The Bounty
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Movie Reviews of The Bounty
Movie Review: Superb overlooked epic drama
Summary: 5 Stars
How could a film with Mel Gibson, Anthony Hopkins, Daniel Day Lewis and Liam Neeson sink without trace? That was the fate of Roger Donaldson's The Bounty back in 1984 when none of them were exactly box-office certainties. Indeed, the third dramatization of the British Navy's most infamous act of piracy (excluding the semi-documentary In the Wake of the Bounty) and is perhaps best remembered today as the flop that David Lean nearly directed before falling out with Dino De Laurentiis (UA studio boss Steven Bach infamously greenlit Heaven's Gate instead of a Lean version!). It certainly deserves to be better remembered, boasting a superb screenplay by Robert Bolt (originally intended as two films: the second, dealing with the aftermath was quietly dropped after this tanked) that owes a lot more to history than previous versions despite its occasional inaccuracies.
A young Mel Gibson impresses as the weak Fletcher Christian, drawn into rebelling more by place and circumstances than a catalogue of tyranny, but it's Anthony Hopkins' film all the way. Before his irretrievable descent into ham he was a much more restrained screen actor, and his Captain Bligh is a much more interesting creation than you suspect he'd manage today. Fighting his own demons in a permissive place that rips away the moral repressions of his crew and creates a culture of defiance and inertia that he is unable to combat by either understanding or discipline (if anything, Bligh's fault here is that he is too slack on the men for too long before disastrously overcompensating on the return voyage), the film is punctuated by images of his desperately haunted face as he is faced with the realization of his escalating failure and impotence. Yet it is ultimately Bligh who triumphs and is vindicated in this version, with Christian and his mutineers left at each other's throats as they are cast out of paradise and stranded on a barren shore.
It's impressive, powerful stuff, even more so today for its reality. No cgi, few model shots, they built a real ship and took it to sea for real (even Master and Commander was almost entirely shot in a studio tank in Mexico), and the hardships and efforts pay dividends on screen. Donaldson's direction is better than anything he's done since, Arthur Ibbetson's cinematography impressive and even Vangelis' much maligned score has some of the psychological savagery you can find in Alex North's work on Spartacus. Only a hammy Edward Fox (sparingly used, thankfully) and a superanuated Laurence Olivier strike the odd bum note in the court of inquiry scenes that provide the film's solid framework. I for one would love to see the second Bolt script, The Long Arm, finally make it to the screen some day - hard to believe, but it's a much better tale by far.
Movie Review: The last and best film version of this timeless story
Summary: 5 Stars
By far, my favortie adventure drama film! My only complaint is the opening and background music. It could have used a rousing "Gone with the Wind" memorable theme song instead of the somber haunting music employed. I liked the back and forth switches between Bligh's official enquiry and the story of the Bounty. I don't agree with the too common assessment that Bligh and Christian were both deeply flawed men. This film succeeds in presenting them in a balanced manner. I believe Bligh was mostly a victim of a very unusual set of circumstances. Officially, he was only a first lieutenant, not a captain. Unlike normal crown ventures, he lacked commissioned officers and marines to back up his authority, a critical point the film fails to bring out. Apparently, there is no evidence to back up the implication that Bligh announced his intension to sail around Cape Horn, thus provoking the mutiny. It seems plain that the instigation for the mutiny had mainly to do with the very long(5 months) layover in a paradise of willing girls and relative leisure, which many of the crew, including Christian, preferred to continue over a return to naval drudgery and discipline and an ultimate return to England. Christian apparently, as the film dramatized, had also accumulated an intolerable load of recent brow beatings by Bligh. Apparently, he had considered suicide shortly before the mutiny as the only practical way out of his conflicting feelings, as the film may suggest. It is painfully obvious that the prudish aloof Bligh feels very unconfortable in the leisurely free love atmosphere of Tahiti that most of his men relish. Thus, he seems to his crew a different species all together.
I found this version of the Bounty story far superior to previous versions in terms of its characterization of Bligh and Christian and its overall realism. Anthony Hopkins was unbeatable as Bligh, and should have won an academy award. In contrast to some reviewers, I found Mel Gibson entirely adequate as the real Christian. Some prefer Gable's heroic rabble-rousing version of Christian which fit in with other 1930s swashbucking adventure tales. In terms of realism, it also helped that Gibson was much closer to the real Christian's age of 22 than either Gable or Brando. A few reviewers object to the extensive realistic portrayal of bare-breasted nymphomaniac native maidens, something the strict codes of the mid-1930s wouldn't allow. I found this a definite plus and, having married to South Seas maiden, continue to enjoy the view when not watching this film.
Movie Review: By far the best version
Summary: 5 Stars
In the end factual truth is always more interesting than fictionalized story-telling. This is a much, much better account of the fascinating tale of the Bounty than the crude over-simplifications of the Gable/Laughton and Brando/Howard versions, although both of those are highly watchable movies in their own right. The perennial question about this episode in Britain's naval history is why did this mutiny actually happen? There is no clear or obvious answer: after all, hundreds of British ships ruled the waves for many decades without mutinies, many of them under far more gruelling and cruel conditions than the Bounty. This film surely comes closest to truly understanding the unique factors that led to the fateful insurrection, and it seems to boil down to a strange and unfortunate mixture of human personalities and very unusual physical circumstances. Bligh's major disastrous error appears to have been his desire to round the Horn, which led to a domino effect of mounting problems in achieving the original purpose of the voyage. The film doesn't make it properly clear that the ship was actually delayed for 5 whole months on Tahiti, in order to fit in with the seasonal vagaries of the breadfruit plants.
