Mutiny on the Bounty

Mutiny on the Bounty  (1962)

Runaway productions carried the risk of runaway costs. That was the case for this retelling of the HMS Bounty crew’s mutiny against the tyrannical rule of Captain Bligh, led by Fletcher Christian (played as an offbeat fop by Marlon Brando). Deemed a failure by the box office and history books, the film’s reputation was sunk early on by stories of budget overruns, weather problems, and Brando’s on-set antics. Today, the picture embodies the extravagant spectacle of Hollywood’s postwar global ventures with bold location shooting in French Polynesia, where thousands of Tahitians worked in front of and behind the camera.

35mm, color, 179 min. Director: Lewis Milestone, Carol Reed. Screenwriter: Charles Lederer, Eric Ambler, William L. Driscoll, Borden Chase, John Gay. Cast: Marlon Brando, Trevor Howard, Richard Harris.