'An Early Frost'

I remember it because it seemed very brave to do a mainstream show about gay people, much less AIDS back then.

I watched it a few times. Cried every time. I pictured that being me someday. Great movie tho!

Great movie. Aidan Quinn was walking sex. I recall reading an article on the day it aired stating that NBC would be editing the film "right up until airtime" so as to include all of the latest updates about AIDS, which was so terrifying at that time.

Aidan Quinn was unbelievably sexy back in the day. Never had the career he should have.

We watched it as a family. When it was over my mother turned to teenage me and said, "Don't ever be gay".

Gena Rowland’s was so good as the mother.

Wonderful movie. I've cried every time I've watched it.

It was groundbreaking at the time. Aiden Quinn was taking a huge risk playing a gay character at a time when that could kill your career.

I thought the doctor was good looking.

This drove me into the closet for years

[quote] Gena Rowland’s was so good as the mother.

OH DEAR!

I'm not R6, but I wish there was an icon you could press on Datalounge that would deliver the sensation of being kicked in the cunt bone to the "OH DEAR!" posters.

Shilvia Shidney?

R10 never makes a grammatical error and proofs everything she posts.

An Early Frost was the first mainstream picture to air on television, followed by Our Sons in the early 90s. I'd say television was far more willing to tackle the AIDS epidemic than big Hollywood studios.

R11- Thank you and I agree.

After showing his ass and willy in Reckless I would have followed Aidan anywhere.

It seemed Michael didn't follow through with Victor's will bequests. Didn't he just throw the will away when he saw that Victor had died?

Funny comment on IMDB:

I just have to ask, just how many people was the oboe player sleeping with?

Sad scene where your father hates you? Oboe solo.

Angry scene where you smash stuff? Oboe solo.

Break up with lover? Oboe solo.

Happy family reunion? Oboe solo.

New friend is dead? Oboe solo.

Emmy Nominee in Music Composition. Seriously?

This was written by Cowan & Lipman who also wrote Queer As Folk.

[quote]It seemed Michael didn't follow through with Victor's will bequests. Didn't he just throw the will away when he saw that Victor had died?

That was an odd scene. I eventually figured out that they hadn't finalized the will and Victor hadn't signed it, so it wasn't legal.

[quote]This was written by Cowan & Lipman who also wrote Queer As Folk.

And Sisters.

I’ll watch it because I love a good uplifting Christmas movie. Is it like the Walton’s “The Homecoming?”

I had just moved to Boston from New York and remember watching this movie and deciding to come out to my family. It really moved me. Remember, there was no test yet so no one knew if they had HIV or not. It was such a scary time. I still find it hard to believe some of us survived those days. After I watched the movie, I thought “ fuck it.” If they disown me, fuck them. But my parents, divorced and told one at a time, were great in the end.

I don't remember Betty White being in this.

I’ve seen it, it was good. I don’t know why 80s TV movies get a bad wrap, they were awesome. I was a wee one and watched them all. Although they might have been in reruns.

I just watched An Early Frost for the first time this afternoon, OP, off from work on a snow day.

Well done.

Still tearful.

There was zero *"furor", OP.

R18 Oboes are lovely

It was serviceable, but it was no "Something About Amelia".

R14 - both An Early Frost and Our Sons were made by the same director, John Erman.

He also made Alexander:The Other Side of Dawn.

the gay dude in the hospital so real even my straight brother felt for him.

Glover looks so much like the dying man he portrays, it's frightening.

Aidan Quinn looks nothing like David Frost. Doesn’t even sound like him. You’d think a biopic would have more consideration for its subject.

David Frost was a bitch.

He was far too familiar with me.

He insulted the late Noël Coward.

Hi Glenn at R29 !

Someone needs to do a mashup of An Early Frost and Frost/Nixon, where Nixon dies from AIDS

Aidan Quinn said that the network's standards and practices were adamant that the men not be seen kissing or laying in bed together

[quote] I’ve seen it, it was good. I don’t know why 80s TV movies get a bad wrap, they were awesome. I was a wee one and watched them all. Although they might have been in reruns.

