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
Thayer David	...	Narrator (uncredited)

Directed by
Anthony Page

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Stanley R. Greenberg		writer
Robert F. Kennedy		book "Thirteen Days"

Produced by
Robert Berger	....	producer
Herbert Brodkin	....	producer
Irv Wilson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Laurence Rosenthal

Film Editing by
Jerry Greene		(video tape)

Casting by
Joe Scully

Production Design by
Brian Eatwell

Art Direction by
Archie Sharp

Costume Design by
Al Lehman

Production Management
Don Wollman	....	unit manager

Art Department
Paul Diyorio	....	property master

Sound Department
Doug Nelson	....	sound mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Jim Angel	....	camera operator
Jim Balden	....	camera operator
Ron Brooks	....	camera operator
Hugh Dilonardo	....	video engineer
Art LaCombe	....	camera operator
Everett Melosh	....	lighting director

Other crew
Margo Boetticher	....	production coordinator
Ernie Buttelman	....	technical director
Don Corvan	....	stage manager
Frank Genereux	....	engineering supervisor
Debbie Handelman	....	production coordinator
Ellen Krass	....	production coordinator (as Ellen M. Krass)
Jerry Romano	....	studio supervisor
Arlene Sidaris	....	assistant to producer
Beth Uffner	....	production coordinator
James Woodworth	....	stage manager

Production Companies

• Viacom Productions

Distributors

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1974) (USA) (TV) (original airing)

Other Companies

• Glen Glenn Sound  re-recording

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:

Anachronisms: When President Kennedy addresses the nation, the camera is a Philips PC-70 color camera which was not available until several years later. The actual address was televised with two RCA TK-30 black-and-white cameras (the second was a backup).

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)

Every World Leader Should Be Required to Watch this Once a Year

This is the best docudrama, and quite possibly the best drama, ever made. Forget the blatant revisionism of the Kennedies that's come in vogue, The Missilies of October is the real story of how Jack Kennedy and Nikita Khruschev faced down their generals and conservative wings and pulled the world back from the brink of Armageddon.

Just before the missile crisis breaks, Kennedy read The Guns of October – an historical work about how the great powers simply stumbled into World War I. It wasn't inevitable; it could have been avoided, but no country would give another room to back down without appearing to capitulate.

Bobby Kennedy plays the whip to bring the powerful and contentious men who make up JFK's cabinet, political allies and military leadership into an uneasy consensus around a blockade of Cuba, instead of an invasion. JFK gives Khruschev room to maneuver at every turn, and Khruschev is smart enough to see these openings and take them. Neither side gets what it wants; both sides get what they can live with.

Ralph Bellamy, Nehemiah Persoff, John Dehner, Andrew Duggan, Peter Donat, Dana Elcar, Stewart Moss, Harris Yulin and more give excellent performances. William DeVane as JFK, Martin Sheen as RFK and Howard DaSilva as Khruschev are absolutely brilliant. The script and direction are equal to the fine performances of the cast.

Watch this movie and ponder where we'd be if the Bush cabinet had learned these lessons before they started playing power politics.