It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

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.

My wife wanted to see this so I rented it on DVD & we saw it last night.There was one thing that bothered me during the movie...When Meggie went to and from Matlock Island, she had to be shuttled by boat. When Ralph showed up on the same island, he was dropped off by car. Why didn't he need a boat as well? I believe this deserves a filming oops! Perhaps as a holy man, he could drive on water??BTW, I also thought that Father Ralph and the other priest had a great chemistry together! Itis too bad the movie wasn't about a homosexual relationship within the church, cause those two appeared to be way into the man-on-man kissing scenes.

I love this mini-series because it was beautifully true to Colleen McCullough's creation. It is such a rich and complex tale because it spans over such a long time period, but they did it wonderfully in this adaptation. I loved to hate Meggie at times, as I did in the book, and I also wanted her to finally be with Ralph. But what really impressed me was the way in which they took such a poetic book and lost none of that when they put it on the screen. The casting was absolutely amazing, from the sensitive and torn manner in which Richard Chamberlain portrayed Ralph, and although he didn't have the colouring that Ralph had in the book, I couldn't imagine any other actor playing this character. To Rachel Ward, who brings the passionate and obsessive Meggie to life with such poise and lovliness, how I mourned with her and hated her at the same time, for the way in which her selfish and strong nature cripples Ralph. But I admired her ability to love. I will always adore this mini series, that proved that love, even denied, can bloom into the most precious treasure two individuals can own.

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.