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Mutiny on the Bounty
Original film poster
Directed by	Lewis Milestone
Produced by	Aaron Rosenberg (uncredited)
Written by	Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall (novel) Charles Lederer (screenplay)
Starring	Marlon Brando Trevor Howard Richard Harris Hugh Griffith
Music by	Bronislau Kaper
Cinematography	Robert L. Surtees
Editing by	John McSweeney Jr.
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	November 8, 1962
Running time	178 min. (UK:185 min.)
Country	US
Language	English
Budget	$19 million approx.
IMDb profile

Mutiny on the Bounty is a 1962 film starring Marlon Brando, based on the novel Mutiny on the "Bounty" by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. It is the third American film to be made from the novel, the first two being the 1933 version and 1935 version. It was directed by Lewis Milestone. The screenplay was written by Charles Lederer (with uncredited input from Eric Ambler, William L. Driscoll, Borden Chase, John Gay and Ben Hecht [1])

The film chronicles the real-life mutiny aboard the HMAV Bounty led by Fletcher Christian against the ship's captain, William Bligh. Like the 1935 version, this film portrayed Captain Bligh as a cruel tyrant whose abuse lead the crew to mutiny. However the movie does not spend much time on what happened to those in the launch after being put off the Bounty. It only shows the beginning of the voyage of the launch and then Bligh's participation in the inquiry into the mutiny in England.

Mutiny on the Bounty was photographed in the Ultra Panavision 70 widescreen process, the first film so credited.

This version has the unfortunate distinction of being the least historically accurate of the films. This movie has Bligh and Fletcher meeting for the first time - in reality Bligh and Christian had sailed together before. Bligh was asleep during the initial stages of the uprising; this movie shows him as awake. After the mutiny, Fletcher Christian suffers a guilt complex which severely affects his behavior. He dies at the end of the film after the ship lands at Pitcairn Island. He dies not from being murdered, but as a result of burns suffered while trying to save the Bounty after the other mutineers have set it on fire so that Christian will not take them back to stand trial, as he was planning. However, most historical evidence shows that Fletcher lived on the island for several years before being murdered, and some even believe that he eventually returned to England some years later.

• Trevor Howard as Capt. William Bligh
• Marlon Brando as 1st Lt. Fletcher Christian
• Richard Harris as Seaman John Mills
• Hugh Griffith as Alexander Smith
• Richard Haydn as William Brown
• Noel Purcell as Helmsman McCoy

