FilmSkool — a free film school
Thirteen Days
The story of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962—the nuclear standoff with the USSR sparked by the discovery by the Americans of missile bases established on the Soviet-allied island of Cuba.
2000 · Directed by Roger Donaldson · 145 min · History · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 6 frames
Tagline
You'll never believe how close we came.
Plot
In October 1962, U-2 aerial surveillance photos reveal that the Soviet Union is placing intermediate-range ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons in Cuba. U.S. president John F. Kennedy and his advisers must come up with a plan to prevent their activation. Kennedy wants to show that the United States will not allow a missile threat. The Joint Chiefs of Staff advise military strikes against the missile sites followed by an invasion of Cuba. Kennedy is reluctant to this because it would likely cause the Soviets to invade West Berlin, which could lead to an all-out war. Kennedy sees an analogy to the events that started World War I, where the tactics of both sides' commanders had not evolved since the previous war and were obsolete, only this time nuclear weapons are involved. War appears to be almost inevitable.
The Kennedy administration tries to find a solution that will remove the missiles but avoid an act of war. They reject a blockade, as this is formally regarded as an act of war, and settle on what they publicly describe as a quarantine. They announce that the U.S. naval forces will stop all ships entering Cuban waters and inspect them to verify they are not carrying weapons. The Soviet Union sends mixed messages in response. Off the shores of Cuba, the Soviet ships turn back from the quarantine lines. Spy plane pictures continue to be ordered, but one of Kennedy's top advisers, Kenneth O'Donnell, calls the pilots to ensure they do not report that they were shot at or fired upon, because if they were, the country would be forced to retaliate under the rules of engagement.
John A. Scali, a reporter with ABC News, is contacted by Soviet "emissary" Aleksandr Fomin, and through this back-channel communication method the Soviets offer to remove the missiles in exchange for public assurances that the U.S. will never invade Cuba. A long message in the same tone as the informal communication from Fomin, apparently written personally by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, is received. This is followed by a second, more hard line cable in which the Soviets offer a deal involving U.S. removal of its Jupiter missiles from Turkey. The Kennedy administration interprets the second as a response from the Soviet Politburo, and decides to ignore it and respond to the message assumed to be from Khrushchev. There are several mis-steps during the crisis: the defense readiness level of Strategic Air Command (SAC) is raised to DEFCON 2 (one step shy of maximum readiness for imminent war), without informing Kennedy; a U.S. nuclear weapon test proceeds (Bluegill Triple Prime) and a routine test launch of a U.S. offensive missile is also carried out without the President's knowledge.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: David Self
- Cinematography: Andrzej Bartkowiak
- Edited by: Conrad Buff IV
- Music: Trevor Jones
- Production design: J. Dennis Washington
- Produced by: Peter O. Almond, Armyan Bernstein, Kevin Costner, Lope V. Juban Jr.
Cast
- Kevin Costner as Kenneth O'Donnell
- Bruce Greenwood as John F. Kennedy
- Steven Culp as Robert F. Kennedy
- Dylan Baker as Robert McNamara
- Michael Fairman as Adlai Stevenson
- Henry Strozier as Dean Rusk
- Frank Wood as McGeorge Bundy
- Kevin Conway as Gen. Curtis LeMay
- Tim Kelleher as Ted Sorensen
- Len Cariou as Dean Acheson
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English, Russian, Spanish
- Studios: New Line Cinema, Beacon Pictures
- Budget: $80,000,000
- Box office: $34,566,746
- Themes: usa president, politics, atomic bomb, cold war, john f. kennedy, based on true story, threat, cuban missile crisis, diplomacy, 1960s
More by Roger Donaldson
On this film
This is the plain index, shown because JavaScript is off. Every lesson here is a free video published by the channel credited on it and plays through that channel's own embed — FilmSkool hosts nothing.