The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years
- TV Movie
- 1996
- 2h 58m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
At the height of WWII and ten years after their union in Matlock Island, Father Ralph reunites with Meggie who faces a deep crisis. Now, he must make up his mind, as the burden of choice is ... Read allAt the height of WWII and ten years after their union in Matlock Island, Father Ralph reunites with Meggie who faces a deep crisis. Now, he must make up his mind, as the burden of choice is insufferable. Will he risk it all for love?At the height of WWII and ten years after their union in Matlock Island, Father Ralph reunites with Meggie who faces a deep crisis. Now, he must make up his mind, as the burden of choice is insufferable. Will he risk it all for love?
Jack Heywood
- Doctor
- (as John Heywood)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the original miniseries, the outback scenes were shot in southern California. In The Missing Years, the outback scenes were shot in the actual outback of Australia. According to producer David L. Wolper, when they were making the original, he wanted to shoot it in Australia, but there weren't enough film crews to make that vision a reality. However, by the time The Missing Years was in development, the Australian film industry had become substantially more capable. Wolper stated: "Over the years, there have been many crews developed in Australia. We had an Australian director, so he knew the best crews down there."
- GoofsSome have questioned why Luke would assume that Dane was even his son, since he deliberately avoided sleeping with Meggie (and Meggie even told him that she slept with other men during their marriage). The novel explains that Meggie slept with Luke one final time before she left him just so Dane's paternity would not be questioned. This does not appear to be the case in the miniseries, because Meggie states that Luke had never even bothered to see his daughter, Justine. However, it is possible that Meggie saw him at some point prior to that alone.
- ConnectionsFollows The Thorn Birds (1983)
Featured review
I liked it. Better and better. At first I found the lady cold and not at all like the Meggie I had grown used to from watching the series over and over, but she was farther along in her story now - she'd borne Ralph's child and raised him to the age of thirteen. The world was at war. She was lonely and becoming a pragmatist. She didn't expect to see him again. (We didn't either.) THAT is the gift here - more time with the lovers.
Before commenting on the consistently good performances, which were (for the most part) written and played true to the characters lined in the book and performed in the original mini, I must protest the unsympathetic, growling characterization of Vittorio, Father Ralph's mentor at the Vatican. The writer was dead wrong in having him threaten Ralph with his love for Meggie. "Get over it!" he says, essentially. "Get on with your life!" Vittorio would never have acted so. Maximillian Schell was serious miscasting, but he didn't write his own lines. The same judgments apply regarding the casting and meddling attitude of Meggie's mother- too sensational, too cruel. And out of character.
The confrontation between Ralph and Vittorio comes so early in the story that one is tempted to judge the entire production by it, but it is important to keep watching. Eventually the characters fit in to the almost sacred memories we have of the earlier version and stand as logical segues to the time-line that they must fit into. The son Dane, by the way, is a real goody-goody. I didn't like him as an adult and I didn't like him as a kid, but he was true to character.
Look - Richard Chamberlain is the best. The love story stands. It was the main reason we watched the first one - that and the wonderful performances by the major stars - Kiley, Stanwyck, Simmons. Those folks aren't there; two of them we will never see again, and we will miss them, but we have Richard Chamberlain here again, and he was, after all, the heart of the story.
Look - try thinking of it as a road company performance with a star turn. It's worth seeing. Take another look and see if you don't agree- it's available on tape.
I cried.
Before commenting on the consistently good performances, which were (for the most part) written and played true to the characters lined in the book and performed in the original mini, I must protest the unsympathetic, growling characterization of Vittorio, Father Ralph's mentor at the Vatican. The writer was dead wrong in having him threaten Ralph with his love for Meggie. "Get over it!" he says, essentially. "Get on with your life!" Vittorio would never have acted so. Maximillian Schell was serious miscasting, but he didn't write his own lines. The same judgments apply regarding the casting and meddling attitude of Meggie's mother- too sensational, too cruel. And out of character.
The confrontation between Ralph and Vittorio comes so early in the story that one is tempted to judge the entire production by it, but it is important to keep watching. Eventually the characters fit in to the almost sacred memories we have of the earlier version and stand as logical segues to the time-line that they must fit into. The son Dane, by the way, is a real goody-goody. I didn't like him as an adult and I didn't like him as a kid, but he was true to character.
Look - Richard Chamberlain is the best. The love story stands. It was the main reason we watched the first one - that and the wonderful performances by the major stars - Kiley, Stanwyck, Simmons. Those folks aren't there; two of them we will never see again, and we will miss them, but we have Richard Chamberlain here again, and he was, after all, the heart of the story.
Look - try thinking of it as a road company performance with a star turn. It's worth seeing. Take another look and see if you don't agree- it's available on tape.
I cried.
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- Törnfåglarna - De förlorade åren
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Top Gap
By what name was The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years (1996) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer