AN EARLY FROST

An Early Frost is a respectable gay movie made for television in 1985. It was the first major TV movie to deal with the topic of AIDS. The movie is about Michael Pierson a successful young gay lawyer. One day Michael suffers from a bad cough at work and is rushed to hospital. There he gets the bad news that he has AIDS. His gay partner Peter confesses that he has had sex outside their relationship because Michael works to much and is closeted. Michael is infuriated and he throws Peter out then travels to inform his parents. His father Nick is angry about the news and refuses to talk to him for some while. He even gets very upset when Michael tries to kiss his sister. Nick just like most other Americans at the time is not well informed about AIDS and its mode of transmission. Michael's health continues to deteriorate as he suffers discrimination both from family and co-workers because of his sexual orientation and AIDS. He eventually winds up in hospital even though paramedics had refused to transport him. In hospital he meets Victor a flamboyant homosexual also dying from AIDS. Because of misinformation about AIDS at the time, even hospital staff treat AIDS patients with a level of caution including throwing away Michael's possessions. This film depicts the emergence of AIDS especially among gay people at the time and the disparity associated with it.