The Sand Pebbles (1966)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Robert Wise

Writers:

Richard McKenna (novel)
Robert Anderson (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 December 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | War

Tagline:

THE STORY OF MEN...men who disturbed the sleeping dragon of China as the world watched in terror!

Plot:

Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat U.S.S. San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of...

Plot Keywords:

China | Chinese | Gunboat | Missionary | Hate

Awards:

Nominated for 8 Oscars. Another 5 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Steve McQueen	...	Jake Holman
Richard Attenborough	...	Frenchy Burgoyne
Richard Crenna	...	Captain Collins
Candice Bergen	...	Shirley Eckert
Emmanuelle Arsan	...	Maily (as Marayat Andriane)
Mako	...	Po-han
Larry Gates	...	Jameson
Charles Robinson	...	Ensign Bordelles
Simon Oakland	...	Stawski
Ford Rainey	...	Harris
Joe Turkel	...	Bronson
Gavin MacLeod	...	Crosley
Joe Di Reda	...	Shanahan (as Joseph di Reda)
Richard Loo	...	Major Chin
Barney Phillips	...	Franks

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence and sexual material.

Runtime:

182 min | UK:243 min (BBFC submission before censorship) | Sweden:193 min | USA:196 min (roadshow version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Norway:11 (DVD rating) (2006) | Iceland:16 | Canada:14A (video rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #21310) (original rating) | Brazil:14 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (re-rating) (2000) | West Germany:16 | UK:A (original rating) (cut) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Robert Wise Productions

Trivia:

Director Robert Wise was so proud of this film that he held yearly parties with surviving cast members to celebrate it.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the end in the missionary's courtyard 2 Chinese soldiers are shot at the obelisk. One falls in the right open portion the other falls to the left. The left soldier disappears in subsequent scenes.

Quotes:

[Jake Holman (Machinist Mate 1st Class ) teaching Po-han (Engine Room coolie) the engine room]
Jake Holman: Valve.
Po-han: Wow.
Jake Holman: Valve.
Po-han: Wow.
[points to valve, more emphatically]
Po-han: Wow.
Jake Holman: Yeah, okay... wow.
[pointing to another valve]
Jake Holman: Main steam stop valve.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1 (1999) (TV)

Great Movie!

This is just one exceptional movie. One of my all time classics.

An examination of the little-known or understood tensions and political ramifications of being aboard an American gunboat, in the 1920's, in the China backwater.

The atmosphere and the story are superb.

Steve McQueen has never been better as Jake Holman, a hard-nosed American sailor, with his own code of right and wrong. His character absolutely dominates the movie. This is the type of character he was born to play.

Richard Crenna's ship Captain was perfect: smug, self-involved, deluded about his patriotism, but a decent man caught in a confusing, thankless, possibly deadly situation.

The rest of the cast in this is tremendous, especially Richard Attenborough, Candace Bergen, Simon Oakland, and Mako.

An absolutely superior film!