Imagine yourself as a film critic for the video section of the Daily Camera. The 1962 version of "Mutiny on the Bounty" starring Marlon Brando and the 1984 version of the same film ("The Bounty") starring Mel Gibson have just been released on video, and you are reviewing them for your weekly column. Choose one of these two movies, then review it. For your review, you will be following your standard format, emphasizing the best and worst aspects of the film and giving it a rating from no stars (the lowest) to 4 stars (the highest). In addition, your audience will be expecting some witty commentary on the movie and the acting, and some historical background on the actual mutiny on the Bounty. You decide to tell them about the "real" Captain Bligh, not simply the character played in the movies by actors Trevor Howard and Anthony (Hannibal "the Cannibal") Hopkins in the different versions of "Mutiny on the Bounty".

Your assignment is to watch the movie and write a short 3-4 page review in your own style that also answers the questions: Was Bligh a tyrant as portrayed in the Brando version of "Mutiny on the Bounty"? Or was he just misunderstood as in the Mel Gibson version? What kind of person was he in reality? To learn more about Bligh, your required readings are "Bligh" by James Michener and A. Grove Day from their book Rascals in Paradise (1957) and a short section on Bligh's actual treatment of his men in Tahiti from Greg Dening's Mr. Bligh's Bad Language (1992) pp. 127-130. These are on electronic reserve in Norlin under "Bligh" for Anthropology 3160. Use them in your review.

"Mutiny on the Bounty" with Marlon Brando and "The Bounty" with Mel Gibson will be shown later in the semester in the evening, and you can bring friends; times will be scheduled. Your review is due May 3rd by 5 in Hale 466. It will be graded on a A+, A, A- system rather than on a letter grade system. An A+, or A will raise your final grade in the course by half a grade if you are in a borderline situation. Please see the course syllabus for instructions under Extra Credit.

The videos are also available for rent at any good video store. Be sure to ask for the versions with Marlon Brando or Mel Gibson. If you wish to substitute the Academy Award winning Clark Gable-Charles Laughton version of "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935), you may do so. This version of the Bounty saga is listed among the top 100 American movies ever made. It is now colorized; the original was in black-and-white.