You won't be disappointed!

So much average

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Covering three generations of a family, "The Thorn Birds" is a big canvas. It's packed with emotional highs and lows that stretched the abilities of the cast, and over-stretched them occasionally. But the camera loved the three leads: Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward and Bryan Brown, while veteran actors Barbara Stanwyck and Jean Simmons added a touch of class.After the Cleary family arrive in Australia from New Zealand to work on Drogheda, the sheep station owned by Aunt Maggie Carson (Barbara Stanwyck), they meet Father Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain). He takes their daughter, 8-year old Meghann (Meggie), under his wing leading to a lifelong love between them. Meggie was played by Sydney Penny as a child and Rachel Ward as an adult. Although presented as benign and paternal, after all the revelations about child abuse within the church since the series was made, the relationship between Father Ralph and young Meggie is a bit disturbing. When Meggie reaches adulthood, Father Ralph can hardly control his feelings for her, but his faith and ambition hold him back, except for the odd moment of weakness. Father Ralph's rise within the church is reminiscent of Otto Preminger's "The Cardinal", especially the way his motives are challenged by a mentor played by Christopher Plummer in this case.The Cleary's fortunes ebb and flow and Meggie marries Luke O'Neill, a shearer played by Bryan Brown. One of the most fascinating sequences is when they head off to the cane fields in Queensland before their marriage falls apart. Megan and Father Ralph come together at the end where they are forced to confront the difficulties their love created. "The Thorn Birds" was filmed in California with Hawaii standing in for Queensland. The scenes of sheep and shearing are convincing and impressive. Not quite as convincing are the dodgy Irish accents of the mainly American cast. Maybe they would have been better off tackling dodgy Aussie ones instead. No problem with Henry Mancini's score though. He created a memorable theme inspired by songs such as "Bound for Botany Bay", and "Queensland Drover". "The Thorn Birds" endures with beautiful stars and a script full of insights into the nature of love and faith drawn from Colleen McCullough's novel. There are worse ways to spend a wet weekend.

Oh, it's so romantic. Like another girl wrote, the moment when young Meggie comes down the stairs and Father Ralph sees her finally as a woman and not a child, is so extremely breathtaking. You know that they are in love even if it's a sin for the priest to be with a woman. I feel for Meggie because she is so torn between obligation to her family (who are pretty cruel) and her love for Father Ralph, who is truly a man of God. This movie follows the book pretty closely and relates to the deepest emotions of us as human beings who crave love and intimacy, but sometimes with the people who can't love us back because they don't know how to express love or they feel like they are disobeying God if they love a person more than a friend. Not to give away too much, but Father Ralph is a hero in my book. I really like that they chose Rachel Ward for this part because she is beautiful and Australian, which is good because the book is set there and they did good to choose a local actress. Father Ralph is so handsome and of course, what woman would not want a Godly man even though sadly, he is a priest. I think he does try to quit the priesthood at some point, but I forgot how that part went. I should definitely watch it again.

How did Rachel Ward have a career after this? She is plain awful. Especially amidst the company of so many outstanding performers and performances. Watching her try to be dramatic almost makes me laugh! Very dab casting. Think of the great ladies. Barbara Stanwyck,Piper Laurie, Jean Simmons. She reminds me often a deer in headlights. The men overwhelm her too. But I do love this series. First time I have seen it.I would surmise that these great old mini-series have been replaced by shows on HBO, Showtime, and the like. Perhaps too expensive for regular broadcast TV. Mores the pity. But by and large this was a truly great television experience.

I have seen this series at least 3 or 4 times. Each time I discover something different about it. This last time I watched the entire series over a weekend. I felt the same emotions except they are much stronger as I have gotten older. The one thing I have a hard time with is why did Father Ralph not suspect that Dane was his? Maybe the book explains it better, but he could not have been that dense. Nevertheless, he was brilliant as Ralph, and Rachel Ward was brilliant as Meggie as well. On the DVD, there is a special section that has some of the characters interviewed. Richard Chamberlain is precious. You can feel how passionate he was and still is about this series. In a couple of places, he got choked up talking about Dane's ordination and the story about the Thornbird. He said they almost cast Jane Seymour for the role of Meggie, but she did not come across as so vulnerable as Rachel did. Rachel Ward seemed not as passionate about the piece as Richard, but she felt "fondly" of it. She said she did meet her husband (Bryan Brown), so it was definitely a turning point in her life. I'm sure this will be the most watched movie by myself in my life.