Mary Ann McDonald Movies
Fact merges with fiction in writer/director Tom Quinn's deeply personal tale of two teenagers struggling to make sense of their complicated family life after their mother and father decide to separate. While sixteen year-old Kat holds out hope that her parents will eventually work things out, her quiet suffering causes her to become emotionally isolated from both family and friends. Meanwhile, Kat's brother Jack not only finds himself in the difficult position of having to mediate between mom and dad, but also having to keep track of their fragmented finances. Complicating matters is the fact that Jack plays in the string band his father longs to lead to victory in Philadelphia's annual Mummer's Parade. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Greg Lyons, Jennifer-Lynn Welsh, (more)
- 1982
Made for television, The Life and Times of Edwin Alonzo Boyd is a fact-based study of 1940s criminal activity, Canadian style. Gordon Pinsent stars as Boyd, leader of a notorious gang of thieves, cutthroats and pluguglies. Featured in the cast are Mary Ann McDonald as Boyd's wife and Peter Glen as "The Law". Director Les Rose adopts a semi-documentary approach, utilizing the big-band music of the era to create the proper atmosphere. The teleplay was based upon The Boyd Gang, a book by M. Lamb and Barry Pearson. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Pinsent, Mary Ann McDonald, (more)
- 1981
Mary McDonald plays the wife of an abusive husband. No matter how much punishment she endures, Mary keeps returning to the lout, believing that she has nowhere else to turn. When it becomes obvious that she's not going to come out of the relationship alive, she begins planning her escape. But Mary's husband is not about to make things easy. Richard Monette costars in this contemporary thriller. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1981
This made-for-TV Alien clone is set entirely on an offshore oil platform, whose drilling crew inadvertently penetrates a pocket of dormant prehistoric eggs -- as well as the nest's very active, toothy guardian. The slithering little beastie takes up hiding aboard the rig and puts the bite on several crew members, who become infected with a malevolent virus. One such carrier rapes a female driller, who soon gives birth to a bipedal reptile-man (bearing a more than passing resemblance to H.R. Giger's Alien designs). Excellent production values and some effective shocks manage to disguise the film's overall lack of originality, and the Jim Cummins creature designs are fairly sophisticated for man-in-suit monsters. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1977
Love at First Sight was filmed before Dan Aykroyd gained fame on Saturday Night Live, but released afterward. This Canadian serio-comedy stars Aykroyd as a blind man who wants to marry lovely Mary Ann McDonald. Alas, McDonald's redneck dad has a prejudice against the handicapped, and refuses to bless the union. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Ann McDonald, Dan Aykroyd, (more)
After years of searching through orphanage records, Richie (Stan Kirsch) is convinced that he has found his real father. Duncan (Adrian Paul) doubts this, especially after meeting Richie's self-confessed "daddy", a two-bit gambler named Joe Scanlon (J.E. Freeman). As it happens, Richie is being set up for betrayal to one of Joe's more lethal creditors, a chap named Clinch (Peter DeLuise), forcing Duncan to go to the rescue of his pal yet again. This was the second episode of Highlander to be filmed, but the 11th to be telecast. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Adrian Paul, Alexandra Van Der Noot, (more)
