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.
| Writing | Robert Anderson | Screenplay |
| Directing | Robert Wise | Director |
| Writing | Richard McKenna | Novel |
| Art | William Kiernan | Set Decoration |
| Editing | William Reynolds | Editor |
| Art | Boris Leven | Production Design |
| Art | John Sturtevant | Set Decoration |
| Costume & Make-Up | Renié | Costume Design |
| Art | Walter M. Scott | Set Decoration |
| Camera | Joseph MacDonald | Director of Photography |
| Production | Robert Wise | Producer |
| Production | Charles H. Maguire | Associate Producer |
| Sound | Jerry Goldsmith | Original Music Composer |
| Crew | Gerald Endler | Special Effects |
| Costume & Make-Up | Del Acevedo | Makeup Artist |
| Costume & Make-Up | Margaret Donovan | Hairstylist |
| Costume & Make-Up | Ben Nye | Makeup Artist |
| Costume & Make-Up | William Turner | Makeup Artist |
| Production | Saul Wurtzel | Unit Production Manager |
| Directing | Ridgeway Callow | Assistant Director |
| Directing | Charles H. Maguire | Second Unit Director |
| Sound | Bernard Freericks | Sound |
| Sound | Murray Spivack | Sound |
| Sound | Douglas O. Williams | Sound |
| Costume & Make-Up | Ed Wynigear | Wardrobe Master |
| Sound | David Tamkin | Orchestrator |
| Sound | Lionel Newman | Conductor |
| Crew | Loren Janes | Stunt Double |
| Crew | Glenn R. Wilder | Stunts |
| Crew | Larry Duran | Stunts |
| Crew | Gil Perkins | Stunts |
| Crew | Bill Saito | Stunts |
| Production | Steve McQueen | Executive Producer |
