time we have a meeting

in this town,
we don't end in a brawl,

we start with one.

- In the first place,
I don't have the power

to shut down the bathhouses.

- Oh, Merv,
as Director of Public Health,

you have the power
to shut down anything

that threatens public health.

- According to the CDC press
conference,

there's no compelling evidence
that it's sexually transmitted.

- You know damn well
if this epidemic was

killing grandmothers
and virgins,

you'd have an army
of investigators out there.

- Thank you.
- Exactly!

This is San Francisco,

where "bathhouse" is not
just a word--

it is a symbol
for sexual freedom.

- Thank you.
- Right.

- I'm sorry.

If you want these bathhouses
closed down,

the gay community is gonna have
to help close them.

Good night.
- That's it?

- No way he's gonna budge
and commit political suicide.

And why should he,
with the gay community

split right down the middle?

- No, Selma, we are not split
down the middle.

The vast majority of gay men are

in stable,
monogamous relationships,

or they are looking to be.

They don't go
to the bathhouses.

It's only the minority--

okay, a vocal minority who do.

- If something isn't done
about this epidemic,

they're dead.

The vocal minority,
and a lot more besides.

man: Just wait a second.
Let me talk for a second.

[overlapping shouts]

Bill Kraus: Kico,

what's the matter?

- Um...um, there's been a--

For a while now--

- You don't have to tell me.
- Yes, I do.

I've met someone.

He's an architect.

It'd hurt something awful
if you stopped being my friend.

- How could I stop
being your friend?

[sighs]

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

man: Five, six, seven, eight.

♪ ♪

woman: Straight back.

♪ ♪

man: Four, five,
six, seven, eight.

Not bad.

♪ ♪

Uh-huh, uh-huh.
woman: Good.

♪ ♪

- Four, five, six,
seven, eight.

♪ ♪

Hey, Doc.

Hey.
- Hi.

- I'm really happy
you could come.

- Well, thank you for asking.

- Well, you said you were
gonna be in New York, so--

I'm sorry I couldn't be more
specific with you on the phone.

I think I got this thing.

I'm really scared.

Why--why am I so--

why am I so afraid
to tell anybody about this?

You know, I know
how hard it is for you people

to get the kind of money
you need to fight this thing.

So, I want to--

You just use that
wherever you think

it'll do the most good,
all right?

- Thank you.

- Get out of here.
I got to get back to work.

♪ ♪

[crowd chanting]
We won't stop! We won't stop!

We won't stop!

- I'm Bill Kraus.

This could get you
into trouble with the CDC,

couldn't it?

- Probably.

- As I tried to say
on the phone,

the CDC caused chaos here.

That press conference was
so ambiguous

about sexual transmission,

the gay community is
in complete turmoil.

Excuse me.

- [unintelligible] now!

[overlapping shouts]

- How much longer do you think
we're gonna wait here?

[overlapping shouts]

- Let me tell you people
something.

No matter what happens here
today,

if you try to close my joint,
I'll sue the ass off you.

- Doesn't it bother you knowing

that the people who have sex
in your bathhouse are

playing Russian roulette?

- Please, let's cut out
this bullshit.

We are all in this
for one thing: money.

I make it when the guys come in.

You doctors,
you make it when they go out.

[cheers and applause]

- How long are we gonna wait
for him?

He's almost an hour late.
Let's go.

- All right.
Can we settle down please?

Please, everybody settle down
so we can start.

Thank you. Please.

So, while we're waiting
for Dr. Silverman,

your Director of Public Health,

I've got some good news
to report.

Not just here in San Francisco,
but right across the country,

gay organizations are
raising money

to fight this epidemic.

[applause]

I'd like to introduce now
Dr. Don Francis

from the Centers
for Disease Control in Atlanta,

who's been fighting
this epidemic from the start.

Don.

- First of all, let me tell you
that I'm not speaking on behalf

of the
Centers for Disease Control.

I'm speaking for myself.

There may have been
some confusion caused

by the way the information was
distributed

about whether or not
this disease is

sexually transmittable.

I'm here to give you
the absolute truth

about what we've found.

First,

if you get this disease,

the chances are about 100%

that you're going to die.

Second, one of the ways
that you can get this disease

is by having sex with somebody
who already has it.

We have established

that most of the people
who have this disease

got it in a bathhouse.

[crowd booing and shouting]

In every city that we've--

- Quiet down, please.

- Come on.
That's a damn lie.

[crowd booing and shouting]

- We want the truth!

- One at a time, please.

Everyone will have a chance
to speak.

Please, shut up.
Shut up.

Shut the hell up.

- How can you say
we get it from sex

when the CDC just said
we don't get it from sex?

all: Yeah!
[cheers and applause]

- This is another Reagan trick
to shove us back in the closet.

- What about the bathhouses?

- Here's the man we've all been
waiting for,

your Director of Health,

Dr. Mervyn Silverman.

- Let's go. Let's go.

- Since the reason
for this meeting is

to discuss how we feel,
who would like to--

[overlapping shouts]
- Close the tubs!

- Bobbi Campbell.
Bobbi Campbell, go ahead.

Would you like to say something?

- Yeah, Bobbi!

- For years and years and years,

people in my hometown were
telling me I was a freak

because of my
sexual orientation,

until I came to San Francisco

and I found a community
of freaks just like me!

