History Film / TheBounty

* GoingNative: Captain Bligh worries that this is happening to Christian and the men in Tahiti, and he is right. Fletcher Christian falls in love with a Tahitian girl, and the rest of the men are in no mood to submit to Royal Navy discipline again after enjoying quite a long vacation on Tahiti, with the surf and sand and sex with the island girls.

** The film ends with the mutineers landing on Pitcairn Island and burning the ''Bounty''. It's rather melancholy, as they realize they are stuck there forever, but they have their home and their women. The film does not mention the violence and murder that led the mutineers and the Tahitian men that accompanied them to kill each other, leaving only one mutineer alive (along with a bunch of women and children) when an American ship found them on Pitcairn Island in 1818. (Descendants of the mutineers still live there today.)

* UsefulNotes/TheLongitudeProblem: Not explained with lines of dialogue, but there, and a big problem for Christian towards the end. Christian knows what latitude Pitcairn Island is at, so he sails the ''Bounty'' east, figuring that eventually he'll hit the island. Unfortunately, since he can't get an accurate fix of longitude, he doesn't know how far away the island is. It turns out to be farther away than he guesses, leading his crew to the verge of a second mutiny ("There is no island!") before they finally see it.

--> '''King Tinah''': [showing her belly] You are here now. [[BilingualDialogue Tamari]]. [[note]]Means "child".[[/note]]

''The Bounty'' is a 1984 film telling the story of the famous 1789 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty mutiny on the British ship HMS ''Bounty'']], in which many sailors mutinied and cast their commanding officer Lieutenant William Bligh adrift on an open boat. Lt. Bligh and the men who were loyal to him (over half the crew) eventually made it to the Dutch colony on the island of Timor after a harrowing voyage across the ocean. The mutineers, led by first mate Fletcher Christian, made a home for themselves on Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific, where their descendants remain to this day.

The film stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Captain Bligh and Creator/MelGibson as head mutineer Fletcher Christian. This film was originally supposed to be a pair of films directed by Creator/DavidLean for Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis, but after [[DevelopmentHell a long production delay]] Lean left the project and Creator/RogerDonaldson directed. This film is a notable case of RetroactiveRecognition; in addition to Hopkins and Gibson as stars, it features a young Creator/LiamNeeson as a mutinous sailor and a young Creator/DanielDayLewis as the most obnoxious of Bligh's officers.

** Churchill (Creator/LiamNeeson), who stayed behind on Tahiti, was murdered by another mutineer, who was in turn executed by the Tahitians. Most of the other sailors who stayed behind on Tahiti either drowned when [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Pandora_%281779%29#Wrecked the ship that eventually fetched them wrecked]], or were hanged after returning to England. However, Peter Haywood (in the film, the young officer who lets Churchill and the others desert), was pardoned and returned to a long and successful career in the Royal Navy.

The film stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Captain Bligh and Creator/MelGibson as head mutineer Fletcher Christian. This film was originally supposed to be a pair of films directed by Creator/DavidLean for Creator/DinoDeLaurentiis, but after [[DevelopmentHell a long production delay]] Lean left the project and Creator/RogerDonaldson directed.

See also ''Literature/MutinyOnTheBounty'', the trilogy of novels that were made into blockbuster films in 1935 and again in 1962. Those films, based on the novels by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, were not nearly as historically accurate as this film.

** Blow me down! Shades of ''TheCaineMutiny'', matey!

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thebounty_2007.jpg]]
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* HowWeGotHere: The film opens with Captain Bligh appearing before a Royal Navy court of inquiry which is investigating the loss of his ship. This serves as exposition, as the officers on the court ask Bligh questions about the mutiny, followed by scenes from the mutiny. Eventually, Bligh is acquitted, and commended for saving the lives of his loyal crew.

* PetTheDog: On the open boat Bligh is doling out the pitiful amount of food they have (the carcass of a bird that got caught in the sails). When asked who gets each piece, he goes through the officers one by one. Purcell angrily shouts that the officers shouldn't be treated special with their limited food and some of the regular men haven't had anything in days. Bligh shows how he's grown-instead of punishing him for his outburst (as he would have before he lost the Bounty) he orders his share of the food given to Purcell, indicating that he's learned that discipline must be tempered with kindness.

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: King Tynah treats his daughter's pregnancy like this. When he calls Christian to him to inform him she is pregnant, he thinks he's in trouble. But Tynah tells him that his daughter now has a piece of him that will always stay here in Tahiti.

----

The film stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Captain Bligh and Creator/MelGibson as head mutineer Fletcher Christian. This film was originally supposed to be a pair of films directed by Creator/DavidLean, but after [[DevelopmentHell a long production delay]] Lean left the project and Creator/RogerDonaldson directed.

* AFatherToHisMen: Christian--too much, as this causes him to lead the mutiny against Bligh.

''The Bounty'' is a 1984 film telling the story of the famous 1789 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty mutiny on the British ship HMAV ''Bounty'']], in which sailors of the ''Bounty'' mutinied and cast their commanding officer Lieutenant William Bligh adrift on an open boat. Lt. Bligh and the men who were loyal to him (over half the crew) eventually made it to the Dutch colony on the island of Timor after a harrowing voyage across the ocean. The mutineers, led by first mate Fletcher Christian, made a home for themselves on Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific, where their descendants remain to this day.

* TheBabyTrap: Averted, naturally, as for Tahitian women, having babies is a priority.
--> '''King Tinah''': My daughter...She has something of yours.

--> '''King Tinah''': [showing her belly] You are here now. [[BilingualDialogue Tamari]] [[note]]means "child" [[/note]].

* ConflictingLoyalty: Well, that's the whole point, isn't it ? Choose between friendship, military obedience and love.

