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How sad is this?

Absolutely Fantastic

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

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.

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.

Lukas Haas stars as Ryan White, the young boy who became the poster child for young AIDS victims.. the movie tells the story of his life and its ups and downs as he struggles with the disease and ignorance of the people around him. 8 of 10

I had to watch The Ryan White Story in health class this week. It has movie of the week written all over it. The movie does not get into any medical or scientific discussion of AIDS and I don't expect it to. Its not a movie I would choose to show in health class, but as any student at Grant High School would know, ANYTHING is better than listening to a certain health teacher (I won't say his name) talk. The Ryan White Story is also not the worst movie Mr. Jacobs showed in his class (oops!).