CS Weekly Archive> DVD > 06/29/07

Gunboat Diplomacy

by jason davis

Screenplay by Robert Anderson
Based on the novel by Richard McKenna

Transferred to the gunboat USS San Pablo on patrol in the Yangtze River, Machinist's Mate Jake Holman (Steve McQueen) finds himself at odds with the vessel's lax crew and contingent of native laborers in a story that deploys an upright hero to explore the evils of American imperialism between the world wars. Holman is a fish out of water offering the viewer an insight into early 20th-century gunboat diplomacy where the US servicemen waved the flag and brandished arms while their Chinese laborers did the heavy lifting. Through Holman's eyes, we see the buying and selling of virgins, the brainwashing of youth by propaganda, and the high cost of buying into nationalism at the expense of decency. Screenwriter Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy) shows a world gone wrong and enlists his protagonist to cast an outsider's eye over what the viewer intuitively knows will be a tragedy of epic proportions. Fox's Cinema Classics release offers the theatrical film (with in informative commentary by legendary director Robert Wise) alongside the newly recovered roadshow release featuring 15 minutes of added character development (this version is a rather faded print with low color fidelity, so the other version is recommended for first viewing). A wealth of supplements also showcase the film's setting, offering further insights into what could be classed in genre terms as a naval procedural.

The Sand Pebbles (Special Edition)
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Rated PG-13; 182 min.
$19.98

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Jason Davis is the DVD Manager for CS Weekly , a contributing editor for Creative Screenwriting Magazine, and has written for Cinescape.com, MSN.com, and created the TV series Studio 13, which ran on Lorne Michaels' Burly TV network. He lives in the small space left over by his ever-expanding library of books, movies, and music.

The Sand Pebbles (Special Edition) courtesy 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment

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