[cheers and applause]

We stood together!
We stood together!

And it took a long time,

but we finally forced this one
tiny spot of the universe,

the Castro,

to realize that how we choose
to have sex and where

is our own damn business!

[cheers and applause]

Which I know, to people
who haven't gone through

what we've gone through,
sounds funny,

and they may laugh.

But I know,
speaking for most of us,

I would rather die
as a human being

than continue living as a freak.

[cheers and applause]

- Clearly, there's a lot of
strong feeling on this subject.

- What good is
all the gay rights in the world

if we're all dead?

Dr. Silverman:
Before I make my decision,

I'd just like to put this
to a vote.

All those who are in favor

of the city closing
the bathhouses,

raise your hand.

- Close them down!
- Close the tubs!

[men booing]

- All those who are in favor
of keeping the bathhouses open,

raise your hands.

[overlapping shouts]

- I don't understand.

- They're human, Bill.

And they're scared.

[melancholy music]

♪ ♪

man: Why? Why this happen?

You doctor!
How you don't know?

♪ ♪

[woman muttering
in native language]

[man and woman speaking French]

- [speaking French]

[man speaking French]

- Get this read within weeks,
and quickly.

Just have Gallo report
the detection of his virus,

HTLV, in...what?

- It was the two East Coast
homosexuals, Robert.

- Two East Coast homosexuals.

In this hour, right away, now,
to "Science."

This is big. This is big.
We finally got the big one.

All right, Mika.

Tell all our number one people
to drop whatever they're doing

and get to work on this.

On this day, March...what?

- 3rd.

- Dr. Robert Gallo makes
the first gigantic strides

in winning the...what?

The war, the battle?

- The war.

- Battle.

Against whatever the hell
they call it now.

- Look what they're calling it.

"He died after another
'long illness.'"

It's so sad.

- This could be the first
deadly epidemic in history

of which nobody officially died.

- Yeah.

Harold:
Hey, look at this.

Did you see this?

Look at this article.

- Where?

- "In order to move quickly

"and take the lead
in what seems likely to be

"a fierce scientific battle
against GRID,

"Dr. Robert Gallo has formed
a special unit

"of the
National Cancer Institute

"to fight and win the battle
against this disease

by the end of the year."

- What?
- Hey!

Hot damn.
We're in business.

- Don.

An IV drug user in New York--

I just got back--

died from it.

- Gay?
- A woman.

- It's in the blood supply.

Dale: How long has he been ill?

- He was born with it.

Dale: No, no.
I don't mean hemophilia.

He was doing fine until, well,
recently, wasn't he?

- Well, he's crippled
in one knee

because they couldn't
stop the bleeding

until a few years ago,

when they came out
with that new stuff.

Dale: Factor VIII.

woman: Now look at him.

He was doing fine
just a few weeks ago.

- Did you happen to get a new
supply of Factor VIII

about that same time?

- What is that, exactly?

Fake blood or something?

- No, no, no, it's--
it's real blood,

but they get it from
thousands of different people

and put it through a lot
of different filters

and take out things
and add things to it

till all they've got is
the clotting stuff

that makes you, well,
stop bleeding.

- He was doing fine
until a few weeks ago.

Dale: I'm really sorry
about this,

but I've got some questions
which are, well,

embarrassing,
but I've got to ask them.

Has he ever had sexual contact
with another man?

- I don't understand
the question.

I mean, he's a man.

How can a man have sex
with another man?

- I personally don't care

if these people were painted
by Norman Rockwell.

We still have to prove
the blood is contaminated.

We've got to prove it.
What do we know?

What do we think?
What can we prove?

- It is in Factor VIII.

- You think?
- I know.

- Proof?
- Well, we can't prove

anything is in the blood
till we have a test.

- We can't develop a test
until we find the virus.

- Yeah, assuming that it even is
a virus.

- Finding the virus
with the equipment we've got?

You got a better chance of
winning the Indy 500

with a pair of roller skates.

- I'm sorry.
What about Max Essex?

Does his--
is he finding anything out?

Don: He can't keep the cells
alive long enough

to see if there is a virus.

- I hear the French have
the same problem.

man: Yeah, so does Gallo.

- Does anybody have
anything positive?

- Well, we may be able to do
something about the blood supply

even though we can't find
the virus.

We know that the people that
are getting this disease are

almost identical
to the group of people

that are getting hepatitis B,

so we did an experiment.

We took the hepatitis B test
and took blood samples

from 60 gay men who've got it
and 60 men who don't.

The test was 88% effective
in detecting the disease.

Mary: Really?
Dale: That is fantastic!

- Don!
- I mean, if the blood banks can

weed out that many people
who have the disease

before they donate blood--
-Exactly. Exactly!

- Wait. Wait, wait, wait.

Do all of you really believe
that the blood industry is

gonna spend millions of dollars

on an idea that is
scientifically radical as that?

- It's not so radical, Jim,
if you're a hemophiliac.

- Can we be realistic
just for one second?

We have got to prove that it's
even in the blood supply

before we get any action
from those people.

- It is bound to turn up
in the regular blood supply

sooner or later,

so I think what we should
look at is transfusions.

In fact, if we can find
one patient

who got the disease
after getting a transfusion

what we need to do then is
to look at the donors.

Check the donors, see
if one of them has the disease

that gave him the blood.

