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Actors: Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Thirteen Days |
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Based on the recent book, _The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis_, "Thirteen Days" recounts the events behind the scenes in Washington DC in October 1962 when the Soviets were discovered to be placing medium-range missiles on the island of Cuba where they could threaten much of the East Coast of the United States. The Kennedy brothers, president and attorney general, had to marshal their team not only to face down the Russians but to hold their own against less-than-respectful American military brass who were spoiling for a fight. Costner plays the president's longtime friend and appointments secretary, Kenny O'Donnell, and his New England accent wanders. But Bruce Greenwood, a Canadian who has done mostly TV work up to now (appearances in Atom Egoyan's "Exotica" and "The Sweet Hereafter" excepted) is superb as John F. Kennedy, and Steven Culp looks and sounds the part of Robert Kennedy even better. Dylan Baker does a nice short turn as Defense Secretary Robert McNamara. The film is somewhat leisurely at 145 minutes, but generates a surprising amount of tension despite the viewer's foreknowledge of how it comes out. In a way, it's surprising it got made, since it consists of little more than guys talking at one another (some brief shipboard sequences shot off Rhode Island, missiles in the jungle views with the Philippines standing in for Cuba, and a few aerial flights constitute the only deviations). It apparently didn't make back its $80 million cost, though it deserved to.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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Kevin Costner plays J.F.K's assistant (Bruce Greenwood) during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Lots of emotion and it shows how close WE REALLY CAME to Nuclear War! Gripping!
--Greg Howell, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Thirteen Days |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/Era of Movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Legal/Political Thriller?
Yes
Political Plotlets:
- power struggle between good/bad govt factions
Crime & Police Story?
Yes
Criminal enemy is...
- politicians
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- politician/elected ruler
- govt employee
Age:
- 40's-50's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- muscular (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- sensitive
- aggressive
- irritated
- tougher
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- average build (man)
How much in movie?
- 80%
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- a deadline
- enemy army
Specific kind of enemies?
- right wing dictatorship
- communism
- corrupt local officials
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Russian
Setting
City?
Yes
City:
- Washington D.C.
Misc setting
- fancy mansion
- fort/military installation
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- non-gory references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- challenged
- in awe
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 1 (None)
Kind of violence:
- air battles
- amphibious landings
- nuclear/unconventional war
- mission to rescue
- mission to protect something
- ocean ship battles
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
- Some foul language
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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