The Missiles of October (1974)

 

            For those of you who didn’t live through the Cold War, it is hard to understand the stress the historically literate and/or the people who were aware of current events went through.  I was both and in fact taught American History through a good amount of it.  I made sure I taught a mini-unit on nuclear war which covered the effects of a nuclear explosion and what to do to survive.  I always told my students that although they were living in a small town, we were not necessarily safe.  We lived near the strategic petroleum reserve, which in the event of a major nuclear war would be a target.  And we also had one of the longest runways in America at our airport.  It would have been targeted if the Soviets wanted to eliminate all possible landing sites for our returning B-52s.  I developed a role-playing activity where I divided my class into two groups and they had to play a governing body that dealt with a tense crisis between two superpowers.  I called the activity “Escalation” and based it on the Cuban Missile Crisis.  It was always fascinating to see how far they would go to avoid backing down.  Some of the activities ended up in all out nuclear war!  In those cases, I was glad the world had Kennedy and Khrushchev in 1962 instead of my students.

            “The Missiles of October” was a television movie directed by Anthony Page (“Pueblo”).  It was based on Robert Kennedy’s book “Thirteen Days”.  The original showing in 1974 was popular and it was critically acclaimed.  It was nominated for eight Emmys.   Technical director Ernie Buttelman won for Outstanding Achievement in a Drama or Comedy Special.  It was nominated for Best Drama or Comedy Special, Supporting Actor (Ralph Bellamy as Adlai Stevenson), and Outstanding Writing in an Original Teleplay (Stanley Greenberg).  The title is a reference to Barbara Tuchman’s landmark book “The Guns of August”.  In the movie, Kennedy mentions the  book as an example of how nations can careen to war in spite of no government desiring it. 

            The movie begins with Kennedy (William Devane) giving a speech promising no aggression by Cuba will be allowed.  This throws down the gauntlet that tells the audience that if anything was to occur, JFK will have to wimp out or go to the brink of war or beyond.  He gets his chance to man up when it is discovered that the Soviets are secretly installing offensive nukes in Cuba.  They will be only minutes away from most of the U.S.  We then cross the globe to see Nikita Khrushchev (Howard Da Silva) claim to the Politburo that the missiles are purely defensive.  This establishes the format of intercutting between the White House and the Kremlin.  (Except in the case of the Kremlin, only Khruschev is ever seen, appropriate for a dictator.)  Kennedy, on the other hand, interacts with ExComm consisting of valued advisors.  What follows is a master’s class on weighing the pros and cons of actions.  In the Kremlin, the thankfully sane Soviet leader is faced with determining how far the President, who he humiliated at a previous conference, will be willing to go.  His is a gamble that could lead to nuclear war.  Kennedy, seemingly the leader less likely to fire the first shot, is pressured by the realities of American politics. Plus he has to deal with a hawk/dove divide in ExComm.  Not surprisingly, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the CIA are pushing for a military solution whereas the politicians are pushing diplomacy.  Obviously, if you have any historical literacy, you know how this ends.  What the movie does is show you how we got there. 

            “The Missiles of October” has the look of a play taped for television.  A modern remake might even do it live.  The cast is full of recognizable television veterans and the acting is excellent.  The standouts are Devane and Da Silva.  Devane is one of the best Kennedy’s and he gets the personality and accent right.  (Contrast this with Martin Sheen as Bobby who took a lot of grief for his inconsistent accent.)  I must mention that no actress has a significant role and only one woman speaks (Kennedy’s secretary Lincoln.)  But this is an accurate reflection of the government in the 1960s.

              If it wasn’t a recreation of the Cuban Missile Crisis, one would think a movie that is almost entirely dialogue driven would be a dud.  However, the crisis has the tension built in to where it can forego a soundtrack or a variety of sets and still be edge of your seat.  There are no subplots to get nonfamous people into the mix.  With that said, it is not for everyone and I feel my students would not have been open to its dialogue-driven plot. However,  if they had to write a report on the crisis, it would be right up their alley.  And it would be hard for me to tell they used a movie instead of an encyclopedia because this teleplay is one of the most historically accurate TV movies ever made.  I have been preparing my analysis of how it compares to the facts and there are few significant examples of historical license.  There have been some historical sources that were not available at the time, so the movie does not have some of the more recent scholarship, but even today it is still the best coverage of the crisis aimed at a mass audience.  It is a reflection of current state of historical movies that the movie “Thirteen Days”, which had access to all the records, is less accurate.  That’s because it sacrifices that historical veracity a bit for a more melodramatic presentation with a main character (Kevin Costner’s Special Assistant to the President) being given a much bigger role than the actual person.  

            If you had, like me, seen this movie when it debuted in 1974, you most likely would have come away  with the impression that we sure dodged a bullet in 1962.  And we most likely would run out of luck (and sane leaders) by the 21^st Century.  Well, we’re still around and I’d like to think that both American Presidents and Soviet/Russian leaders have studied the Cuban Missile Crisis (and maybe have seen this movie, if they don’t believe in reading).  We may not be in the Cold War anymore, but we’re bound to have more crises.  Let’s elect someone whose seen this movie.

GRADE  =  A