Michael Pierson (Aidan Quinn), a successful lawyer, discovers he has AIDS after his lover Peter Hilton (D. W. Moffett) confesses that he had sex outside the relationship because Michael is a workaholic and is living in the closet. Michael goes home and discloses the news to his parents. Michael's father Nick (Ben Gazzara) is a lumber company owner, and his wife Kate (Gena Rowlands) is a former concert pianist, housewife, and grandmother. Nick's reaction is extreme anger, but Kate attempts to adjust. The most famous scene in the film occurs when Nick says, "I never thought the day would come when you'd be in front of me and I wouldn't know who you are." His sister Susan Maracek (Sydney Walsh) is pregnant and refuses to see Michael, saying that she "can't take that chance," and Nick explodes when Michael tries to kiss his mother. Michael eventually winds up in the hospital and meets a fellow patient named Victor (John Glover), a stereotypical flamboyant gay with AIDS who says things like "It's getting almost impossible to put together a dinner party these days." The film deals with the inevitable death of Victor with a scene showing Victor's few possessions being dumped into a garbage bag by a nurse out of fear that they could be contaminated. As his health deteriorates, Michael finds that his physical agony is secondary to his mental anguish.
"An Early Frost" was the first TV movie to deal with the AIDS crisis. Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman wrote the screenplay from Sherman Yellen's story. It was two years in development and underwent at least 13 rewrites before the standards division at the network would clear it for airing. The film was broadcast a month after Rock Hudson died of the disease. John Kander composed the incidental music and John Erman directed.
"An Early Frost" was the first TV movie to deal with the AIDS crisis. Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman wrote the screenplay from Sherman Yellen's story. It was two years in development and underwent at least 13 rewrites before the standards division at the network would clear it for airing. The film was broadcast a month after Rock Hudson died of the disease. John Kander composed the incidental music and John Erman directed.
