Americas 250th Birthday Cinemathon #52: Thirteen Days (2000)

 
Thirteen Days covers the greatest crisis of John F. Kennedy’s presidential administration, and that is the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Cuba had just become a communist nation under Fidel Castro in 1961 (two years after Castro took over). In 1962 the Soviet Union moved nuclear missiles there. This was a horrifying prospect for the United States, as communists could now launch the weapons from a relatively short distance. Even a prepared defensive response would likely not be swift enough to prevent all of the missiles from making contact.

Thirteen Days, a movie I didn’t even know existed until I was putting together my watchlist, is not based on the same-named memoir by Robert F. Kennedy (who like his brother was tragically assassinated in the same decade). Instead it’s based on The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis by diplomacy historians Ernest May and Philip Zelikow, which would naturally have several decades more of research and revelations. Critics liked the movie, but despite the significance of the historical event not enough people went to see it. I guess it’s more interesting watching a war actually happen than be prevented.

The movie could have gone for more of a documentary feel, but director Roger Donaldson and writer David Self opted to make it more dramatic, playing up several aspects to create more tension and interpersonal conflict. Trevor Jones’ musical score definitely goes for a more emotional route. While some historians may chide the movie for such dramatic inflation, I have no problem with it as even with global nuclear Armageddon on the table it can be hard to generate viewer attention with accurate political discussions.

The cast is headed by three characters. One of course is JFK, played well by Bruce Greenwood. Though Canadian, he does the Boston accent without veering into unintentional parody. His character understandably feels a lot of weight and he comes off as very human. He definitely wants to do the right thing, but the American government is large and the president is not a dictator, so even some of his direct commands are easily ignored, with tensions between America and the Soviet Union rising as a result. This is actually something I wish American voters would understand. The president is just one cog in a system not just separated into three branches, but a ridiculous number of governmental departments and military organizations. Thus electing one guy who shares your ideas isn’t going to mean anything if you ignore Congress, local government, etc. Greenwood’s JFK is heroic, but he doesn’t have as firm a hand on the steering wheel as many would think.

Left to Right: Robert F. Kennedy (Steven Culp), John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood), and
Kenneth O'Donnell (Kevin Costner) (https://www.reelingreviews.com/thirteendays.htm)

Steven Culp plays Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who naturally is going to be involved with his brother’s many big decisions. Culp convincingly makes him look like a sibling to JFK, in large part thanks to the Boston accent. Though heading the legal department, RFK eventually finds himself having the big meeting at the end that makes the crisis go away. While the Kennedy brothers loom large in history, the actual main protagonist is special assistant Kenneth O’Donnell (Kevin Costner). O’Donnell was another Irish Massachusetts man who was a friend of the Kennedys. In addition to having the few family life scenes, he spends the movie running around the government trying to get everyone on the same page, and he also helps set up important meetings (as well as social events). This is the first historical liberty of note. O’Donnell was definitely close to JFK, but he was hardly the major political player who was able to advise and influence policy. Notably, many of the major phone calls he makes to politicians and military officers are not on the records and were handled by other people. The writer made this change so that we could have a less famous central protagonist to glue all the threads together.

The movie understandably has quite a large cast and it’s here that we get our second major deviation from history. The roles of the characters are largely accurate, but many are certainly more hawkish than they were in real life, with almost everyone advocating firm aggressive military action to take out the missiles. One character who was very much a hawk is General Curtis E. LeMay (Kevin Conway), who historically was notorious for his widespread bombing of Japan during World War II. He advocated a quick overpowering bombing mission on the Soviet weapons installations and also opposed the blockade of Cuba as being too soft and appeasing. In contrast to other leaders who felt they had scored a major diplomatic victory, he felt that the JFK administration had lost its one great chance to show the communists America wasn’t kidding around and to oust Castro from power. In the movie he definitely comes off as a little antagonistic. For the most part, though, military figures were actually cooperative with civilian leaders in real life.

One of the many large meetings

I can’t vouch for the portrayals of the numerous diplomatic figures. Dylan Baker does alright as Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who is calm for most of the movie but then gets to berate Admiral George Anderson when disregards Kennedy’s wishes. The one who made the biggest impression on me was UN ambassador Adlai Stevenson (Michael Fairman), who’s older than the other advisors and politicians and is dismissed as something of an over-the-hill softie when he’s the only major voice to advocate diplomacy rather than military force. Then in a verbal joust with a Soviet ambassador at the United Nations he shows he can go hard against the communists.

Overall, the many characters are all trying to decide when or if military action is appropriate, and as diplomacy takes over they have to find a solution that allows both sides to save face. The solution involves the removal of American missiles from Turkey. To my surprise, the missiles don’t come up until later in the movie as a possible negotiating chip. Many believe that the installation of nuclear weapons in Turkey, right by the Soviet Union, was what encouraged the delivery of similar weapons to Cuba. Funnily enough, superhero movie X-Men: First Class was the one to bring this up.

The movie does feature a lot of hardware for aviation and military
geeks. F-8s, which play a significant role, line up on an airfield.

While of course no war occurred, the movie tries to get more excitement out of the limited military operations. In one scene a plane is sent to photograph the weapons. It gets shots at, but despite the obvious bullet holes the pilot does not report that he was fired upon, as this would necessitate a full military response by America. However, another reconnaissance mission ends more tragically, with Rudolf Anderson becoming the only person to actually die during the Cuban Missile Crisis. On the naval front the movie takes more liberties. The ships are shown getting close to each other, with one American ship firing a warning shot close to an enemy vessel. In real life the ships were much further apart, and warning shots were sometimes fired close to non-Soviet vessels trying to run the blockade, but further away Soviet ships while still being visible.

So the movie is largely accurate, and most of the few creative liberties do add some excitement, but I wouldn’t say it’s a great historical film, just a good one. I feel like you could get one good viewing out of it. One problem is that much of the tension could be stronger. Because it isn’t, Thirteen Days comes off as more interesting than exciting. Also, the number of meetings, phone calls, and diplomatic maneuvers can get a little hard to follow, even with the addition of some exciting military scenes. A solid one-time watch with some pretty good performances.

Rating: 7/10

JFK's thought are elsewhere during Catholic mass. His wife Jacqueline "Jackie" Kennedy (played by former model Stephanie Romanov) has a small role since O'Donnell gets the main character spotlight and thus all the family drama.