An Early Frost
- TV Movie
- 1985
- 1h 35m
Young attorney Michael Pierson hasn't told his parents Nicholas and Katherine about his homosexuality. Now he must tell them that he has contracted AIDS - at a time when the diagnosis was st... Read allYoung attorney Michael Pierson hasn't told his parents Nicholas and Katherine about his homosexuality. Now he must tell them that he has contracted AIDS - at a time when the diagnosis was still a death sentence.Young attorney Michael Pierson hasn't told his parents Nicholas and Katherine about his homosexuality. Now he must tell them that he has contracted AIDS - at a time when the diagnosis was still a death sentence.
- Won 4 Primetime Emmys
- 9 wins & 14 nominations total
- Meredith
- (as Barbara Iley)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaOver 20 years after this movie was made, D.W. Moffett played Aidan Quinn's brother in an episode of Quinn's show The Book of Daniel (2006). Quinn says on the commentary track for this film that when the producers of "The Book of Daniel" were casting the brother role, they asked Quinn if he knew Moffett. Quinn told them he did, and recommended Moffett for the role, but deliberately omitted the fact that the last time they had worked together, they had played lovers for fear that the producers would then not want to cast them as brothers.
- Quotes
Michael Pierson: It's not just pneumonia, mom. I have AIDS.
Katherine Pierson: AIDS?
Michael Pierson: It's a disease...
Nick Pierson: Yeah, I know what it is.
Katherine Pierson: Michael, that's impossible. Who told you such a thing?
Michael Pierson: The doctors did their tests.
Katherine Pierson: No, AIDS is that disease...
Michael Pierson: I'm gay, mom.
- ConnectionsFeatured in The 38th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1986)
This is a must see film. It still holds up in it's approach to not only tell the story but educate us as to the disease and how it can affect those around us. It was written by Ron Cowen (QUEER AS FOLK writer and SUMMERTREE) and Daniel Lipman and well directed by John Erman. Also in this astounding cast are Sylvia Sidney, one of her last appearances, as the Grandmother who is not afraid to hold and love her grandson, D.W. Moffett, prior to his CROSSING JORDAN TV series, as the lover to Quinn who might have given him the disease through a disloyal tryst in the baths, Sydney Walsh as the pregnant sister afraid to touch her brother for fear he might infect her unborn child. Don't worry she eventually comes around to his side and John Glover, that underrated actor, LOVE VALOUR COMPASSION, as a man dying of the disease whom Quinn befriends in the hospital. Glover looks so much like the dying man he portrays, it's frightening.
This film seemed to be a labor of love for certainly all the actors were giving such dedicated performances. And some of the moments were so real you felt it in your heart. This is one of Quinn's early performances before he went on to do such films as LEGENDS OF THE FALL. He brings gentleness and sensitivity to the role. I'd like to see him do the story of Montgomery Clift one day as he reminds me of Clift's style of acting. The relationship between Quinn and Moffett was well played and not stereotyped. The scene when Quinn tells his parents his disease was brilliant. You could feel in their not saying a word what was going on in their hearts.
A beautiful film, ahead of it's time, brilliantly presented with such an accomplished roster of performers, director and writers.