Yeah, there were a lot of great made for TV movies in the 80s and 90s. There were some bad campy tv movies in those time periods. Last summer I watched the docuseries Visible: Out on Television and there was some focus on how TV movies took gay and lesbian related subject matter pretty well. They mentioned the TV movie I think that was made in the '70s about a teenager who discovers his divorced dad is gay. It's crazy how in past eras sometimes the TV industry was a bit ahead of the time in small increments.

It's on YouTube, for anyone who wants to see it

It’s a decent window into those times. I was 24 and still closeted when this aired.

Those who weren’t “of age” and gay back then can’t begin to imagine what life was like.

Oh dear. the prodigal son visits and coughs when playing the piano. We know where this is going ...

R37, they pretty much did, it's called Angels in America...

R42, I pretty much spent most of my adolescence and early 20s terrified of coughing...

"An Early Frost": The Annual Datalounge Thread

There was another TV movie at the time about parents coming to accept their gay son. With DL fave Marlo Thomas!

There was another TV movie at the time which I thought had a young Brendan Fraser as the gay son.

I've forgotten the name and couldn't find it on IMDB.

It must have been around the same time as this—

The Brendan character had a penchant for Sondheim.

NYT - "Played with unflagging sensitivity and emotional candor by Mr. Quinn.

The film's most powerful and convincing moments take place in the hospital when Michael is forced to meet other AIDS victims, particularly a flamboyant 'queen' type whose only weapon against the disease is his sense of humor. Played to a virtuosic turn by John Glover, the hysterical and shrewd Victor can announce, with a wicked glance at the annoyed Michael, 'It's getting almost impossible to put together a dinner party these days.' The viewer does not get to see Michael in the latter stages of his disease, but the sight of Victor's few possessions being dumped in a garbage bag makes a point that is memorably vivid.

Produced by Perry Lafferty, 'An Early Frost' treads delicately around a difficult subject and makes its case for love and understanding with quiet conviction. The single moment of the grandmother's insisting on kissing her troubled grandson makes an important point far more effectively than a month of breathless newscasts. And the cast is exceptionally good. Miss Rowlands uses her distinctively solid presence to create a touchingly vulnerable portrait, and Mr. Gazzara is powerful as a man fighting his own inner passions.

I forgot that Bill Paxton was in this

Bump

Very brave of all the young male stars to appear in this in 1985.

Especially Aidan Quinn. But DW Moffett, Bill Paxton and John Glover too.

Liked Terry O'Quinn as the doctor, too

I'm sure you've heard of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

AIDS? Are you telling me I have AIDS?

Another music cure is the violin shriek for dramatic effect.

... music cue....

related

I didn't realize it until I looked it up, but D.W. Moffett is pretty tall at 6'5".

D.W. Moffett was in the original cast of The Normal Heart. He played Felix.

Don't forget That Certain Summer in the early 70s. Hal Holbrook, Hope Lange, Martin Sheen.

Martin Sheen also played the disapproving dad of a gay son in Consenting Adult

Love Aidan Quinn in this

R52- Was he the good looking straight AIDS patient with the Mustache?

Paxton played the sister's husband

🤗 Aidan Quinn has aged quite gracefully

r7 and yet there were hundreds of them doing it.

not a risk for hollywood or his career, really, just a risk to social currency for the cancel culture of the time... which was as much left as it was right. In fact, we could argue it's even less of a risk because it was about hiv and gay man... now had been straight in something other than the stereotype of a jezebel writing you have aids on blood in the mirror as she commits suicide.. that would have been risky. Showcasing it happens to more than just faggots, druggies and innocent farm boys taken in by the lure of hot city pussy.

