Steven Culp, Bruce Greenwood and Kevin Costner in "Thirteen Days."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Kevin Costner Director: Roger Donaldson Rated: PG-13, with profanity and adult issues Length: 145 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(January 12, 2001) -- In the 56 years of the Nuclear Age -- to date -- no moment was as potentially fatal for the world as the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.

For nearly two weeks, President John F. Kennedy and Soviet chairman Nikita Krushchev stared each other down over the issue of Soviet missiles on Cuba, some 90 miles from U.S. soil.

Finally, and famously, someone blinked. Thus, we're around today to remember and speculate on what happened.

The story -- one of the most naturally dramatic in our nation's history -- has been given an enthralling retelling in Thirteen Days, a real-life political thriller, nominally starring Kevin Costner.

Thirteen Days is no vanity project for its star -- he's part of the ensemble of players in the Kennedy White House, admirably sharing the screen with the talented if lesser-known Bruce Greenwood (as John F. Kennedy) and Steven Culp (as Bobby Kennedy).

Costner is Kenny O'Donnell, Bobby's Harvard classmate, now JFK's adviser and aide. His presence gives the film an everyman character as a witness to greatness -- and also takes some of the spotlight off the iconic Kennedy brothers.

Thirteen Days is directed with intelligence and restraint by Roger Donaldson, working from a smart, seemingly well-researched screenplay by David Self. Much of the dialogue, in fact, comes from public record, Kennedy and U.N. speeches, and the book The Kennedy Tapes -- Inside the White House During the Cuban Missile Crisis.

With impressive subtlety, Thirteen Days establishes the Kennedys and their "Irish Mafia" staff as outsider upstarts, held in suspicion by veteran politicos and army brass for disrupting the military-industrial complex.

Much of the drama of Thirteen Days comes from the toe-to-toe tension between the Kennedys and key military figures (particularly the hawkish Gen. Curtis LeMay). The military men are eager to take on the Soviets, in part to erase the embarrassment of the failed Bay of Pigs Cuba invasion fiasco. JFK, though, knows far more will be erased if the missiles are launched.

Through his balanced, thoughtful direction, Donaldson serves both the historic memory of the Kennedy era as well as the human reality of the brothers, thanks also to the impressive performances of Greenwood and Culp.

Donaldson also cleverly darts in and out of our collective memories by drifting from conventional color cinematographer to newsreel-like black and white.

For his part, Costner wrestles with a Boston accent -- and generally succeeds. As a star, his presence initially detracts from what is otherwise a no-name production, but he manages to submerge his persona.

Eventually, the dramatic pull of these intense real-life events is more than enough to envelop us in this important story.

Thirteen Days is a tribute to the moment when John F. Kennedy developed a legacy worth remembering, a moment in Washington when wisdom prevailed.