The Hunt for Red October

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?

Release Year: 1990

Rating: 7.6/10 (72,828 voted)

Critic's Score: 58/100

Director:
John McTiernan

Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn

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.

Writers: Tom Clancy, Larry Ferguson

Cast:

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

Taglines:
The hunt is on.

Release Date: 2 March 1990

Filming Locations: California, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $30,000,000

(estimated)

Opening Weekend: $17,161,835
(USA)
(4 March 1990)
(1225 Screens)

Gross: $199,200,000
(Worldwide)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

134 min

Did You Know?

Trivia:

When the movie was first released on VHS in 1991, the tapes were red.

Goofs:

Factual errors:
When the submarine is leaving the harbor Ramius is shown wearing parade uniform. While being very good-looking it is also inconvenient inside a sub and cold. On a mission, Soviet and Russian submariners wore a different kind of uniform consisting of a thick black jacket and a hat.

Quotes:

Seaman Jones:
COB, we don't have time for sea stories. I was just teaching Seaman Beaumont, here, the intracacies of modern sonar, now…

Watson:
[chuckling]
Yea, and I ain't Chief Of the Boat, I'm actually Sheena, queen of the jungle!

User Review

A thinking man's James Bond – One of the best films I've ever seen.

Rating: 10/10

It's almost 10 years now but I am still awed by the caliber of the film.
McTiernan has made a moderately good book by Clancy into an outstanding
political thriller.

The complexity of the film is particularly challenging. Clancy plots are
notorious for beginning with several different threads that interweave
somewhere in the book. Screenwriter Larry Ferguson takes apart those
threads and models a film based on dual protagonists, Connery and Baldwin.
The myriad of supporting actors (including current TN Sen. Fred Thompson)
that appear on screen subsequently all have distinct but nonetheless crucial
roles to the plot.

Baldwin, in what is and will probably be his career best role ever, shines
as the intelligent and patriotic Jack Ryan, a thinking man's hero. Connery
lends incredible presence, as usual, to his interpretation of
Ramius.

A pure masterpiece.