The Hunt for Red October (1990)

Absolutely Fantastic

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

"The Hunt for Red October" is a superb thriller that's just in time for the end of the Cold War and the USSR. When Tom Clancy wrote his first novel, "The Hunt for Red October," in 1984, no one could foresee the collapse of the Soviet Union. Certainly not within just seven years. But, when this movie by the same title and based on Clancy's best-seller was made in March 1990, the demise of the USSR had just begun. Talk about fortunate and opportunistic timing. Had the movie been delayed another year or two, it would have been after the collapse and likely would not have drawn as much interest. But one could not find a period of more attention and higher interest for a film such as this than during the first months that the Iron Curtain began to crumble. The Berlin Wall collapsed in November of 1989. Soviet bloc countries began to seek their independence. Within three months of this film's release (May 1990), the first free election of the Soviet Federative Socialist Republic took place. By Dec. 25, 1991, all the former member states of the USSR had gained independence. And, on that day, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as leader of the USSR, thus ending its existence. The recently elected Boris Yeltsin was now the sole leader of the new republic of Russia. It's worth recounting these events from history for considering the significance of this movie. Because a few decades down the road, when there will be little memory left of the Soviet Union, there should always be a reminder of what it was. And beyond that time, when only the history books will have accounts of the USSR, this movie will remain as a testament of the time and the world threat of global warfare that existed because of the USSR. Perhaps it may have a future role in helping to divert major warfare between nations. This is a superb film, based on a superb book. It's a tremendous military thriller of the Cold War period. The craft put into the movie is outstanding -- from a first-rate cast to sets, props, submarine design and reconstructions of the Neptune class Soviet sub, photography, direction, etc. Here are a couple of favorite lines from the film. For more dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Marko Ramius, "A little revolution now and then is a healthy thing, don't you think?"Jeffrey Pelt, "Listen, I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops. But it also means that I keep my options open."

The first Tom Clancy novel to reach the screen was this tightly constructed, marvellously suspenseful exercise in pure nail-biting tension. At this point, its director, John McTiernan, was having a career high, moving from one kick ass movie to another (his previous efforts, of course, being "Predator" and "Die Hard"). McTiernan clearly had a great knowledge of how to keep movie watchers on the edges of their seats. It helps keep the material fascinating and exciting even with a seemingly bloated run time of two and a quarter hours. And thanks to the performances of a top cast that play their roles with conviction, "The Hunt for Red October" always maintains its grip on you. The story does have the potential to be confusing, but McTiernan and company keep it right on track throughout.A veteran Soviet sub commander, Marko Ramius (ever-commanding Sean Connery), is taking a cutting edge, gigantic machine on its maiden voyage. The Red October has an innovative propulsion system that can make it impervious to sonar, so this could be big, big trouble. The problem is, does this renegade officer actually have intentions to start a war with the U.S.? C.I.A. analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin, the first actor to play the role on screen) seems to think otherwise. He's actually met Ramius, and claims that he came to understand him very well. He believes that it's very likely that Ramius and his fellow officers actually plan to defect.Many familiar faces play roles big and small - among them, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Joss Ackland, Jeffrey Jones, Fred Dalton Thompson, Courtney B. Vance, Richard Jordan, Peter Firth, Tim Curry, Stellan Skarsgard, Timothy Carhart, Ronald Guttman, and Tomas Arana (with 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' actress Gates McFadden in a cameo as Ryans' wife). They all lend a great deal of gravitas to the proceedings.But a great part of the effectiveness lies in various technical achievements (aside from some dodgy effects work) and the ability of McTiernan to keep people on their toes. The action is first rate, and the crew impressively handles the challenges of working in confined locations on these submarines. Expert cinematographer and production designer Jan de Bont and Terence Marsh help to make the picture look impressive at all times. And Basil Poledouris' score adds to the tension without ever becoming TOO intrusive.This represents a real high water mark for submarine pictures, not that there weren't already some very good ones in the past (ex. "Run Silent, Run Deep", "The Enemy Below"), and so far has been followed by these Jack Ryan thrillers: "Patriot Games", "Clear and Present Danger" (both with Harrison Ford as Ryan), "The Sum of All Fears" (with Ben Affleck), "Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit" (with Chris Pine), and an upcoming television series (with John Krasinski).Nine out of 10.

The Hunt for Red October (1990) This is a classic espionage thriller. It stars Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, James Earl Jones, and Sam Neill. The film is based on Tom Clancy's 1984 bestselling novel of the same name. The film grossed $200,512,643 worldwide. It was well received by critics and audiences gave the film an average grade of A. The Hunt for Red October was nominated and won several awards in 1991. The film was also nominated for AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills. The Jack Ryan character was the first real attempt at an American equivalent to a James Bond. Later the advent of the Jason Bourne movies took on that function. Unlike Bourne or some versions of Bond, Ryan is more of a fish out of water. He is an analyst thrust into the action. The difference from the others is his mind is his weapon in this film. This is a solid psychological thriller, that hold up considerably, despite our knowledge of the subsequent films.

Overall entertaining and interesting!But as someone who knows a bit of Russian, it is immediately clear that Connery didn't spend even an hour studying the language for this movie and is just repeating what he was told to say. It's a shame, if he had even tried with pronunciation, the movie would have been that much better. Because now his Russian sounded more like grunts and gibberish than communication