The Bounty

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and objective
Review: What I really like about this movie is that it doesn't portray a right and wrong party. Both Capt. Bligh and Fletcher Christian are portrayed as decent human beings. Neither is the villain in the movie. One can equally easily argue that one or the other is right.

One can claim that the mutineers should've acted more professionally, obeyed the captain, and not gotten too involved in Tahiti life (particularly with the women). However, one can also argue that the Captain Bligh was morally wrong in commanding the crew to cross Cape Horn, thereby risking their lives, for a mission that required no need for that (transporting of plants), just so that the captain would look good.

Rating:
Summary: Mesmerizing!
Review: I've seen both the Brando and the Gibson versions, and I feel the latter is far, far superior--as a story that holds together, that has a focal point, and that is entirely believable.

The suspense is high on two levels--1. when will Christian and the seamen become so enraged that they will flout Hopkins' order and mutiny, and 2. what will be the final judgement on Hopkins in the trial being conducted on whether or not he was responsible for the mutiny. As the story develops, the suspense keeps intensifying and escalating.

I think Hopkins and Gibson played their parts much better than did Howard and Brando. Hopkins expressed many levels of the Bligh character, showing the inner conflict that gripped him--i.e., trying to be fair and human to the seamen and yet needing to exercise stern discipline to enable the ship to accomplish its purpose. His acting was absolutely marvelous, showing how he was being torn apart while at the same time trying to maintain his sanity. However, in the Howard version, all we see is a viciously sadistic personality--one note--without much depth or dimension. Gibson's performance was also excellent as his tension and anger gradually build to a breaking point, but even here he refrained from exerting the violence that he could have. You can't help but sympathize with him.

There are many touching moments in the story that make this a most memorable film. I was never bored or uninterested for even a moment--the suspense and drama just kept building and developing as I eagerly wondered how the story would finally end.

Well worth buying and seeing more than once.



Rating:
Summary: Being two things at the same time.
Review: I've not seen either preceding version of Mutiny on the Bounty (neither Gable's nor Brando's) so my review reflects only the value of this flick independant of how it may compare with it's antecedents.

On the whole, this is a compelling movie.

It's creators understood the value of embodying two polarizing forces within the same character or situation. By exploiting that tension, you create real drama. It's a simple formula, but easier said then done.

Fortunately both Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins are able to pull it off elegantly and seamlessly.

Gibson is simultaneously pulled by both the responsibility of loyalty and the passion that any vital man possesses.

Hopkins is divided by both the egoists desire to create a legacy and the LACK of male vitality that usually fuels such desires.

Of the two, Hopkins part is much tougher, yet he captures it in all it's poetic sadness.

In watching a conflict like this, everyone has to chose a side. I relate much more to Gibson, his disloyalty notwithstanding, as he allowed himself to be led more by power than form. (And I saw this before Mel became one of my all time great heroes for his phenomenal work in THE PASSION.)

Hopkins was an old man in the dark days of pre-Viagra civilization. He just didn't have any mojo left and his men sensed that.

Given that he was cooped up in a boat with ALL MEN for countless days, it boggles the mind that ANY man would not feel he had found absolute paradise when landing on Tahiti and all that it offered. And I mean ALL.

Mel of course understood exactly what they had swung into and, given his game, quickly began enjoying it to it's fullest.

That is essentially what this movie is about. The conflict between true, perhaps even raw passion and an old decaying passion limping along on it's last pathetic leg while attempting to provide some subtext for it's existence.

Two best scenes:

1) Mel and his Tahitian bride coming together for the first time.

2) The bitter tears shed by Mel's father-in-law as his daughter chose to go with Mel rather than remain with him.

BTW - I don't know why the last 3 reviewers of this film are all from the Ann Arbor/Plymouth Michigan area. Perhaps we just enjoy tropical climates more than others around the country!

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful characterizations - especially Hopkins' Bligh
Review: This isn't a simple retelling of the story of the "Mutiny on the Bounty" with a vicious Captain Bligh and a troubled, but virtuous Mr. Christian saving the crew from unbearable cruelty. This is a much better story.

The movie begins at the trial at the Admiralty of Lieutenant Bligh for losing the HMS Bounty. The movie flashes back to the story from this trial periodically. This device allows the movie to focus on key points in a story that takes place over well more than a year without having to try and keep a strict narrative together.

Bligh has been assigned to go to Tahiti to get Breadfruit plants and take them to Jamaica to provide cheaper feed for the slaves and while he is doing that he wants to circumnavigate the globe - a career-making move in 1787. Assigned to Bligh as first mate is John Fryer who is doubtful about going round the Horn off the southern tip of South America that is noted for its mighty storms. Bligh brings along his friend Fletcher Christian as the officer after John Fryer.

After they finally reach Tahiti and negotiate to get the breadfruit, they have to wait for them to grow. They are there many months longer than expected and the men get attached to the local women who are mostly bare breasted and very agreeable companions. Discipline breaks down.

Bligh remains above all the fraternization, but has a hard time pulling the crew back together and as they set sail for home he applies harsh discipline to get the crew back into fit condition and sets a course that upsets the men. Christian has his own resentments and torn loyalties, but does lead the crew in mutiny and sets Bligh adrift in a small open launch (it was only 23 foot long and 6 foot 9 inches wide). Bligh's courage and magnificent seamanship got them through the 3,618 nautical mile journey without loss of life in 47 days. The movie isn't quite accurate about the survival of all the crew.

Christian goes back to Tahiti but is forbidden to stay. The mutineers and some Tahitians end up on a then unknown island and their descendants live there to this day.

