I have been vocal before how many in the media and governing political parties spread misinformation and lies about Aids in the early 1980s.

Conservative and religions groups had a vested interest in labelling Aids as a gay only disease. Thousands of hetrosexuals, intravenous drug users, haemophiliacs contracted Aids/HIV because they thought they would be safe. It would not affect them.

Buddies released in 1985 very much as this in the heart of this movie. Gay men with Aids were denied help from government funding. Having to rely on charity.

Robert Willow (Geoff Edholm) is in hospital dying of Aids. His life as gay man was difficult, ostracised from his family when he came out.

David Bennett (David Schachter) is a young gay man in a relationship and with a supportive family. He has volunteered to be a hospital buddy and he is nervous about it.

David and Robert are contrasting personalities. It shows up when they discuss Gay Parades. It is not David's things, he wants to keep his personal life private. Gay activism is not his thing.

Over time they get close and learn to understand each other. This includes David showing an interest in gay politics.

By making David a typesetter who is researching about Aids. It allows writer/director Arthur J Bressan Jr to explore the political implications for Aids. Robert gets angry to learn that Aids is meant to be God's revenge from some anti gay groups.

As in the British television series It's A Sin shown in 2021. Robert dies without his friends being with him. A hospital mix up meant, David could not be contacted.

Buddies was a small scale film made on a very low budget. It only played on the independent film circuit.

Both Edholm and Bressan jr later died of Aids. Because of the the time it was made, it is an important document of that era. Hollywood would later revisit the themes in Longtime Companion in 1989.

This 35 year old film seems "unpolished" by today's standards (higher resolution, better acting & production values) ...but the movie still works.

The acting isn't great, but good enough. The setting appears a bit sterile and sanitized ...at times more like a play rather than a movie. But we are still able to connect emotionally with the characters and enjoy the narrative.

A meaningful film and a great time capsule!

I would have given this a higher rating 30 years ago.

Necessarily crude but no less potent for that. In fact, as Koresky points out, its amateurishness only serves to give the film an extremely sensitive quality. One of those movies that feels like a UFO sighting; rarely seen, alien in conception and creation. You sense how open and urgent it feels, which counts for a lot and I was moved by it even in spite of its rudimentary aspects