The Hunt for Red October (1990)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers (WGA):

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

Release Date:

2 March 1990 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

Invisible. Silent. Stolen.

Plot:

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?

Plot Keywords:

Soviet | CIA | Submarine | Navy | Jack Ryan

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 12	2:30 PM	TNT
Mon. July 13	12:00 AM	TNT

Cast

Sean Connery	...	Captain Marko Ramius
Alec Baldwin	...	Jack Ryan
Scott Glenn	...	Commander Bart Mancuso
Sam Neill	...	Captain 2nd Rank Vasily Borodin
James Earl Jones	...	Admiral James Greer
Joss Ackland	...	Ambassador Andrei Lysenko
Richard Jordan	...	Dr. Jeffrey Pelt
Peter Firth	...	Political Officer Ivan Yurevich Putin - Red October
Tim Curry	...	Dr. Petrov
Courtney B. Vance	...	Sonarman 2nd Class Ronald Jones
Stellan Skarsgård	...	Captain Tupolev
Jeffrey Jones	...	Oliver Wendell 'Skip' Tyler
Timothy Carhart	...	Bill Steiner
Larry Ferguson	...	Chief of the Boat Watson - USS Dallas
Fred Dalton Thompson	...	Rear Admiral Joshua Painter - USS Enterprise

Runtime:

134 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Russian

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

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

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:12 | Australia:PG | Netherlands:6 | South Korea:12 | Brazil:12 | New Zealand:PG | West Germany:12 (f) | Germany:12 | Argentina:13 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-12 | Ireland:12 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The body count of this movie is debatable because of the sinking of the V. K. Konovalov - the Alpha class submarine was intended to be operated by a crew of only 16-18 officers but in actual deployment would mostly have some 23-24 officers, as well as 4 petty officers and a cook on board. Apart from the crewmen of the Konovalov, the count is five: - Victor Putin, the political officer, the pilot and navigator of the F-14 crashing onto the Enterprise, Red October XO Vasilij Borodin, and cooks assistant/saboteur Loginov.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The scene establishing the Russian Alfa sub names its commander "Captain Tupolov" in the on-screen text. The DVD closed captions and the credits both spell his name "Tupolev".

Quotes:

[the Konovalov's own torpedo is about to strike the Konovalov]
Andrei Bonovia: You arrogant ass. You've killed *us*!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Soundtrack:

Payoff

A submarine classic

'Red October' did for modern submarine warfare what 'Das Boot' did for WWII. It took a concept that is inconceivable to most people (living in a boat underwater with people trying to blow you up) and brought it up close and personal. The resulting suspense and excitement for this type of film is always extremely entertaining and this film delivers nicely.

Tom Clancy's thrilling novel converts well to the big screen. Clancy is a master of making improbable tales of international intrigue seem plausible. This story of a Soviet sub commander who is trying to defect to the U.S. adds a unique twist to the suspense normally associated with submarine films.

John McTiernan, who is building an enormous reputation in the action/adventure genre did a fabulous job as director. This film focused less on the submarine and its crew than its cousin 'Das Boot', and more on the international intrigue angle. McTiernan is very effective in keeping up the pace and giving the viewer riveting suspense as smart torpedos chase subs through the murky deep.

As always, Sean Connery was powerful as the defecting captain, determined not to allow this first strike weapon to start a nuclear holocaust. Connery gave his character both a conscience and a ruthless commitment, stopping at nothing to reach his goal.

Alec Baldwin turns in one of his better performances as Jack Ryan. Unlike Harrison Ford who made Ryan into an action hero in other Tom Clancy adaptations, Baldwin seemed better cast as the CIA nerd who was thrust into a field situation without any real experience. In this way, I felt he was a better representation of the character as Clancy originally wrote him.

This is a highly entertaining and engrossing film that will keep most action and suspense viewers on the edge of their seats. I rated it a 9/10.