Following the success of The Sound of Music, director Robert Wise chose to film Robert McKenna's prize-winning 1962 novel, The Sand Pebbles--an ambitious choice for a director at the peak of his career. Shot in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the film combines historical sweep and intimate human drama in several parallel stories, all revolving around U.S. Navy machinist's mate Jake Holman (Steve McQueen). Holman is 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 in 1926. 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.

Great Movie, Great Story, and Entertaining

This is a great movie. I have seen this movie when I was a kid, and I thought it was boring. This week I watched the movie again, and was pleasantly surprised. The acting was good all-around. Even Mcqueen's acting was actually half-way decent. The story was a good one, and reflected the social undercurrents in which it was filmed. So, what you get is a socially conscious movie that isn't too unfriendly. So get this one and enjoy.

Navy men will appreciate

Navy men like me, formerly, will see themselves in Jake (McQueen) and wish they were young again and doing what he did in the 1920s.

Strong Epic Film Which Got A Raw Deal On Oscar Night

What a powerful story! It's hard to believe this epic movie - three hours in length - was nominated for eight Academy Awards and came away with nothing. It seems unjust. Well, not everything is "just" in this dramatic story, either. Good people die, bad people live. Incredible joy and sorrow are but a few minutes away. The story is well-told and thus keeps your attention, is well-acted and is nicely- filmed.

My only complaint was the last 13 minutes when the film got a little too political and, of course, tilted to the Left as films tend to do. Otherwise, I throughly enjoyed the experience of watching this long movie, and sorry I didn't watch this years ago. Well, better late than never, is all I can say. This movie is worthy of any serious film collector's attention.

Robert Wise directed and he did a fabulous job. I just love some of the shots and camera angles in this widescreen production, which was done justice in a recently--released two- disc DVD. The cinematography was by Joseph MacDonald. I'm sorry he didn't win an Oscar.

The story has something for everyone: several action scenes, two romances, a little humor, some flag waving and flag disparaging, and a lot of drama and intrigue.
outsiders running their country any longer. I'm not going get into the story details, as enough reviewers have already done that.

Photograhy-wise, it was nice to see most of this shot outdoors, not on some studio lot or sound-stage. I enjoyed all of the shots of the ship, the "San Pablo." The new DVD sports an outstanding transfer. Audiby, i's advertised as 4.0 sound but there is no rear speaker audio in here, so 3.0 would be more accurate.

Overall, a memorable story and this new 2-disc DVD version is highly-recommended.