The Sand Pebbles (1966)

China in the 1920s. Steve McQueen plays Jake Holman, an engineer on a US gunboat patrolling the Yangtze river. It’s an unusual ship in that the Americans employ a Chinese crew, who effectively do all the hard work in an uneasy master/slave relationship. 

Richard Attenborough is a sailor named Frenchy who becomes attached to a young woman he saves from a life of prostitution (Marayat Andriane as Maily). Candice Bergen is Shirley Eckert, the pretty missionary McQueen falls for. 

It’s incredibly long (over three hours), but a lot happens. It’s also the sweatiest film I’ve ever seen. Everyone seems to be perspiring all of the time. Steve McQueen is the usual monosyllabic anti-hero. He seems to struggle with what little dialogue he does have, with an oddly wobbly mouth on the sentimental scenes. 

I did wonder why The Sand Pebbles ever got made. It’s a strange story and it doesn’t have any obvious hook. Director Robert Wise had just worked on The Sound of Music, and the showdown in the missionary courtyard did partially resemble the abbey crypt scene from that superior film.

The Great Escape (1963)

A classic, of course, but it’s a stranger film than you might think. I don’t like the relentlessly chirpy, intrusive music, which often trivialises the drama and turns it into farce. The tone just feels wrong. There’s often gentle wit in the script, so the music didn’t need to “jolly it up”.

Steve McQueen is highly watchable and charismatic. It’s impossible to rate his acting because he doesn’t really act at all. He has very few lines. Mostly, he just looks good and gets the most glamorous part (motorcycle chase, escape expertise, nice clothes).

Far more engaging were the characters played by Donald Pleasance (who is losing his sight) and James Garner (who cares for him).

The cast is the very definition of “all-star”: an amazing list of A-list names including James Coburn, Richard Attenborough, Charles Bronson and David McCallum.

Most of the time the Nazis seem too kindly. And it was unrealistic that there was never a hint of dissent between the officers in the camp.

All that aside, the escape is genuinely exciting. And the ending – not what you might expect – is fairly satisfying.