In October 1962, the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis.In October 1962, the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis.In October 1962, the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Awards
- 3 wins & 8 nominations
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPresident John F. Kennedy very frequently set up recording machines during meetings at the White House. Much of the dialogue from the movie is taken directly from Kennedy's tapes.
- GoofsPresident Kennedy wanted an eyewitness account so badly that Commander Ecker was ordered to the Pentagon to brief the Joint Chiefs of Staff immediately after landing his RF-8A Crusader, sweaty flight suit and all. This is often thought to be a glaring error in the movie, but his attire is absolutely accurate. Cdr. Ecker was not even allowed to exit his Crusader when he landed at NAS Cecil Field, Jacksonville FL. His film canisters were unloaded from his aircraft, he was refueled and sent immediately to Washington D.C., landing at Andrews AFB and whisked by limousine directly to the Pentagon where he met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, apologizing right away for appearing at the briefing in his sweat-soaked flight suit. Cdr. Ecker, parched from the Cuba overflight and then the flight north to Washington, asked in a hoarse voice for a drink of water when he arrived. He refuses it in the movie.
- Quotes
Kenny O'Donnell: If the sun comes up tomorrow, it is only because of men of good will. And that's - that's all there is between us and the devil.
- ConnectionsEdited from Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie (1995)
Featured review
Taut Thriller
This is an outstanding re-telling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The weakest part of the movie of course is Kevin Costner who wisely cast himself in the part of presidential assistant Kenny O'Donnell rather than take on the JFK role. In order to give Costner a lot to do they make Kenny O'Donnell out to be a sort of behind-the-scenes king-maker rather than the office gofer that he probably really was. But it was a clever device to get the audience into the inner workings of the Kennedy White House without making JFK or RFK the lead character. The scenes that work best are when O'Donnell is the fly-on-the-wall sitting in at Cabinet meetings and meetings with the Joint Chiefs and letting the real decision-makers and advisers talk.
Much of the real JFK Cabinet discussions were recorded or transcribed for history and so I'm sure that much of the dialog for those scenes is what the principals really said. The movie is a tremendous look at crisis management and decision-making under extreme pressure.
The military leaders are made out to be the semi-villains in this movie, pushing JFK to attack Cuba and launch WWIII and at some points seeming to even disobey or skirt his orders. When watching the movie I kept remembering that JFK was the youngest man ever elected president and that he was only 45 yrs old when this happened. Most of his Cabinet and all of the Joint Chiefs were much older than him and that tension comes across as the older men seem to barely be able to hold back their condescending attitudes towards the young president.
With the exception of Costner, the acting in this movie is first rate and Bruce Greenwood as JFK was certainly deserving of Oscar consideration. It is always hard for an actor to play a historical figure like JFK who is more legend now than man. Greenwood wisely does not try to mimic JFK's accent but he does get inside the character and you can see JFK thinking his way through the crisis with nothing less than future of the entire human race riding on his decisions. Steven Culp was outstanding as well as RFK, perfectly mimicking RFK's mannerisms and way of speaking but again, getting inside the character so we can really see the man rather than just an impersonation. The success of the entire movie depending on Greenwood and Culp nailing their parts and they did so terrifically.
Viewers might be interested in finding a copy of "Missiles of October" which was a TV-movie in the 1970s and done much like a stage play. William Devane played JFK and Martin Sheen RFK. The movie also gave much screen time to the Kruschev character.
Much of the real JFK Cabinet discussions were recorded or transcribed for history and so I'm sure that much of the dialog for those scenes is what the principals really said. The movie is a tremendous look at crisis management and decision-making under extreme pressure.
The military leaders are made out to be the semi-villains in this movie, pushing JFK to attack Cuba and launch WWIII and at some points seeming to even disobey or skirt his orders. When watching the movie I kept remembering that JFK was the youngest man ever elected president and that he was only 45 yrs old when this happened. Most of his Cabinet and all of the Joint Chiefs were much older than him and that tension comes across as the older men seem to barely be able to hold back their condescending attitudes towards the young president.
With the exception of Costner, the acting in this movie is first rate and Bruce Greenwood as JFK was certainly deserving of Oscar consideration. It is always hard for an actor to play a historical figure like JFK who is more legend now than man. Greenwood wisely does not try to mimic JFK's accent but he does get inside the character and you can see JFK thinking his way through the crisis with nothing less than future of the entire human race riding on his decisions. Steven Culp was outstanding as well as RFK, perfectly mimicking RFK's mannerisms and way of speaking but again, getting inside the character so we can really see the man rather than just an impersonation. The success of the entire movie depending on Greenwood and Culp nailing their parts and they did so terrifically.
Viewers might be interested in finding a copy of "Missiles of October" which was a TV-movie in the 1970s and done much like a stage play. William Devane played JFK and Martin Sheen RFK. The movie also gave much screen time to the Kruschev character.
Helpful•6014
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Languages
- Also known as
- 13 Days
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $80,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $34,592,089
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $46,668
- Dec 25, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $66,579,890
- Runtime2 hours 25 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
![Kevin Costner, Steven Culp, and Bruce Greenwood in Thirteen Days (2000)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BMzBlY2E0MDctZmMwYS00ZThkLTg2ZTEtMDgyZmI5NGIzODk0XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)