sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (11/12/85)
Surprisingly good, within the genre of "relevant-made-for-TV-movie." This
meant, of course, that we had to suffer through a group therapy session for
people with AIDS in which each individual represented one of the canonical
risk groups, and frequent wooden dialogues that served no purpose except to
inform the masses about certain facts about the disease. As agitprop it
was surely effective, although it weakened one's emotional involvement in
the melodrama.
On the other hand, I thought the uncompromisingly positive portrayal of the
relationship between the lawyer and his lover, and the eventual integration
of this relationship into the lawyer's extended family was quite bold for
television, a medium usually given to bland equivocation and "balanced
treatment." Also, it skirted many opportunities for bathos; for instance,
the film ends with the lawyer's return to his home, work and lover, after
spending time recuperating at his parents' home. No "Steven and Luke"
death scenes, nor any false hopes. Very intelligent and restrained for TV.
Any other comments?
--
/Steve Dyer
{harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer
sdyer@bbncc5.ARPAsdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) (11/13/85)
The most recent issue of the Advocate has an interview with the movie's
scriptwriters, and it is fascinating to hear them relate some of the
stupidities they had to endure to get the script approved. One example:
Grandmother to lawyer-grandson: "I liked your friend."
was scrapped, because this was an "affirmation of the 'gay lifestyle'."
They replaced it with:
"Why don't you have your friend come over my house. He can fix my radio--
it hasn't worked since Jack Benny was on the air."
--
/Steve Dyer
{harvard,seismo}!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer
sdyer@bbncc5.ARPAmanis@ubc-cs.UUCP (Vince Manis) (11/15/85)
I think NBC ought to be congratulated on ''An Early Frost'': not only was it intelligent and very sensitive (it even had the courage to suggest that some gays *are* ''stereotypical'', and that that isn't so bad). I was also delighted to see that it was not in fact a ''look at how The Gay Issue breaks up an well-to-do family'' movie (i.e., not a rehash of Consenting Adult). I was very moved by Ben Gazzara's performance, in particular. The framing shots of the tree, with the leaves blazing gold and then falling from the tree, were particularly worthy of comment. In Canada, it was broadcast by the CTV network; there were lots of ads, including at least one from Apple Canada. I was delighted that a film on such a ''controversial'' issue could be so widely supported. The TV reviewer in our local newspaper (The Vancouver Sun) should be given equal time, however. He called ''An Early Frost'' pornography of the morbid, and explained how TV AIDS sufferers even have to deal with repressed fathers even if they don't have limp wrists. Plus ca change...