S3-E11 - Steve McQueen and "The Sand Pebbles" (1966)

The Sand Pebbles, which tells the story of the USS San
Pablo, a US Navy gunboat operating in China in the
1920s, was shot in northern Taiwan over the winter
of '65-'66. The movie was directed by Robert Wise,
of The Sound of Music fame, and starred "the King
of Cool" Steve McQueen. The film was the 4th
highest-grossing movie of 1966 but the shoot was a
less-than-inspiring experience for much of the cast and crew (to
put it mildly). "Bad Boy" McQueen exhibited plenty of the
behavior he was known for and – of course – the weather in
northern Taiwan in the winter wasn't friendly to the moviemakers.
Listen to this week's Formosa Files episode for the whole
story.  Visit www.formosafiles.com for pictures,
maps, images, info, and much more.