Some other peculiar flaws in the screenplay have been picked up by another reviewer. There seems to have been no truth at all in the idea that Bligh again wanted to sail round the Horn on his return voyage; and there seems no purpose in introducing the scene of Bligh lying to the King of Tahiti about the death of Captain Cook --- although the record may show that he did do this. What the film does make very clear is that Bligh was certainly never a cruel tyrant, and also that he was exonerated for having allowed the mutiny to happen. He seems to have been a man of sensitivity, courage and intelligence, who wanted to manage his men according to good principles. However, he lacked the human touch and charisma to inspire loyalty. His genuine abilities came to the fore in his astounding open-boat voyage of nearly 7,000 km, more remarkable even than the mutiny that caused it. Fletcher Christian was basically a weak character, who allowed himself to be manipulated by malcontents. The hysterical scenes of the actual mutiny are extremely well portrayed in the film. The actors all perform excellently, and it is good to see Gibson in a restrained, well-judged role, before his downward spiral, from Braveheart onwards, into one ghastly, untruthful movie after another.
Movie Review: The miss-adventures of William Bligh
Summary: 5 Stars
The Bounty is an adventure/drama set on the high seas and the islands of the South Pacific Ocean. The story documents the plight of an ambitious British Navy lieutenant, William Bligh, who is placed in charge of HMS Bounty and sent around the world on a voyage to cultivate Breadfruit trees in Tahiti, and sail them to Jamaica as food for slaves. He accepts the task, if only to prove himself for promotion as a Captain, and in doing so he asks his friend and fellow seaman, Fletcher Christian, to join him on the voyage.
Like all great characters, Bligh is a flawed character who leads with his ego and at the best of times his leadership skills are quite inconsistent. For a British Naval officer who's word is law, this is a problem. He is among a seasoned crew of sailors who observe his ever move and when he falters he cracks the whip of discipline. Not a good leader as many would attest to. So when his officers and men fall into the seductive spell and love culture of Tahiti and his friend Fletcher Christian falls in love with the daughter of the Polynesian Chief, Bligh finds himself in the predicament of having to bring law and order back to the workings of the Bounty
Perhaps the British Navy should have taught a little psychology in leadership to potential Captains, but it wasn't around in those days so Bligh's discipline methods as a leader were harsh and hateful. And Mr. Bligh looses his ship to a mutiny.
This is the first film about the mutiny to be told from the Captain's point of view. Instead of vilifying the Captain's attitude we begin to understand his needs for discipline if not his methods for achieving them. Anthony Hopkins is great as the anxious William Bligh. And I think this is one of Mel Gibson's best performances as an actor. Other parts go to Liam Neeson as a devilish crew member and Daniel Day Lewis as the first officer.
The wide screen photography is breath-taking, transporting us on a voyage to another world of spectacular, beautiful places.
While I love the music composition of Vangelis, I find listening to the sounds of modern electronic synthesizers while watching the voyage of a wooden boat from 1789 a distraction. Seems they could have hired an orchestra to bring the quality of Vangelis's fine musical score to life.
Movie Review: A more updated and better version of the classic story
Summary: 5 Stars
It's not every day that you see a film with an all British cast. Since the 1981 Ocasr winning film Chariots Of Fire, the audience in the United States did not see a remarkable film from the United Kingdom Of Great Britian for some time. When The Bounty hit the big screen in 1984, the long wait had ended. And this film would go down in history as the best and most accurate adaptation of the historical mutiny.Filmed on location in New Zealand, Polynesia, London, and at Pinewood Studios in England, Roger Donaldson definately put the material he had been given to very good use. Robert Bolt, who wrote the screenplay also did his research well. With such leading actors as Mel Gibson, Sir Anthony Hopkins, the late Sir Lawrence Olivier, Daniel Day Lewis, Liam Neeson, and countless others...this film was a box office winner. The cinema-photography was very sharp and beautiful, and the native women in the film, just as beautiful, native, scintillating, and sexy. Even the nudity of the women was in good taste.
Hopkins delivers an Oscar winning perfomance as Captain William Bligh, as does Mel Gibson in his role as First mate Fletcher Christian. Both actors from Wales and Austrailia portray the characters as human beings with very human faults. There is no villian or hero in this version. It boils down to faults on both sides. Both Bligh and Christian. Liam Neeson gives an excellent portrayal of Charles Churchill, a very scrappy seaman with an explosive force of nature. And Daniel Day Lewis gives a very hateful and sneaky performance as the ill fated John Friar. A character who gets the fate that he deserves in the end.
From an historical point of view, the film was right on the mark. That also includes the sets, costume designs, and other factual parts of the film. Most of all Vangelis's musical score for the film is just as beautiful as his score was for Chariots Of Fire and Blade Runner.
If you enjoy history, fine acting from the ebst in the United Kingdom, and other certain aspects, I would recommend this version of the mutiny on the bounty. It is beautiful, haunting, explosive, and powerful on all levels of cinema.