The Thorn Birds

Rating:
Summary: It has Problems, but is Loveable.
Review: The Best Mini-series of all time, in my opinion. I only wish I could have done the editing. Some of the story is utterly ridiculous, and sometimes vulgar. Sometimes pure genious, and truly touching. Daring for 1983, it truly pushed the envelope for television at that time, but does have some amount of dignity. I applaud the performances of Stanwyck, Kiley, Simmons, Ward, and Chamberlain, in that order. The author was obviously mildly insane, it is certainly 1 of top 10 TV-Movie favorites, in any case.

Rating:
Summary: Unforgettable.
Review: The Thorn Birds is my favorite. I was nine-year-old when saw it by the first time. Today, I'm 28' and I would say that's one of the most flashing and unforgettable love story ever told.

Rating:
Summary: Good guilty pleasure
Review: This movie, like the book, sucks you in. It's a wonderful, tragic, epic story, set in a beautiful, dramatic locale, with just the right amount of cheezy drama. Richard Chamberlin is sexy at all ages. If you're in the mood for a sweeping drama, maybe for a dark rainy day, The Thorn Birds would be perfect.

Rating:
Summary: Playing With Morals, Outback And Down Under
Review: ABC (but perhaps more accurately, David Wolper) set the standard for the Miniseries, or "novels for television" in the mid 1970s through the 80s. First "Rich Man, Poor Man," which launched the genre in 1976, then the blockbuster epic "Roots" the following year, and then this next major event: Colleen McCullough's best seller, "The Thorn Birds," which first aired in 1983.

All of the key elements are there: a sweeping story set in an intriguing locale (in this case, a rural area farm in Australia), and an emotional topic (in this case, variations of unrequited love).

It begins with a parish priest named Father Ralph, who is doted upon by the old woman who owns the sheep farm, run by a working class family. Barbara Stanwyck gives one of her final and one of her best scenery-chewing performances here, as the boss lady who forces her quarry to make a tough choice, and Richard Chamberlain matches her as the priest who finds his own special treasure, the young daughter of the farm's caretakers, Meggie, (played by child actor Sydney Penny).

As Meggie grows, so does Father Ralph's ambition, and his ascent towards the upper ranks of the Catholic Church begins, just as his descent into his feelings for the now adult Meggie (Rachel Ward) also happens.

With a stellar cast and such earth shattering subject matter as breaking vows of celibacy, the grasp for power, true love v. true vocation and the agony and dilemma of dealing with the choices one makes along the path of life, through love and loss, there's plenty of ground to cover, from the dirt roads of an Outback farm to the glittering brilliance of the Holy See.

In addition to the miniseries itself, you get one important extra here: a look back on the landmark television event by the principal players in the project titled "The Thorn Birds: Old Friends, New Stories," a documentary shot in 2003.

This short film features Exec. Producer David Wolper, Chamberlain, Ward, and her husband that she met on the set, Bryan Brown (the only Aussie working on the project!) all chatting merrily about the events surrounding the filming. Some very amusing behind-the-scenes stories are told here that must be seen!

But really, it's all about the tear-jerking tale with a score by the legendary Henry Mancini, one of the most chest-clutching romantic classics in TV history!

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: One of the great ones. An epic tale of love and betrayal.
Review: The Thorn Birds is truly one of the epic miniseries, ranking at the top with Shogun (which also starred Richard Chamberlain, who reigns as the King of the Miniseries). The story closely follows the story set forth in Colleen McCullough's bestselling novel, and is a very faithful rendition of the novel.