If we can find that,
we've made the connection.

Then all we've got to do is
prove the patient

couldn't possibly have gotten it
any other way.

- That's interesting.

- Interesting?

- Interesting?
That's so obvious.

It's brilliant, Harold.
Brilliant.

- [speaking Spanish]

- Terry Mack.
- Dale Lawrence.

- He's had 12 donors,

all from
the New York Blood Center.

Dale: Are you saying
the New York Blood Center won't

give me a list of the donors?

The CDC is convinced

he could not have
gotten the disease

from any other source

except the transfusions.

- The legal protection of donor
confidentiality prevents me--

- One of those donors has
a disease

that's gonna kill the man who
got that blood from you

to save his life,

and if we don't find that donor

before he donates more blood

and kills more people, then--

- Unless there is irrefutable
scientific evidence

that the alleged disease does
in fact exist,

that it can be blood-borne,

and if so, has been proven
to be transfusion-transmissible,

there is nothing I can do.

[child crying]

- Harold Jaffe, CDC.

- [whimpering]

[child crying]

- Hi.
- How do you do?

- Harold Jaffe.
- Betsy Reisz.

- So it's true, huh?

Dr. Reisz:
He was born here 20 months ago.

An Rh baby.

Within a week,
his entire blood volume

had been replaced six times.

Now he has zoster,

practically zero T cell count,

and more opportunistic disease
than we know what do with.

- And he had 13 donors?

- Mm-hm.
All from Irwin Memorial.

That's all I could find out.

They keep a lid on the place
so tight,

it's like the Pentagon.

So, forget about getting
a list of donors from them.

- The first irrefutable case
caused by transfusions,

and these people are
stonewalling us.

- Mm-hm.

- You know what we need?

Somebody just to scare the hell
out of them.

- Only Attila the Hun could.

- Selma Dritz!

[Selma laughing]

Harold: Well?
- I got it.

But there's one problem.
Well, two problems.

I'm freezing--
that's one problem.

Let's get some coffee.

One of the donors died
from the disease two months ago,

but we can't prove it.

- What do you mean
we can't prove it?

How can we not prove it?

- He was
from one of the richest,

most socially prominent families
in town,

and he swore to his dying breath
he wasn't gay.

- What's the difference
what he said?

I mean, when somebody dies
from this,

you can't exactly mistake it
for whooping cough.

- According to his doctor,
he died from encephalitis.

It's on his death certificate.

- All right,
let's talk to the doctor.

- And get him to say what?
He lied?

- Well, somewhere in this town,
there's got to be somebody--

a gay man he had sex with, or--

what about his family?

Do they know?

- My brother wasn't gay.

And I can assure you
no matter how hard you search,

you're not gonna find one shred
of evidence

to suggest the contrary.

He was on the board
of several corporations.

He was the chairman
of the Fundraising Committee

for St. Patrick's.

He was meticulous.

He was meticulous
in concealing his other life,

even from me.

Please don't ask me
to betray him now.

- I'm very sorry.

But we're trying
to stop an epidemic.

We know that this disease
can be transmitted by gay sex.

We're trying to prove
that it can also be transmitted

by blood products.

Now, as you know,
your brother was a blood donor.

And we know that at least
one person who got his blood

got the disease.

♪ ♪

- If you can help us,

it would be completely
confidential.

- I'm afraid I can't help you.

I really don't know anything
myself.

Here's his stuff.
Here's his mail.

Here's his address book.

You can look through it
if you want. I have.

There's no one in there
I don't know.

There's nothing unusual.

I wish he would've told me,
but he didn't.

- Look at this.

What about this entry?

- "Marc, Repairman"?

[phone line trills]

woman: Dr. Conant's office.
- Is someone named Marc there?

woman: Yes, this is
Dr. Marcus Conant's office.

May I help you?

- Sorry. Wrong number.

- Only for you, Selma.

I was the secret doctor
he came to

for those messy little problems
he--

he couldn't let his family
physician know about.

In 1980, he had a case of KS,
pneumocystis,

the whole bag of horrors.

- Marc, thank you very much.
I love you.

- Thanks a lot, Doctor.

All right, let the blood banks
stonewall this one!

Jim: Excuse me. I would like
to remind everyone--

I'd like to remind everyone

that these are not regulations--

these are not regulations
from the CDC.

This is a workshop
where every agency connected

to the blood industry can
evaluate information

that the CDC has found.

And together, we are hoping
to be able to arrive

at some course of action.

One option is
to establish guidelines

to keep people
who are at high risk

from donating blood
to begin with.

- Banning homosexuals
from giving blood

won't protect the blood supply.

What it will do is
stigmatize them.

Reminds me of blood banks
rejecting donations from blacks

for fear of syphilis.

- Have you any idea of the
civil rights implications

of establishing
such guidelines--

- Civil rights, my ass.

My son's a hemophiliac,

and if homosexuals are
infecting the blood supply,

why not keep them
from becoming donors?

- What do you mean?
The entire gay community?

Then what?
Separate drinking fountains?

One for gays, one for humans?

- Don't start
that gay rights crap with me.

There are 20,000 hemophiliacs
in this country,

and GRID has become the second
leading cause of death

amongst them.

We have rights, too,
and one of them is

the right to stay alive.

