Gunboat on the Yangtze River

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Movie
German title Gunboat on the Yangtze River
Original title The Sand Pebbles
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1966
length 179 (US) minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Wise
script Richard McKenna (book),
Robert Anderson
production Robert Wise
music Jerry Goldsmith
camera Joseph MacDonald
cut William H. Reynolds
occupation

Gunboat on the Yangtze River is a film drama directed by Robert Wise from 1966 based on the 1962 novel by Richard McKenna . It was released in cinemas in the USA on December 20, 1966, distributed by 20th Century Fox (in Germany on March 23, 1967).

action

The film is set in 1926 during the Chinese Civil War . Machinist Jake Holman is transferred from the flagship of the US Asia fleet to the river gunboat USS San Pablo of the " Yangtze River Patrol". He defends himself against the boring routine on the ship. Holman is supposed to leave the work on his beloved machines to a Chinese " coolie ". The Chinese Po-Han, who was trained by him, nevertheless becomes a friend; his only other friend on board is the sailor "Frenchy" Burgoyne.

For parts of the Chinese population, the gunboat is a provocation. When Po-Han is tortured to death by a mob in front of the crew, Holman shoots him from the boat with a rifle in order to save him the agony, contrary to the captain's orders. He feared an escalation, but it does not materialize.

Frenchy meanwhile has a Chinese friend named Mai Li whom he saves from prostitution. After succumbing to an illness, the girlfriend is murdered by Chinese nationalists and the murder is blamed on Holman, whose extradition is requested. But the captain believes in Holman's version of what happened.

In order to evacuate an endangered missionary, the San Pablo breaks through a military river barrier in a bloody battle after wintering in a blockade. In self-defense, Holman gives a young Chinese man a fatal blow. At the same time, he suddenly recognizes a confidante of the missionary, whom he had met before.

While trying to evacuate the reluctant missionary and missionary teacher, the captain and missionary die in a raid by the nationalists. Holman covers the retreat of the rest of the landing team and the teacher by holing himself up in the mission and falls in the process.

background

The novel's author, McKenna, himself served in the US Navy in 1936 on patrol boats in China (they were supposed to protect US property and US citizens). But there have never been any clashes between the US and China . However, during the Second Sino-Japanese War , when US citizens were already evacuated from China, on December 12, 1937, the Japanese attacked the USS Panay , which was on the Yangtze River near Nanjing . The ship sank and three men were killed. The Japanese claimed they had not seen the US flag and later paid compensation.

Wise spent four years preparing for the film. At the studio's request, he filmed one of his greatest successes, The Sound of Music .

The main film location was Taiwan , where rains and earthquakes made filming very difficult. McQueen was so exhausted afterwards that he stopped filming for a year.

criticism

The film service described the gunboat on the Yangtze River as a "technically perfect, impressive large-scale production with good actors". The Protestant film observer does not have such a good opinion of the film . His conclusion is: “Emphasis on the external plot and the fatalistic ending stamp the large-scale screen epic into an adventure enriched with tragic fate and of an unclear disposition. For adults, but not particularly interesting. "

... Robert Wise comments on the US mission in Vietnam even more clearly than Richard Brooks in his western " The Professionals " in this film . Brooks questioned the legitimacy of the US broadcast in the world by telling his professionals a girl from the world At the hands of a Mexican revolutionary who did not want to be liberated at all, Wise represents her failure: The USS San Pablo, the gunboat, patrols the Yangtze Kiang to protect the lives of American nationals who are in the outbreak of inner-Chinese turmoil work the missions along the river. She achieved the opposite: because she got involved in a battle with rebellious Chinese that cost half the crew their lives, the missionary she wanted to save was shot.

The time of April 7, 1967

... The imposing action film, blended with stirring romances, garish atrocities and martial drama, carries a striking load below deck: It casts doubts on America's gunboat policy - 40 years ago as it is today in Vietnam. Because the director Robert Wise (“ My songs - my dreams ”) explains to his compatriots that the Chinese (Vietnamese), tired of eternal foreign rule, rightly revolt: “What would you say”, a missionary speaks to the US sailor (Steve McQueen), "when a Chinese gunboat patrolled the Mississippi?" McQueen, as an outsider, taciturn, must also realize that heroism is often pointless: A bloody bravura of the "San Pablo" to rescue a missionary turns out to be superfluous - the man of God wants to join stay with the yellow. Wise doesn't like to wash the yellow ones completely white - he even catches the red ones among them massacring a poor devil. The nationalists of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, on the other hand, act bravely but nobly ...

Doubts below deck , in: Der Spiegel from April 3, 1967

Awards

The film earned Steve McQueen his only Oscar nomination. The film was nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards. Richard Attenborough won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in 1967.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for gunboat on the Yangtze Kiang . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2008 (PDF; test number: 37 034 V / DVD / UMD).
  2. ^ Gunboat on the Yangtze Kiang. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  3. ↑ Ev. Munich Press Association, Review No. 129/1967, p. 188
  4. ↑ Doubts below deck at spiegel.de