VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

GazerRise Fantastic!

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

PimpinAinttEasy Mutiny on the Bounty was the Pirates of the Caribbean or Kong Skull Island of the 1960s. This was the big budget spectacle of that era. The spectacle was not limited to the special effects, cheap thrills or long shots of grand vistas like in the mediocre films of today. Watching and listening to Trevor Howard's glorious acting and Marlon Brando's body language and the two thespians running circles around each other is a part of the package. Actors like them do not exist anymore.A British expedition to gather breadfruit from Tahiti runs into trouble due to the extreme cruelty of Captain Bligh (played by Trevor Howard). But Christian Fletcher (Brando) keeps his own and the crew's temper at bay until they reach Tahiti. But things fall apart on the way back and the crew led by Christian stages a mutiny against Captain Fletcher.The scenes in the Tahitian island are worth their weight in gold. The mating dance that the Tahitian women put up for the new arrivals was sexy as hell. I loved the great overhead pan shots that move from the dancing Tahitian women to the new arrivals. The fishing scene where the Tahitian women are gathered in a circle and the ship's crew runs at them was beautiful.Parts of the film were directed by the great Carol Reed before he left due to differences with Brando. I think Brando got Kubrick fired from One Eyed Jacks.Trevor Howard upstages Brando in some scenes. He certainly has some of the best dialogs. But Brando's brooding presence and body language cannot be ignored. He looked like a petulant child in the scene where he finally takes on Captain Bligh. Tarita who later became Brando's real life wife was very sexy. Hugh Griffith and Richard Harris played two of the hapless sailors who are constantly punished by Captain Bligh. They might have had too much make up on. Everyone seemed a little over made up at times. And I could tell that some of the scenes were shot in a studio with fake sets.But I really enjoyed the film though reviews and trivia on IMDb suggest that the film wasn't too well received when it first came out. People had issues with Brando's British accent. It is really long at almost three hours. But the frequent and beautiful shots of the sea interwoven into the tense drama makes this one a real classic for me. The film looks really good on Blu-ray.(8/10)

sddavis63 There are times when I wonder why Hollywood bothers to do remakes of classic movies. That thought did occur to me as I prepared to watch this 1962 remake of the 1935 classic. Although it wasn't without its problems, I fell in love with the '35 version when I first saw it as a teenager, and I confess that I had my doubts about taking in any of the remakes of the story. Both films suffer from the real curse of any movie based on true events - they take way too many liberties with history. Bligh's court-martial, as far as I know, didn't admonish him after acquitting him (in fact, he eventually rose to the rank of Admiral.) Christian's desire to return to England and his death after the burning of the Bounty are pure fantasy. One wonders why they were included in this movie, since they didn't add anything particularly noteworthy to the story. But historical inaccuracies are to be expected in any historical epic, so one shouldn't become too consumed by them. The basics are here - the voyage of the Bounty to Tahiti to collect breadfruit, the mutiny led by Christian and the escape of the mutineers to Pitcairn Island.Visually, this movie is stunning, which is probably due at least in part to the fact that unlike the '35 version it's obviously filmed in colour, which gives an entirely different feel to the scenes shot in Tahiti especially. There's also the fact that the studio went to the trouble and expense of essentially recreating the Bounty - building an actual replica ship, which also gave a more realistic feel to this production. (The replica sank during Hurricane Sandy in 2012.) Technically, as would be expected, the special effects are better in this movie. My reactions to the cast are interesting. I thought that this film offered a much more nuanced view of Bligh and Christian than the '35 movie. Here, Bligh comes across as less pompous and sadistic - although certainly a strict and perhaps extreme disciplinarian, and Christian seems more fleshed out - less noble, perhaps, more reluctant to act against Bligh and much more beset by doubts. Trevor Howard's performance as Bligh was good, although I have to confess that he does not replace Charles Laughton in my mind as Captain Bligh - Laughton's will still be the face I associate with the man, and Howard was a few years too old to play the part. Bligh was 33 when he took command of the Bounty; Howard was almost 50 when this was made. I liked Brando as Christian. I know that a lot of people didn't, and his performance was perceived as one reason (perhaps the main reason) that the movie wasn't well received. But I liked him - although Brando was also much older than Fletcher Christian. I actually thought he was better than Clark Gable in 1935. Gable, to me, never really captured the part of a British naval officer, and in some ways never seemed to try very much. Brando, on the other hand, did seem to try to get into the mind of the character and I thought he worked well. That puts me in the minority, but I thought his performance was fine. The supporting cast (the most notable being Richard Harris as Seaman Mills) held their own, but as with any adaptation of the story, those who play Bligh and Christian will make or break it.I appreciated the attempt to inject a little more humour into the story than the earlier version. A lot of that humour revolved around the Bounty's time in Tahiti and what the British perceived as the relatively "loose" moral standards of the Tahitian women. The scene between Howard and Brando where Bligh is trying to order Christian to return to Tahiti to make love to the Tahitian king's daughter (because the Tahitians were insulted that Bligh ordered an end to their encounter when he found them on the island, perceiving that as an insulting suggestion that Englishmen were too good for Tahitian women) - with Christian feigning ignorance of what he meant, forcing Bligh to finally give him a direct order to do the deed, so to speak - had me smiling.This movie was too long. The runtime of almost 3 hours could have easily been shaved by probably close to a third without much being lost. It was a very expensive movie by the standards of early 1962, and in fact, given its production costs and relatively low box office receipts, it's probably fair to consider this a flop. Judging this movie on its merits, though, I'd say that would be inaccurate. I'd personally say that it's not as good as the 1935 version of the story - but it's pretty close. I think it was a pretty good remake - perhaps one of the better remakes of classic films that I've seen - and it probably deserved to be regarded more highly by the critics of its day - although it's rating of 7.2 here (as of writing) suggests that this film has been better received by successor generations than by its own generation. (8/10)