Bruh

For every actor taking a gay role back then there were dozens more refusing to play them. Even with Brokeback Mountain, which came out decades later, tons of actors turned down those roles

r68 People turn down films everyday. . . you want to go scold all of them, too? There would plenty of actors desperate to play any gig and some that thought this would extend their range for casting directors. Shall we go over the list of homophobes who started their careers with gay films?

Quinn was always an ensemble player and never detsined for leading man status. He was excellent in a variety of foles but never had teh cahrisma to carry an A-list film on his own.

"People turn down films everyday. . . you want to go scold all of them, too?"

You're the one scolding people. All I did was point out that, even in the 2000s, not all actors were gleefully accepting gay roles.

Oh big woop, five years earlier, Al Pacino had done "Cruising" on the big screen! Now *that* was a career risk.

The lawyer made partner in his firm has a boyfriend with a boutique store with no customers.

Remember "Consenting Adult"? It starred Marlo Thomas and Martin Sheen. It was a superb TV movie. Barry Tubb played the young gay man, who struggled for acceptance from his parents and friends.

[quote] Shall we go over the list of homophobes who started their careers with gay films?

I think that deserves its own thread.

R74, R46 posted a link to that film.

I had a crush on Zejiko Ivanek ever since CLOUD NINE - he played the AIDS victim (Hugh Grant's BF) in Our Sons. Terrific character actor (his leading roles were scarce). Seems like a very private guy, so I have no idea if he's straight/gay/single/married or whatever. But I always am delighted to see his name in the credits.

R77 He's one of my favorite character actors. I have wondered if he's gay.

R78, I've wondered the same about Zeljko. He's one of those actors who, no matter how long they've been in the business, there is absolutely ZERO personal information known about them. And even though I'm curious to know more, I also admire their ability to keep their private life to themselves.

I saw him on the subway going into Brooklyn, and thought about saying hello etc., but he was reading and I didn't want to intrude.

Our Sons is Tubi, Pluto TV, and a few other streamers. I watched it last night and it's been a long time since I last watched it. I really liked the scene of Ann-Margret's character asking if she could take her son "home" after his death.

DW Moffet had such beautiful hair back then. I can't believe he's straight.

He was doing some stage work in NY at night and paid the bills by playing Kim's shrink on As the World Turns

He must have said: "Kim. You've said many times Bob values honesty. How will he feel when he learns you've been lying -- even though it's been to protect Frannie."

From around the same time, about a year later, does anyone remember "As Is"? It was a cable film on the same subject, so it could be more frank in showing intimacy between men. I remember finding it moving but also a little jarring, just because I was used to the asexual presentation of gay people when they were portrayed at all. It was the '80s and I was still a young thang.

Aidan Quinn was astounding on the NY stage in All My Sons. One of the greatest performances of my lifetime, IMO. He's one of those actors who are just never bad. But in films, he's very generous. For example, in Avalon, he's solid and sometimes touching, but he's letting his scene partners shine: Elizabeth Perkins, Joan Plowright, little Elijah Wood. He's often been that way in movies, e.g., Blink with Madeleine Stowe.

Karl Malden, Rex Reed, Brad Davis.

Aidan Quinn is narrating a story in a collection I’m listening to by an Irish writer.

AQ is super-hairy with poor muscle tone. Hard pass.

[quote] AQ is super-hairy with poor muscle tone. Hard pass.

He's uncut so that's a bonus.

[quote]From around the same time, about a year later, does anyone remember "As Is"? It was a cable film on the same subject, so it could be more frank in showing intimacy between men. I remember finding it moving but also a little jarring, just because I was used to the asexual presentation of gay people when they were portrayed at all. It was the '80s and I was still a young thang.

It was one of two plays that came out in 1985 that dealt with AIDS. The other was The Normal Heart. As Is was written by William M. Hoffman, who also was hired as a writer on One Life to Live during the Billy Douglas storyline (1992-93), which ended with the AIDS quilt coming to Llanview. I liked As Is more than The Normal Heart.