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Thirteen Days (2001)
Front Cover Actor
Shawn Driscoll
Kevin Costner
Drake Cook
Lucinda Jenney
Caitlin Wachs
Jon Foster
Matthew Dunn
Kevin O'Donnell (II)
Janet Coleman
Bruce Thomas
Stephanie Romanov
Bruce Greenwood
Frank Wood (III)
Dakin Matthews
Liz Sinclair
Colette O'Connell
Karen Ludwig
Audrey Rapoport
Marliese Schneider
Steven Culp
Movie Details
Director Roger Donaldson
Language English
Audience Rating PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Running Time 147 mins
Country USA
Color Color
Plot
When released in December 2000, Thirteen Days was pummeled for taking liberties with the facts of the Cuban missile crisis and smothering its compelling drama with phony Boston accents by its primary stars. More tolerant critics hailed it as one of the year's best films, and that's the opinion to believe for anyone who enjoys taut, intelligent political thrillers. For those too young to relate directly to the timeless urgency of the crisis that played out over 13 days in October 1962, Thirteen Days joins the classic TV treatment The Missiles of October (1973) as an intense and thought-provoking study of leadership under pressure.

The film (and costar-coproducer Kevin Costner) drew criticism for fictionally enhancing the White House role of presidential aide Kenneth O'Donnell, but while Costner's Boston accent may be grating, his fine performance as O'Donnell offers expert witness to the crisis, its nerve-wracking escalation, and the efforts of John F. Kennedy (Bruce Greenwood) and Robert F. Kennedy (Steven Culp) to negotiate a peaceful settlement with Russia. While Soviet missiles approach operational status in Cuba, director Roger Donaldson (who directed Costner in No Way Out) cuts to exciting U.S. Navy flights over the missile site, ramping up the tension that history itself provided. Donaldson's occasional use of black and white is self-consciously distracting, and he's further guilty of allowing a shrillness (along with repetitive, ominous shots of nuclear explosions) to invade the urgency of David Self's screenplay. Still, as Hollywood history lessons go, Thirteen Days is riveting stuff. You may find yourself wondering what might happen if reality presented a repeat scenario under less intelligent leadership. --Jeff Shannon

Personal Details
Seen It Yes
Index 202
Collection Status In Collection
Links Amazon US
Amazon UK
Product Details
Edition Infinifilm Edition
Format DVD
Region 2
Screen Ratio 1.85:1
UPC (Barcode) 794043520228
Release Date 10.07.2001
Subtitles English
Audio Tracks English Dolby Digital 5.1
Nr of Disks/Tapes 1