- I know that we're dealing
with a very complex

and a highly emotional issue,
but it would help a lot if--

- I wonder how you can expect us
to be unemotional

when at least one person
is dying every day

from a disease that doesn't
even have a name?

Now, if the CDC can't bother
to come up with a name,

at least it should stop
the media from calling it GRID.

We have enough people
hating gays

without having the entire stigma
of this disease placed on us,

especially
since it has been shown

that this disease is no longer
merely gay-related.

Now I make a motion
to officially call this disease

Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome,

or AIDS.

- Questions or discussions
on this issue, please?

woman: I second it.

- All right. All in favor
of Dr. Voeller's motion?

And opposed?

The motion's carried.

Dr. Bove?

- The FDA Advisory Panel
to the blood banks feels

that the evidence for nearly all
of this is inferential.

The CDC's evidence
of blood transmission

cannot be warranted

until the CDC shows
definitively

that an infectious agent causes
this disease.

Nothing about it even exists

in the peer-reviewed
medical literature.

Not one case.

Evidence of such
blood transmission is lacking.

- May I point out
that the blood industry is

under the jurisdiction
of the FDA

and the FDA,
according to Dr. Bove,

does not acknowledge
that there is an epidemic,

because there is no evidence
that it's a blood-borne disease?

- Suppose, for example,
a small amount of blood,

by some unlikely chance,
is contaminated.

With no test to find out which
blood is safe and which isn't,

what do you suggest we do?

Destroy the entire blood supply
in America

because some of it may
or may not be contaminated?

- No, no. Well, in fact,
testing is the second option

that we should discuss.

Now, we at the CDC have found--

we have found
that the hepatitis B test is

88% effective
in identifying patients

with this disease.

- Is the CDC
seriously suggesting

that the blood industry spend
$100 million a year

to use a test
for the wrong disease

because we've had a handful
of transfusion fatalities

and eight dead hemophiliacs?

- How many dead hemophiliacs
do you need?

How many people have to die
to make it cost efficient

for you people to do something
about it?

A hundred? A thousand?

Give us a number
so we won't annoy you again

until the amount of money
you begin spending on lawsuits

makes it more profitable
for you to save people

than to kill them.

[crowd murmuring]

- The disease called AIDS,

Acquired Immune Deficiency
Syndrome,

sounds less than deadly,
more like a diet pill.

- Medical researchers are
warning...

- The risk of contracting
the disease AIDS...

- Henry Piña, who has AIDS,

got into a minor traffic
accident,

so police called
the Hazardous Materials Team.

man: The impact on blood banks
could be disastrous.

woman: Doctors learned today
that at least one

hemophiliac patient was given
blood plasma

from a donor who died of AIDS.

- Possible association of AIDS
and blood transfusion

is of the order
of one in a million.

- Jim! Jim, I've been looking
all over for you.

Listen, I just talked
to Paul O'Malley.

He's wrapping up
the hepatitis B study,

and listen to this:

12 of the first 24 cases of AIDS
in this country

are men that we've been tracking
for hepatitis B

every year since 1978.

Look, we've been talking about
using the hepatitis B test,

but we forgot
about the hepatitis B study.

- Congratulations.

- You don't think
this is important?

30,000 blood samples
and detailed questionnaires

from 7,000 gay men

from five different cities,
taken every year

since three years
before the epidemic broke out.

We've got
the whole natural history

of the AIDS epidemic
in a freezer in Phoenix.

- I'm familiar with the study.
And what you're saying is

we should pull all those
blood samples and organize them.

- Exactly. I mean, who knows--
- And where are we gonna

get the money
to do that, Don, huh?

- I don't know.
Juggle it. Steal it.

- Juggle it? There's nothing
to juggle or steal.

There's no money. None.

The $866,000 budget
that we requested a year ago

for the task force
still hasn't been approved,

so where the hell do you think
we'll get all that money

to do a job as massive
as all this?

- I don't know. That's your job.
We've got to get the money.

- That's my job?
How the hell am I supposed

to do my job, Don,
with you running around

shooting your mouth off?
- What?

- Your outburst
at the blood bank meeting

damaged the credibility
of the CDC.

- The only way we are ever gonna
get the blood banks

to start testing
is if we can find somebody

with so much clout they've got
God's unlisted phone number,

which these people do.

- Well, Jesus, this is proof.

Why haven't they sued somebody

or raised hell
or done something?

- Publicity, litigation,
pictures in the tabloids.

My dear young man,
it simply is not done.

But if you can convince them

how many lives can be saved
if they go public,

that comes under the heading
of public service,

which they are very big on.

- If.

Might be
of some assistance to us.

- I'm sorry,
but I don't understand.

Complications of all kinds are
quite common

after heart surgery.

What could my case possibly have
to do with AIDS?

- They didn't tell you?

- Tell me what?

- We thought
we'd heard everything.

- My God.

I'm sorry. I'm--

[stammers]

Um...

I have here--I have here
your medical records.

You're aware that during
your surgery you were given

20 units of blood
from Irwin Memorial?

- Mm-hm.

- We know that.

- And then
when you started getting

all these bizarre diseases,
one after another,

didn't your doctors
tell you why?

- Well,
we've had so many doctors.

- None of them had
any specific explanation,

just severe complications...

- Complications.
- Due to surgery.

- I have here a letter
from one doctor to another

at the University of California
Medical Center,

where you had your surgery.

