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Thicker Than Water

  • TV Movie
  • 2005
  • G
  • 2h
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
622
YOUR RATING
Melissa Gilbert, Lindsay Wagner, and Brian Wimmer in Thicker Than Water (2005)
Drama

After discovering her late father once married a rodeo queen, an attorney travels into horse country and finds more family.After discovering her late father once married a rodeo queen, an attorney travels into horse country and finds more family.After discovering her late father once married a rodeo queen, an attorney travels into horse country and finds more family.

  • Director
    • David S. Cass Sr.
  • Writer
    • J.P. Martin
  • Stars
    • Melissa Gilbert
    • Lindsay Wagner
    • Brian Wimmer
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.3/10
    622
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • David S. Cass Sr.
    • Writer
      • J.P. Martin
    • Stars
      • Melissa Gilbert
      • Lindsay Wagner
      • Brian Wimmer
    • 10User reviews
    • 2Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos3

    View Poster
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    Top cast15

    Edit
    Melissa Gilbert
    Melissa Gilbert
    • Natalie Jones
    Lindsay Wagner
    Lindsay Wagner
    • Jess Jarrett
    Brian Wimmer
    Brian Wimmer
    • Sam Nelson
    Lindy Newton
    Lindy Newton
    • Lulu Nichols
    Nan Martin
    Nan Martin
    • Abygail Jordan
    Robert Mailhouse
    Robert Mailhouse
    • Larry Gorman
    Grainger Hines
    Grainger Hines
    • Tom Grove
    Nancy Atkinson
    • Receptionist
    Amy Beth Reece
    Amy Beth Reece
    • Secretary
    Ryan Carnes
    Ryan Carnes
    • Tim 'Ray' Markus
    Sondra Currie
    Sondra Currie
    • Sally
    • (as SondraCurrie)
    Martin Papazian
    Martin Papazian
    • Stableboy
    • (as Marty Papazian)
    Jennifer Jean Cacavas
    • JJ
    David McQuade
    • Billy Joe
    Ivan Naranjo
    • Watervision
    • Director
      • David S. Cass Sr.
    • Writer
      • J.P. Martin
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews10

    6.3622
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    Featured reviews

    1cranewms

    worst movie I have seen in years

    I rented this movie yesterday and can hardly express my disappointment in little Laura Ingalls for getting involved in something so poorly produced. I am not sure if it was horrible writing or bad directing or both but it leaves a viewer very disappointed in having wasted the time to watch this swill. It consisted of a weak naive story line, very poor lines, and relied solely on pretty scenery, and pretty people to sell it. Unfortunately this was not enough. You would be better off to rent a tape full of static than to waste your time on this crap. Lindsey Wagner also played a pretty pathetic part as a ranch owner who apparently works very hard doing nothing, anybody who has ever been near a ranch knows that this was obviously written by a young person from los Angeles and not someone with much knowledge of the world.
    9sleuth-5

    Excellent

    For those of us who have walked in the shoes of marginalization or separation from blood kin due to parental decisions to keep secrets, this movie provided a warm and real option for closure. It was comforting, and helped me recognize that connecting to previously unknown relatives takes work, and requires honesty.

    Lindsay Wagner portrayed a credible role of a firstborn separated from half of her birth family. Estranged from her father, she learned early in life to reach out with love towards others, adopting, so-to-speak, perfect strangers, providing them a safe sanctuary. Her other option was to be bitter, self-centered, and angry, but she chose to give, rather than take. Conversely, Melissa Gilbert begins by being angry and mistrusting.

    These two characters actually portrayed the emotional schism that exists within children born unto such circumstances. Separating the juxtaposed emotions into two separate characters really helps the viewer, who may have experienced this dynamic, to sort out feelings and see potential character developments of each emotion. The fact that Gilbert's role evolved into a trusting, giving individual who reaches out to the lost and brings them into her heart demonstrated a resolution that people separated at birth might wish to follow. At least such a solution could bring peaceful closure to the wounds parents' decisions sometimes creates in the lives of their offspring.

    I gave this a high rating because of the realistic solution to real-life emotional turmoil this movie brought. Thanks for airing it.
    6Danele

    Sweet family drama

    A career woman finds her roots in the country while finding out about her fathers hidden life.

    This is a nice movie about family matters. Nothing upsetting, just your familiar Hallmark kind of TV movie.

    Quite a nice movie for a relaxed evening in front of the TV. Don't expect to be totally captured though.

    It is also nice to see the pictures from the country-side, and the movie makes a good advertisement for country life, to inspire us hard-working town dwellers.

    A romantic touch finishes off the movie well.

    Melissa Gilbert is an excellent choice for this kind of movies.

    Just sweet.
    7Rosettes2

    A standard theme or two but still a relaxing movie

    Hallmark movies tend to be a standard format of the successful city business woman comes to the country on some quest and finds love there. This movie is no different but it wraps into it a standard western theme where a trouble making robber baron wants the water and the land. As that it is a Hallmark movie, it has the tension but not the violence of the western. As I am a cowgirl, if adopted by the ranch, I found a lot of things I could identify with and items that made me comfortable as it was the kind of life I have now. One thing about the movie to me is that aside from Lindsay Wagner, I do not know the cast from their former performances so I had no expectation to "who they were before". "Meeting them for the first time", I had no doubt to who they were playing. A good movie to end the day with.
    6bkoganbing

    There were never such devoted sisters

    Melissa Gilbert gets the shock of her life in Thicker Than Water after her father dies. She's a high powered attorney at one of Los Angeles's best white shoe law firms and just getting used to the idea that both of her parents are now deceased. Then the family friend Nan Martin drops an envelope on her with the news that her father had a wife before he married Mom. The first wife was a trick rider Rodeo Queen. As her father was a most conservative sort, that's something she can't figure.

    She goes in search of wife one and finds a graveyard with another daughter mourning her passing. The daughter is Lindsay Wagner and the half sisters after a bit of getting used to bond quite well.

    In fact a lawyer who is a sister of any kind comes in quite handy for Wagner who is having a dispute with her neighbor and landlord Granger Hines about water rights and the fact that Lindsay is caring for some wild horses still roaming the range. And there's romance for Gilbert in the person of veterinarian Brian Wimmer.

    Thicker Than Water is a nice Hallmark Channel production with good roles for both Wagner and Gilbert. I'm sure that is one of the reasons they signed for this film. It's an easy to take film with people you will grow to care about.

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      In the first scene in the study at Natalie's house, actual baby pictures of Melissa Gilbert can be seen on the mantle and end tables.

      qv Prairie Tale: A Memoir by Melissa Gilbert.
    • Goofs
      At around 37 minutes in when Natalie and Jess are talking outside, a person can be seen over Jess' shoulder coming from behind the hedge and walking off camera.
    • Connections
      Featured in Hopeless, Romantic (2016)

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 12, 2005 (United States)
    • Countries of origin
      • United States
      • Germany
    • Official site
      • Hallmark Entertainment
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Lazos secretos
    • Filming locations
      • Ventura Farms - 235 W. Potrero Road, Thousand Oaks, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Hallmark Entertainment
      • MAT IV
      • Alpine Medien Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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    Melissa Gilbert, Lindsay Wagner, and Brian Wimmer in Thicker Than Water (2005)
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    By what name was Thicker Than Water (2005) officially released in Canada in English?
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