History Film / DallasBuyersClub

''Dallas Buyers Club'' is a 2013 drama starring Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, JaredLeto of ThirtySecondsToMars and Creator/JenniferGarner.

''Dallas Buyers Club'' is a 2013 drama starring Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, [[Music/ThirtySecondsToMars Jared Leto]] and Creator/JenniferGarner.

* ScienceMarchesOn: AZT, the drug Ron rejects, is still used today in lower, less toxic doses. On the other hand, many of the drugs Ron sells are no longer used at all due to THEIR toxicity.

* PornStache: Ron.

The film is [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory based on the true story]] of Ron Woodroof ([=McConaughey=]), an electrician and rodeo fan who discovers in 1985 that he has HIV, when a workplace accident lands him in the hospital. After learning that the trial drug AZT, which he had been taking to treat himself, was ineffective, Woodroof begins smuggling unapproved drugs, first from Mexico and then further afield. With the help of Rayon (Leto), an HIV-positive transgender woman, Woodroof establishes the Dallas Buyers Club, dealing in drugs to help HIV-AIDS sufferers. Though Woodroof is opposed by the FDA, who attempt to shut down his operation, he finds support from Eve Saks (Garner), a doctor at a local hospital participating in the AZT trial. Saks witnesses first hand the attempts by pharmaceutical reps to get the drug FDA-approved and on the market, despite signs that the drug is proving ineffective in treating her patients.

* StrawmanBall: You'll notice that none of the people who support the FDA's drug policies present a reasonable argument of why drug approval is so slow? For instance, someone could have mentioned that it was Dr. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey Frances Kelsey]] of the FDA who blocked the swift approval of the drug thalidomide in the 1960s, and thus spared America from the wave of horrific infant birth defects that occurred around the world when pregnant women took the drug. Sure, there are people who are life and death desperate for new meds, but do they really want to roll the dice on another disaster like that because people were hasty?
** The difference, as the judge states near the end, is surely that if you have a terminal illness, you really have nothing to lose, and the regulations should reflect that. Thalidomide cures nausea, not anything life threatening.

* StrawmanBall: You'll notice that none of the people who support the FDA's drug policies don't present a reasonable argument of why drug approval is so slow? For instance, someone could have mentioned that it was Dr. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey Frances Kelsey]] of the FDA who blocked the swift approval of the drug thalidomide in the 1960s, and thus spared America from the wave of horrific infant birth defects that occurred around the world when pregnant women took the drug. Sure, there are people who are life and death desperate for new meds, but do they really want to roll the dice on another disaster like that because people were hasty?

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Screw The Rules, People Are Dying Here!

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Screw The Rules, People Are Dying Here]]!

* RebelliousSpirit: [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Screw The Rules, People Are Dying Here]]!

* HitlerCam: Inverted. Aside from dieting to starvation to be thin enough, the 6ft tall Matthew McConaughey is nearly always filmed from a slightly elevated angle to appear smaller and thinner.

* RebelliousSpirit: [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Screw The Rules, People Are Dyeing Here]]!

** The point seemed to be more that people weren't allowed to take lifesaving drugs that had been proven effective by other (first world) countries.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: The hospital janitor who smuggles out the AZT to Ron.

* TheEighties
* DyeingForYourArt: Both [=McConaughey=] and Leto lost a considerable amount of weight to play HIV patients.

** The point seemed to be more that people weren't allowed to take drugs that had been proven effective by other (first world) countries.