"We have discovered
that one of her blood donors

is an AIDS patient."

man: May I?

[melancholy music]

♪ ♪

- Shh, shh, shh.

man: [crying]
woman: Oh, no, no, no.

♪ ♪

- Every blood bank
in the country

has known for some time
that some of the blood

that it has been using for
transfusions is contaminated.

We've been unable to get them
to start any testing

or to take any precautions
whatsoever.

I'm really terribly sorry.

- Are you telling me

that they knew they were
giving AIDS to people

and continued to do it?

- We've had extensive discussion
on the subject,

and as of May 1st,

Irwin Memorial will begin
testing for antibodies

to the core
of the hepatitis B virus.

[all murmuring]
- Good.

Good!

This is the test we've been
urging you for a year to use

until a better test comes along.

- Not good.

That test is not
totally effective.

And you're forcing the Red Cross
to start using it, too,

or we can't compete.

- Absolutely.
We are not convinced

that it's transmitted
by transfusion at all.

- Well, what does it take
to convince you?

The CDC confirmed

that the number of transfusion
cases has quadrupled

in the past eight months.

- You know
you can't prove that.

- Technically, you're right.

But 89% of severe hemophiliacs--

the ones who got
the most transfusions--

have become infected.

89%.

I find it very hard to equate
these figures

with a possible loss
in revenue.

- I make a motion
that the FDA regulations require

the hepatitis B test be used

to screen all blood
and blood products

before they're used on patients.

- Second.

- In favor?

Opposed?

Motion not carried.

Let me ask you this:

when doctors start acting
like businessmen,

who can the people turn to
for doctors?

- Jesus.

- Every day
I plan to buy some groceries.

- I drive by each night
on my way home,

and no matter how late it is,

you're always up working.

You want pasta salad
or melon?

Hm? Melon? Melon.

Anything new?

Any hope yet? Anywhere?
Of anything?

- Reagan still hasn't said
the word "AIDS" in public.

- I'm not asking
about miracles here.

No, I think
the only hope we have

is the election's coming up,

and with the whole country
in a panic,

even the Moral Majority is
on Reagan's ass

to do something really quick.

- Oh, sure he will. The same old
political smoke and mirrors.

A friend of mine sneaked me
a memo from the White House

claiming they've already spent
$26 million on

"Studies relevant
to patients with AIDS."

So, if they're spending
$10 million

on research for the common cold,

they're calling that relevant
to AIDS research

because in both cases,
the immune system breaks down.

The truth is:
out of that $26 million,

only $750,000 has actually been
spent on AIDS research.

What happened to the rest,
I have no idea.

[phone rings]

Hello?
Don: It's Don Francis.

- Ah, Don.
- Say, listen,

I know this is
kind of a strange question,

but who do you know in
Washington

that can get me
an electron microscope?

Bill Kraus: Try Nancy.

- [laughs]

- [speaking French]

[machine beeps]
- [speaks French]

- [speaks French]
- [laughs]

- Bob? Montagnier.
- Luc, how are you?

Luc: We tested our virus
with your antibodies,

and we find the two
not immunologically related.

- Really?
Luc: I'm writing a paper

with all the details.

What we've found is
a completely new retrovirus,

which we think is
the AIDS virus.

- That's fascinating.

I just did a paper, too,
for "Science."

It shows that my virus, HTLV,

is the most likely candidate
for the AIDS virus.

Look, why don't you--

why don't you send me
your paper,

and I'll make sure
it gets published

in the same issue as mine.

In fact,
I'll even write the summary

to make sure it gets published.

And send me samples
of your virus

as soon as you can,
by courier.

I'll verify what you got, okay?

- Sure, Bob.
Bob: Okay. Bye.

- Just got a call from Paris.
They found the virus.

- All right!
[overlapping cheers]

Don: Found the virus!
man: That's terrific.

Don: I just got a call.
man: That's great!

- I just got a call from Paris.

They think they've found
the AIDS virus.

[cheers and applause]

So I need 30 coded samples
on a plane to Paris tonight.

Can you do that?

- [breathing heavily]

[melancholy music]

♪ ♪

I'm sitting here
in a complete stupor,

totally unable to comprehend

what kind of a cosmic joke
this is

for me, the man they call
a sexual Nazi

for preaching safe sex
with such fire and brimstone

I was beginning to sound
like Sadie Thompson.

No--not Sadie Thompson,
the preacher.

Sadie Thompson was her name.

Rain, wasn't it?

The name of the--

Oh, God, I'm babbling.

I can't stop.

How long does it take,
do you think,

for it to really sink in
that I've got it?

Maybe not--

♪ ♪

- I'm sorry, Bill.

- God damn you!
God damn you!

Why--why just can't this happen
to somebody that you hate?

[breathing heavily]

- I'll leave you and Kico
my house.

- What?
- I'll put it in my will.

- I don't want
to live with Kico.

He--I--he is
completely irresponsible.

He's not gonna pay
his half of the phone bill.

He wouldn't even--he would never
take the garbage out

on Friday nights.

I mean, come on.

If that's the most
that you have to leave me,

then to hell with you.

- [chuckling]
- Live. Please.

- Anything?

- How can I--
how can I isolate this virus

if I just can't
keep the cells alive?