Wuchak The three versions of The Bounty story are 1.) The 1935 black & white version with Clark Gable; 2.) The 1962 Marlon Brando version; and 3.) The 1984 one with Mel Gibson simply titled "The Bounty." THE STORY (***SPOILER***): The mutiny story is TRUE. William Bligh was sent on a mission in 1787 to pick up breadfruit plants from Tahiti and bring them back to England. He intended to circumnavigate the globe, but unfortunately failed to make it around Cape Horn, South America, and had to take the long way around Africa. It thus took them 10 months to reach Tahiti, where they were forced to stay another five months due to the breadfruit's "dormant" period. The natives were friendly and the women beautiful. With the exception of Bligh, the crew fell under the spell of the Polynesian paradise. Christian even married the king's daughter, Maimiti. But after five months they needed to complete their mission and return to England. Three and a half weeks later Fletcher took over the ship with 18 other muntineers. Christian set Bligh and 18 loyalists adrift in the ship's launch. He then returned to Tahiti where he dropped off 16 men, but picked up 6 Tahitian men and 11 women. Christian 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, a fine hiding place (***END SPOILER***).Mel Gibson's version is the most accurate, but Brando's is the most epic, as well as the most compelling despite its 3-hour length. The 1935 black & white version is disappointing. It's a fine film for its day, but it'll likely seem dated and fabricated to modern viewers. Nitpickers grumble about historical inaccuracies, but the entire gist of the story is accurate: Fletcher was born to an aristocratic family who were losing their wealth (why do you think he takes the mission?); two cheeses did come up missing and Bligh was the culprit who unjustly blamed others; they did fail to sail around Cape Horn after only going 85 miles in a month; they did spend five months on Tahiti and Fletcher did fall for Maimiti; after the mutiny Fletcher and his crew did end up stranded on Pitcairn where they set The Bounty ablaze; and Christian did die on the island, although in real life he lived for another three and a half years before being killed by one of the Tahitian men in a conflict that broke out.However, Christian was only 23 years old when the mission started, whereas Brando was about 37; Bligh knew Fletcher and actually sailed with him twice before, whereas the film shows Bligh meeting Christian for the first time; the mutiny itself took place at night not in the daytime over a ladle of water; and, lastly, Fletcher didn't die due to wounds received from his burning ship.WHAT WORKS: Brando as Christian is captivating, and Trevor Howard as Bligh. The viewer observes their relationship get worse over the course of the story culminating in the mutiny. Although Bligh is depicted as an authoritarian, one gets the picture that he did what he did mostly to fulfill his mission. Fletcher points out that the Admiralty would likely consider Bligh's actions justifiable.Bligh obviously had some character flaws and became known in the fleet as "that Bounty bast@#d." In fact, he later suffered ANOTHER mutiny in New South Wales, Australia! Although a brilliant seaman, he was by all accounts an unlikable bastage. His arrogant, abusive nature destroyed loyalty and drove people from him. Still, I respect the fact that the film doesn't depict him as a villain dripping with evil, like the 1935 version.Not long after the mutiny Bligh and his loyalists sit in the launch trying to figure out what to do. Bligh decides to sail to Timor, which was 3600 miles away, rather than strand themselves on some uncivilized island. Bligh's mad decision is driven by his desire for revenge. When some of the loyalists object he picks up a sword and states, "It would be a mistake to assume that I am no longer in command here." Bligh succeeded in taking the launch to Timor despite having no charts or a compass! It took them 47 days to sail 3618 miles with few provisions on an overcrowded craft. Although they all survived, five died in the ensuing weeks. The film unfortunately doesn't depict this incredible journey. Gibson's version does, however.This 1962 version also depicts Christian's depression after the mutiny. He locks himself up in his cabin while the rest of the crew celebrates on the mainland. He knows he can never go home again. This is a great scene. Maimiti visits him in his cabin but can't shake him out of his depression; she says: "You either eat life or life eats you!" Another positive aspect is that the picture reveals what life promised the mutineers on Pitcairn; neither the '35 or '84 versions do this.WHAT DOESN'T WORK: Parts of the initial 10-minute dock sequence are stagy and dated. The other problem, as already noted, is that Bligh's brilliant trip to Timor in the launch is not depicted. FINAL ANALYSIS: Despite the few inaccuracies, Brando's version is the most engaging version of the famous mutiny and is one of my all-time favorite films. It never fails to capture my full attention when I view it. This is a sign of a great film (yes, despite the fact that it inexplicably bombed when it was released). Gibson's 1984 "The Bounty" is a worthy rendition as well; it's historically accurate but not as compelling. I recommend watching both films back to back.GRADE: A+

