The Sand Pebbles

Rating:
Summary: McQueen Forever.
Review: I have now got every movie that Steve McQueen made. He was a great talent, as is seen in this movie, and has to be one of his great performances, along with Papillon.

Rating:
Summary: In retrospect, flawed
Review: As other reviewers have noted, this film is a not-so-thinly-veiled Vietnam allegory. While at the time that might have been impressive, we have no shortage of movies either about the Vietnam War directly, or other allegorical films (such as Altman's M*A*S*H.) That, to me, isn't as much of an issue as wanting a period piece about China in the 1920s and getting something that we've all seen before. It was a poor choice by the film's producers.

Steve McQueen, as much as I love his roles, acts like Steve McQueen. The supporting cast is terrific (especially Richard Crenna.)

While I enjoyed most of it, the film is heavy-handed. If you haven't seen The Sand Pebbles, I would recommend the film just because it is an important film to the anti-imperialism movement. On it's own, though, it only gets three stars.

Rating:
Summary: Dismasted
Review: This is a very earnest and a very poor job by a couple of big talents like McQueen and Wise. The film is so relentlessly downbeat and so completely devoid of humor that it's simply not believable; just a ham-handed Vietnam allegory about a US gunboat in China. As good a director as was Wise, he wasn't very adept at improvising when a script wasn't working out; he just went ahead and filmed it. It's this shortcoming that separates him from the really great directors.

Rating:
Summary: Overrated, but not miscast McQueen
Review: Steve McQueen is not nearly miscast in Sand Pebbles as he is in Papillion. Bergen's youthful naivete is quite refreshing, and Attenborough is well-cast as supporting character "Frenchy." Overall, this far-reaching epic runs about 30 minutes too long.

Rating:
Summary: Americans trying to stay neutral in erupting 1926 China
Review: This 1966 film is a big budget adaptation of the 1962 novel by Richard McKenna. Directed by Robert Wise, it gleaned nine academy award nominations. I remember reading the book a very long time ago, and remember it as an adventure story. But by watching this DVD, I see now that it is much more. And I also see how it relates to what is happening in the world today.

The setting is China in 1926. Violent conflicts were everywhere. Warlords were fighting each other, and the Nationalist leader Chang Kai-Shek was gaining power. In addition, the Communists were fighting against the Nationalists. Because the U.S. had interests there, they had a few Navy gunboats going up and down the river. They weren't supposed to do anything - just be a show a force. But the Chinese, from all the different factions, wanted the Americans out. "Go Home Foreigners" was their battle cry. The Americans knew that at any moment an international incident could erupt. Sound familiar?

Steve McQueen, in the best performance of his career, is cast as a Navy machinist on the gunboat, which was nicknamed the "Sand Pebbles". When he joins the crew, he's surprised to discover that the "Coolies" do all the hard work - everything from cooking to cutting hair to running the engine. He opposes this as he wants to run the engine himself, and after some conflict, and an accidental death, he befriends one of the Coolies, and teaches him how to run the boat. Later, there are violent consequences.

There is tension throughout between McQueen and the crew for many reasons. And we soon know who the good guys and the bad guys are. Richard Attenborough plays a good guy. He falls in love with a young Chinese woman in bondage to the local house of pleasure. Another good guy is the Captain of the ship, played by Richard Crenna. He believes in ideals and is determined to act with valor even though he has to make some hard choices. Steve McQueen is the ultimate good guy though. He acts on instinct and every move is from the heart.

Then there's the crew who treat the Coolies badly and fight against every improvement that McQueen wants to implement. They also are willing to almost cause a mutiny when an incident occurs in which the Chinese call for McQueen's blood. We also see the naivety of the missionaries, one of whom is Candice Bergen, who think that by declaring themselves "stateless persons" the Chinese will not see them as Americans. The film is a series of battles. Some of the battles are with guns. Others are moral ones. Together they create a huge mosaic of high adventure coupled with questions of intervention. There are no easy answers.

The DVD has several features by Robert Wise in which he discusses the making of the film. However, to my disappointment, they are all in audio only. We hear his voice superimposed over a static scene or the logo from the film. After all the high adventure of the film, I was bored by these and didn't watch them.

However, the film stands alone on its own. It's almost three hours long, but yet every moment is action packed with complex interweaving stories. There isn't one dull part and all of the acting is great. I loved it. I therefore give it an extremely high recommendation. Not to be missed.

Rating:
Summary: A timeless work of art
Review: Political themes can be addressed from the view point of a worldly intellect, or a layman with little experience. Sometimes, the layman can learn about said political themes not from historical text, but from dramatic incarnation where every detail need not be described, but the emotion and drama of the participants reveals the truth. Case in point was the dissension in China about 15 years ago. We observed the defiance of the young dissidents against the old ruling government of china. We saw one young man stand before the tanks; one person speaking not to the machine, but to his brothers in the machines. We did not fully understand what was in his mind, but we could see from his behavior approximately what he was feeling, and the importance of his feelings.

