An Early Frost
| An Early Frost | |
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 An Early Frost DVD cover. |
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| Genre | Drama |
| Directed by | John Erman |
| Produced by | Perry Lafferty |
| Written by | Ron Cowen (teleplay) Daniel Lipman (teleplay) Sherman Yellen(story) |
| Starring | Aidan Quinn |
| Music by | John Kander |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Original channel | NBC |
| Release date | 11 November 1985 |
| Running time | 100 min |
An Early Frost is a 1985 TV movie, and the first major film to deal with the topic of HIV/AIDS. It was first broadcast on the NBC television network on November 11, 1985. It was directed by John Erman, screenplay by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, story by Sherman Yellen and starred Aidan Quinn as Michael Pierson, a Chicago attorney who goes home to break the news that he is homosexual and has AIDS to his parents, played by Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands.
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[edit] Reviews, awards, and aftermath
Tom Shales of the Washington Post called An Early Frost "the most important TV movie of the year," although he had misgivings about the character played by Quinn, writing that "the central character has been made so far removed from the stereotypical homosexual that it could be argued he is stereotypically unstereotypical."
The film was number one in the Nielsen ratings during the night it aired, garnering a 23.3 share (the film outperformed a San Francisco 49ers-Denver Broncos game broadcast on ABC and a Cagney & Lacey episode dealing with abortion on CBS). The film won Sylvia Sidney the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or a TV Movie. It also won a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing For a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Quinn was also nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or TV Movie, though he lost to Dustin Hoffman). However, the network lost $500,000 in revenue because advertisers were leery about sponsoring the film. The show conveyed the prejudices surrounding HIV/AIDS at the time and the then common limited understanding by the general public of the methods of transmission and likelihood of infection. The three main networks shied away from airing programming with similar themes until 1988, although in the weeks following the broadcast of An Early Frost, episodes of St. Elsewhere, Mr. Belvedere, and Hotel dealt with AIDS issues, and in July 1986, Showtime broadcast the AIDS film As Is. The movie paved the way for later TV and general release films dealing with the topic of AIDS, including Go Toward The Light (1988), The Littlest Victims, The Ryan White Story ( both 1989), Longtime Companion (1990), and Philadelphia (1993), which won Tom Hanks, whose Andrew Beckett was similar in many ways to Michael Pierson, an Academy Award for Best Actor.
[edit] Storyline
Michael Pierson, a successful lawyer, suffers a bad coughing jag at work and is rushed to the hospital. There he learns from a doctor that he has been exposed to the AIDS virus. At home, he receives another piece of disturbing news: his lover Peter, played by D. W. Moffett, confesses that he had sex outside the relationship because Michael is a workaholic and is living in the closet. Michael, in a rage, throws Peter out of the house. He then travels to his parents' home to inform them that he is gay and has AIDS.
Michael's father, Nick (Gazzara), is a lumber company owner, and his wife, Kate (Rowlands), is a former concert pianist, housewife, and grandmother. The couple's daughter, Susan (Sydney Walsh) is married and has a child. Nick reacts angrily to the news, while Kate attempts to adapt to the situation. Nick initially refuses to speak to Michael for a day before breaking silence by saying, "I never thought the day would come when you'd be in front of me and I wouldn't know who you are." Susan, who is pregnant, refuses to see Michael, saying that she "can't take that chance," and Nick explodes when Michael tries to kiss Kate. Kate remembers reading in a magazine article that AIDS is not transmitted through casual contact and tries to get the rest of the family to accept Michael (Gena Rowlands also taped a public service announcement about AIDS transmission). Michael eventually winds up in the hospital (after paramedics who are called to his parents' house refuse to transport him to the hospital) and meets a fellow patient named Victor (John Glover), a flamboyant homosexual with AIDS. The film depicts Victor's death and shows a nurse throwing Victor's few possessions into a garbage bag because she fears that the items could be contaminated.
[edit] Development
The script for the film was written by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, based on a story by Sherman Yellen, and directed by John Erman. It spent two years in development and underwent at least thirteen rewrites before the standards division at the network accepted it for airing.
[edit] Cast
- Aidan Quinn as Michael Pierson
- Sylvia Sidney as Beatrice McKenna
- Ben Gazzara as Nick Pierson
- Gena Rowlands as Katherine Pierson
- Terry O'Quinn as Dr. Redding
- John Glover as Victor Mitado
- Bill Paxton as Bob Maracek
- D. W. Moffett as Peter Hilton
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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