SimonJack The Cuban Missile Crisis of Oct. 16-28, 1962, was the closest the world came to nuclear war. It began when the U.S. discovered that the Soviet Union was building nuclear missile sites in Cuba. The U.S. set up an ocean blockade to stop any further Russian war shipments going to the country. The Soviet-Cuban work continued on 35 missile sites. When the first became operational, the U.S. was ready to bomb the sites and launch a ground attack on Cuba. The crisis ended when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev capitulated. He agreed to withdraw all Soviet missiles from Cuba in exchange for the U.S. promise never to invade Cuba. People should be wary of sources that describe the basis for the event otherwise. The Encyclopedia Britannica article describes it succinctly. It says it was a "major confrontation that brought the United States and the Soviet Union close to war over the presence of Soviet nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba.""The Missiles of October" is a TV movie of the event, based on Robert Kennedy's 1969 book, titled "Thirteen Days." This is a fine dramatization with a huge cast of prominent actors. They portray key roles of people involved in the crisis. They include Pres. John F. Kennedy, White House staff, the Cabinet, and congressional leaders. Others are top military officers and members of the press. On the Soviet side are Premier Nikita Khrushchev and other Russian leaders. This film is a good historical look at the event and near worldwide disaster. It shows the struggles of government leaders as they wrestle with the crisis and try to establish détente. It gives a good picture of the stress of those in authority dealing with crises, including the differences of views among people. For generations long after the Cold War, this film can be a poignant reminder of a scary time in history. The world truly came very close to nuclear war and disaster. All of the cast do a fine job in portraying the key figures of the time. The production is very well done. It shows the details of the crisis from both sides of it, although much of the Soviet internal concerns must be conjecture on Kennedy's part.

Wolf (alphaspace) 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.

DATo-2 The Title 'The Missiles Of October' was a play on the title of the book 'The Guns Of August' by Barbara Wertheim Tuchman which deals with the precipitant events leading to World War I and the enormous tragedy resulting from the inability of the principal player's to diplomatically side-step one of history's most tragic chapters. I was a child at the time of the Cuban missile crisis but I remember clearly the dread we all felt during those tension filled days when literally the fate of the world was hanging in the balance.'The Missiles Of October' was a Hallmark Hall Of Fame special presentation and was based on Theodore Sorensen's book 'Kennedy' [the chapter entitled 'The Cuban Missile Crisis']. The TV production captured perfectly the story as told by Sorensen, who was part of Kennedy's staff at the time and was present at most of the meetings taking place prior, and subsequent to Kennedy's revelation to the world of America's knowledge of the Russian missiles in Cuba and our intent to have them removed.I HIGHLY recommend this film as one of the most riveting stories you will ever see ... fascinating, mesmerizing, haunting, and would have made great fiction if it were not ABSOLUTELY TRUE.

Murby This movie is a long 2 and 1/2 hours! It hardly had any war-type action. However, the saving grace is the great performances of William Devane as Kennedy and Marin Short also does a great job. If your interested in American history during the Cuban Missle Crisis, this is your movie!