henrywillis The Bounty by Roger Donaldson is a rousing sea adventure with some fascinating character study and great acting. Anthony Hopkins portrays William Bligh who in real life was a subordinate of James Cook and later the master of the Bounty upon which the famous mutiny occurred. The cinematography is lush and the pacing efficient to say the least. The actors here are, apart from the aforementioned Hopkins- Mel Gibson, Liam Neeson, Daniel Day Lewis and in a cameo of sorts Laurence Olivier, so you can imagine the star wattage on display. All in all this is a great film for sea enthusiasts, history buffs or fans of the actors.

talkbaktalk 'The Bounty' is a minor contribution to the famous Bounty mutiny lore. Obviously the real story caught the public's imagination from the start. Capt Bligh's own book about the affair has apparently never been out of print since 1795.But this movie never catches fire, perhaps the only real thrill is when Bounty sails in the the Tahitian harbor and is greeted by semi-naked women clambering over the gunnels. The crew, who know what awaits them, thanks to tales of a previous voyage by Capt Cook, are still bug-eyed. Had they died and gone to heaven? In the Britain of that 1792, if you were poor, you could be hanged for any of a hundred different crimes, including petty theft. Poverty and drunkeness were endemic. Sex could be had, but for sailors, only if you had the money to pay for it.Compared to conditions back in England, this was indeed a paradise, for British sailors. (Actually, the Tahitians themselves believed in a wide variety of deities, many malevolent, and were often frightened by the thought of evil spells, witchcraft and the like). They weren't quite the vacant, carefree people we see on screen, and that was a snapshot in time. A hundred years later, their population would be reduced by 80% by the white man's diseases, it was a French colony, Christian missionaries has done their work, and it was like any other port-of-call in the Pacific.To get back to the film itself: Anthony Hopkins is good as Bligh; he's a talented actor. Look for Daniel Day-Lewis in his first film role; but he has few lines. Mel Gibson seems to sleepwalk through his role. The scriptwriters gave him little to say, (his lines are 10 words or less) and his acting has no flair whatsoever. He's upstaged by every actor he has a scene with, including his Tahitian girlfriend. The Tahitian chief has more charisma than Gibson.Hopkins as Bligh comes out of this as the star, a somewhat priggish English gentleman of that day. The film implies that Bligh has a crush on Christian (Gibson), as we see cuts between Bligh in his sweaty bunk on the Bounty and Gibson having a ball on Tahiti, and this begins a rift between the two men. If this were so, it would not be unknown for that period, as the long voyages of those days with no women on board were known for such things. The real Bligh might not have been such a wonderful character. While Governor of Australia in the early 1800s, his subordinates put him under house-arrest for two years.If you see this film, unless you are an out-and-out Navy freak, it is Hopkins' performance that shines. Otherwise the film is a pedestrian walk-thru of no particular account.

vincentlynch-moonoi Mel Gibson. Young. Handsome. Still seemingly innocent. A pleasure to remember how he once was.But beyond that, this is a brilliant film. If it has one real fault, it could have stood a bit more editing. It really didn't need to have a run time of 132 minutes, although, on the other hand, that length gave more opportunities for the kind of detail that makes the film more complete than earlier versions.It is interesting that the first half of the film portrays "Captain" Bligh in an almost favorable light. Although then, suddenly, when the ship leaves its paradise, he becomes an almost raving maniac. That is, perhaps, another fault of this film; it seems unlikely the captain would snap so suddenly. Even with Bogie in "The Caine Mutiny", the transformation is somewhat more gradual.The cast here is excellent. Mel Gibson i great here as Fletcher Christian, although it is amazing how little actual dialog he has in long portions of the film; which is okay. Anthony Hopkins' performance here as "Captain" Bligh is rather restrained for much of the film, perhaps making things a bit more realistic; watching one scene where he is sweating profusely made me wonder if this film led to Hopkins eventually playing Nixon. Although his part is small, it is good to see Laurence Olivier as Admiral Hood of the investigating committee, and Edward Fox, also a member of the investigating committee. Liam Neeson had an early role here; uneventful. Wi Kuki Kaa is interesting as King Tynah. Daniel Day-Lewis is also here.What's interesting to remember is that this film is based upon a true story, and a rather fantastic one at that....particularly after the mutiny. In the little I have read, this film version is probably reasonably faithful to the true story.

