Revealing mistake: When the US Navy engages the enemy at the blockade on the Yangtze River, during combat scenes, a sailor's (prop) bayonet wiggles on board the San Pablo.
The Sand Pebbles (1966)
1 revealing mistake - chronological order
Directed by: Robert Wise
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Steve McQueen, Richard Crenna, Candice Bergen
Character mistake: Following McQueen's viewing of Naval Shipmate Attenborough's corpse, he then fails to recover the decedents dogtag; a United States Military Protocol.
Captain Collins: Do you know what this is? Desertion in the face of the enemy.
Jake Holman: I don't got no more enemies. Shove off, Captain.
Trivia: In the novel, in the fight at the boom, many American sailors are injured, but Harris is the only one killed. Then, in the final confrontation at China Light, Jameson and Holman are the only ones killed; even the captain escapes, despite having been wounded at the boom. In addition, there is a third American missionary at China Light, a young man who escapes and (by implication) ends up with Shirley.
Question: Why was the movie called "The Sand Pebbles?
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Chosen answer: It's a pun on the name of the boat which features in the film: the fictional U. S. Navy ship USS San Pablo. The sailors on the San Pablo call themselves the sand pebbles.
Sierra1 ★