• Capt. William Bligh: "Now, this is a typical seaman, a half-witted, wife-beating, habitual drunkard. His whole life is spent evading and defying authority."
• Capt. William Bligh: "Now don't mistake me. I'm not advising cruelty or brutality with no purpose. My point is that cruelty with purpose is not cruelty. Its efficiency."
• Capt. William Bligh: "I am at war. Against ill winds, contrary current, and incompetent officers."
• Capt. William Bligh: "You dare to quote regulations to me?"
• William Brown: "All the rations you need to get us to Tahiti on time. Those were Captain Bligh's words. Rations of what, he didn't say. But he soon showed us. Rations of his favorite commodity, punishment. Served up to the tune of his favorite music, a cry of pain, a scream of agony."
• William Brown: (To Captain Bligh) "Damn my self-respect, sir? Then, indeed, I would be damned."
• John Mills: "He'll surprise me if he doesn't kill half the ship's company before we get to Jamaica."
• Lt. Fletcher Christian: "You bloody bastard. You'll not put your foot on me again."
• Lt. Fletcher Christian: "You've given your last command, Bligh."
• Lt. Fletcher Christian: "One more order, Mr. Bligh, and I'll have your head on this deck. By Heaven, I swear it!"
• Capt. William Bligh: "Your mutiny has not succeeded." Lt. Fletcher Christian: "Perhaps not. But success enough if it puts an end to you."
• Capt. William Bligh: "You, too, Brown? You'd join these swine?" William Brown: "A man like yourself sir, leaves me no choice."
• Lt. Fletcher Christian: "There'll no more killing aboard this ship, not even Captain Bligh."
• Capt. William Bligh: "If that's an attempt to earn clemency, I spit on it."
• Lt. Fletcher Christian: "You remarkable pig. You can thank whatever pig-god you pray to that you haven't quite turned me into a murderer."
• Group of seamen: (To new Captain Christian) "Well, we'd like to be with you, sir. But we've got families."
• Lt. Fletcher Christian: "Will you step into the boat or will you be thrown in, Mr. Bligh?"
• Lt. Fletcher Christian: (After handing Capt. William Bligh a whip) "Take your flag with you."
• John Mills: "We got rid of Bligh. I'd be a dead man if we didn't. Or in prison for the rest of my life if I was lucky." Lt. Fletcher Christian: "You're in prison now, Mills. With one slight difference. We're not locked in. We're locked out."
• Alexander Smith: "Things are going to be all right for you, sir. They've got to be. When a man gives up as much as you did just because he thinks it's right, the Good Lord would never let him down."
• The Admiralty Court: (To Captain Bligh) "The court considers it has obligation to add comment to its verdict. By the force of evidentiary conclusions, you, Captain William Bligh, stand absolved of military misdeed. Yet officers of stainless record and seamen, voluntary all, were moved to mutiny against you. Your methods, so far as this court can discern, showed what we shall cautiously term an excess of zeal. We cannot condemn zeal. We cannot rebuke an officer who has administered discipline according to the Articles of War. But the Articles are fallible as any Articles are bound to be. No code can cover all contingencies. We cannot put justice aboard our ships in books. Justice and decency are carried in the heart of the captain or they be not aboard. It is for the this reason that the Admiralty has always sought to appoint its officers from the ranks of gentlemen. The court regrets to note that the appointment of Captain William Bligh was, in that respect, a failure."
• William Brown: (On questions of how the other mutineers killed each other) "How could it be otherwise? They'd been taught to hate, and Captain Bligh had taught them well. When they needed someone to blame for Mr. Christians death, When they needed a new target for their hatred, who was there to find but each other? First one, then another and another. Men don't learn from their mistakes sir. Its the way of us."
• Captain of the H.M.S. Briton: "We learn a little. The Royal Navy learned. There will never again be abuses such as you witnessed aboard the bounty.... The Article of War were revised more than ten years ago."

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• The film has also become legendary for the excessive behavior of Marlon Brando during filming. According to the biography by Peter Manso, Brando's antics included pulling members of the film crew away from the set to work on the decorations for a friend's wedding in Tahiti and flying airplane loads of expensive food and drinks to the island for parties he would throw.
• According to the NPR trivia Show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! Brando ripped 52 pairs of trousers from the costume department due to his excessive over-eating.
• Brando later married Tarita Teriipia, who played Maimiti in the film.
• A very well made, working replica of "The Bounty" was made for the movie. The script called for it to be burned near the end of the movie. When he found out, Marlon Brando refused to continue filming unless the ship was spared. The director and producers relented. They built another replica that was burned and the original replica was spared. The original still survives today - in the summer of 2007 it sailed to England and visited several ports [2].

The 1962 movie did not win any Oscars but was nominated for seven:

• Academy Award for Best Picture - Aaron Rosenberg
• Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color - George W. Davis, Henry Grace, Hugh Hunt and J. McMillan Johnson
• Best Cinematography, Color - Robert Surtees
• Best Effects, Special Effects - A. Arnold Gillespie (visual) and Milo B. Lory (audible)
• Best Film Editing - John McSweeney Jr.
• Best Music, Score - Substantially Original - Bronislaw Kaper
• Best Music, Song - Bronislaw Kaper (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) - For the song "Love Song from Mutiny on the Bounty (Follow Me)"

• Mutiny on the Bounty at the Internet Movie Database
• Mutiny on the Bounty at All Movie Guide
• Mutiny on the Bounty at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mutiny on the Bounty at Yahoo! Movies