The Bounty

In 1787 HMS Bounty sails to bring breadfruit seedlings back from Tahiti. Captain William Bligh is a fine seaman and a difficult man. The crew spend five months in Tahiti and do not want to leave when the order comes. The master's mate Fletcher Christian starts the mutiny. Bligh and eighteen men are put into a small open boat, and he achieves something extraordinary: he rows thousands of miles with almost nothing but a compass and reaches land. Roger Donaldson directed. Anthony Hopkins plays Bligh and Mel Gibson plays Christian. The screenplay is based on Richard Hough's 1972 book Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian. The history of the project is more interesting than the film. David Lean started work with the screenwriter Robert Bolt in 1977, splitting the subject across two films. Budget trouble and Bolt's heart attack in 1979 ended that plan. The producer Dino De Laurentiis dropped Lean's version and hired Donaldson, then a newcomer. By that point a replica ship had already been built in New Zealand for 4 million dollars, so the vessel was ready before the script was. The film cost 25 million dollars and came in under budget despite hard conditions at sea. Reviews focused on the historical accuracy and on Hopkins. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 74 percent. What most distinguishes this version is that it shows Bligh not as a sadist but as a man whose authority is slipping away from him, the reverse of the 1935 and 1962 films. Who it is for: viewers who like seafaring films and adaptations that reassess history. Who it is not for: anyone who wants a clear villain. The film gives both sides their reasons and rescues nobody.