In this paper, the Painlevé integrable property of the (1 + 1)-dimensional generalized Broer–Kaup (gBK) equations is first proven. Then, the Bäcklund transformations for the gBK equations are derived by using the Painlevé truncation. Based on a special case of the derived Bäcklund transformations, the gBK equations are linearized into the heat conduction equation. Inspired by the derived Bäcklund transformations, the gBK equations are reduced into the Burgers equation. Starting from the linear heat conduction equation, two forms of N-soliton solutions and rational solutions with a singularity condition of the gBK equations are constructed. In addition, the rational solutions with two singularity conditions of the gBK equation are obtained by considering the non-uniqueness and generality of a resonance function embedded into the Painlevé test. In order to understand the nonlinear dynamic evolution dominated by the gBK equations, some of the obtained exact solutions, including one-soliton solutions, two-soliton solutions, three-soliton solutions, and two pairs of rational solutions, are shown by three-dimensional images. This paper shows that when the Painlevé test deals with the coupled nonlinear equations, the highest negative power of the coupled variables should be comprehensively considered in the leading term analysis rather than the formal balance between the highest-order derivative term and the highest-order nonlinear term.