Engineer Jake Holman arrives aboard the gunboat USS San Pablo, assigned to patrol a tributary of the Yangtze in the middle of exploited and revolution-torn 1926 China. His iconoclasm and cynical nature soon clash with the 'rice-bowl' system which runs the ship and the uneasy symbiosis between Chinese and foreigner on the river. Hostility towards the gunboat's presence reaches a climax when the boat must crash through a river-boom and rescue missionaries upriver at China Light Mission.
Steve McQueen
as Jake Holman
Richard Attenborough
as Frenchy Burgoyne
Richard Crenna
as Captain Collins
Candice Bergen
as Shirley Eckert
Mako
as Po-han
Larry Gates
as Jameson
Charles Robinson
as Ensign Bordelles
Simon Oakland
as Stawski
Ford Rainey
as Harris
Joe Turkel
as Bronson
Gavin MacLeod
as Crosley
Joe Di Reda
as Shanahan
