The Sand Pebbles

The year is 1926, just before one of the many Chinese revolutions. Jake Holman (Steve McQueen) is a ship's engineer who has been transferred to a small run-down gunship named the San Pablo, or the Sand Pebble to her crew. Aboard the Pebble, Holman causes tension amongst the already tight-knit yet divided crew, which doesn't help when the Chinese public attempt to instigate a war with the US.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

An alien ship lands in Washington D.C., and from it emerges Klaatu (Michael Rennie), a humanoid from a neighbouring planet, who brings with him a message he wishes to convey to the various leaders of Earth. When they squabble pettily over where the meeting should be held, Klaatu instead decides to meet with the general public, so he rents a room in a boarding house, under the name Mr. Carpenter. There he meets the other lodgers, including Helen (Patricia Neal) and her young space-obsessed son Bobby (Billy Gray), and eventually he meets with Professor Barnhardt (Sam Jaffe), a learned scientist, in the hopes of discovering something worthwhile about Earth and mankind. Oh, and one other thing. Klaatu has a giant, omnipotent robot guardian called Gort, who has an eye-laser capable of disintegrating anything.

Somebody Up There Likes Me

After a couple of small TV roles and an uncredited appearance in 1953's Girl On the Run (I haven't found it yet, but I will) Steve McQueen's second film role, again uncredited, was in this Paul Newman boxing film that I'd previously never heard of and can kind of understand why. It's not that it's a terrible film, it's just thoroughly underwhelming, and tells a familiar story in a genre that has since far superseded it. To start with, it's a boxing movie where the lead character is Italian and called Rocky Barbella (Newman). If that's not a coincidence I'll be shocked.