leon123

I can't believe I am the first one to comment on this soap! This was the precursor to Maria La Del Barrio. The story was amazing, the acting was awesome, and Veronica Castro was at the top of her game.

The soap itself was broken into two halves: the first part dealt with the rags to riches story of Mariana Villareal (played superbly by Castro), and the second part dealt with her struggle to recover her long lost son. The overall message seemed to be: even if you were rich and had the world at your feet, you were not necessarily happy, and therefore "The Rich Cry Too", because money isn't everything.

I personally liked the first part better than the second part, but all in all, this was a superior work than all the others one sees on T.V. nowadays. Back then, in 1979/80, it ruled! I hope they will show it sometime again in the U.S.

This is probably one of the best stories ever to come out of Mexico, and it spawned at least three remakes (four if you count the Venezuelan version "De Su Misma Sangre"). But this latest one lacks two important elements: acting and characterization.

The acting is downright awful. In some scenes, it is obvious that the actors and actresses are, well, acting! They over-act and they make a mockery out of the characters, to the point of making them caricatures. (With the exception of Kate Del Castillo).

And this brings up the second point: the Don Rafael Del Junco character, is way, way over the top, badly acted, and badly scripted! They've turned the very stern father from earlier versions, into a complete psycho in this one. Maybe they thought that since this guy's supposed to be a baby killer, that he should be a madman, but this is way too much. In earlier versions, the father was super strict and evil, but he was not a madman. He was set in his ways and did order the (failed) murder attempt of his daughter's baby but later in life he grew remorseful of this act, and had enough redeeming qualities that the audience could forgive him. If this father is forgiven later on, that would be a huge mistake. (And his wife was not a drug addict either, until this one!)

It is a shame that Televisa has taken upon itself to remake several classics of what I consider its earlier glory days. The Veronica Castro 1981 version of this soap opera is much better. We need a station that will broadcast the earlier versions of the classics, so that the younger generations will know the good stuff that came before. Telemundo/Univision are you listening ?