Hanks was right

Michael Dampier blasts Tom Hanks for declining to kiss Antonio Banderas in “Philadelphia” (Letters, Nov. 17). “Did Mr. Hanks think he was going to ruin his career, or was it all a money choice?” Dampier wonders.

There are at least two other possibilities. Hanks may have thought that a kiss would become a media spectacle that would take the focus away from the movie’s central message of compassion for people with AIDS. He may also have decided that a kissing scene would keep some people from seeing the movie -- the very people who most needed to see it. Perhaps Hanks didn’t see any point in “preaching to the choir.”

In 1993, Hanks was coming off a pair of blockbusters (“A League of Their Own” and “Sleepless in Seattle”) that all but define the term “mass appeal.” Probably no other actor could have brought such a broad, mainstream audience into the theater. Hanks should be commended for taking the role. Instead, Dampier questions his motives and integrity and suggests that he isn’t a “true actor.” It proves the wisdom of the adage, “No good deed goes unpunished.”

Paul Grein

Studio City