Pretty Good

Overrated

Admirable film.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Great film was groundbreaking at the time of its premiere, the information is obviously dated now but it doesn't diminish the pictures message. Aidan Quinn is strong in the lead giving a firm center to the story and he's surrounded by top flight costars. Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara, both excellent as his parents, add to the film substance with the small details in their interactions with each other presenting them as a long time married couple reacting differently to devastating news but always believably being who they are. Sylvia Sidney is equally good as the loving, wise grandmother and John Glover wry and touching as a fellow victim who has been deserted by his family. A powerful experience and a reminder of how fragile life can be.

An Early Frost is, I feel, more at place as feature in a (Gay) Film History class than as a movie proper.THE GOOD The fact that it brought such great awareness about AIDS and was the first major TV movie talking about the disease so openly is great. It's positive, and although the disease is shown quite clearly (you see / hear about people dying, you see discrimination, you see the physical and mental toll it's taking on the victims), it's never too pessimistic either. The main character doesn't die at the end, which for a movie about AIDS is a nice relief.THE BAD The movie is often a bit melodramatic, and the music doesn't help. The acting is often wooden, and sometimes it feels more like a "special episode" out of a mid-afternoon soap opera than a real movie (even TV movie).Also, although it is of course not the movie's fault, the information about AIDS is very dated, and the people's reaction to it seem often weird. (The boyfriend doesn't get immediately tested??) THE UGLYThe ugly thing about the movie is its portrayal of gay people. To make it more palatable to the rest of the country, the gay couple is treated more like a pair of good college pals than a loving couple. You never see them kiss of share any physical intimacy other than a hand on the shoulder, and they lack any kind of real chemistry.The boyfriend doesn't fight to have Micheal come back to him, doesn't really seem to care to be separated from Micheal, and when he learns Micheal is in the hospital, he doesn't come right away. The same, Micheal barely seems to want to come home, etc. Nothing about them says "couple" to me. Can you imagine a movie where a young married couple had the husband become sick, go home to his parents and have the wife visit him once in a while, "it's good to see you, I hope you come home soon"?? No. I didn't think so.The movie is over melodramatic at some points (the father's reactions for example), and under-dramatic at others. Micheal's boyfriend doesn't seem to care that much, Micheal apparently doesn't have any other friends that might care about him, he shows almost no reaction when his hospital buddy dies, and the buddy's story (getting locked out by his boyfriend), although plausible (things like that did happen) isn't countered by more realistic portrayals of gay people's reactions to the disease and how the gay community organized itself to respond to the disease when nobody would do anything.In the end, while on the surface pleading for gay acceptance, the movie is actually almost homophobic in its treatment, and relies on rather homophobic clichés to make its story (= gay men only care about themselves, they have no friends, nobody who cares about them, their only friendships are superficial, they're all promiscuous and in the end, only the heterosexual family isn't superficial).

It's hard to believe that 'An Early Frost' was made for TV in 1985. I watched it for the first time on 11 November 2008 - 23 years after it was released - and I found it surprisingly fresh and enduring. Although it's an important historic record of the early response to AIDS (and for that reason alone is worth watching) it's more an exploration of family love and courage. The script is well-written, production values are high and the acting is uniformly excellent. Sylvia Sidney won a Golden Globe for her part as the grandmother, but the other main actors including Aidan Quinn (as the young man suffering from AIDS), Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands (playing his parents) are all excellent. A very rewarding experience.

An Early Frost has to be one of the finest made for television films I've ever seen. And it is hard to believe that, in 1985, it was the FIRST movie that actually dealt with the topic. In the new millennium the mere mention of a antibiotic resistant tuberculosis was enough to cause a national panic. But, the emotions AIDS seemed to engender during that era were hostility and out and out apathy.The story centers around a young attorney, Michael Pierson--played brilliantly by Aidan Quinn--who's just made partner at his prestigious law firm. On the outside Michael seems to have everything: a great job, a great family, a posh apartment, and all of the proverbial trimmings(including a handsome boyfriend,). However, during that time, to be gay was to be damned by the conservative right wing Reagan Era Administration(owned lock, stock, and smoking barrel by the "Moral Majority"). Now, add to that Michael has just discovered that he has AIDS(the acronym that ensured certain death for thousands of people). Suddenly, the life Michael has worked so hard to conceal has come to the forefront in a major way. Upon his diagnosis Michael knows that he can no longer keep his homosexuality a secret, which ultimately heads up the ensuing drama and heart break.When I was a small child(I was four or five years old when this movie aired)I had no concept of what "AIDS" was or the epidemic, let alone this wonderful film. I was only interested in my toys and going out to play. Meanwhile, just outside of my blissful little la-la land an entire community was under seiged by an invisible terror.Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowalands co-star as Michael's parents. Their performances were nothing short of heart wrenching. Mrs. Pierson reminded me so much of my own mother after I came out about being gay. When she held her son, and protected him from his father's misplaced rage, it jarred me. In her I saw my own mom's need to love and care for me no matter what. I initially hated Nick Pierson; however, as the film progressed I began to empathize with him. Ben Gazzara was absolutely brilliant.While the film could be preachy in spots(sometimes I felt as though I was watching a PSA about AIDS. Each character took the time to do a monologue about HIV/AIDS)I realized that, at that time, there was a need for people to be educated. What I loved most about "An Early Frost" was that it gave AIDS a face and a name. The thousand of people who were treated like moral degenerates were people who worked hard, paid their taxes, had families, friends, lovers, and everything that everyone else with a pulse holds dear. Those people society spat upon were human beings too, worthy of the precious gift of life.We've come such a long way since then, but it is horrifying to know that we still have such a ways to go in order to beat AIDS. This film gave me so much more respect for people living with AIDS and those that are living with people living with AIDS.It was an excellent movie that I would like to own. It was depressing yet uplifting all at once.P.S.The extras has a documentary about a young man dying of AIDS. It will break your heart. This DVD is not for the emotionally faint. But I recommend it as you will learn a great deal.