The Thorn Birds - The Complete Miniseries (1983)

The second most-watched miniseries (after Roots) of all time, The Thorn Birds was originally broadcast in 1983 and captivated viewers with its story of a lifelong conflict between the spirit and the flesh. Adapted from the bestselling novel by Colleen McCullough, the production stars Richard Chamberlain as a Catholic priest named Ralph de Bricassart, whose life in Australia between 1920 and 1962 is one long torment as he pines for his lover, Meggie Carson (Rachel Ward), while seeking advancement in his clergyman career. The passion and the guilt make for compelling drama, but a stellar cast of supporting players adds muscle to the proceedings: Barbara Stanwyck (who won an Emmy for her work as Meggie's tough grandmother), Jean Simmons, Richard Kiley, Christopher Plummer, Bryan Brown, and Mare Winningham. Chamberlain, who was something of the king of the miniseries form at the time, is very good in the lead, as is the often-underrated Ward. Their affair is indeed irresistible to watch, which proves to be true, too, of the story's thick weave of church politics, forbidden desire, social change over decades, and family secrets. --Tom Keogh Amazon.com essential video

THE ENDING MADE NO SENSE

Overall well produced TV series and I watched intently with many emotions of passion, heartache, compassion, and joy for characters portrayed. The Stanwyk character was deplorable esp. with the line: on my mouth! YIKES!!! The aging process was well done for Cardinal Vittorio, Ralph, Grandma Fi, BUT Meggie looks more gorgeous every year, esp. the last scene, they tried to grey her hair, tho unevenly, during the same scene and nary a wrinkle....no biggie compared to her whisper yelling and flat dialogue, but very beautiful woman...Justine was prolly the worst cast in the series, waaay too wooden for a bohemian, maladjusted, wild child, head movements were even too stilted and not pretty enough to be Meggie's daughter...Dane portrayed the deepest expression of character as supported by the other family members and was very touching. I could not believe that his two good looking uncles stayed unmmarried, very strange...and the young Meghan had too mature dialogue for believability, with her bold questions and observations that nary an adult would deliver or even have elevated critical thinking skills during that era....apologies for my stream of consciousness review here but thankfully not a PhD thesis...also, never understood the reasons for not telling Ralph about Dane 'cept for the heart wrenching reveal at the end which IMHO was theee best scene in the series...great crying jag Richard!!! I cried too....anyhow, my biggest dissapointment was the ending with Ralph decrying that "WE always go for it" (?) i.e. the thorn bird's sole joy of life or something to that effect when I felt that is the last thing either of them did....Ralph especially, he fought that "song" to his death, and loved the inital description of the Thorn Bird myth but never saw the parallel in the series....nice try but would have liked him to reject the church and had his final days with Meggie and fade out TRYING to be that Thorn Bird but failing....well, I know Aussies and back then they must have treated their women worse than they do now....Bryan Brown was delightful but character development flawed with the devotion and conviction of needing a woman and love to... how can I impress the wankers cutting cane???...they just didn't flesh out a believable character, And what is up with the D. H. Lawrence and Henry Miller references? Lady Chatterly's Lover is so out of place for a cripple, 50's mentality, Australlia, and farmer IQ types...did Colleen try to impress the audience with her breadth of literary repertoire? so to wrap up....I watched every episode, sometimes twice, and worked my schedule around this series as I had not seen it since 1983 after reading the book...I rarely do this and my friends razzed me about it but I was hoping for a recapture of my life 25 years ago, but what I found is a deeper understanding of loss, patiently waiting for love, and how to overcome adversity, kudos for the enjoyment but had to comment on my issues with the production. And oh yeah, Dr. Kildare was still a major hottie!!! November 29, 2008

A enjoyable ride but watch out for the accents

A classic miniseries and reasonably faithful to the book, but - ouch! Those accents are distracting if you've an ear for them. American viewers probably won't notice though. November 28, 2008

TAWDRY

One word best describes this blatanly immoral sex soap opera scandalizing all and that is: Tawdry! It is as sinful as the movie "Titanic" and equally pathetic! Why one would watch this garbadge - I do not know. November 28, 2008

In Defense of Rachel Ward

Although most agree that this was a gripping storyline and a classic miniseries, there were some people that criticized Rachel Ward. I would like to point out the following:

1) She was extraordinarily beautiful, hard to look away from when she was on-screen. It was plausible that a priest or any other man would be drawn to her. I can't imagine a better-cast Meggie than Rachel Ward.

2) Ward did a remarkable job of portraying convincing love scenes with a gay actor (Richard Chamberlain). I do not know if the cast was aware of his proclivity. If nothing else, Ward's gaydar may have signaled her to the truth of Chamberlain's orientation. Both actors deserve credit for pulling this off.

3) The reality on the set was that Ward had found her "masculine counterpart" in Bryan Brown. They would marry, raise a family, and see one of their daughters act on screen. Kudos to Ward for convincing the camera (and everyone else) that Richard Chamberlain was the love of her life.

4) Unforgettable goodbye scene #1: Meggie parting ways with Ralph on Matlock Island. I admit I was rather young when I first saw this, but I felt terribly torn and grieved watching this scene. The only comparably wrenching scene that comes to mind is Debra Winger saying goodbye to her kids in Terms of Endearment.

5) Unforgettable goodbye scene #2: the riveting portrayal of Meggie telling Luke their marriage was over. She was a commanding presence, lancing Luke's ego with surgical precision. Don't feel badly for him. He had it coming.

6) Ward was a former model with limited acting experience at this point in her career. That she could pull off items 2 - 5 so beautifully was remarkable. Item number one just added icing to the cake.

Thank you Rachel Ward for a once in a lifetime portrayal. All the better that you met your true man (Bryan Brown) on the set. November 6, 2008

great

I first saw this series when I was a child and found it to be wonderful. It still stands as a terrific miniseries, even if it is melodramatic. Ward is radiant, Chamberlain is excellent, Stanwyck and Simmons are remarkable. Incredibly tragic and romantic. August 22, 2008

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