The Sand Pebbles, a nominee for Best Picture of 1966, is an earnest film that attempts to depict a little-known episode in the relationship between the United States and China. The film is set in 1926 and depicts a series of incidents involving a U.S. gunboat named the San Pablo (with the nickname of the Sand Pebble). At the time, China was being overtaken with nationalist fervor by those who wanted all foreign influences removed from the country. And perhaps you'll remember from your World History class that this was also the time period that saw the Communist movement begin take hold in China. That's a lot of background information for one movie to hold, but The Sand Pebbles does an admirable job of providing enough details to give a viewer a sense of the history being rendered.
The movie begins with the arrival of Steve McQueen's Jake Holman on board the San Pablo. He's been transferred to this run-down ship because he's amassed quite a track record of fighting with his superiors. Holman is one of those men who knows how things are supposed to be done--he, of course, has a strong moral compass to tell him--and when others don't see things his way, he tends to respond with his fist rather than with logic. McQueen is very good here, but this role is different from those cool-guy types he was more accustomed to playing (see The Thomas Crown Affair for the most obvious and maybe the best example). He earned his only Oscar nomination for Best Actor for the role, and I think it has something to do with the subdued nature of his performance. He doesn't appear to be "acting" the part. It seems he's just "being" Jake instead. He's an observer more than a participant at times, but eventually, Holman can only stand by for so long without taking action.
The film follows the travels of the San Pablo as it patrols the Yangtze River and its tributaries. A substantial portion of the film takes place on board, of course, especially in the rooms where the men must come into contact with each other. Needless to say, perhaps, Holman quickly sets himself apart from the other men. He doesn't like having the Chinese workers on board deciding how to run "his" engine. However, after an accident involving the replacement of some bearings results in the gruesome death of the previous Chinese engine room leader, Holman is forced to choose another one to help him run the engine room. There are numerous clashes between Holman and the other members of the crew, though, not just over the tension between the Americans and the Chinese. It is Steve McQueen after all, and a bit of his rebelliousness needs to be evident in the film.
The great Japanese actor Mako plays Holman's new go-to guy, and it's a treat to watch the interaction between the two of them. You'd expect Holman to be resistant to working with Mako's Po-han, but it isn't long before Holman begrudgingly accepts Po-han's help and his friendship. He even stops using the derogatory terms for the Chinese thanks to his relationship with Po-han. Mako deservedly received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his work here. It must have been a demanding role for him, especially since his character gets involved in a brutal bar fight with one of the white crew members over some false accusations and then he gets caught by the Chinese and tortured in front of the men on the San Pablo, but Mako always lets you empathize with him and his good-natured ways. He was a fine actor who always managed to attract your attention no matter what role he played.
This isn't really an action movie in the traditional sense, to be honest, but there are some good action sequences. The most effective one involves an attempt by the San Pablo crew to penetrate a row of Chinese boats that are linked together. You see, the crew wants to rescue some missionaries at the Chinese Light (hey, I didn't name it), and the boat has to get through this obstacle the Chinese have created. That sequence is soon followed by a shoot-out at the mission between the Americans and the Chinese. These moments of action are rather thrillingly depicted, and they certainly stand out in what is really a rather slow-paced film overall.
I've neglected to mention that there's a bit of a romantic subplot involving Holman and one of the missionaries, Miss Eckert, played by Candice Bergen. To me, it's silly to put a love story in the middle of a movie about conflicts between the U.S. and China in 1926, but I suppose Hollywood must live up to its cliches. Bergen, despite having a reputation for being one of the worst actresses in the movies when she began her career, acquits herself here in what was only her second film role. There's no real physical contact between Holman and Miss Eckert. She is a missionary, after all, but there's an obvious attraction between them.
I've tried to avoid discussing the other romantic subplot involving Richard Attenborough's Frenchy and a Chinese woman named Maily (Marayat Andriane, later known as Emmanuelle Arsan). I know the film is attempting to make a point about the possibility of better relations between the East and the West through this romance, but it's pretty hackneyed stuff. Consider this: Maily is first shown as a novice bar girl over whom the crew members fight. Given that she's a virgin, there's a premium for the privilege of her...um..."attention." However, she's really the bar girl with a heart of gold since what she really wants is a good man like Frenchy to love. If that sounds silly, it's because it is. The filmmakers could have cut all of the sequences involving these two characters, and the movie wouldn't have suffered.
The Sand Pebbles attempts to show how the Americans reacted to Chinese opposition to their presence, but it does a poor job of showing the Chinese perspective. I suppose that's understandable given that the book on which the film was based is written from an American perspective as well, but the relentless stereotyping of the Chinese people and the name-calling tired me out after a while. Everyone who shoots at the boat, for example, is a "bandit." Not someone trying to preserve his country's Independence or cultural identity--no, he's a bandit. I suspect the Chinese members of the audience for this film in 1966 must have cheered when Mako's Po-han beats up the white crew member, but then soon afterward they must have wept to see him so brutally treated by his own people. And I won't even mention the fact that the film has a Japanese man and a Thai woman playing Chinese characters. That trend has stayed consistent to today; witness the discussions that took place over Memoirs of a Geisha if you want evidence.
There's still much to admire about this film. The performances are uniformly good, and I haven't even mentioned the consistently reliable Richard Crenna as the ship's captain. The score is lush and beautiful, as is the cinematography. The shots of the river, in particular, are quite breath-taking at times. I think my favorite of those images starts the film, when a so-called Chinese junket dwarfs the American gun boat; perhaps, the film-makers were trying to tell us something with that opening shot. I earlier used the word "earnest" to describe this film, and I think I'd have to stick with that. Earnestness is a trait too often missing from today's movies, so I won't (and can't) fault The Sand Pebbles for having it.
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