How is it possible
that in the first few months,

we found our virus
in two men who had AIDS,

and since then, we haven't
found it in another case?

- I told you--
- Not one other case.

- I told you,
both of those men had T cells.

- No, no.
I don't wanna hear that.

- But you--
- I'm sorry. No. Listen to me.

I don't wanna hear it.
- I'm giving you the--

- Listen to me.
Statistically,

what are the odds
on finding two men with AIDS,

both of whom also have
the same leukemia

which is so rare that it's
hardly found in anybody.

I mean, that's ridiculous.
- Fine, Robert.

- All right?
- Robert, fine.

- Somebody in this lab
made a mistake.

I want you to call up
the French Institute

and get some more samples
of their virus.

[phone rings]

- Popovic here. Yes?

Yes. Who's calling?

It's Dr. Essex for you.

- Yes. Max, how are you?

Max: How's it going?

Everybody keeps wondering
when you're gonna publish.

- I have the cause of AIDS,
but I--

I just--the thing is

it comes from my--
my family of viruses.

That's definite. But I--

you know, I may
have something else, too.

I've got
three different variants.

I can't analyze it yet,
you know,

in a way that I'd want
to put my name on it.

- What do you think
the French have?

- How do you know
they have anything?

- Don Francis sent them
blind samples

to verify that their virus is
the AIDS virus,

and they passed,
almost 100%.

- Don Francis from the CDC
sent the French samples?

The French?

- Are you upset?

- Upset?

No. [chuckles]

No. The French amuse me.

[chuckling]

You know,
what I don't understand is

how somebody from my own side,

somebody, you know--
somebody from the US--

Max, listen, I got to run.

Let me call you back
as soon as I can, okay?

Okay, okay. Yeah. Bye.

Mary: All the interviews in LA.

Then, I bled 215 gay men

at the San Francisco
Venereal Disease Clinic,

and using the T cell test,

found that 65% of them
were abnormal,

and had no idea they had it.

No symptoms whatsoever.

- No symptoms?
- No. Nothing.

It's like all the plagues
in the history of the world

got squeezed into this one.

Worse.
If you take Bill's cluster study

where sexual contact
with one person

led to 40 people getting it--

- And if each of those 40
give it to 40 others--

- You've got people who don't
know they have the disease

giving it to other people

who don't know they have
the disease

for up to six years.

- Don? Don, can I talk to you
alone for a second, please?

- Yeah. What is it, Jim?

- I got a call from Gallo.

From now on, you can expect

practically no cooperation
from him at all.

He's cut off your supply
of reagents,

antibodies to the HTLV virus,

almost everything you need
to function.

- Why?

- Did you send blind samples
to the French

to test their virus?

- Yes. It's common courtesy.

- Tell that to Gallo.

♪ ♪

[phone ringing]

- Hello?

- Dr. Francis?

Don: Who's calling?

- Dr. Gallo.

- This is Dr. Francis.

- Congratulations.

Don: On what?

- For helping the French
with the virus.

- What makes you think
they didn't discover the virus?

- What makes you think I care?

- I don't understand the purpose
of this call.

- That's the purpose
of this call.

- Oh--
- Let me see. Let me see.

- Wait, wait, wait.
- Let me see.

- Oh, my God.

[chatter]

[knocking at door]

- It's open.

- [sobs]

[crying]

- It is now the country's
number one health priority,

and tonight's science
correspondent has the first

of two pieces on AIDS.

man: In San Francisco,
police and firemen

were issued masks to wear

in case they have
to resuscitate AIDS victims.

woman: In Coronado, California,

the city suspended
first aid classes

because city employees feared
catching AIDS

from the class mannequin.

And in San Jose,
two nurses quit

rather than treat
AIDS patients.

man: In New York's prisons,

there have been several
AIDS cases.

The prison guards are demanding
special protective suits,

and the city's
funeral directors are

refusing to embalm
AIDS victims.

- I lost my job, my housing,
I lost friends.

- It's not carried on the air.
It's not like pneumonia.

And that's the message
we got to get across.

- If the numbers stay in the
general area that they are now,

I do not think this represents
a great problem.

- Hey, Jim, you need a lift?

- Oh, hi. How you doing?

You know, Gallo says
that he's found the virus,

and he's got a blood test, too.

- He has a blood test
or says he has a blood test?

- No, no. He's got it.
He's got it.

He's passed both tests.

- Well, that's good news.

- No, it's not good news, Don,

because Gallo wants to take
all the credit,

and he wants the patent
for the NIH.

- If he does that,
the French will sue.

- That's right.
They're gonna sue.

So it'll probably take years
before anything gets done.

Drive carefully.

- It's why we do what we do.

It's the gift of time

and the smile
of healthy children.

That's--
that's what this means to me.

And all I can--

All I can say is thank you.

[applause]

man: Congratulations, Bob.

[applause continues]

- You need to talk to me.
- Oh, I'm the needy one?

Nice try.

- The French had the virus
a year and half ago.

- So?
- They can prove it.

- Me, too. Times ten.

- In court.

- Did you like my phone call?

- No, but I'm beginning
to understand it.

- If you understood it,
you wouldn't be here.

- Look. We can play this
any way you want:

charm, intimidation,
or without the bullshit.

- All right,
explain one thing to me.

Ten times ten times ten

my name is in every book
ever written

on the human retrovirus.

