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

A Masterpiece!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This version of "The Bounty" story was one of David Lean's unrealized projects. The screenplay was by Lean's longtime collaborator Robert Bolt and it finally reached the screen under the direction of Roger Donaldson who actually does a very good job. This takes a different slant on the usual take on the mutiny making Bligh, (an excellent Anthony Hopkins), if not exactly the hero, considerably less of a villain than he is usually painted while Christian, (Mel Gibson), is weak and dissolute with his own, selfish motives for rebelling. There is also a much greater emphasis on the events after the mutiny than in previous pictures.It may lack the physical excitement of the Frank Lloyd version but it's definitely an improvement on the elephantine Brando/Howard remake. The large cast includes early performances from Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson as well as Edward Fox and Laurence Olivier as officers presiding at Bligh's court-martial and there's a terrific performance from the New Zealand actor Wi Kuki Kaa as King Tynah. Like all good yarns this has stood the test of time remarkably well.

Continuing my plan to watch every movie in Mel Gibson's filmography in order, I come to The Bounty (1984)Plot In A Paragraph: A more accurate re telling of the famous mutiny on the bounty featuring Fletcher Christian (Gibson) and Captain William Bligh (Anthony Hopkins)Gibson is OK here, if a little bland at times. We don't really get a lot from him here. He doesn't have that much dialogue either, I wonder if it was a conscious decision to have him hardly speak like in Road Warrior (his most successful movie at that point) and have him so quiet. He is OK, but I couldn't help but notice how little dialogue he had. In a great performance, Hopkins plays Bligh as more complicated man rather than an outright cruel villain. And whilst being closer to the truth makes the movie better for me, it does however make the mutineers seem like spoiled school kids fed up with a strict teacher. As for the rest of the cast Laurence Olivier hams it up and it's interesting to note Daniel Day Lewis and Liam Neeson pop up in early roles too. It's well directed, well acted and has some impressive set pieces. My blu ray looks great with a good transfer. There is a surprising amount of nudity for a pg movie too.Highly recommended. The Bounty only grossed $8 million at the domestic Box Office to end 1984 as the 86th highest grossing movies of the year.

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.

It's ironic that this 1984 film, "The Bounty," would be the least popular full-length movie about the famous mutiny. It received no awards or major nominations. It had an excellent cast, with top actors and stars on the rise. And, this is the most factual and true rendition of all the films made. It is also the most detailed in the purpose of the voyage, the ship and its crew, and the relationships of the men. It includes the mutiny, the voyage of survival by Bligh and his faithful crew members, and the fate of Fletcher Christian and the rest of the mutineersSo, for its historical rendering, "The Bounty" excels. Many of these details are not covered, or are skimmed over in the more popular movies. For instance, Bligh was a Royal Navy Lieutenant – not a captain. Bligh was the only navy man and only actual officer on board. Christian was not a first lieutenant, but a master. He and all the rest of the leaders of the crew had the ranks of noncommissioned officers and came from the merchant marine. Christian was a known friend of Bligh's before the voyage. Bligh's first mate had already been chosen, so Christian signed on as junior to him. But, Bligh later removed the other mate, Fryer, and put Christian in his place. Bligh was an accomplished and skilled naval officer. He had served under Captain Cook on his third voyage to the South Pacific, so he alone knew the area and Tahiti. Bligh was not the fierce commander who doled out heavy physical punishment. He was more lenient than most captains in that regard. But, he had a temper, and made many verbal miscues as an officer. All of these things and many more facts of the true story are in this film. It is an excellent account of the voyage of the HMS Bounty, the mutiny, the successful 3,500-mile sea voyage of Bligh and his loyalists on a small boat, and the plight of the mutineers. So, why then is it not the best, the favorite of all the movies? I think it's because the characters of the other films were much more interesting. Look at the 1935 film, for instance. Charles Laughton was outstanding as a fierce, fear-inspiring captain. Clark Gable was much more interesting as the flamboyant office and dashing ladies' man. And, then there's the amount of time spent on so much of the factual details. I think the 1984 film spent far too much time covering the five-month layover on Tahiti. The sailing scenes were better and more interesting in the earlier films. The performances in "The Bounty" were all very good. But, the screenwriters needed to do something to make the leads more interesting – especially Christian and Fryer. There were a couple of excellent supporting performances in this movie. Most notable was that by Liam Neeson as Seaman Charles Churchill. I am among those who find the 1935 Bounty with Laughton and Gable the most exciting and entertaining. I think that drives home a good point that people should not rely too much on movies for accurate history. A movie like the 1935 film can entertain by playing loose with or not including many of the facts or true aspects of the story. And, it can wet one's appetite for history. But, we need then to check the true story in the Encyclopedia Britannica or other sound historical sources. I thought viewers might be interested in some more facts. Although it had three masts, the Bounty was quite small as could be seen in the early loading scenes. It was only 90 feet long, 24 feet wide, and displaced a mere 230 tons. It had a crew of one officer and 45 men. Compare that to a Man-Of-War, the types of ships we have seen in some of the great naval movies and swashbucklers. For instance, Lord Nelson's ship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 (just 15 years after the Bounty mutiny) displaced 3,500 tons. It had three masts, each with three to four sails (some as long as 200 feet), and measured 227 feet long and 52 feet wide. It carried a crew of 850 men – nearly 20 times the size of the Bounty's crew. And, it had 104 canons; 4 in the bow, 8 astern, and 56 each aligned on three gun decks on each side. It could make 8 to 9 knots an hour – about 10 miles per hour. The HMS Victory is still in service as the flagship of the Royal Navy Fleet Admiral at Portsmouth, England. MGM used existing sailing ships for its 1935 film to represent the Bounty and the Pandora. Fewer tall ships existed by 1962, and MGM built a replica for its film that year with Marlon Brando. After the movie it sailed around the world as a tourist attraction, but sank off the coast of North Carolina after the crew abandoned it during a hurricane in 2012. Another replica was made for this 1984 film, and today it serves as a tourist boat in Honk Kong Harbor. In 1957, divers from National Geographic discovered the ruins of the Bounty at Pitcairn Island. And, that island today has about 56 residents, descendants of the Bounty mutineers and the Tahitians who went with them.