Robert Woodruff Anderson (1917–2009)

Das US-Kanonenboot "San Pablo" fährt während des chinesischen Bürgerkriegs 1926 Patrouille auf dem Yangtse-Kiang. Das Schiff unter dem Kommando von Kapitän Collins ist mit der Sicherung der gefährdeten amerikanischen Handelskolonien und Missionsstationen beauftragt. Nicht nur zu Lande nehmen die Feindseligkeiten gegen die "Fremden Teufel" immer brutalere Züge an, auch an Bord toben Machtkämpfe zwischen Chinesen und Amerikanern, die der Maat Jake Holman (Steve McQueen) für sich entscheidet. Doch bald spitzt sich die Lage noch dramatischer zu.… (meer)

I thought I would belatedly add this much-loved and often-read play to my LT collection. I have read it several times over the past forty-some years. I bought this Signet paperback edition in 1970, shortly after seeing the film adaptation with Gene Hackman and Melvyn Douglas, who played the domineering, angry, aging father with faculties that were failing fast. Hackman was equally good, as the ex-Marine son doing his best to help his parents and resolve the longstanding misunderstandings and lack of communication between him and his father. Am I praising a book, a play or a film here? It doesn't really matter. If you've never read Robert Anderson's play - or his screenplay - or seen the film, then I urge you to do so. Just as a sample, to perhaps pull you in, here is the opening voice-over, from the son -

"Death ends a life, but it does not end a relationship, which struggles on in the survivor's mind toward some resolution, which it may never find."

Although this is a play about fathers and sons, I think mothers and daughters might find it equally moving and relevant. I'm not going to say any more. Read the play or see the movie. My highest recommendation.… (meer)