Talk:The Sand Pebbles (film)

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BetacommandBot (talk) 04:35, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

expansion of the Vietnam war into Cambodia and Laos?
i believe that the US didn't expand the war into Laos and then Cambodia until a few years after the film's release. Certainly we didn't invade Cambodia until 1970, and our bombing raids had only started the year before that. based on these facts i'm deleting the reference to the war's expansion into Cambodia and Laos. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.233.152.132 (talk) 09:01, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

i see that the old post has reverted without historic justification. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.233.152.132 (talk) 17:55, 11 July 2008 (UTC)


 * Contemporary movie reviews (now cited) are quite strong in saying the movie has a Vietnam war theme. Whether we agree or not, that's what the reviewers were saying. Regards, DMorpheus (talk) 17:41, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

theme is not adequately addressed.
the main theme of the film is not racism, colonialism, or some Vietnam analogy. it is how the men of the ship reduce their lives to some small point, that the Steve McQueen character does that too some degree, but that events break him out of it. he can't help but see things in a bigger context, that the Mako character is a man and not merely a coolie, for example. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.233.152.132 (talk) 18:02, 11 July 2008 (UTC)


 * The entire first few scenes are devoted to showing the racism of the sailors and the imperialism of the US and Europeans. Subsequent scenes strongly reinforce that theme. Holman's ("whole-man", get it?) progress in gradually overcoming his own prejudices, and his general 'rebel' status within the crew, is how the theme is developed. Frenchy's love of Maily is another thread of that theme. The reviewers at the time (cited in the article now) saw this movie as strongly anti-imperialist and directed right at the growing (at that time) US involvement in Vietnam. I don't see how this movie's major themes could possibly be interpreted any other way; certainly there are smaller themes but those are the main ones. Regards, DMorpheus (talk) 15:47, 22 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Do what you want with this; I have no dog in the fight. But the first point made above is correct: the novel and film both are themed about the entrapment of men in a small garrison, in this case the ship. Schikel makes the point in the Life review, which does NOT mention or even allude to Vietnam (making both the original assertion and footnote in error--perhaps it was supposed to be Time's review, which parroted NYT's). The imperialism alluded to is in the dialogue/perception of the characters, particularly Jameson, not the script per se. This looks to me like the case of one review (NYT, which I recall reading myself, btw, but not exactly agenda-free, eh?) and possibly a substantital dose of OR.--Reedmalloy (talk) 08:08, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

This is about part of the commentary on THE SAND PEBBLES that contains an incorrect statement. The incorrect statement states that the character played by Steve McQueen is REBELLIOUS. The exact excerpt reads, "It tells the story of an independent, rebellious U.S. Navy machinist's mate. . ." This statement is incorrect. The only reason to characterize Steve McQueen's character as, "rebellious" is to increase the motivation of many people to watch this movie. The correct characterization of Steve McQueen's character is as follows. The character prefers to base his day-to-day work as a machinist in the engine room on facts of mechanical engineering, on his many years of his experience in engine rooms of other ships in the U.S. Navy, and that he prefers to base is day-to-day work on his goal of ensuring the safety of the crew, and his goal of ensuring safe passage of the ship through various waterways. As demonstrated in this movie, Steve McQueen refuses to base his day-to-day work on the ship's engine on military policy, if this military policy alone is likely to damage the engine, is likely to endanger the crew, and is likely to increase the    risk that the ship will be sunk by the enemy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 107.142.108.174 (talk) 21:43, 23 March 2020 (UTC)

Chinese forces
The Chinese forces fighting the San Pablo are explicitly identified in the film as being Nationalists loyal to the KMT, not communists. I have corrected the article. Regards, DMorpheus (talk) 14:43, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Source for the design of the USS San Pablo
The cited source states that the design of the ship was based on the "USS Villa Lobos" {sic]. I find this doubtful as it is a very different ship - note the stern counter, for one thing in the Wikipedia article on the USS Villalobos (PG-42). Additionally, the same source states that it was an un-powered prop, incapable of moving under it's own power, which is clearly wrong - one of the DVD documentaries, titled "The Secret of the San Pablo" highlights the Cummins diesels used to power the ship. I haven't been able to find a reliable source for the design, but it is similar to the USS Panay albeit with a single stack. I will continue to look for a reliable reference. Sea photo Talk 03:31, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

Filming Problems & Locations
Not sure if this is useful to clarify anything, but on this episode of "What's My Line?", Steve McQueen talks about filming problems and locations for this movie. • Sbmeirow  •  Talk  • 02:16, 17 April 2021 (UTC)