It depicts the voyage and mutiny of HMS Bounty, with Robert Bolt's screenplay adapting the 1972 book Captain Bligh and Mr. Christian by Richard Hough.

It stars Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian and Anthony Hopkins as William Bligh, with supporting roles played by Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day-Lewis, Liam Neeson, Bernard Hill and Edward Fox.

The Bounty began production in late 1978 under director David Lean as a long-time passion project, but multiple complications, including a prohibitively high budget and screenwriter Robert Bolt suffering from a heart attack, led to a period of development hell that ended with the hiring of newcomer director Donaldson.

Filming took place primarily on-location in Donaldson's home country of New Zealand, French Polynesia and England.

The court of inquiry[5] of Commanding Lieutenant William Bligh for the loss of HMS Bounty to mutineers begins.

Via flashbacks, Bounty sets out from Portsmouth, England on 23 December 1787, on an expedition to Tahiti to gather breadfruit pods for transplantation in the Caribbean, Bligh electing to sail the ship west round the tip of South America to use the expedition to fulfill an ambition to circumnavigate the globe.

After thirty-one days, the attempt to round Cape Horn fails due to harsh weather, and the ship is obliged to take the longer eastern route.

Arriving in Tahiti in October 1788, Bligh finds that due to the delays, the wind is against them for a quick return journey and they must stay on the island for four months longer than planned.

Bligh is roused from his bed and taken to the deck, and he is, along with those considered loyal to him, forced into a longboat, minimally supplied, and cast adrift.

As Bligh and his crew stop for supplies on the island of Tofua, natives kill quartermaster John Norton.

Realizing the folly of staying, the mutineers gather supplies, and are allowed to collect their girlfriends and native friends and sail away to try to find a safe refuge.

After Christian forces the crew to continue on, they find Pitcairn Island, a place not marked on British maps of the region.

As the crew burn the Bounty making detection and escape virtually impossible, seaman John Adams notes to Christian that they will never get off the island or see England again.

The film was originally a longstanding project of director David Lean and his frequent collaborator, Robert Bolt.

[6] In November 1977, producer Dino De Laurentiis announced he would finance the project and make it after his version of the Hurricane.

[14] Lean was ultimately forced to abandon the project after overseeing casting and the construction of the Bounty replica which cost $4 million.

"[6] The role of Peter Heywood (who inspired the character 'Roger Byam' in the novel and earlier film versions) was originally intended to be played by Hugh Grant.

[6] The film was shot on location over 20 weeks in Mo'orea, French Polynesia, Port of Gisborne, New Zealand and at the Old Royal Naval College and the Reform Club, Pall Mall, London.

Gibson, who likewise self-identified as an alcoholic, agreed with this concern, and added his admiration for the Welsh actor: "He was terrific.

[34][35] The film was released as a special-edition DVD in the United Kingdom in March 2002 by Sanctuary with five extra features, including separate audio commentaries, first by the director Roger Donaldson, producer Bernie Williams and production designer John Graysmark and solo commentary by maritime historian Stephen Walters, a fifty-two-minute 'making of' documentary narrated by Edward Fox, The Bounty on Film discussing the various Bounty films, original theatrical trailer and booklet.

[36] In the United States Twilight Time released a limited-edition Blu-ray on 10 March 2015 with little in terms of bonus material; however, it features an isolated score track by Vangelis.

[37] A special-edition DVD and Blu-ray with the same special features as the 2002 issue was released in Australia by Via Vision Entertainment on 5 December 2018.

[38][39] On 2 January 2019 a Blu-ray was issued in the U.S. and Canada by Kino Lorber Studio Classic with the commentary tracks, Original theatrical trailer and image gallery.

Some of the special features included are a new 90-minute featurette of cast and crew interviews, new interview with director Roger Donaldson, new featurette of the score by Vangelis and two archive documentaries titled 'A Fated Ship' surrounding the construction of "The Bounty" replica and 'In Bligh's Wake' charting the voyage of the replica from New Zealand.

"[43] Bligh is portrayed as a man who is hot-tempered and foul-mouthed, but only scolds when necessary and is relatively sparing in his punishments, even clearly disliking the order to have his men flogged.

[44] Gibson chose to suddenly erupt in violent emotion during the mutiny scene because eyewitness accounts had described Christian as 'extremely agitated' and 'sweating and crying'.

"[46] Roger Ebert gave the film four stars out of four, stating, "this Bounty is not only a wonderful movie, high-spirited and intelligent, but something of a production triumph as well.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times stated, "Both Bligh and Christian are unfinished characters in a screenplay that may or may not have been tampered with...

[49] Colin Greenland reviewed The Bounty for Imagine magazine, and stated that "By concentrating on the deadlock of the characters and the inevitable explosion, director Roger Donaldson has left many things unexamined: the Tahitians are not allowed to be much more than stereotype happy savages, for example.

Alex von Tunzelmann of The Guardian gave the film a grade of C, saying: "The Bounty has an incredible cast and a fabulously well-put-together production, and pays impressive attention to historical accuracy – more than any of the previous cinematic recreations.