Sand Pebbles-Special Edition (1966)

"Steve McQueen is great, and Candace Bergen is breathtakingly beautiful.  Beth Accomando, KPBS.org
"Steve McQueen Rocks!!!!!!!!!  Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette
"McQueen gives one of his finest performances.  Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Powerful and spectacular...McQueen at his finest.  The Motion Picture Guide
"Considered one of McQueen's best perfromances, blending action and romance.  VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever

Editor's Note One of the most exciting and heart-wrenching epics ever made, THE SAND PEBBLES is a masterpiece of storytelling, with exceptional performances by a stellar cast. The complex tale begins simply enough in 1926 China, where a group of American soldiers are patrolling the Yangtze River on a gunboat called the San Pablo. The crew members, who call themselves Sand Pebbles, includes Jake Holman (Steve McQueen), a dispassionate but capable navy machinist, and his only friend, Frenchy (Richard Attenborough), a sailor in love with an English-educated Chinese girl, Maily (Marayat Andriane), who has been sold into prostitution. Strong feelings of nationalism have been sweeping through China, however, and when Chiang Kai-shek moves against the feudal warlords, the United States decides to treat the upheaval as a civil war, and the San Pablo is ordered to confine its function to protection of American civilians in the area. Included among them are Mr. Jameson (Larry Gates), a missionary, and Shirley Eckert (Candice Bergen), a schoolteacher with whom Jake falls in love. Soon Jake finds himself in the middle of an international military crisis when his native assistant, Po-han (Mako), is brutally tortured in an attempt to draw the San Pablo's fire, and the boat's inexperienced and prideful captain (Richard Crenna) wants to give his humiliated ship and disgraced crew a chance for glory. THE SAND PEBBLES--with its expert cinematography, moving score, and riveting locations--is a memorable viewing experience brought to life by the multitalented director Robert Wise.

	Candice Bergen
	Emmanuelle Arsan
	Gavin MacLeod
	James Hong
	Mako
	Richard Attenborough
	Richard Crenna
	Steve McQueen
	Boris Leven - Production Designer
	Charles H. Maguire - Producer
	Jerry Goldsmith - Original Music By
	Joseph MacDonald - Cinematographer
	Richard McKenna - Based On Novel By
	Robert Anderson - Screenplay
	Robert Wise - Producer
	Robert Wise - Director
	William Reynolds - Editor

An exceptional performance by Steve McQueen as a crew member of an American gunboat caught in a foreign struggle in post-World War I China highlights this thrilling tale. As tensions arise between the ready crew and their inexperienced captain, one of the sailors embarks on a doomed romance with an Asian woman. Academy Award Nominations: 8, including Best Picture, Best Actor--Steve McQueen. USA Today
"Steve McQueen's greatest and only Oscar-nominated performance came in THE SAND PEBBLES....The movie is one of the most uncompromised blockbusters in Hollywood history..." 05/25/2001 p.5E

Uncut
"Marvelous photography..." 07/01/2005 p.142

Variety 8 of 10
Out of the 1926 political and military turmoil in China, producer-director Robert Wise has created a sensitive, personal drama, set against a background of old style US Navy gunboat diplomacy. The Sand Pebbles, based on the novel by Richard McKenna, is a handsome production, boasting some excellent acting characterizations...Steve McQueen looks and acts the part he plays so well - that of a machinist's mate with nine years of navy service. Richard Crenna likewise is authentic as the gunboat captain, a young lieutenant who speaks the platitudes of leadership with a slight catch in his throat, due to lack of practical experience...The title derives from a language perversion of San Pablo, formal name of the gunboat on Yangtze river patrol. Among the crew is Richard Attenborough, very believable in his role as a sailor who falls in love with newcomer Marayat Andriane in a tragic bi-racial romance. Her performance is sensitive...The major drawback to the film as a whole is a surfeit of exposition, mainly in the second half. Every scene is in itself excellent, but unfortunately the overall dramatic flow of the pic suffers in the end.

FilmsGraded.com 7 of 10
"The Sand Pebbles" was a lengthy, expensive, highly dramatic epic. A risky proposition for 20th Century Fox, their confidence in Producer/Director Robert Wise was redeemed when the film proved commercially successful and received eight Academy Award nominations...Set in China of 1926, Steve McQueen played the lead role, sailor and engineer Jake Holman. Holman transfers to the small warship San Pablo, which is nicknamed 'Sand Pebbles' by its crew. Holman wants to be left alone to maintain the ship's engine, only to learn that Chinese 'coolies' perform all actual on-board work..."The Sand Pebbles" is nearly three hours long, but has few unnecessary scenes. The sets are impressive, especially the old steam engine and the fleet of Chinese junks. The cast is excellent as well, with only Crenna's curious angst marring the performances. The film's biggest problem is that that the non-officer sailors all seem to be stupid savages, except for Frenchy and Holman. The crew is also frequently insubordinate to Collins, apparently for dramatic purposes...The Oscar nominations included Best Picture, Best Actor (McQueen), Best Supporting Actor (Mako) and Best Color Cinematography (Joseph MacDonald). The film failed to take any trophies, most instead going to the costume drama "A Man For All Seasons". - Brian Koller