a film by John Erman
1985 | 96 mins | US
Aidan Quinn .... Michael Pierson
Gena Rowlands .... Katherine Pierson
Ben Gazzara .... Nick Pierson
Sylvia Sidney .... Beatrice McKenna
DW Moffett .... Peter Hilton
John Glover .... Victor DiMato
Sydney Walsh .... Susan Maracek
Bill Paxton .... Bob Maracek
Cheryl Anderson .... Christine
Christopher Bradley .... Todd
Terry O'Quinn .... Dr Redding
Don Hood .... Dr Gilbert
Sue Ann Gilfillan .... Nurse Lincoln
An Early Frost
the film that dared to bring the subject
of AIDS into the television
heart of America
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This is a groundbreaking work. Not in terms of its production values. Nor even with regard to
its direction. But rather in terms of what it did. Namely to address in telemovie
style the then taboo subject of AIDS.
It did so in a very sincere and simple fashion, by relating the moving story of a young man who
returns home and along the way has somehow to tell his family that he's both gay and HIV-positive.
The reactions by his family mirrored those held at this time by America as a whole. From that of
the love of a supportive mother to the homophobic wrath of an intolerant father and from the
support of a loving grandmother to a pregnant sister, scared that the virus
may somehow pass to her unborn child.
The result is a work that was not so much an early frost, but more an early crusade in the
depiction of a disease that was taking the lives of all too many.
For this is a film that made people stop and think, thanks largely to the highly compelling work
of Aidan Quinn as HIV-positive Michael Pierson, coupled with Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara as
the parents torn apart by the AIDS crisis arriving on their doorstep. And yet whilst Sylvia Sidney
in one of her last screen appearances shines in her portrayal of a loving grandmother not
afraid to hold her grandson, the real star turn lies with the remarkable performance
by John Glover of a gay man battling with the disease, but who
remains optimistic throughout.
And that is the underlying message here. For in times devoid of the life-enhancing drugs of
today, this historic NBC production delivered a message of hope and compassion
for those infected or affected by AIDS.
That said, some of the dialogue has long since dated. But does that matter when the
soul and spirit of this moving film remains intact, filled as it is
with compassion, hope and the will to live.
For in the end this is the film that in 1985 dared to bring the subject of AIDS into
the television heart of America. And the rest, as they say, is history!
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