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 | Germany:12 | West Germany:12 (f) | 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 name of the frigate that rescues the Red October's crew, the Reuben James, is from another of Tom Clancy's novels, ‘Red Storm Rising’.

Goofs:

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

Quotes:

Captain Ramius: Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary - The American Navy. For forty years, your fathers before you and your older brothers played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service: Chimera (#5.6)" (2007)

Soundtrack:

Payoff

Cold War hokum, but hey, it's Hollywood...

It's been argued that "any viewer knowing anything about navies, the Cold War or the Russian language" will be disappointed by this movie. Well, that's rather like saying that anyone who knows anything about the fine-details of cartoon animation or the biology of rodents will be disappointed by 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit'.'Red October', an emaciated version of a chunky Clancy novel, is a tight, sweaty thriller supported by a sterling cast;I mean, with the exception of maybe 'Beetlejuice' where else can you watch Alec Baldwin without wanting to slap his fat mug? McTiernan cuts all the flab from the base novel to present a lean little movie, and who in their right mind can possibly reprimand Connery for his accent? The man's played a British spy, an Irish cop, an Eygptian immortal and a Russian submarine captain all with the same brogue- who cares? He still portrays the role with all the nobility and world-weariness the part deserves.