The Exhibitor (1966)

A Review of ROBERT WISE’s The Sand Pebbles Seldom do we provide review space in the front of our paper picture. However, Robert Wise's THE SAND PEBBLES looms so successful that we are breaking precedent for this review. for a motion spectacularly The Sand Pebbles 20th-Fox (Color by DeLuxe) Drama 191M. Estimate: High rating adventure. Cast: Steve McQueen, Richard Attenbor¬ ough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen, Marayat Andriane, Mako, Larry Gates, Charles Robinson, Simon Oakland, Ford Rainey, Joe Turkel, Gavin MacLeod, Joseph di Reda, Richard Loo, Barney Phillips, Gus Trikonis, Shepherd Sanders, James Jeter, Tom Middleton, Paul Chinpae, Tommy Lee, Stephen Jahn, Jay Allan Hopkins, Steve Ferry, Ted Fish, Loren Janes, Glenn Wilder. Produced and di¬ rected by Robert Wise; screenplay by Robert Anderson, from a novel by Richard McKenna. Story: It is 1926 and an explosive time in China as war-lords battle for supremacy and patrol boats of many nations cruise the Yangtze to protect their merchants and missionaries. Sailor Steve McQueen is assigned to the U. S. ship, San Pablo. A loner, he is resented by his fellow “Sand Pebbles” (the crew’s name for themselves), especially when he tries to run the engine room in the fleet’s manner. All other departments on the ship are run by Chinese coolie labor, and the other sailors like it that way, figuring their only job is to fight if the need arises. McQueen meets and is attracted to teacher Candice Bergen, who works at the U. S. Mission run by Larry Gates. His only other friend is crew-mate Richard Attenborough. They visit a joy palace, where Attenborough falls in love with lovely Marayet And riane, who owes the house owner $200. This sum will buy her freedom and Atten¬ borough vows to raise it. The political situation worsens and becomes a full-scale Chinese Civil War. The San Pablo is ordered to evacuate Americans from the danger area. They do so. McQueen and Attenborough rescue Andriane and Attenborough marries her. Rebels plant opium on the San Pablo in an effort to dis¬ credit Americans. The coolies desert the gun¬ boat which is left in a state of siege. Morale deteriorates, and Attenborough deserts to join his wife. McQueen plans to desert to join Bergen at the mission. First, he visits Atten¬ borough and finds him dead of pneumonia. Rebels try to seize Andriane, and McQueen is unable to save her. He returns to the ship, where a crowd appears to denounce him as a murderer. Captain Richard Crenna refuses to give him up and moves the ship downstream. Marines have landed in Shanghai, where full scale fighting has erupted. Crenna decides to give the humiliated “Sand Pebbles” a final moment of glory and sets out to rescue Gates at the mission. The gunboat smashes a rebel barrier in a wild fight and limps to the mission, but Gates and Bergen, declaring themselves to be “stateless” people refuse to be rescued. Forcing the issue, Crenna is killed as rebel troops close in. McQueen makes his final stand, and he, too, is killed holding back the attacking troops while other crewmen take Bergen to safety. X-Ray: Producer-director Robert Wise has reached back into time and history to come up with an extraordinary adventure thriller re¬ plete with drama, suspense, action and ro¬ mance. Conflict exists not only on a political scale but also on a personal level as a new¬ comer finds difficulty becoming acclimated to the peculiar policies of a gunboat patrolling an area of international unrest. Steve McQueen is fine as the volatile sailor-engineer who re¬ fuses to conform. His role is bolstered by all around him. Adding to the film’s effectiveness are the quality production values, the colorful locale, and the fine direction and camera work. There are several romances to provide a focus of interest for the ladies. The action-packed climax puts an appropriate cap on a film loaded with dramatic excitement. Wise seems to have come through with another noteworthy motion picture achievement. The above review was written by MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR'S New York editor and veteran reviewer, Mel Konecoff. His comment; "THE SAND PEBBLES" can be expected to be another in the long line of successful Robert Wise credits. 4 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR December 21, 1966