REEL CRITICS

Tense ‘Thirteen’ gets thumbs up

The “Thirteen Days” scenario for those two threatening weeks in

October 1962, when there was a possibility that missiles would be aimed

at us, is a chilling reflection of the past and an exciting melodrama.

It culls the basic facts from the headlines of that October and spins

a tense and gripping tale of potential nuclear confrontation with the

Soviet Union via Cuba. Director Roger Donaldson explores the power of the

presidency and the power of the military in his depiction of this

terrible time.

What was absolutely chilling was the uncanny resemblance of the actors

to the participants who really did control the machinations of the Cuban

Missile Crisis. Bruce Greenwood is John Kennedy and does a beautiful job

being the president. Steven Culp nails Robert Kennedy. He looks, talks

and acts the part. Kevin Costner plays Kenneth O’Donnell, a trusted aide

to the president, and it is through his eyes that we watch the action

unfold.

A rather startling aspect of these characterizations is the Boston

accent the three leading players affected to add a too-real quality.

I can’t get over how impressed I was with Culp. He simply became Bobby

Kennedy. Costner was the true ensemble performer, which is not how I’m

accustomed to seeing him. All three of these men shared their scenes,

even though the logistics of telling the story expanded the role of

O’Donnell by quite a lot.

The conflict between the military, which espoused a first-strike

solution, and the Kennedys, who wanted to exhaust all diplomatic recourse

before a direct challenge, was played to the hilt. There was a strong

suggestion that the cooler heads of the Kennedys and O’Donnell should

prevail, and that it was incumbent upon these three men to keep the

American military from starting a nuclear war.

As such, a great deal of the tension was centered on whether the

generals would make the first strike and then rationalize their action as

fulfilling their directive, or if the president could arrange for Bobby

Kennedy to meet the Soviet ambassador and work out a solution.

All in all, I found this to be an exciting movie, albeit a long one.

There are a lot of takes on this theme, but this is the most exciting one

I’ve seen or read to date. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

“Thirteen Days” is rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

* JOAN ANDRE, “over 65,” is a Newport Beach resident who does a lot of

volunteer work.

‘Thirteen Days’ delivers payload of suspense

For an excellent movie that delivers the suspense and tensions one has

the right to expect from a first-class film production, you will get your

money’s worth from “Thirteen Days,” a dramatization of the 1962 Cuban

Missile Crisis.

The story is simple: In October 1962, the Soviet government sent and

tried to activate more than 40 atomic missiles on the island of Cuba. The

bombs were pointed at the United States.

President John F. Kennedy had to solve the international threat

without precipitating World War III. Both diplomatically and politically,

it was a terrifying prospect of global consequence.

Even though we know the outcome, officials in the United States

government were forced, in essence, to walk a tightrope blindfolded,

because Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev refused to deal with the U.S. The

jousting of these two world leaders -- even though one dominates the

story and the other is never directly heard nor seen -- is what keeps the

suspense at a high level throughout the movie.

Kennedy stood virtually alone in his position of doing almost

anything, short of capitulating to the Russians, to ensure no thoughtless

or casual action would give the wrong signal. His only immediate allies

were his brother, Robert (the attorney general), Kenneth O’Donnell (his

political advisor) and Adlai Stevenson (U.N. ambassador).

The script is tight and well-written, the direction fine, the editing

meticulous, and the settings and other production values exact. There is

not a single actor who does not give a good performance. Their work is an

excellent example of ensemble acting, and even Kevin Costner (O’Donnell)

does not overwhelm his colleagues. He proves once again that he can be a

very good actor indeed.

I was an adult at the time of the crisis, and I can assure readers

that, sketchy as the news and television coverage was, the public was

more and more frightened as the media “leaked” bits and pieces of

information over the two weeks.

In all essential facts, the history of “Thirteen Days” is correct. The

script was based on exhaustive research of documents kept in national and

presidential archives.

Some of the personal scenes, for which there are no known written

records, may have been fabricated to hold the sequences together and move

the story along. This should be accepted not condemned. This is an

entertainment film not a documentary, nor does it pretend to be.

Because of the period it covers, the movie does not have the high-tech

psychedelic special effects that are expected these days by the 13 to 34

audience. But don’t despair, from time to time the filmmakers include a

full-screen burst of a nuclear bomb. The beautiful but lethal mushroom

cloud reminds viewers of the true horror of the disaster threatened by

the Soviet Union.

“Thirteen Days” is rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

* ELEANORE HUMPHREY, “over 65,” lives in Costa Mesa and is a political

junkie involved with several city committees.