In 1926, Jake Holman (Steve McQueen), a
machinist's mate and lone wolf, is assigned to duty on board the gunboat USS San
Pablo--called "The Sand Pebbles" by its crew--patrolling the Yangtze
river in China. Without any comprehension of the political turmoil going on
around him, Holman finds himself in an ideologically polarized conflict, whose
two camps are represented, on the one hand, by his commanding officer, Captain
Collins (Richard Crenna), an advocate of Teddy Roosevelt style imperialism, and
on the other, by the missionary Jameson (Larry Grant) and his assistant Shirley
Eckert (Candice Bergen), both of whom strongly oppose American intervention in
China.
Made at the time of the Vietnam War--to which it
obviously alludes--The Sand Pebbles, directed by Robert Wise, was one of 1966's
biggest hits, receiving nine Academy Award nominations. But Wise's traditional
style of filmmaking was going out of fashion among younger audiences and more
hip critics, who preferred pictures by Fellini, Bergman, or John Cassavetes, to
what established Hollywood directors had to offer. While The Sand Pebbles has
remained a favorite among fans of Steve McQueen, the movie was subsequently
eclipsed by productions like Robert Altman's MASH, Francis Coppola's Apocalypse
Now, and Oliver Stone's Platoon--and more recently, Steven Spielberg's Saving
Private Ryan and Terence Mallick's The Thin Red Line--all of which offered a far
grimmer depiction of war.
Nevertheless, the film offers a reasonably
objective account of the far from happy lot of American enlisted men serving in
the Far East at that time. More importantly, The Sand Pebbles furnishes an
outstanding example of what a major studio and a talented director were still
able to accomplish in the twilight of the old movie industry. Filmed partly in
Hollywood and partly on location on Taiwan, the movie was made with a meticulous
attention to detail--and without the use of computer graphics, as Robert Wise
proudly boasts in his commentary--hardly conceivable today.
Until the release of the DVD earlier this year,
The Sand Pebbles was only available in a mediocre two-tape VHS set which
hardly did the film justice. But this version is in the correct 2.35:1 aspect
ratio, with excellent color, and stereo sound as in the original release
prints. In addition, the DVD includes valuable voice over commentaries by
Robert Wise, Candice Bergen, and Mako. Wise sounds a bit ragged, but Bergen is
highly articulate, and her impressions of Steve McQueen--not an easy man to
get to know--are especially worth hearing.
In my article And
Something Completely Different: Shanghai Lil Aboard the USS San Pablo
I have discussed The Sand Pebbles as a belated example of movie
exoticism in some detail. To check out the entire piece click on the link
above. To read just about The San Pebbles, click here.
This
DVD is available from Amazon.com
Production
data courtesy of The Internet Movie Database
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E-mail Dave:
daveclayton@worldnet.att.net