Wuchak The 1935 black & White version of "Mutiny on the bounty" may have won an Oscar for Best Picture at the time, but will likely strike modern viewers as dated and unrealistic. Marlon Brando's 1962 remake is the most epic, captivating and compelling version even though it failed at the box office when released; indeed the '62 version is a masterpiece (see my review). But Mel Gibson's 1984 version, simply called "The Bounty," is the most historically accurate and realistic film version of the infamous mutiny.THE PLOT (***SPOILER***): The Bounty mutiny story is so fascinating because it's TRUE. William Bligh, as acting captain, was sent on a mission in December 1787 to bring breadfruit plants from Tahiti back to England. Bligh intended on circumnavigating the globe in fulfilling the mission. Unfortunately he and his crew failed to get around Cape Horn, South America, and had to go the long way around Africa. It thus took them 10 months to reach Tahiti, wherein they were forced to stay another 5 months due to the breadfruit's "dormant" period. The natives were friendly and the women beautiful. It comes as no surprise that the crew naturally fell under the spell of the Polynesian paradise; Fletcher Christian even married the King's daughter, Maimiti. But after 5 months they had to get on with their mission and return to Naval discipline and England. Three and a half weeks later on April 28, 1789, Fletcher took over the ship with 18 other mutineers. 22 remained loyal to Bligh and 2 others were neutral. Christian set Bligh and 18 loyalists adrift in the ship's launch boat and then sailed back to Tahiti where he dropped off 16 men but picked up 6 Tahitian men and 11 native women, including Maimiti. Fletcher then set forth with 8 other mutineers and the Tahitians to elude the Royal Navy, ultimately settling on Pitcairn Island, which was well off the beaten path and misplaced on Royal charts, seemingly a perfect hiding place to live out the rest of their days (***END SPOILER***.WHAT WORKS: As already stated "The Bounty" is the most historically accurate version. It also has the most realistic vibe, which isn't to say that the '62 version isn't believable, it's just that this '84 version strikes the viewer as completely REAL. It's almost as if the film takes you back in time to view the actual events.This version also gives the most balanced and positive portrayal of the infamous Captain Bligh, played by Anthony Hopkins to great effect. Indeed the film stresses that he was exonerated in the matter. But it also hints of his character flaws that ultimately provoked the mutiny. In real life Bligh had a bad temper and was abusive & insulting to his subordinates. The other two versions show an event that really happened on the Bounty: two big cheeses came up missing on the ship and Bligh unjustly blamed and punished members of his crew even though it was he himself that stoled them!Perhaps Bligh's biggest flaw was that he lacked the ability to inspire loyalty in others; by all accounts he was a real bastage to be around when he was in authority. Lending credence to this is the fact that, even though he was exonerated in the Bounty case, he provoked ANOTHER mutiny years later in New South Wales, Australia!Despite all this Bligh was certainly a brilliant seaman and navigator. The film shows this with Bligh and the 18 loyalists on the adrift launch. After failing to settle on near islands due to unfriendly natives, Bligh navigates the small craft over 3600 miles to Timor in 47 days on very few provisions. He didn't have any charts or compass. All he had was a sextant and a pocket watch. Although all of the loyalists survived this incredible journey 5 later died due to ailments sustained in the voyage. The '62 version barely addresses this miraculous event but "The Bounty" devotes quite a few scenes to it.The score by Vangelis is very fitting. The best part of this composition is heard during the end credits. The film shows Fletcher, the mutineers and the Tahitians stranded on Pitcairn as they sadly observe The Bounty go down in flames. They know they can never go home again. Vangelis' unique piece then plays out over the credits. It perfectly captures the mood and setting. It's so magnificent sometimes I just play the end credits sequence. It's definitely one of the most emotionally potent endings in motion picture history.WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Although Gibson is more realistic as Fletcher Christian than Marlon Brando, especially since Gibson was closer to Christian's real age of 23-25 (Brando was 36-37 during filming), Mel simply lacks Brando's captivating charisma.The Tahitian scenes seem to lack pizazz; the film almost crawls to a halt (which is the the exact opposite of Brando's version). It doesn't personally bother me because the film is attempting to show us what leads to the mutineers' decision to take the ship, but some viewers may have a problem with it, in particular those with ADD."The Bounty" also fails to give any glimpse of what life would offer the mutineers & Tahitians on Pitcairn Island. The '62 version, on the other hand, devotes a number of scenes to this part of the story. This is not a negative to me, however, since showing subsequent scenes on Pitcairn would ruin the powerful end sequence noted above.FINAL ANALYSIS: "The Bounty" is the most historically accurate and realistic version of the infamous mutiny even though Brando's version is the most epic, engaging and compelling. I recommend seeing both versions back to back, which is what I usually do. Both versions are amongst my favorite films of all time. In fact, I consider them masterpieces.The film runs 2 hours and 12 minutes; Brando's version is 3 hours.GRADE: A