User reviews

first the acting....Aidan Quinn was apre heath ledger winner...both tackled the gay roles with finesse and ability. Gena rowlands her eyes gave some of the best emotions of the film. and the gay dude in the hospital so real even my straight brother felt for him. what a great movie full of love and pain. while it teaches us to be safe with our sex lives...it makes us realize how much life is fragile. i saw it 10 years in intervals and i remembered how the music score had touched me and how much...for its time this movie was important to all and ahead of its time. miss Sidney also was a cool grandma...and Ben gazzara....really got our hearts pounding. never to be forgotten.

I think this is the most interesting film that I have ever seen about the topic of AIDS, and I must admit that all the actors are exceptional, especially the gay couple performed by Aidan Queen and D.W. Moffett and Sylvia Sidney! AN EARLY FROST is a very good film and I suggest to see it, if you have not still seen it: it is tender and beautiful and well done; besides, in my humble opinion, it make us reflect about this terrible disease and tolerance, love and acceptation too. In fact, for the first time a patient with AIDS is mostly cosidered only a human being and not like a number or a statistic. Finally I appreciate the tender way to treat the topics of AIDS and homosexuality. I also believe that it is an evergreen film and TV could propose it still today; in fact it is very actual!

This 1985 TV Movie, was early for it's time in bringing out the truth of the "gay" disease of A.I.D.S. It showed great courage and sensitivity in it's telling the story of a young gay attorney, played with incredible honesty by Aidan Quinn, who comes down with the illness and must proceed to tell his parents, played with equal honesty by Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara of his lifestyle let alone that he is sick.

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.

I don't know why I do this to myself. I've been HIV+ since 1994, and every once in awhile, I feel the need to torture myself and watch something like this. I remember clearly when it was first on. It didn't mean much to me then, but I just watched it tonight on LOGO, and I cried my eyes out. The information on AIDS is soooo dated, but the emotions are so real. Aiden Quinn was terrific, as were Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara. John Glover seems to have made a mini-career out of playing the role he plays here, as he played it again in "Love, Valour, Compassion" (also excellent). Whatever happened to D.W. Moffat? I think, if I recall correctly, that this was the first movie or TV show to really deal with AIDS. The disease had only been named in 1981, so it was only 4 years later. It still holds up.

An Early Frost was by far superior. It was done gently without insulting or preaching to the audience. It was one of those movies that helped explain homosexuality and AIDS to the audience without being angry. Of course, Aidan Quinn does a beautiful job in his role as the young homosexual. It is heartbreaking movie. I love Gena Rowlands as the understanding mother. Movies like this made you think about the subject of homosexuality and AIDs in a time when we lost the legendary Rock Hudson who was openly gay in Hollywood but closeted to the rest of us who didn't know anything about. Movies like this were when television movies could have rivaled the cinema industry. They don't make many films with sensitivity. HOmosexuality has become a long running joke and AIDS has new victims like women and children. It's a shame that they don't make movies like this anymore. AIDS affects everybody not just family and friends.

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.

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.

Eight years before "Philadelphia" Aidan Quinn starred in this groundbreaking film about AIDS. Even though this was "Made for TV", it is superbly done. Gena Rowlands is wonderful (as usual). Some might think that this film is dated, however, sometimes it is good to look back to see the way things were in the past to face the future.

We're now well into the new millennium, and I'm angry at myself that I'm only now getting around to seeing this 1985 milestone AIDS film! I work in the television industry, and I must say that I feel proud that a major US network like NBC had the guts to produce a film this sensitive and revolutionary for its time. It truly makes a valiant attempt (and succeeds for the most part) to make AIDS an every-day, living room topic without ever getting too sticky or maudlin about it. Even though this was really in the stone age of AIDS, it's amazing how right-on it was in so many areas. The only thing that feels dated now, is the lack of therapeutic possibilities, which we have today, but my God, we just all lived through over 20 years of Hell, and only now - recently - have a shimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. The writing team had great insight and foresight.

That said, I do wish that the script had gone one round with a good dialog doctor. There are moments, where - despite the AMAZING cast - that I did have to cringe. It was always a matter of sticky dialog, but - believe me - not the heart, soul, or deeper truth of the piece.

This film might be somewhat older, but it is still incredibly valid, and is heads-and-shoulders over most films of its genre. I'm sure that the executives at NBC who gave the green light for this production are long gone, but I raise my glass to you for your courage and for your vision. Bravo!

