In praise of 'Philadelphia'

Did any of you catch Philadelphia on AMC yesterday or today? The cable network's had the movie on rotation lately to celebrate its 15th anniversary.  Yes, it's been 15 years since Tom Hanks won the first of his back-to-back Oscars, and let us all pause for a moment to revel in the amazingness that was early-to-mid-'90s Tom Hanks.  But that's just the first of many reasons that Philadelphia is an awesome movie.  As you must know, its representation of AIDS, homosexuality and discrimination was groundbreaking, and it's got a kick-ass Springsteen themesong to boot.  And we would be remiss if we didn't trot out the oft-repeated tidbit that a scene was shot at our very own Fisher Fine Arts Library.  If we remember the admissions tour spiel correctly, they had to move out all the art books and bring in legal ones to make the space look more like a law library.  Movie magic, everyone!  Also, if our memory continues to be reliable, Tom Hanks's character is a Penn Law grad, and everyone's favorite former Philly mayor and Penn alum Ed Rendell has a cameo.  So yes, we recommend that you watch Philadelphia next time it's on.  Check out listings on AMC's website.

Oooh, and here's a less oft-repeated tidbit: Denzel Washington was totally spotted on campus during this year's NSO, apparently touring Penn with his high school senior son and a basketball coach.  Admissions office, hook it up!