This movie was made in 1984 as a vehicle for Mel Gibson's charisma and blazing stardom. He is charismatic and has some good lines and does them well. His Christian is torn, but also self indulgent and sometimes petulant without much discipline. The star of this movie, and becomes more so each time I see it, is Anthony Hopkins playing Captain Bligh. He is wonderful in this role. His characterization is quite complex. His Bligh is a good man without charisma who tries to hold order with a discipline that becomes harsher as the men resist. In this movie there isn't a single villain with good guys, it is a confluence of flaws in all the characters that leads to the breakdown.

My favorite portion of the movie is in the open launch. I find those scenes particularly powerful.

My least favorite aspect of the movie is the musical score by Vangelis. He was a hot commodity in the early 1980's having done "Chariots of Fire" and "Blade Runner" (his most effective score). Here it gives a strange quality to a movie taking place in the 18th century. This is especially so since there are large portions of the movie without background music and when the synthesizers come in they are too noticeable. For me, and maybe not for you, but for me, it makes the movie sound too much like "Blade Runner". It is a small point, however. This is a very good movie.

Rating:
Summary: Confusing
Review: I must say that this is the first film or book I've been fully exposed to concerning the Bounty and its men. I was drawn to this DVD primarily because of my secret love affair with Mel Gibson (he doesn't know about it; that's what makes it secret).

But I was hoping the story would be exciting and well-written too. Except for very good acting by a number of persons, including Wi Kuki Kaa as the king of Tahiti and father of Christian Fletcher (Gibson)'s love interest (That little--never mind.)Considering both Gibson and Sir Anthony can act with both hands tied behind their back balancing a dolphin on their heads, I was not surprised by the characterizations of Mssrs. Bligh and Christian--a ray of light in the film. The scenery is magnificent, and the storm scenes exciting. But rather than sail, it floundered.

My problem with this film was believability. In short, since the overall theme was a cruel ship's master driving his first mate and others to mutiny, I expected to find Bligh's character to be some shade of ruthless. I also thought he was supposed to run the ship with obsessive authoritarianism, carping at the crew for the slightest departure from English decorum. A scene of the crew dancing reluctantly to a fiddle tune (the world's first aerobics class!) certainly exhibited a difference between captain and crew as to what they thought sailors should be doing. But is that any different than drills current people in the service (whether in Britain or elsewhere) are told to do? At any rate, the dance "class" seemed more the idea and for the enjoyment of the 3rd in command, who seemed to get a lot of joy out of it, not the captain, who looked on nervously.

It was only after several people had deserted, his first mate directly disobeyed orders, and all the sailors were involved in behavior not appropriate for officers to be doing in public, that he really made waves.

But that is part of the problem, too. Up until that point, the movie seemed like an apologia for Bligh. But after he did get fed up to the gills, ordering cruel punishments for small infractions, and re-ordering the ship back through a dangerous zone for his own glory, that didn't seem the case. Note, however, that all this occurred after the mutineers were hatching their plot. Neither Bligh nor Christian come out smelling like an anenome in this seafaring tale.

This would have been a fine movie to rent. It's exciting at points, beautiful, and romantic. But as a story, it does not hang together well. I would not recommend shelling out any fins to buy it.

(But don't pirate it either, that's illegal).

Rating:
Summary: Bonus features for a bare-bones disc
Review: "The Bounty" is my favorite of the three versions I've seen (1936, 1960 & 1984). The main reason I prefer it is because it presents a more accurate picture of the characters and events than the two earlier movies. And it has several great performances, especially that by Anthony Hopkins.

However, as others have noted, the DVD is bare-bones with only a trailer as an extra feature. To remedy this situation, I have created a "bonus" DVD that features two documentaries that are relevant to "The Bounty". The first is "A Fated Ship", a New Zealand made documentary that tells the story of the construction of the replica Bounty that was eventually used in the 1984 movie (it was built for a proposed movie about the Bounty mutiny that was to have been directed by David Lean). It is very well done and provides a fascinating look at the origin of the beautiful ship that played such an important part in "The Bounty". The second is an Australian documentary called "HMS Pandora: In Pursuit of the Bounty". It tells the story of the Royal Navy frigate sent to capture the mutineers and the fate of both the ship and the mutineers who remained on Tahiti. Both programs run about 46 minutes. They were transfered from a VHS tape that I recorded about twenty years ago when the shows were broadcast on the Discovery Channel. Neither is now available on tape or DVD and I've never seen them on broadcast TV again. I could find no reference to them on the IMDB or even through a general Google search. My conclusion is that they are extremely rare, which is a shame since they are of interest to any fan of "The Bounty". Given that they were transfered from a twenty year old tape, the video quality is not too bad. "A Fated Ship" was a first generation recording and looks pretty good, overall. "HMS Pandora" was a second generation dupe and is not so good, but watchable. The disc format is DVD-R. I am willing to share this, on a limited basis, just so other fans of the movie can have something more than the bare-bones DVD that is currently available. If you are interested, contact me at [e-mail].

Rating:
Summary: Exhilarating retelling of classic adventure tale!
Review: Beautifully filmed version of the epic adventure story, especially interesting because of the complexities brought out in the characters of Fletcher Christian and Captain Bligh. All concerned do admirably in this retelling with Hopkins particularly stealing the show with his pitch perfect, multi demensional performance.

Only the score by "Vangelis" reminds you that this is a film from the 1980s, with its synthesizer-heavy twang. It would be wonderful to have this rescored with more period appropriate music.

Unfortunately, the DVD offers no Special Features besides subtitles and theatrical trailer.