Product Details

• Actors: Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara, Sylvia Sidney, Aidan Quinn, D.W. Moffett
• Directors: John Erman
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Wolfe Video
• DVD Release Date: July 18, 2006
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000FILUH4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,403 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "An Early Frost" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Get out your handkerchiefs. Though An Early Frost was made for television in 1985--in the first few years of AIDS awareness and research--it's still as potent and wrenching as more sophisticated efforts that came along a short while later (Philadelphia, And the Band Played On, Longtime Companion). Much of the thanks goes to a stellar cast--Aidan Quinn, Gena Rowlands, and Ben Gazzara--who elevate a familiar, familial tale of conflict that begins when a successful lawyer son (Quinn) comes home to make peace with his enabling, compassionate mother (Rowlands) and disgusted, confused father (Gazzara) who cannot reconcile himself to his son's gay lifestyle.

Director John Erman crafts a stark, wintry movie, its title a metaphor for a life cut short. An Early Frost was lauded for its compassion, and though it seems a little patronizing now after the many films with similar themes and variations, this was the first to bring gay life as something normal into the average living room, and it holds up pretty well. After all, the humanistic, family element is what the film strives to convey, and that theme is always universal. --Paula Nechak

Product Description

In AN EARLY FROST, it is 1985 and Michael Pierson (Aidan Quinn) is a successful young lawyer in Chicago who has just been made a partner at his law firm. But he lives a double life, keeping his boyfriend a secret from both family and co-workers. Everything changes when he gets sick with pneumonia and is diagnosed with AIDS, forcing him to be open about the disease and his homosexuality for the first time. Back home with his family, they learn to adjust to the son they never knew, and realize that they love him just the same.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars AMAZING TV MOVIE, June 25, 2000

By 

"iheartcrass" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Frost (DVD)

The first TV movie to deal with AIDS, this outstanding, thoughtful and undeniably powerful drama is about a young, successful gay lawyer who learns he is HIV-positive and decides to confront his family with both his sexuality and illness. Aidan Quinn gives a sensitive, commanding performance in the lead role and Gena Rowlands, Ben Gazzara and especially Sylvia Sydney offer strong support as, respectively, Quinn's mother, father and grandmother; and John Glover is remarkable as Victor, a dying AIDS patient. Get the tissues and get ready to cry! This movie is fantastic! I still can't believe it was made over 15 years ago. Just amazing!

22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Can't Believe That Only 4 People Have Reviewed This Film!, July 31, 2001

By 

T. Halkin "Tim" (Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Early Frost (DVD)

We now have August of 2001, and I'm already angry at myself that I'm only getting around to seeing this 1985 milestone AIDS film today! I work in the television industry, and I must say that I feel proud that a major 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 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, now the silly TV producer side of me needs to have it's say: I 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 old, 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. I hope that some day I feel the same way about the programs that I have worked on. Bravo!

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT - WELL AHEAD OF ITS TIME, July 19, 1999

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Early Frost (DVD)

Considering that this was a television movie, made in the the relatively early stages of the epidemic, "An Early Frost" is especially impressive. Yes the scenes between the Lawyer and his boyfriend are awkward, but the performances are outstanding. Aidan Quinn, as Michael, has never been better and the late Sylvia Sidney is wonderful as his grandmother. Gena Rowlands is excellent as usual, but the most surprising performance comes from Ben Gazarra as Michael's father. As a tough, blue-collar disciplinarian, Gazarra is repulsed by his son's lifestyle but eventually accepts him. The best scene in the film, and the riskiest, is the confrontation between Michael and his father in the garage. Much better than later films such as "Philadelphia."