The Sand Pebbles

1966 · 3h 16m

Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat USS San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the 'rice-bowl' system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.

Directed by Robert Wise

Cast

Steve McQueen

Jake Holman

Richard Attenborough

Frenchy Burgoyne

Richard Crenna

Captain Collins

Candice Bergen

Shirley Eckert

Mako

Po-han