Product Details

• Actors: Wayne Smith, Enrique Encinosa, Enrique Ovares, Fabian Escalante, Antonio Veciana
• Directors: Dollan Cannell
• Producers: Kari Lia, Peter Moore
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Bci / Eclipse
• DVD Release Date: May 8, 2007
• Run Time: 78 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000NDI3PI
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #166,925 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "638 Ways to Kill Castro" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

On the trail of Castro's would-be killers the filmmakers meet a series of extraordinary characters - 2 are also men accused of being terrorists still living free in America. Orlando Bosch accused by many of being the greatest terrorist in the hemisphere is found living peacefully in his Miami home surrounded by an adoring family. They also catch up with Antonio Veciana the Cuban American who got closest to killing Castro on 3 occasions who now runs a marine store in Miami. These men and others the film reveals were supported and funded by the United States. At one point staggeringly the CIA even sought the help of the Mafia in the hope that they would succeed.System Requirements:Running Time: 90 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/MISC. UPC: 787364778492

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Filled with the early stuff., June 12, 2007

By 

Jesse S. Walker "doomjesse" (Huntington, WV USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 638 Ways to Kill Castro (DVD)

This DVD despite being made recently feels a little dated because most of the attempted assassins are now elderly. Since many of the attempts on Castro date to the 1960s and 1970s, the people involved are now aging. I'd like to know more about recent attempts as well.

It does provide a fascinating glimpse into the presidents of the US. In a short segment it breaks down the plans or assassination by president. It's kind of a shorthand for the politicians attitudes towards Cuba.

Unfortunately the one thing this movie really lacks is running time. For a movie that about 638 ways to kill Castro it barely covers a dozen.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Whacking the Beard, September 26, 2007

By 

D. Hartley (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 638 Ways to Kill Castro (DVD)

Conspiracy-a-go-go enthusiasts will definitely want a peek at British director Dollan Cannell's documentary, "638 Ways to Kill Castro".

Mixing archival footage with some knowledgeable talking heads (including a surprising number of would-be assassins-it's hard to believe this many lived to tell their tale!), Cannell traces the evolution of Cuban politics via a recap of literally hundreds of attempts by the U.S. government to knock off Fidel over the years.

The number in the title (638) is derived from a list compiled by a couple of former members of Castro's security team (they are among the interviewees). They even go so far as to crunch the numbers by U.S. presidential administration (thier resulting breakdown may surprise you.)

The film begins its timeline in 1959, the year that the CIA received the first official go-ahead to take Castro out. The initial schemes sound like they were hatched by Wile E. Coyote and his Acme Intelligence Agency. The plans ranged from relatively benign subversion (making his beard fall out, spraying a TV station with LSD while Castro was on air,a contingency to accuse Cuba of zapping John Glenn's space capsule with "magnetic rays," had Glenn not made it back to Earth) to more ominous (a poisoned diving suit, booby trapping shellfish in Castro's favorite scuba diving spot with dynamite, and most famously, planting poisoned and/or exploding cigars into his humidor).

Although Cannell initially appears to be playing for yucks (especially with the exploding cigar type shtick) the underlying theme of the documentary soon becomes much more sobering. The most chilling revelation arises from an examination of the possible machinations behind the downing of a commercial Cuban airliner off of Barbados in 1976.

This is a fascinating film; the only criticism I would give it is the director's "wacky" approach (that kooky CIA and their nutty ideas!)-it doesn't quite match the subject matter at times. My favorite quote from the doc sums it all up quite nicely-when asked to explain the decades-long obsession about Castro by one administration after another, one pundit cracks "There's just something about (Castro's) Cuba that affects these administrations like the full moon affects a werewolf...there's no real logic at work here."

4.0 out of 5 stars 638 Ways to Kill Castro, July 30, 2011

By 

Spider Monkey (UK) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: 638 Ways to Kill Castro (DVD)

`638 Ways to Kill Castro' is a documentary looking at the various ways people and governments have tried to assassinate Fidel Castro over the years.

This film has a series of interviews with government officials and would-be assassins as they explain the reasoning and methods behind their actions. Some of the attempts were truly ludicrous and make for humorous viewing and yet others were so chilling it makes you wonder what would have happened if they had succeeded.

The documentary itself is a little dry in places, but is interesting enough to keep your attention until the end. There also some extras which include interviews with the director and Jimmy Carter and more besides, which add another fascinating insight to the film and history of Cuba and Castro.

If you are interested in Cuban history or Castro then this is well worth checking out, but if you only have a passing interest I would suggest you give this a miss and try `Comandante' by Oliver Stone instead, which is a more up-to-date interview with Castro himself and touches upon some of the themes discussed here.

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