In the film "The Sand Pebbles", the coolies working on gunboats on the Yangtze Riveris portrayed from a sympathetic perspective. However, this film still seriously distorted historical facts, wrongly portraying China's social environment as "full of hostility towards Westerners."
In the film, while rescuing a Western missionary kidnapped by the local Chinese, the gunboat was also attacked by the Chinese. However, during the 1930s, it was the Japanese — not the Chinese — that attacked Western ships docked on the Yangtze River. Except for the brief Boxer Movement , Westerners were basically not threatened by local Chinese in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.
"The Sand Pebbles" had a greater impact on the film industry in the 1960s. The whole film was shot in the style of an epic movie, and a melee of a Chinese galleon was unique and impressive.
The actor Steve McQueen in the film is a retired navy, he is also a weapon fan, so operating the M1903 Springfield rifle and BAR in the play seems to be easy, showing good professionalism. Other weapons that appeared in the film, such as the Colt M1911, Louis machine gun, coastal defense gun, and Mauser rifle, all promoted the development of the plot at the right time.