Why would you get in bed
with the French instead of me?

- It's you against the French?

I thought we were all
against the virus.

If you go to court now,
everybody loses.

You, the people who die
while you quibble over credit--

- What do you want?
What do you want?

What do you want?
Just tell me what you want.

- I want to stop you
from turning a holocaust

into an international
pissing contest.

- Oh, by letting them take
all the credit?

- I talked to the French.
They're willing

to settle this in private.

It's important
we get together.

There can't be confusion
among scientists

in the public.

But if you go to court now

when nobody's done
a goddamn thing

to stop this epidemic--

You do what you want.

I've said
what I came here to say.

- I'm going to Switzerland.

April 1st,
for a three-day conference.

I may or I may not stop in Paris
on my way back.

If I do, it'll be
on one condition:

I meet only with my peers.

- Who besides God qualifies?

- Gentlemen.

Francoise!

Good to see you.

You look wonderful!

Jean-Claude.

- How are you?

- You lost some weight, huh?

You look good.
You look good.

- Bob.
- So good to see you again.

Don, hi.

- I've got the comparative
serology results,

the EMs, the gels
for the different proteins,

GP 120, 41, 24.

- Why don't you wait
out in the hall?

I'll call you if I need you.

- What?
- You don't think I'd

discuss anything
with you in the room?

- That's fine.

♪ ♪

- So, you made
some good progress, huh?

We did, too.

- Don, come in.

We've all agreed
to write three papers

which will be published
in the same issue

of "Science" magazine.

The CDC will do
the serology paper,

Dr. Gallo will write the paper
analyzing nucleic acids,

and we'll do the paper
discussing the proteins.

- And we've all agreed to make
a joint announcement together

and share the credit.

And we'll keep each other
informed.

- From the first day that AIDS
was identified in 1981,

HHS scientists
and their medical allies

have never stopped searching
for the answer

to the mystery of AIDS.

And not only have we found
the cause to AIDS...

- Didn't she have
her teeth done?

- But within six months,
a blood test will be available.

And the man who discovered

the virus which causes AIDS--

[clears throat] excuse me--

is our eminent
Dr. Robert Gallo.

- Thank you, Secretary Heckler.

I should start
and be brief by saying

that there obviously are
other major contributors.

And in our own group,
I have to mention someone

who came to us
from Czechoslovakia,

Dr. Mika Popovic.

A lot of this could not
have been done

without the previous support

from the Cancer Institute

on the earlier HTLV isolates.

I've seen discussions
about the work in Paris.

There was, there is not,

there never has been...
[knocking at door]

Fights or controversies between
us and the group in France.

I came back from a meeting

astonished to see
this kind of discussion.

The laboratory
at the Pasteur Institute

and my laboratory have been
friends for about 15 years.

We are, in fact, collaborating.

- I can't watch.

- And what they had identified
in "Science" a year ago

is the same...

- Phase One is finished.

We found the virus.
We're working on a blood test.

This is my proposal
for Phase Two:

prevention, education and cure.

If that goes through,

I wanna be transferred
to San Francisco

and work on it from there.

- $37 million a year?

That's totally unrealistic.

- It's not unrealistic.

It's cheap.

It's about 15 cents per person

to make the entire population
safer.

It's what's needed.
Read the report.

- I'm sure it's what's needed,
but you're not gonna get it,

and if you ask for this much,
you'll get nothing.

- Try to refigure this
for $4 to $5 million--

- I'm not going to refigure it.
It's an honest report.

I want you to send it in.

- Don, look.
I'm trying to tell you

you're going about this
the wrong way.

- It's cheap.

Wait a few years,
and we'll be talking

about billions of dollars
in healthcare.

- I'll send it in.

[crowd chanting]
Four more years.

Four more years.
Four more years.

- Thank you.

Thank you all very much.

[crowd cheering]

It seems we did this
four years ago, and--

[cheers and applause]

Nancy and I would like
to express--

[crowd chanting]
Nancy! Nancy! Nancy! Nancy!

Nancy! Nancy! Nancy!

- This is not a political issue.
This is a health issue.

This is not a gay issue.
This is a human issue.

- Had this disease afflicted
children

or members
of the Chamber of Commerce,

I'm sure
the Reagan administration

would've been breaking down
all doors

in order to push the government

on all fronts to deal with it.

- I came here today in the hope

that my epitaph would not read

that I died of red tape.

[crowd chanting]
Four more years!

Four more years!
Four more years!

♪ ♪

- Dave, can I get a coffee
and a jelly donut?

Are you coming from work
or going to work?

- Going to.

You?

- I couldn't sleep.

- I heard your Phase Two
proposal was turned down.

Officially, "too expensive."
Unofficially, they say--

and they say this
diplomatically--

that you should look busy
and do nothing.

- Was that meant
to be diplomatic,

how you just told me?

- No. It was meant
to sound angry.

- At me or at you?

- [scoffs] At me?

Why me?

Oh, I don't know.
I guess, both, all right?

Both.

- You know, Jim, sometimes I
look at you in awe and wonder.

I mean it.

How you wind your way

through miles of bureaucratic
bullshit every day

and never get
a single drop on you.

How do you do it?

- By not asking questions
like that, for one thing.

Look.
Insult me if you like, directly,

but don't insult both of us
by trying to disguise this

as some kind of compliment.

