THE SAND PEBBLES (1966)
Updated: Apr 22, 2021
A Powerful Story of Love, War, and Race Relations in 1920s China
Grade: A+
**Spoiler Alert!**
The Sand Pebbles is the kind of adventure film that taps into a sensitive topic: the relationship between two nations at an extremely difficult time in their history. Set in China in the latter half of the 1920s, when its citizens were in open revolt against foreign military forces and the feelings were mutual for the Americans, the film is directed by Robert Wise, who helmed such classics as The Day the Earth Stood Still, West Side Story and The Sound of Music. Starring Steve McQueen, the film successfully makes the audience both care for and resent people on both sides of this conflict before the adventure elements begin.
McQueen plays Jake Holman, an engineer who is assigned to the gunboat USS San Pablo on the Yangtze River. He loves his line of work; when he first visits the engine room of his new ship, he looks over the machinery the same way Captain Kirk might look over the bridge of the starship Enterprise. What he isn’t too keen about is having to share his duties with the Chinese members of the crew. At the film’s opening, he doesn’t think much about the Chinese people, referring to them by derogatory racial terms. Tensions arise between the American and Chinese crewmembers when the head engine room coolie, Chien, is accidentally killed while Holman is trying to fix a problem. Holman is ordered to train Chien’s replacement, Po-han, and his outlook on the Chinese shifts as he and his pupil become friends. Later he develops a relationship with a missionary’s assistant named Shirley.
The film contains several powerful scenes wherein the American protagonists struggle to save the Chinese people they care about from the hateful prejudice of their fellow countrymen. To secure Po-han’s place on the ship, Holman arranges a boxing match while ashore with Po-han’s tormentor, Stawski. Meanwhile, Holman’s friend Frenchy falls in love with a Chinese prostitute named Maily and tries to secure $200 to free her. He eventually gets the money, but a group of Americans offer even more for her and start to molest her before Frenchy and Holman save her. But the victories of both these men are short-lived, as both Po-han and Maily both fall victim to their fellow countrymen for their association with Americans. Holman and Frenchy are the essentially the grounding moral center to the story. Almost everyone around them is embroiled in the mutual hatred between the two countries. As with most great stories, the protagonists want to be happy, and we want them to be happy, but circumstances don’t allow it. They are hopelessly trapped, and their desires only fan the flames of animosity.
The movie’s action scenes are effective both because they are well-made and because they contribute to the drama of the film instead of interrupting it. When the San Pablo approaches the mission to rescue its members, it engages several Chinese junks netted together, blocking their way. But the thrills of battle are darkened by the grief that Holman had endured before; now he is actively fighting against the people he had grown respect for. After breaking one of the barriers between two of the junks, he kills a Chinese soldier in self-defense and is shocked to discover that it is one of Shirley’s assistants. At the movie’s climax, Holman sacrifices himself so Shirley and the remaining sailors he came ashore with can escape. Holding a rifle, he ducks in and out of hiding places in a temple courtyard, spotting snipers on the roof and taking them out. Thinking he’s safe, he bolts for the exit but is shot down. It’s a tense, harrowing and emotional finale and a fitting end to the film.
The Sand Pebbles may not be the greatest war movie ever made, but it is still a powerful and emotionally charged spectacle that combines the gray areas of war with the turmoil of racial hatred to create an unforgettable experience. This is a movie about the characters, their relationships and desires filmed against the backdrop of international intrigue, and the movie does an amazing job of making us care.
Director: Robert Wise
Producer: Robert Wise
Screenplay: Robert Anderson (Based on the novel by Richard McKenna)
Cast: Steve McQueen (Jake Holman), Richard Attenborough (Frenchy Burgoyne), Richard Crenna (Lieutenant Collins), Candice Bergen (Shirley Eckert), Marayat Andriane (Maily), Mako Iwamatsu (Po-han), Larry Gates (Jameson), Simon Oakland (Stawski), Joe Turkel (Bronson)
Comments