The Hunt for Red October (1990)

In 1984, the USSR's best submarine captain in their newest sub violates orders and heads for the USA. Is he trying to defect, or to start a war?

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers:

Tom Clancy (novel), Larry Ferguson (screenplay),

Stars:

Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn

Won 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Connery	...	Marko Ramius
Alec Baldwin	...	Jack Ryan
Scott Glenn	...	Bart Mancuso
Sam Neill	...	Captain Vasili Borodin
James Earl Jones	...	Admiral Greer
Joss Ackland	...	Andrei Lysenko
Richard Jordan	...	Jeffrey Pelt
Peter Firth	...	Ivan Putin
Tim Curry	...	Dr. Yevgeniy Petrov
Courtney B. Vance	...	Seaman Jones
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Captain Viktor Tupolev
Jeffrey Jones	...	Skip Tyler
Timothy Carhart	...	Bill Steiner
Larry Ferguson	...	Chief of the Boat
Fred Dalton Thompson	...	Admiral Painter

Storyline

Soviets create a new nuclear submarine that runs silent due to a revolutionary propulsion system. Russian sub captain defects, goal of taking it to the U.S.A. to prevent the Russians from using the sub to wreak nuclear (missile) war against the U.S. Lots of plot turns and twists in this high-tech thriller.

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Plot Keywords:

cia | submarine | analyst | navy | soviet navy | 

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Taglines:

Invisible. Silent. Stolen.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian

Release Date:

2 March 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Jagd auf 'Roter Oktober'

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$122,012,643 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, Nina Saxon Film Design

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby SR (35 mm prints)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"Lt. Cmdr. Mike Hewitt" is the torpedo operator on the surface ship who calls out the range of the torpedo fired on the Red October, only for it to be remotely detonated by James Greer (James Earl Jones) just prior to impact (to fool the Red October's crew being rescued on the surface). He is not referred to by name in the movie, but his character and the actor's name is listed in the credits. "Mike Hewitt" is a real person, although at the time of filming he was Captain [error] (now retired - he was Captain of the USS Fulton, a "sub-tender" ship stationed at the Naval Base in Groton, CT). He was a technical advisor on the film and they gave his name to the character as thank you.

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Goofs

In several scenes inside the Red October, the fire extinguishers are made by Amerex - a high quality extinguisher made in Trussville, Alabama (USA).

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Quotes

Captain Ramius: You're afraid of our fleet. Well, you should be. Personally, I'd give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?

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Crazy Credits

Stanley (Sally Ryan's stuffed bear) is credited as "Himself"

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Connections

Followed by Without Remorse

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Soundtracks

"Payoff"
By Basil Poledouris
Courtesy of Orion Pictures Corp.

User Reviews

The Best of the Jack Ryan Films...

"The Hunt for Red October" is taken off of military-expert Tom Clancy's gripping novel. Tom Clancy has a knack for the inner-psyche of our fears. He doesn't openly thrill us, but rather opens our minds to the potential hazards in the US government. Most government/military thrillers skim the surface and gather us a few good things to make us go, "Whoo," but Tom Clancy's books make us fall over in amazement. The man has an incredible knowledge of the government and its subsidaries, and his novels show this.

His film adaptations normally make good. All four are at least good, and one of them, "The Hunt for Red October," is taut, tense, and powerfully moving. The plot of the film is fictional, but it is right out of the headlines.

It is about a submarine, a Russian, and an American. It sounds like the setup for a bar-joke, but it's not. The Russian man is named Ramius (Sean Connery), who, along with his crew, takes a Soviet submarine out to the North Atlantic ocean. The sub is the best-of-the-best, with an all-new propolsion system (it's faster than other submarines), and uses advanced techniques to literally disappear off radar.

After a few days out at sea, the submarine vanishes off radar, and the Russians, frantic, tell the American government that Ramius has taken the sub to America's mainland to launch a missile attack. However, CIA Analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) thinks otherwise. He believes Ramius is defecting to the States along with his crew. Further, he believes the Russians don't want to admit this for fear of losing their best submarine.

The film is directed by John McTiernan, who brought us "Predator," "Die Hard," "The Thomas Crown Affair" (remake) and "Die Hard with a Vengeance." All of the preceding films are very good, most of them great, and "The Hunt for Red October" qualifies as "very good."

Sean Connery gives a commanding performance as the leading character, Ramius. His second-hand-man is played by Sam Neil, faking a Russian accent very badly. But Neil is lovable in his role, despite having the worst Russian accent ever. Tim Curry joins along for the ride on the misfortuned sub as well, and Alec Baldwin gives his best performance as Jack Ryan.

As much as I don't like to admit it, Harrison Ford isn't the ideal Jack Ryan for me. He differs too much from the character in the novel. Neither Ben Affleck nor Alec Baldwin take the cake, either. But if you look past the book persona, you will enjoy the performances in all the films much more.

I don't tend to like military thrillers most of the time. Most likely because they are put together sloppily on the whole. But "The Hunt for Red October" isn't sloppy, careless, nor boring. It's thrilling, exciting, and entertaining.

But the book is better.

4/5 stars -

John Ulmer