The Missiles of October

A must-see depiction of the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. Focusing mostly on the Kennedy administration, this made-for-TV movie captures all the tension and emotion occurring inside the White House. It gives a real insider's view of how the American government operates. It also takes you inside the Kremlin giving you a glimpse how both sides dealt with the crisis. William Devane and Martin Sheen give excellent performances as Jack and Bobby Kennedy. The entire cast is top-notch. Don't bother with Thirteen Days, it pales by comparison. This is the real deal.

Hallmark Hall of Fame had many fine presentations, and the Missiles of October was one. It's the story of the Cuban missile crisis. There is a more modern film depicting the same time, Thirteen Days, which is also excellent, and had the advantage of the actual transcripts, which were released in the '80s. Back to that later. The Missiles of October goes into much details about not only both sides, but the negotiations.

The Missiles of October starred William Devane as JFK, Martin Sheen as RFK, Ralph Bellamy as Adlai Stevenson, Howard da Silva as Khrushchev, John Dehner as Dean Acheson, along with other character actors of the time - Dana Elcar, James T. Callahan, Peter Donat, Michael Lerner, and Andrew Duggan.

I will admit that after the first scene, which was so stilted, with everybody sounding as if they were giving a speech, I was prepared to hate this movie. After that, the film changed considerably as we got to see more of Kennedy. The film is carried beautifully by William Devane's brilliant performance as JFK. He really is the man - charming, with a sense of humor, tough, thoughtful, and demanding when he needs to be.

The first thing that's obvious, as it was obvious in Thirteen Days, was that the joint chiefs hated Kennedy, thought he was too young to be President, and wanted to bomb the hell out of Cuba and thought he was idiot for not approving it. There was a criticism of Thirteen Days that Kennedy "seemed to lean heavily on his advisors." Yeah. And why not? If I were going to start World War III, I'd get some advice too. Kennedy was very, very careful - he did not want to bomb Cuba and start a war.

The film shows the tension as negotiations fail, ships run the barricade, an airman is shot down -- it was less tense for me as someone who lived through it, but if you didn't, it is very suspenseful and scary.

Everyone was good, and I nearly fainted when Michael Lerner walked in as Pierre Salinger - boy, did they get the casting perfect on that one! Martin Sheen was a little problematic for me. First of all, when a person ages, his or her voice drops, so to hear this higher voice coming out of Sheen was jarring, plus I felt his accent was just a touch too much. The camaraderie between JFK and RFK was expertly shown.

I would recommend both films. William Devane remains today one of our finest actors, perhaps underrated because he had a minimal film career. The Missiles of October made his reputation, and rightly so. A performance that needs to be seen.

One more thing. I looked up when the transcripts were released, and the article said that they were released over time "because it takes 100 hours to transcribe one hour of tape." I was a transcriber for 35 years. It takes 3-4 hours if you're transcribing a lot of people talking. Don't know where 100 hours comes from. Obviously in the case of something so important, someone would have to listen to the tapes to proofread the transcript, but that would take only one hour. Oh well.

I find this movie now on DVD one of the most compelling works of art it has ever been my pleasure to behold. This movie is from the less is more school. No high tech camera angles and silly special effects get in your way here. No stupid insipid love story tangles its way through the plot where some couple must give you today's obligatory R Rated steamy love scene at some point when you just wished the action would go on. This movie is just cold hearts, raw nerves, hardened steal will's of both sides exposed in abundance as the world of the early 1960's creeped toward thermonuclear oblivion in the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Brinksmanship and a world tittering on the brink of a testosterone cliff a fall from which guranteed no return to life as it existed before is what this movie was about. Missiles of October is told in a play format. The sets are obviously sets so you do not waste your time on the decorations of the people or the places. You simply are given a reference of where you are by the set. The real action is the dialogue the intrique in the tangled the goings on. This movie works on a level of raw emotion. The missiles of October is a movie stripped bare of the heavy syrup and confectionary sugar laden movies of today. The Missiles of October does not spoon feed the audience each moment of their movie experience till only one rather inexcapable formulalic conclusion offered by the screen writer can be reached.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a series of mis-steps wrong judgement calls and finally at the 11th hour some common sense where. In this movie both sides The Soviet Union and the United States had to get off their high horses and admit we together do not want to end human kinds existence as a species on this earth and take almost every other living thing with us as we exit. The fact that the set's look deliberately cheesy and the acting is done as a play just makes the truly superior acting stand out and grab you all that much more. Oh to say I was pleased with The Missiles of October is to dabble in understatement up past your neck for I in all ways loved it such that I can not be without two copies of this in my home. One to watch and one to keep in a safe fire resistant place. The Missile's of October blew me away because it is true, this happened in real life. I was just a baby at the time but I lived through this time. This movie in play format is awesome because the acting was first rate and people this was high drama life or death stakes would have affected all of us had it gone wrong because it was all real life baby and no movie gets any better than that in my humble opinion.

Oh and its like way educational too so buy this one its one of the WOLF's major must haves like number one on my serious subjects list.

This made for TV picture got rave reviews when it came out in 74. William Devane does a great job in his portrayal of JFK. Martin Sheen was also good as RFK. Howard Da Silva not to be overlooked as Nikita Khrushchev. When viewed today the filming technique may seem dated and dull but if that can be overlooked the content of the film is still powerful. Additionally it's all based on an actual historic event.

Superseded in recent years by the Hollywood production "Thirteen Days" starring Kevin Costner, this 1974 made-for-TV movie was for years the best available dramatization of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. A compelling presentation, it has the feel of watching live theater. Although we know more of the historical facts now regarding this particular event in history, this film should still be watched. What I like best about the film, however, is this: In my opinion, William Devane does a better job portraying President John F. Kennedy than any other actor I've ever seen. He's simply excellent! I would like to have seen him do JFK in a bigger production. Interestingly, Martin Sheen, who plays Robert F. Kennedy in this film, later played JFK in a TV miniseries that came out on the 20th anniversary of the assassination (1983). Now, of course, Sheen plays the fictional President Bartlet in the popular TV series "West Wing". Overall, Devane is much better in this film and, compared with Sheen's later work, Devane is a much more convincing JFK.