An epic which famously nearly bankrupted MGM and marked a turning point in the career of Marlon Brando. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it - it's smart, has some very good acting, and looks amazing. They spent too much money to be sure but a lot of it is up on screen - the replica of the Bounty, location shooting in Tahiti with its stunning vistas, excellent period detail. It's a really gorgeous movie. It doesn't play dumb. Character interactions are complex.
It goes for too long and becomes a hard slog. The build up to the mutiny is okay (though you can still see things which could be cut), because you know the mutiny is coming. Afterwards, it's harder - a lot of screen versions of this story have this problem. There's an intermission here but it just feels plunked in the middle. Really they should have built to the mutiny then had an intermission then told the rest of the story.
Notably the film struggles to illustrate characters who aren't Bligh and Christian. Richard Harris was billed third, above the title, but even he doesn't do that much - which is a shame because he's very good and always looks interesting and dynamic, but he really just joins in the mutiny. Okay and I guess he burns the ship at the end. But that would've meant more had there been more interaction between Harris and Brando during the film.
Compare it to say the 1935 movie which focused on Clark Gable, Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone - everyone forgets Tone is in the film, but he's a crucial character. I actually think if the filmmakers had gone "right, this movie is about three people and is going to build towards the end where Harris betrays Christian" it would have been a hit... but they only added the end after filming had been completed.
Hugh Griffith and Percy Herbert also feel underserviced. So too does Richard Haydn - his horticultural character starts off narrating the film and gets all this screen time then he disappears from the story.
Chips Rafferty is one of the mutineers. He actually looks the part - he's very 18th century seaman in appearance. His Australian accent is a little distracting. He doesn't have that much to do.
Tarita, who plays Christian's love interest, is the usual smiling south seas beauty, although she gets to be a little more active than this role is normally depicted - after the mutiny she swims out to the Bounty to give Christian a kick up the arse. At least it's something!
Look, I get it, but at three hours... they needed more subplots/plot twists or characters. If they didn't want to do that they should have cut it down.
Its a shame because dramatically this is solid. Playing Christian as a fop... I know that's not true but it works for drama. His arc in this movie is quite interesting. Having Harris burn the boat because Brando wants to return home... that's actually a good way of getting around the problem that Bligh and Christian didn't see each other after the mutiny.
The acting is very good. Brando is always interesting. Trevor Howard is superb. All the sailors are good.
This movie shouldn't have cost as much as it did and clearly lacked a vision but there's some fantastic things about it.
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