Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story

Background

The film stars Peter Strauss as Larry McLinden, Rachel Ticotin as Diane and Lynn Whitfield as Bobbie Mallory. Others in the film include Brenda Bazinet as Mary, Jacob Zelik Penn as Larry Jr., Bob Dishy as Glen Schwartz, Susan Hogan as Dr. Sandra Baldwin, Carolyn Dunn as Nikki Amato and Patricia Gage as Judge Lara Parkes.

Today, the film remains unavailable in America (where it is also known as The Larry McLinden Story), having never received a VHS or DVD release. In the UK, it was released on both VHS and DVD in 2004 via Odyssey under the title Thicker Than Blood. During the 1990s, the film was also released on VHS in Brazil via Mundial Filmes.

The film's tagline on the UK VHS/DVD release reads "Some bonds go deeper than blood."

The film was filmed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story was created by production companies Alexander/Enright & Associates, Front Street Pictures and World International Network (WIN).

Four years after the film's release, main stars Peter Strauss and Rachel Ticotin married, on 31 December 1998.

Plot

Securities broker Larry McLinden (Peter Strauss) and Diane Middleton (Rachel Ticotin) are experiencing a rocky affair when Diane announces that she's pregnant. When it's discovered that infant Larry Jr. has traces of cocaine in his blood, the couple's romance is over. Except Larry - now far more enthusiastic about parenthood - wants custody of the child, whom Diane has taken to Florida. Larry's attorney (Lynn Whitfield) sues, and a custody arrangement is set up, which Diane soon breaks, explaining that her son needs more time with her. Then she marries David Meadows (Booth Savage), and tells Larry that the two will try to adopt Larry Jr. As the fight drags on, Diane surprises everyone by suddenly truthfully claiming, contrary to everything she'd said before, that Larry is not the child's biological father, causing things to become even more complicated.

Cast

Critical reception

Allmovie gave the film a rating of two and a half out of five stars. Digiguide.TV gave the film three out of five stars.

Variety Magazine gave the film an unfavorable review, stating "Title and casting lead to belief that sympathy is supposed to be with McLinden, but in Judson Klinger's diffuse script, Larry is dumb as a stump. Everybody plays this in deadly earnest among generic Toronto locations. Michael Dinner's rote direction shows no energy; tech credits are routine."

Locate TV gave a favorable review and described the film as a "Powerful tug-of-love drama."