I read the "Bounty Trilogy" by Charles Nordhoff & James Norman Hall as a kid. Actually, it was my Dad's book, that he also read when he was a teenager. The book itself is a non-stop page-turner. Hollywood really doesn't have to add fiction to make a production "entertaining."
This remake is no exception. It's a good flick as far as it goes. But, and these might be "spoilers" if you can have spoilers for a movie that was released 50 years ago, is it really necessary:
To fictionalize the Bounty's arrival at Tahiti, with no welcoming party of friendly natives to greet her. Lt. Bligh warns everyone on board to have weapons ready in case there is a fight with the thousands waiting on the shore?
And then the shore party arrives, with ominous music in the background. And the cautious, grossly outnumbered shore party is tentatively making its way through the thousands.
But the silent thousands of natives are filled with women and children. With more ominous music.
Get real. Tahiti was a known, friendly destination to the British. Experience also told the British that a hostile island wouldn't have women and children on the "front lines."
And, among others, there is the business of the burning of the Bounty at the end. It wasn't caused by a few crew members going rogue to prevent a return to England. It was Christian's idea. He didn't die then, but much later under debatable circumstances.
Finally, I also think it would be great for perhaps "The Last Remake of the Mutiny on the Bounty" to spend more time on the Nordoff and Hall second book in the trilogy, "Men Against the Sea." It's the story of Lt. Bligh's absolutely masterful command, and the experiences of the loyal men, on their perilous "impossible" voyage to safety.
This remake is no exception. It's a good flick as far as it goes. But, and these might be "spoilers" if you can have spoilers for a movie that was released 50 years ago, is it really necessary:
To fictionalize the Bounty's arrival at Tahiti, with no welcoming party of friendly natives to greet her. Lt. Bligh warns everyone on board to have weapons ready in case there is a fight with the thousands waiting on the shore?
And then the shore party arrives, with ominous music in the background. And the cautious, grossly outnumbered shore party is tentatively making its way through the thousands.
But the silent thousands of natives are filled with women and children. With more ominous music.
Get real. Tahiti was a known, friendly destination to the British. Experience also told the British that a hostile island wouldn't have women and children on the "front lines."
And, among others, there is the business of the burning of the Bounty at the end. It wasn't caused by a few crew members going rogue to prevent a return to England. It was Christian's idea. He didn't die then, but much later under debatable circumstances.
Finally, I also think it would be great for perhaps "The Last Remake of the Mutiny on the Bounty" to spend more time on the Nordoff and Hall second book in the trilogy, "Men Against the Sea." It's the story of Lt. Bligh's absolutely masterful command, and the experiences of the loyal men, on their perilous "impossible" voyage to safety.