This is a great and epic story set in Australia, from about 1925 through the 1960s and is the story of one Australian family, the Clearys, living in the outback in New South Wales. Richard Chamberlain stars as Father (later Cardinal) Ralph de Bricassart, a Catholic priest who initially has been "exhiled" from Rome to Australia for disagreeing with a Bishop about Church doctrine. This is really the story of a forbidden and impossible love between Father Ralph and Meghann Cleary (Rachael Ward, who presents a great performance) the young daughter of the Cleary clan. Father Ralph refuses to allow this love, which is the great love of his life, to stand in the way of his advancement in the Church heirarchy, which is the consuming goal of his life, and which, of course, is utterly incompatible with his love for Meghann. This is a great story of forbidden love, ambition and betrayal. Incidentally, Christopher Plummer puts in a very fine performance as Archbishop Vittorio Conini-Verchese, who is a power within the Catholic Church who mentors Father Ralph. The chemistry between these two is excellent, and was one of my favorite parts of the film.

Barbara Stanwyck turns in a wonderful performance as the evil Mary Carson, who is the first to detect the love between Ralph and Meghann, and who diabolically (and succesfully) schemes to frustrate it by arranging for Father Ralph to essentially betray the Clearys to further his own ambition. Richard Kiley (Paddy Cleary), Jean Simmons, Ken Howard, Bryan Brown, and the rest of the supporting cast all turn in very fine performances and more to the point, really seem to understand and reproduce the characters from the novel. Bryan Brown, in particular, absolutely becomes Luke O'Neill, one of the more important characters in the story, and the chemistry between him and Rachel Ward is superb, for perhaps the very good reason that they later became married in real life.

This is a complicated story that nevertheless hangs together very well, and succeeds in its goal: to entertain. Unlike some miniseries, this one has few if any draggy interludes or long pointless segments that is the downfall of some attempts at miniseries. The plot moves along nicely from beginning to end, and pretty much every segment of the plot contributes towards the ultimate culmination of the story. More would be telling.

This is one of those films to which the musical score makes a major contribution. The musical score is just perfect, and really helps set the tone for the various parts of the story.

The DVD is technically pretty good. Unforgivably, the DVD does omit some scenes; I'm not really sure how much. But this is disappointing, because the strength of the DVD medium is that it should not be necessary for this to be done.

This is one that most viewers will enjoy many times over the years, as I have.

Rating:
Summary: Unintentionally funny!
Review: I just howl everytime I see the scene where Chamberlain steps out of the shower and is seduced by a much, much older Barbara Stanwyck. More than likely the first time an Emmy award has been handed out for watching a diesel pursue a poofter.

Rating:
Summary: HAUNTING, SENSUAL, EPIC
Review: I absolutely cherish this film ( and to the younger viewers- dont be afraid- I was only 3 when it first aired ) Richard Chamberlin is haunting and beautiful. He embraced this role like nothing I have ever seen.
This story plays on emotions you never knew you had, and expresses beautifully how tragic love ( in its many forms ) can be. This is one of the best stories ever told, and I have never seen a movie capture the art of story telling so well. Henry Mancini's score is haunting and perfect and strikes the core of your heart. The scenes between Sydney Penny as young Meggie and Richard Chamberlin are precious, and those between Rachel Ward as a grown Meggie and Chamberlin are electric.
Richard Kiley is heartbreaking as Paddy, and B. Stanwyck is both chilling and tragic as the complicated Mary Carson.
You will feel for these characters, you will believe them and you will be haunted and touched by this epic story of love in its truest form.

Rating:
Summary: A flawed DVD release by Warner
Review: The fact that this set contains two double-sided discs makes playback inconvenient for those of us with DVD changers. On my particular set, the sides are mislabled on disc two, adding to the inconvenience.

The program content on both sides of both discs is marred by trailers (narrated in bombastic style by ABC's voice of the 70's and early 80's) which fill up the first HALF of chapter one. That's right; the only way to bypass these spoilers is to skip to chapter two then rewind half a chapter.

Rating:
Summary: What happened to The Thorn Birds
Review: I loved the book and the mini-series of The Thorn Birds, when I found it here on DVD I ordered 2 copies. What a disappointment, so much edited out and for no reason. DVD's were made for the miniseries! Don't waste your time, I haven't even watched the entire movie.

Rating:
Summary: The Thorn Birds
Review: Excellent! Unforgetable! It is worth seeing a few times over.
Magnificent cast, acting, scenery.