Such is the case in Sand Pebbles; An American Gun boat patrolling China, maintaining an american presence, and acting as a liaison between missionaries and the rest of the world. We see and learn how they live, how they entertain themselves, and how they use the local population to carry out most of their responsibilities. We see how open prostitution is, and how military personnel fall prey to it. This is all demonstrated through a sailor who is transferred to the San Pablo, and begins new relationships with his new sea mates ( where, in the past, he has probably had problems before ). It is bad enough that his mates have little tolerance for his independence and preference to maintain focus on his responsibilities, but after you add on the pressure of a chinese revolution that none of them understand, their intolerance for him mushrooms into hatred and belittling disrespect.

The americans have lost control of the chinense on their ship, who are now themselves involved in political uprising and dissention against an imperialist american presence. We know little about what the chinese activists are upset about; we only see how they deal with the american gun boat, and their occupants. What we do see clearly is the emotional strain on the sea men, and the developing responsibility for them to secure the safety not only of themselves, but also the missionaries living in cities up and down the river.( whether the missionaries like it or not ). The culmination of this helplessness is the unavoidable personal responsibility of the ships captain, who over time sees a weakening not only of his leadership, but of his respect from the chinese which threatens his national pride. The ship is realistically portrayed as a rusty old tub filmed from areas within the coastal area, billowing black smoke into a clear blue sky, portrayed in striking contrast to the non industrial communities around them.

This film is not characteristic of most films in the 60's. It is a timeless drama with no influence of current cultural styles or social perceptions. After watching this film for over 35 years, I still watch it whenever I can, for, as a good bottle of wine, you learn more about it each time you sample it.

Rating:
Summary: What happened....
Review: I started to watch this movie a long time ago, and finally got the chance to finish it. I am glad that I did! This is a very good movie, and I would highly recommend watching it. It is three hours long, so be prepared!

The movie is set in the late 1920s in China. Revolution is in the air, and America is merely showing its presence with the San Pueblo (affectionately called the Sand Pebble by the sailors). Jake Holman (Steve McQueen) has just been transferred to the boat. All he wants is a position where the officers will let him do his job, which is working on the engine.

As the movie progresses, different characters will try to impose their way of thinking onto the picture. Revolution fits in no one's view. The captain (played by Richard Crenna) wants to do all for the flag. Everything should look great and fit his military view of things. Another sailor (played by Richard Attenborough) just wants to be with his love. All these characters are thwarted in their goal as China rolls towards revolution and casts out the foreign influence.

None of the characters can see this from his limited point of view. Things go from routine to chaos, and no one can explain with his personal world. Why did it suddenly happen this way? As Holman cries, "What the ... happened?"

I would highly recommend seeing this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Quite possibly the best movie you never heard of.
Review: The San Pebbles is quite possibly the best movie you never heard of. Shot and released in the mid 1960's by the superlative director Robert Wise, the movie was unfortunately a bit too much ahead of its time, and its subtle anti-Vietnam War message put a lot of viewers and critics of the time off. As a result, this film never got the attention it so richly deserves.

Starring Steve McQueen, in what many believe to be his best acting effort ever, the movie shows how good intentions, a lot of ignorance, and unchallenged political and military policy drew the US into unfortunate involvement I the Chinese revolution of 1926. McQueen plays Jake Holman , a skillful but fiercely independent sailor who joins the "sand pebble" crew of the U.S.S. San Pablo, a Navy gunboat patrolling the Yangtze River on the eve of the Chinese revolution. The San Pablo's inexperienced captain (Richard Crenna) obsessively defends the Navy's mission--however unnecessary or unwanted--to protect American missionaries and businessmen, blind to the more dangerous implications of American involvement with China's opposing political factions. Any of this sound vaguely familiar vis-à-vis Vietnam?

Although Holman would prefer to simply tend his boat's engines he becomes involved with a local missionary/teacher (a very young and breathtakingly beautiful Candice Bergen). That relationship, the romance of his on board buddy, crewmate "Frenchy" Burgoyne with a local Chinese woman, and his friendship with a local "coolie", Mako, draw him into the realities of the local situation, with catastrophic consequences. Holman's anguished "What the hell happened?" is a question that would be asked often, and often with even more anquish, as the '60's-and the war-- wore on.

Featuring one of the best supporting casts ever assembled, extraordinary acting and direction, a wide ranging and consuming story, exotic locale, amazing action and adventure and tremendous scope and intensity, The Sand Pebbles stands as one of the great epic movies of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Incredible movie
Review: Steve McQueen as the quintessential NCO. Just an awesome movie.

Rating:
Summary: McQueen at his best.......
Review: Sand Pebbles is the story of an American sailor, who is stationed on China's Yangtze River in 1926. Though he'd prefer to stay below deck and work on the engines, he falls in love with a missionary teacher, and through his romance, he becomes aware of the Chinese political climate. When civil war breaks out within the country, he finds himself siding against his American superiors