The Missiles of October (1974) (TV)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Director:

Anthony Page

Writers:

Stanley R. Greenberg (writer)
Robert F. Kennedy (book)

Release Date:

18 December 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Thriller

Plot:

Based in part on Robert F. Kennedy's book, "Thirteen Days," this film profiles the Kennedy Administration's actions during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Plot Keywords:

Missile | Cuban Missile Crisis | Diplomacy | Nuclear Threat | 1960s

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win & 8 nominations

Cast

William Devane	...	President John F. Kennedy
Ralph Bellamy	...	U.N. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson
Howard Da Silva	...	Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
James Hong	...	U.N. Secretary-General U Thant
Martin Sheen	...	Att. Gen. Robert F. Kennedy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
James T. Callahan	...	David Powers, Special Assistant to the President
Peter Canon	...	Admiral's Aide
Keene Curtis	...	John McCone, Director CIA
Charles Cyphers	...	Press Photographer
Clifford David	...	Theodore Sorensen, Special Counsel
John Dehner	...	Former Secretary of State Dean Acheson
Francis De Sales	...	Senator
Peter Donat	...	David Ormsby-Gore, British Ambassador to U.S.
Andrew Duggan	...	Gen. Maxwell Taylor, Army Chief of Staff
Richard Eastham	...	Gen. David M. Shoup, USMC Commandant
Dana Elcar	...	Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
Gene Elman	...	Russian Presidium Member
Ron Feinberg	...	Gen. Charles De Gaulle
Michael Fox	...	Soviet Marshal
Arthur Franz	...	Congressman Charles A. Halleck
Larry Gates	...	Secretary of State Dean Rusk
Jerome Guardino	...	Reporter
Ted Hartley	...	American General
Bern Hoffman	...	Russian Presidium Member
Richard Karlan	...	Chief of the Presidium
Stacy Keach Sr.	...	W.E. Knox, President Westinghouse International
Wright King	...	Sen. Richard Russell
Will Kuluva	...	Valerian Zorin
Paul Lambert	...	John Scali, ABC Correspondent
Doreen Lang	...	Mrs. Evelyn Lincoln, President Kennedy's Secretary
Michael Lerner	...	Pierre Salinger, Whitehouse Press Secretary
Robert P. Lieb	...	Gen. Curtis LeMay, Air Force Chief of Staff
John McMurtry	...	Yefgani Yeftashanko
Byron Morrow	...	Sen. William Fullbright
Stewart Moss	...	Kenneth O'Donnell, Special Assistant to the President
Stuart Nisbet	...	Reporter
Buddy Ochoa	...	Television Assistant
James Olson	...	McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant for National Security Affairs
Dennis Patrick	...	Llewellyn Thompson, Former U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union
Albert Paulsen	...	Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko
William Prince	...	Secretary of the Treasury, C. Douglas Dillon
John Randolph	...	Undersecretary of State George Ball
Toby Russ	...	Waiter
Kenneth Tobey	...	Adm. George W. Anderson Jr., Chief of Naval Operations
Serge Tschernisch	...	Soviet Stenographer
Jay Vallera	...	Cuban Delegate
George Wyner	...	Civillian Aide
Harris Yulin	...	KGB Agent Alexander Fomin

Runtime:

150 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Viacom Productions

Trivia:

This was originally shot on videotape, and first shown in this format, but when it was sold to local stations, it was transferred to film.

Goofs:

Factual errors: President Kennedy's address to the nation is shown as being made from the Oval Office, with the windows behind the President's desk visible in the TV picture. While the actual address did originate from that location, a neutral gray backdrop was placed behind the President's chair, so none of the real background is visible in the tape of the actual telecast.

Quotes:

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev: [thinking about President Kennedy on the other side of the world, before being interrupted again] Just now, I work and he sleeps. Then, he works and I sleep.
[pauses]
Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev: Perhaps soon we both sleep...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Goonies (1985)

A TV Drama Classic

Some have berated the "The Missiles of October" for being over-long. Nonsense! (One genius who complained did, however, like the performance of "Marin Short". Sounds like a 12 year-old. Hey, maybe he is!) It would have been over-long if it were a boring story with boring performances. But "The Missiles of October" is neither. The story is, of course, riveting, whether you were around during the early sixties or not. And the performances - the guy who cast the three main characters, JFK (William Devane), RFK (Martin Sheen) and Khrushchev (Howard Da Silva), should have got an Emmy. Martin Sheen may have over-done Bobby Kennedy a bit, but it should be noted, that RFK's "Kennedy accent" was much thicker than JFK's, almost to the point of self-caricature.

Nor is the film "dated," as another reviewer would have it. The TV claustrophobic atmosphere is in perfect keeping with the tight, closed, suffocating tension which actually existed in the real situation. The crisis did not occur out of doors, or in halls - it occurred in a few rooms.

"The Missiles of October" possesses the hallmark of classic drama: though you may know how it ends, you want to watch it again and again.