Thirteen Days
SEARCH IN  
Click here to buy posters
In Association with Amazon.com
 
ORDER DVD
 BUY THE DVD OR VHS
  
 
Until recently, I didn’t really know much about the Cuban Missile Crisis -- other than it was a crisis involving both Cuba and missiles. But this movie tricked me into enjoying a history lesson.

Thirteen Days, named for the book, written by Bobby Kennedy, about the Crisis and based on The Kennedy Tapes, a book of transcribed recordings of meetings and phone calls that took place throughout the thirteen days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, this movie, complete with its occasional archive footage, has an intentional documentary feel to it (though I’m sure it’s got its own little Hollywood twist to it). It tells the story of the critical days of the Kennedy administration -- in 1962 -- when American planes found that Russia was secretly arming Cuba with more than enough missiles to destroy the US. JFK (played by Bruce Greenwood) -- aided by his brother and Attorney General, Robert (Steven Culp) and his assistant, Kenny O’Donnell (Kevin Costner) -- was forced to act fast, secretly working with (and often against) the pro-war military leaders to ensure the country’s safety and to avoid nuclear war.

While there were a few things about this movie that I found annoying -- like how I kept forgetting which one was supposed to be JFK and which one was supposed to be Bobby, or how the movie kept switching from black and white to color to apparently give it a more authentic feel – I really enjoyed it. The story was captivating, and though it was pretty long (around two and a half hours), it held my attention.

If my high school American history classes had been this interesting, I wouldn’t have dreaded going…

Submissions Contributors Advertise About Us Contact Us Disclaimer Privacy Links Awards Request Review Contributor Login
© Copyright 2002 - 2024 NightsAndWeekends.com. All rights reserved.