FAQ for
The Hunt for Red October (1990) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Hunt for Red October can be found here.

Yes. The Hunt for Red October is a 1984 novel by American author Tom Clancy. It was inspired by two real events: (1) the deviation of a Soviet Navy submarine to Gotland in 1961 by Captain Jonas Plekys, and (2) a 1975 mutiny aboard the Soviet frigate Storozhevoy, which was an attempt to defect to Gotland by Captain Valery Sablin. Clancy's novel was adapted for the movie by screenwriters Larry Ferguson and Donald Stewart.

Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) wanted to defect because of the circumstances surrounding his wife's death one year ago. What happened to his wife is not shown in the movie but talked about in depth in the book. She was killed because the corruption of the Soviet system allowed a drunk doctor (the son of a Politburo member) to operate on her with poor quality drugs and, as a result, she died from a simple operation. This showed Ramius the corruption of the Soviet system, and he decided that he wanted out.

The American bigwigs knew that Ramius sent a letter to his father-in-law, Admiral Yuri Illyich Padorin, after which the majority of the Soviet naval force was ordered to hunt down the Red October and destroy it. Their first assumption was that Ramius was a rogue, intending to attack the U.S. under his own volition. Then Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) remembered that it was the first anniversary of Ramius' wife's death. It dawned on Ryan that another explanation for Ramius taking a course for the American coast and for the Soviet fleet to issue orders to destroy the sub was because the letter Ramius sent to Padorin contained his intention to defect.

That guy was Ramius' political officer and the only one that Ramius had not personally handpicked for an officer. Since the political officer knew what the original orders were and would have recognized as fake the orders that Ramius subsequently substituted, Ramius had to dispense with him.

Yuri Gagarin [1934-1968] was a Soviet cosmonaut and the first human in space. Ramius refers to him when he mentions "the days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin" in his address to the crew. On 12 April, 1961, Gagarin was launched into space aboard the Vostok 1. After about 1 hour 48 minutes, he returned to earth, landing safely in Siberia. Twenty-three (23) days later, on 5 May, 1961, Alan Shepard [1923-1998] would become the first American in space.

The book explains this a bit better than the movie. Loginov (Tomas Arana), the saboteur/cook, was GRU (Glavnoje Razvedyvatel'noje Upravlenije), which is Russian Military Intelligence. He was secretly assigned to the Red October on her maiden voyage and remained under cover as a cook's assistant.

The novel reveals that before leaving Murmansk, Loginov was briefed by his military intelligence superiors on the details of the Red October's official orders (that it was to rendezvous with the Konovolov). Thus, when Ramius announced over the ship's P.A. system that their orders were to sail to New York to conduct missile drills, there was a shot of Loginov in the galley with a perplexed look on his face. This was a subtle foreshadow that Loginov knows that the real orders were not being followed. That announcement, coupled with the "accidental" death of the political officer and then witnessing Ramius removing and keeping the second missile key, compelled Loginov to sabotage the caterpillar drive.

He only did one -- the initial sabotage of the caterpillar drive. All the other ones with the reactor plant and caterpillars were done by the Chief Engineer under Captain Ramius' orders. These were done in a controlled way to cause fear and panic among the non-defecting crew. It was part of their cover story. The only other sabotage the Loginov tried was at the end when he tried to set off a "Range Safety Package" (RSP) on one of the missiles. An RSP is normally onboard a test missile so if something goes wrong and the missile heads off course, they can self destruct the missile. On operational missiles, the RSP is normally removed to prevent the intentional destruction by the enemy in-flight to targets. It is explained in the book that an RSP was left installed on one missile for the purpose of being a self destruct device for the whole sub in case of just such an emergency requiring destruction of the sub. Loginov, being a GRU agent, was taught how to do this. Fortunately, Jack Ryan shoots him before he is able to touch the wires together and blow up the Red October.

Ryan was sending a message from the Dallas by way of Morse code with flashing lights on the periscope. Ramius saw the message from the Red October. Ryan requested that Ramius acknowledge the message with a single ping, so Ramius ordered the sonar ping in order to verify the range to the other submarine (which was just an excuse he gave). The crew on the Red October did not know that Ramius was responding to a message sent from the Dallas.

The exchange of cigarettes between military men in the field is often seen in films as a sign of good will.