The first time i saw this i was very moved. Yes indeed people were dropping like fly's back then. but it seems today people don't care about such things and bare backing is the way to go. such fools people can be when they think the storm has passed. way too many have died from AIDS and way too many will still. For a TV movie this was way ahead of its time. the cast was very good and all did a fine job. Aidan Quinn was just perfect for the part. he and I are the same age so it was very easy to connect with this great actor. most Actors back then did not want to play such parts. Today things are so different and its very the norm for actors to play gay roles.

An Early Frost reflects the underlying principal that love and compassion are stronger than fear. In this respect, the broadcast fueled an operative for the gay community, and world at large, to learn from and build upon.

The acting is uniformly excellent. The script allows the actors excellent opportunities. Aiden Quinn (whose voice and approach is reminiscent of Montgomery Clift) goes through the emotional gamut with grace and believability. As his grandmother, veteran actress Sylvia Sidney's skill easily fuels two tear-inducing scenes that not only provide emotional release for the viewer, but drive the message home. While Michael is hospitalized from a seizure, we see Sidney and her daughter(Gene Rowlands)outside trimming roses. Sidney comments about "an early frost … nipping them in the bud." She reflects on how people shunned her husband when he had died of cancer. At a loss for words the two embrace—capturing the heartache that envelops them.

The cast, in true ensemble spirit allow their characters to reach the power point of unconditional love. The film was instructive on the basic ramifications of the AIDS virus, and helped dispel the unnecessary fear and rumors surrounding it. An Early Frost made people think about the senseless vitriol that was being aimed at the gay community.

A young gay man (Adian Quinn) becomes stricken with AIDS. He now has to come out to his parents (Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara) AND tell them he has an incurable disease.

For its time this was extraordinary. Back in 1985 AIDS was still considered a gay mans disease and most TV shows wouldn't touch the subject. NBC should be congratulated on having the courage to greenlight this and present it (also it got HUGE ratings when it first played). The acting is exceptional--Quinn is just perfect and Rowlands is incredible as his mother. Gazzara is also good but not as good as the other two--he seems to be holding back. And it was a surprise to see John Glover playing a man dying on AIDS--he usually played villains. Also the ending didn't offer any false hope--there was no miracle cure to save this man. For a TV movie that was incredible.

The film isn't perfect. Some of the dialogue is bad (especially between Quinn and Gazzara) and Quinn's boyfriend leaves him at the beginning--only to show up again at the end. Sorry but that wouldn't have happened back then. Also today AIDS is not a death sentence. People are living and there are some treatment that are working. Still this is an exceptional movie and a definite milestone in TV history. Recommended.

When this film aired on NBC on November 11, 1985, it was the first television film to deal exclusively with the consequences of the AIDS pandemic. The first cases of a new immune deficiency disease had become known since 1981, which in the 1980s meant a virtual death sentence for those affected. Incidentally, the now world-famous Dr. Anthony Fauci involved. This important film was first broadcast on April 6, 1987 on the then West German television station ZDF.

The film is about the young and successful Michael (Aidan Quinn) learning that he has AIDS. He tells this to his parents (terrific: Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara) and is confronted with different reactions as the story progresses. Sylvia Sidney and D. W. Moffett also appear in roles. This film is convincingly acted and is an important contemporary document from the early years of the AIDS pandemic.

Lead actor Aidan Quinn (*1959) was best known at the time from the film "Susan...desperately seeking!" (1985), which featured the up-and-coming US singer Madonna (*1958) in a significant supporting role. The year 1985 was the year in which MegaStar Madonna's meteoric rise also began in German-speaking countries. For example, her early hit "Into the Groove" could also be heard in the film.

This film was a very courageous undertaking by all who where involved, however the love between the two men was not believable. The emotions flowed, but the body language told me otherwise.

Aidan Quinn was Emmy-nominated for his rich, sensitive performance as a budding young lawyer who returns home to his parents with "pneumonia" but is really a homosexual man recently diagnosed as suffering from AIDS; he has to tell his parents not only is he gay, he's also sick. Emmy-winner for writers Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, from Sherman Yellen's story, is an acting showpiece for Quinn, also Gena Rowlands and Ben Gazzara as his parents; Sylvia Sidney as his wise, funny grandmother; and John Glover as a flamboyant, dying man Quinn befriends (each of whom were deservedly Emmy-nominated). Other films have since tackled this subject matter--and done it very well--but this austere television movie set the bar very high. 14 Emmy nominations in all, also winning for Woody Omens' cinematography, Outstanding Editing and Outstanding Sound Mixing. Jerrold L. Ludwig's editing won the American Cinema Editors Award in the television division. Director John Erman and his crew won the DGA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Dramatic Specials. Sidney received the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a TV movie or special, while NBC received the Peabody Award. ***1/2 from ****