I love this movie so much

Sadly Over-hyped

Boring

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Father Dowling has a twin brother, BUT some decriptions say he is a half-brother. It's either o ne or the other-- twins can not be half brothers or vice versa.

I decided to buy this DVD as a result of seeing Tracy Nelson in another old Movie alongside Ernest Borgnine, where she starred as a single Mum. I then traced her connection as I suspected to Ricky Nelson. I guess readers have figured out I am an 'early-days-of-tv in Australia' person. Tom Bosley does well in this. Sad there are no Subtitles but the sound is not too bad in spite of the lack of them.Plots, and the solving of the mysteries are often equally as surprising. This was a set of DVD's that included a lower quality TV episode at the start that was probably originally NTSC converted to PAL for Australian and English viewers. Imagine my surprise when one of the later episodes also featured Tracy Nelson's Grandmother Harriet Nelson from the Harriet and Ozzy Nelson TV shows. I won't give away which role she played. So all in all apart from all the other fine actors a real family affair with 2 generations of Nelsons playing in one episode together. I could see some similarities, in a few places, in this to perhaps Peter Faulk's Murder Mysteries in the Columbo series.

Summary The Father Dawling series, while more realistic than Murder, She Wrote it is still an unbelievable series in which a catholic priest with the assistance of a Nun solves murder cases. Yet it is less aggravating to watch as compared to that Jessica Fletcher thing.I remember this series from my youth. I watched it for a few episodes at intervals. Nowaday reruns of are sometimes shown in the early afternoon. It is the fate of that type of series.I somehow associated the father with that "Fletcher-woman" from Murder, She wrote. Like Jessica Fletcher feels like a translation of Miss Marple, so Father Dowling looks much like an American implementation of Father Brown. Like Jessica Fletcher the good brother is there to solve the Murder and leaves us to sleep at peace.Yet while saying this there are some differences with Murder, She Wrote. First and foremost the Dowling series seems to posses more realism and more grey shades. The world is less popcile and apple-pie. Less preposterous. While Jessica Fletcher seems mostly to be busy in small towns(the kind that so often the stage of Stephen King's stories) Father Dowling seems to be more operating in cities. Unlike the Fletcher series the people are less halfwit and Dowling's sidekick the nun is actually a capable attractive woman. Which is a change since with the Murder, she wrote series, the main cast seems to consist of elderly people most of the time. An interesting aside is that the good Father is a catholic.Another different thing is the method the perpetrator is caught. In Father Dowling it seems to be more a case of catching him/her red-handed. In Murder, She Wrote it is more that the felon admits after being confronted with the truth.But on the downside, the method with which are solved are also often more ridiculous. Since both Dowling and his trusty sidekick are people of the cloth, they need to disguise themselves a lot during their investigations. This results is the use of the most weakest set of disguises one can encounter. Wear a set of dark glasses and a suit and voilà Dowling is bad dud gangster. The nun takes of her gown and put some cushions underneath her clothes and she is a pregnant mum.All in all, while this series is not as bad as Murder, She Wrote, this series is hardly worth the trouble watching considering that there are a lot of better series like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot and Law & Order for that matter. But it probably will appeal to an audience that can only sleep when the murderer is safely locked away in a world that is less disturbing than shown in those other series.Owen

The most outlandish junk that must've left the church on the floor. Just your everyday life of a priest and a nun, as he drags her along on sorted misadventures. And I don't mean backpacking and fundraisers, try organized crime and serial killers. This is only based on five or so episodes but that's all I needed. The king of them all was a recent one involving Bosley's priest infiltrating the mob! HE DONS GLASSES AND A GANGSTER VOICE TO QUESTION A BARTENDER!! THE NUN DRESSES LIKE A HOOKER IN HEELS! At least Murder, She Wrote stayed within a realm. What's next, Jessica Fletcher as a phone-sex operator?? Thank God (pun, hehe) they crucified this crap after 45 episodes. Avoid it, go to church and pray for its forgiveness.