zardoz-13 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer sought to recapture the profits and prestige of "Ben-Hur" (1959) with their "Mutiny on the Bounty" remake. The optimistic studio didn't do anything by halves. It commissioned the construction of a replica of the Bounty, lensed on-location in Tahiti, and cast Marlon Brando in the role created by virile Clark Cable. Trevor Howard co-starred as Captain William Bligh and Richard Harris played one of the seaman. Brando had already proved how undisciplined a director he was on the western "One-Eyed Jacks" where he ran off Stanley Kubrick. Carol Reed of "The Third Man" fame actually started shooting the action, but he left and M-G-M replaced him with Lewis Milestone. Make no mistake; "Mutiny on the Bounty" looks spectacular. The film was staged in some of the actual locations where those historic events occurred. Moreover, the Bounty sailed the high seas for 50 years afterward until Hurricane Sandy sank it in 2012. Robert Surtees' cinematography is like a series of picture postcards. Unfortunately, all this beautiful scenery cannot compensate for tedium. Clocking in at 178 languorous moments, "Mutiny on the Bounty" is sluggish from start to finish. Brando delivers the worst performance of his career. He plays Mr. Christian as a foppish dandy with the most excruciating accent imaginable. No blame for this tragedy can be placed on the shoulders of director Lewis Milestone. Basically, Brando sank the movie because studio executives gave him everything that he wanted. Many writers toiled on this epic but the film lacks the element of drama. The contentious struggle between Christian and Bligh lacks the gusto of the original. Brando's character dies when he tries to save his sextant from the burning hull of the Bounty.