Thirteen Days [Blu-ray]

Great movie! Well done and good job of clarifying the Cuban missile crisis, back in 1962. Great acting and both the disc and movie are made with quality. Scary how close we came to an end.

This is a great story . My father as in the navy during this crisis on the USS Lawrence . He was a radio man . he never talked much about this time in his life until right before he passed away . Then he told me his story .We were so close to nuclear war . He said the tension on the ship was relentless . The sailors on board really though war was inevitable and worried about their families stateside .This movie does a great job of telling the story and is accurate in presenting how tense and dire this situation really was . I like talking to people who were old enough to remember what this time was like in America . I wish the youth of today would pay attention to this pretty recent history .I think these events rank almost right up there with Pearl Harbor and 9/11. Roger Donaldson does a great job directing this film and the acting is top notch . The Kennedys with all of their flaws were at thier best during this crisis and probably saved millions of lives if not the world as we know it . I wish we had men in power today with the intestinal fortitude JFK and RFK displayed handling this crisis .I highly recommend this DVD and do your kids a favor and have them watch it with you . I'm not suprised it didn't do better at the box office . Maybe if they had changed the ending and had the special effects of the world being destroyed it would've done better . I'm glad Donaldson let this great story speak for itself and not try and rewrite history like George Lucas did with Red Tails . Lucas ruined a great story . Donaldson let history speak for itself and it speaks very loudly in this film . This is a must watch for every citizen of the USA.

Great movie! Loved learning even though some may have been fictionalized. Loved all the actors who did a great job. One reviewer didn't like Kevin Costner but I don't agree. Kevin Costner did a great job as that position in the White House most likely had to have a person who could be calm but able to think as well as support. Didn't think there was "hero worship" portrayed as pointed out by that one reviewer. I think that person just doesn't like Kevin Costner. But those who can't do.....criticize!!

Thirteen days. Thirteen days in October 1962 when the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics stood "eyeball-to-eyeball" in a confrontation that brought the world to the very edge of nuclear war.The "Cuban Missile Crisis," as history has dubbed this autumnal fortnight, was perhaps the closest humanity has ever come to nuclear annihilation. In the year 2000 - thirty-eight years after humanity's "near death experience" - came a movie that attempts to re-create the tension and fear of the Cuban Missile Crisis. "Thirteen Days," starring Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood, Steven Culp, and Dylan Baker, is a well acted, directed, written historical drama that largely succeeds in bringing to life one of the great political crises of the twentieth century."Thirteen Days" is a very well written film that largely succeeds in conveying the sense of urgency and palpable tension that existed within the Kennedy administration during these dark days. The film certainly has an air of historical authenticity about it. Screen writer David Self based much of his material on a book entitled "The Kennedy Tapes: Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis," by Ernest R. May and Philip D. Zelikow. This book contains transcripts of secretly taped conversations that occurred inside the Oval Office and Cabinet Room during the Cuban Missile Crisis. It's clearly apparent that many of the scenes in "Thirteen Days" are faithful reproductions of those taped conversations.Most of the historical events shown in the film - the discovery of the missiles; the decision to impose a naval blockade; the intense efforts to reach a diplomatic solution to the crisis are well documented in history. So, it's safe to say that "Thirteen Days" is a reasonably faithful distillation of what actually happened during the Cuban Missile Crisis.The film may be historically accurate, but how historically objective is it? How well do the filmmakers resist the temptation to put a particular political "spin" on the events depicted in "Thirteen Days?" Here, I think, the film does not fare quite so well.It's hampered at the outset by virtue of the fact that the entire story is seen through the eyes of President Kennedy's closest political advisor and friend, Kenny O'Donnell (played by Kevin Costner). It's well known that O'Donnell, who died in 1977, practically "hero-worshipped" Kennedy, so it's doubtful that anything he left behind, in the form of speeches, memoirs, or other communications, would have been particularly objective in nature.There's no mistaking the filmmakers' attempt to paint the nation's senior military leadership as nothing but a bunch of conniving warmongers, however. Generals Taylor and LeMay, and Admiral Anderson, are all painted as virulent opponents of President Kennedy, and conspirators in an overt plot to start a war they desperately want. From what I've read of history, the senior military leaders during the Kennedy administration were extremely competent and always acted in a highly professional manner. So, the film's subtle efforts to portray all military people as connivers and conspirators are inexcusable.The film's portrayal of John and Robert Kennedy is more sympathetic... and, oddly, more balanced. We see the Kennedys' strengths and weaknesses in equal measure. President Kennedy is seen as a man genuinely desirous of peace, desperately searching for a way to avoid Armageddon. Yet, confronted with a series of life-and-death decisions, he seems at times almost paralyzed by indecisiveness. Robert Kennedy, Attorney General of the United States, comes off as idealistic, loyal, smart, competent... and at the same time ruthless, and willing to compromise his ethics for political advantage.The acting is, for the most part, pretty good. Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp give masterful portrayals of the brothers John and Robert Kennedy respectively. Dylan Baker is excellent as the precise, almost robotic Defense Secretary Robert McNamara; as are Michael Fairman as Adlai Stevenson; Kevin Conway as General Curtis ("bomb `em back to the Stone Age") LeMay; and Bill Smitrovich as General Maxwell Taylor.Kevin Costner's performance as Kenny O'Donnell is the one major disappointment in this film. His acting problems begin with an absolutely ludicrous Boston "accent," but they don't end there. He imbues his character with the same stiffness, colorlessness, and lifelessness that's typical of all his work. He consistently sounds like he's reading or reciting his lines, not speaking them naturally.Despite Costner's poor performance and some questions concerning the film's historical objectivity, "Thirteen Days" remains a very good film. It successfully captures the tension and fear that pervaded not only the government, but society as a whole. It opens a window on the tough decision-making required from men untested in the crucible of history. And, it's just plain good old fashioned entertainment to boot.