- Insult you? How?

The awe and the wonder?

I mean it.

I asked the second floor
for a transfer.

Could you help push it through?

- I already have.
It's done.

- Really?

Where to?

- Well, how do you want this?
Diplomatically?

- I've gotten used to angry.

- San Francisco.

- Reward or exile?

- If you hate it, why did you
spend your entire career

working for the government?

- Remember
what Willie Sutton said

when they asked him
why he robbed banks?

"Because that's
where the money is."

This is
where the diseases are.

Bugs, bugs, bugs.

- You know,

sometimes I look at you
with awe and wonder.

- Don?

[cork pops]

- Whoa.
- There it is.

- Oh--
- Look at it.

- A little cake
for the maverick among us.

- Something the boys in the
retroviral lab whipped up.

- Don? Excuse me. Sorry.

Can I speak to you alone
for a second, please?

I think you might need this.

[all laugh]

man: That's great.
They're rose-colored.

That's great.

[laughter]
man: Definitely you.

- Well done.
- Looks good, Don.

- To Don Francis.
- Yeah.

- Long may he live.
- Here, here.

Jim: Speech?
Dale: Say something.

- Luc?

[speaking French]

- Mm-hm.

Okay, Monsieur Gallo.

The genes
of any two different isolates

of the same virus

are expected to deviate
from each other,

usually by 6% to 20%.

The genetic sequence

of Dr. Gallo's
HTLV III prototype isolate

varies from our virus,
called LAV,

by less than 1%.

They are identical

to a degree that would not be
anticipated

from any two isolates
from the same family.

Thank you.

[crowd murmuring]

- Excuse me?

I'm not quite sure
what he was saying.

The virus Gallo has is
the same kind the French have?

- Not the same kind.
It's the same virus exactly,

from the same patient.

[heart beating]

[quiet chatter]

[marching drums beating]

- [coughs]

- You okay?

- [coughing]
- Sit down.

- [coughing]

- Should I call an ambulance?

- Okay.
I'll--stay there.

♪ ♪

- [coughing]

♪ ♪

- Selma.

- Billy.
[chuckles]

- I just heard.

- Let's go up.

♪ ♪

Hello. Hi.

Kico.
- Hi.

- This is Don.

- Hi, Don.
Nice to meet you.

- Bill, look who's here.

- Is that Don?

There's two of you.

- Oh, well, we're both Don.

Don't ask me which is which.

- [speaking gibberish]

- One moment, he's talking
perfectly coherently.

The next he's talking gibberish.

- [speaking gibberish]

- I'm gonna take Kico
for a cup of coffee.

You want to join us?

- [speaking gibberish]
- No, I think--

- I'll be back in a minute.

- [speaking gibberish]

[speaking gibberish]

[dramatic music]

[woman speaking native language]

[speaking gibberish]

♪ ♪

Would you hand me my krogite?

- Krognite?

Glasses?

- [speaking gibberish]
- Yeah.

[unintelligible].

- Am I talking gibberish?

- No, not to me.

- This didn't have to happen.

We could've stopped it.

- Can you still?

- Can we still stop it?

I don't know.

- I used to be afraid of dying.

I'm not anymore.

I'm more afraid of what happens

to the people who live.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[Elton John's "The Last Song"]

♪ ♪

- ♪ Yesterday ♪

♪ You came to lift me up ♪

♪ As light as straw
and brittle as a bird ♪

♪ Today I weigh less
than a shadow on the wall ♪

♪ Just one more whisper ♪

♪ Of a voice unheard ♪

♪ Tomorrow ♪

♪ Leave the windows open ♪

♪ As fear grows
please hold me in your arms ♪

♪ Won't you help me
if you can ♪

♪ To shake this anger ♪

♪ I need your gentle hands ♪

♪ To keep me calm ♪

♪ 'Cause I never thought
I'd lose ♪

♪ I only thought I'd win ♪

♪ I never dreamed I'd feel ♪

♪ This fire beneath my skin ♪

♪ I can't believe you love me ♪

♪ I never thought you'd come ♪

♪ I guess I misjudged love ♪

♪ Between a father
and his son ♪

♪ Things we never said
come together ♪

♪ The hidden truth
no longer haunting me ♪

♪ Tonight we touched ♪

♪ on the things
that were never spoken ♪

♪ That kind of understanding ♪

♪ Sets me free ♪

♪ 'Cause I never thought
I'd lose ♪

♪ I only thought I'd win ♪

♪ I never dreamed I'd feel ♪

♪ This fire beneath my skin ♪

♪ I can't believe you love me ♪

♪ I never thought you'd come ♪

♪ I guess I misjudged love ♪

♪ Between a father
and his son ♪

♪ ♪

♪ Things we never said
come together ♪

♪ The hidden truth
no longer haunting me ♪

♪ Tonight we touched ♪

♪ on the things
that were never spoken ♪

♪ That kind of understanding ♪

♪ Sets me free ♪

♪ 'Cause I never thought
I'd lose ♪

♪ I only thought I'd win ♪

♪ I never dreamed I'd feel ♪

♪ This fire beneath my skin ♪

♪ I can't believe you love me ♪

♪ I never thought you'd come ♪

♪ I guess I misjudged love ♪

♪ Between a father
and his son ♪

♪ ♪

[orchestral music]

♪ ♪