* DownerEnding: While Bligh [[spoiler:is exonerated when the court-martial rules in his favor]], the damage done by the mutiny haunts both Bligh and Christian for the rest of their lives. [[spoiler:Especially in RealLife when the bloody fate of the mutineers is discovered years later.]]
* AFatherToHisMen: Christian--too much, as this causes him to lead the mutiny against Bligh.
* GoingNative: Captain Bligh worries that this is happening to Christian and the men in Tahiti, and he is right. Fletcher Christian falls in love with a Tahitian girl, and the rest of the men are in no mood to submit to Royal Navy discipline again after enjoying quite a long vacation on Tahiti, with the surf and sand and the sex with island girls.

* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] by one of the sailors on Bligh's open boat, who suggests that the others do that with him after he dies. Bligh refuses, and they make landfall in Timor before it comes to that.
* PetTheDog: On the open boat Bligh is doling out the pitiful amount of food they have (the carcass of a bird that got caught in the sails). When asked who gets each piece, he goes through the officers one by one. Purcell angrily shouts that the officers shouldn't be treated special with their limited food and some of the regular men haven't had anything in days. Bligh shows how he's grown, instead of punishing him for his outburst (as he would have before he lost the Bounty) he orders his share of the food given to Purcell, indicating that he's learned that discipline must be tempered with kindness.

* TheLongitudeProblem: Not explained with lines of dialogue, but there, and a big problem for Christian towards the end. Christian knows what latitutde Pitcairn Island is at, so he sails the ''Bounty'' east, figuring that eventually he'll hit the island. Unfortunately, since he can't get an accurate fix of longitude, he doesn't know how far away the island is. It turns out to be farther away than he guesses, leading his crew to the verge of a second mutiny ("There is no island!") before they finally see it.

* VillainousBreakdown: Bligh slowly loses control after they set sail from Tahiti. As he tries to instill discipline in the men (thinking it is what he needs to save the ship) they just see him in a worse and worse light. He finally completely loses it over stolen ''coconuts''-ranting and raving and screaming at the men and ordering them fed half rations in retaliation. His breakdown is the final straw for Fletcher to commit mutiny.

* WhatTheHellHero: The king of Tahiti is horrified and disgusted after Christian returns to the island and tells him what they've done.

* TheyCallMeMisterTibbs : Christian calling Bligh "William" :
-->'''Christian''': William, about your decision to go around the Horn.

* VillainousBreakdown: Bligh slowly loses control after they set sail from Tahiti. As he tries to instill discipline in the men (thinking it is what he needs to save the ship) they just see him in a worse and worse light. He finally completely loses it over stolen ''coconuts'' - ranting and raving and screaming at the men and ordering them fed half rations in retaliation. His breakdown is the final straw for Fletcher to commit mutiny.

See also ''MutinyOnTheBounty'', the trilogy of novels that were made into blockbuster films in 1935 and again in 1962. Those films, based on the novels by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall, were not nearly as historically accurate as this film.

** The film ends with the mutineers landing on Pitcairn Island, burning the ''Bounty'', and realizing that they are stuck there forever. It omits the violence and murder that led the mutineers and the Tahitian men that accompanied them to kill each other, leaving only one mutineer alive (along with a bunch of women and children) when an American ship found them on Pitcairn Island in 1818. (Descendants of the mutineers still live there today.)

* AllStarCast: Especially when you throw RetroactiveRecognition in. Besides Hopkins and Gibson as Bligh and Christian, and an elderly Creator/LaurenceOlivier as Admiral Hood, this film features Liam Neeson as a mutineer and Creator/DanielDayLewis as a martinet officer, and Bernard Hill as Cole the boatswain.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The late ChristopherReeve of {{Superman}} fame was offered the role of Fletcher Christian but turned it down.

The film stars Creator/AnthonyHopkins as Captain Bligh and Creator/MelGibson as head mutineer Fletcher Christian. This film was originally supposed to be a pair of films directed by Creator/DavidLean, but after [[DevelopmentHell a long production delay]] Lean left the project and Roger Donaldson directed.

''The Bounty'' is a 1984 film telling the story of the famous 1789 [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutiny_on_the_Bounty mutiny on the British ship HMAV ''Bounty'']], in which sailors of the ''Bounty'' mutinied and cast their captain William Bligh adrift on an open boat. Captain Bligh and the men who were loyal to him eventually made it to the Dutch colony on the island of Timor after a harrowing voyage across the ocean. The mutineers, led by first mate Fletcher Christian, made a home for themselves on Pitcairn Island in the south Pacific, where their descendants remain to this day.

* TheCaptain: Bligh first, and then mutineer Christian.

* HappilyEverBefore: Sort of. The film ends with the mutineers landing on Pitcairn Island, burning the ''Bounty'', and realizing that they are stuck there forever. It omits the violence and murder that led the mutineers and the Tahitian men that accompanied them to kill each other, leaving only one mutineer alive (along with a bunch of women and children) when an American ship found them on Pitcairn Island in 1818. (Descendants of the mutineers still live there today.)

* HeroicBSOD: Christian gets very upset during the mutiny.

* JerkAss: Bligh isn't portrayed as a villain but he isn't really a people person. He may also have a point about the men having gone soft in Tahiti.
** After Bligh's attempt at a heart-to-heart with Christian fails, he seems to take it personally, and winds up picking on Christian even more. This turns out to be a big mistake.

* ToBeLawfulOrGood.

[[quoteright:100:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bounty.jpg]]

* SomeoneToRememberHimBy: King Tynah treats his daughter's pregnancy like this. When calls Christian to him to inform him she is pregnant, he thinks he's in trouble. But Tynah tells him that his daughter now has a piece of him that will always stay here in Tahiti.