The Sand Pebbles

List Price: $14.98
No availability for this item new from Amazon



Compare New & Used Prices From All Available Merchants:

Starring: Steve McQueen
Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Type: DVD
Directed By: Robert Wise
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 2001-05-15
Running Time: 179 minutes
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.

Holman is a defiant voice of humanity in this clash between outmoded values and inevitable change; his final line of dialogue ("What the hell happened?") is a tragic summation of misguided policy, expressing the film's criticism of the Vietnam War. Rather than preach, however, Wise lets McKenna's potent drama emerge from finely-drawn relationships--between Holman and a young American teacher (19-year-old Candice Bergen, in her second film); between Holman and the Chinese "coolie" (Mako) whose heartbreaking fate transcends all issues of racial or political difference; and between crewmate "Frenchy" Burgoyne (Richard Attenborough) and the Chinese woman he's sworn to love and protect at all costs. Combined with the film's colorful supporting cast, adventurous scope, and climactic battle scenes, these personal dynamics bring substance and spirit to a complex story of good intentions gone awry. --Jeff Shannon

Movie: 3.75/5 Picture Quality: 4.25/5 Sound Quality: 3.25/5 Extras: 4/5
Version: U.S.A / Region A
Title: The Sand Pebbles
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
MPEG-2 BD-50
Running time: 3:02:33
Movie size: 33,29 GB
Disc size: 39,45 GB
Average video bit rate: 18.02 Mbps
DTS-HD Master 5.1 3705Kbps (48kHz/24-bit) English
DD AC3 4.0 320Kbps English
DD AC3 1.0 224Kbps English / French / Spanish
Subtitles: English / Spanish / Cantonese / Korean

Special Features

#Cast and Crew Commentary
#Isolated Film Score and Commentary
#The Making of The Sand Pebbles (SD, 64 minutes)
#Side Bars (SD, 34 minutes)
#1966 (SD, 27 minutes)
#Road Show Scenes (SD, 14 minutes)
#Radio Documentaries and Production Photos (20 minutes)
#Trivia Track
#Radio Spots (2 minutes)

Sand Pebbles
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. I had never seen it before. As a former Navy man, I enjoyed that aspect too. That was an interesting time in history. I really appreciated the Special Feature with the commentary by Robert Wise, Richard Crenna, Mako, and Candace Bergen. I have watched it several times. It gives a whole new appreciation for the detail that went into the movie.

Cracker jack
I had forgotten how great this movie was so seeing it again made my day. Steve McQueen wasn't the first choice for his part, but he was a 10+. Worth every $$$. Hope you enjoy.

Excellent Movie! Well Worth the time spent watching it.
David Arneson Previous Reviewer stated: "Good movie to show to the kids to let them see how crappy the 60s were for entertainment. ...kind of sparse on the special features."

I pity this poor man, apparently he wants nothing but special effects, computer-generated FX, explosions, etc. However, great actors and acting apparently don't fit his "style'.

He doesn't realize that some of the best movies of the 20th Century were made in the '60s, such as:
To Kill A Mockingbird, Dr. Stangelove, Fail Safe, The Longest Day, In Cold Blood, Psycho, 2001 - A Space Odyssey, Alfie, Bonnie & Clyde, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Once Upon A Time In The West, The Manchurian Candidate, The Miracle Worker, In The Heat of The Night, The Great Escape, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Pink Panther, and so many more. Many of these movies have far betting acting and actors that what is available today.

I strongly suggest that people reading his review treat it with a grain of salt.
" The Sand Pebbles" is a great movie, one which garnered over EIGHT Academy Award Nominations!

Best anti-American propaganda has always come from Hollywood.
Starts out promising but after the intermission, (cut short), makes sharp left turn into anti-American drivel. The new Rambo movie, which I also purchased in Blu-Ray, covers largely the same story line, (disillusioned American soldier rescuing missionarys caught in a war zone), but Rambo does it much better. Steve McQueen seems embarrassed throughout the second half of the movie. Good movie to show to the kids to let them see how crappy the 60s were for entertainment. Picture quality excellent, kind of sparse on the special features.