The Sand Pebbles is a 1966 American period war film directed by Robert Wise. It tells the story of an independent, rebellious U.S. Navy Machinist's Mate aboard the fictional gunboat USS San Pablo in 1920s China. The Sand Pebbles features Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen, Mako and Marayat Andriane . Robert Anderson adapted the screenplay from the 1962 novel of the same name by Richard McKenna. In 1926, Machinist's Mate 1st Class Jake Holman transfers from the Asiatic Fleet flagship to the Yangtze River Patrol gunboat USS San Pablo. Life aboard a gunboat is... very different. It has a labor system – condoned by officers – wherein coolies do the work, leaving the sailors free for combat drills and idle bickering. Because he enjoys personally taking care of ships' engines, Holman bucks the "coolie" system, and oversees the operation of the power plant himself.
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| Release date: | December 20, 1966 |
| Directed by: | Robert Wise |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 179 Minutes |
| Producer: | Robert Wise |
| Editor: | William H. Reynolds |
| Music by: | Jerry Goldsmith |
| Cinematography: | Joseph MacDonald |
| Screenplay by: | Richard McKenna, Robert Anderson |
| Estimated budget: | $12,000,000 |
| Genre: | Action, Adventure |