The Hunt for Red October (1990)

[Adam Lenhardt]

Title: The Hunt for Red October

Tagline: Invisible. Silent. Stolen.

Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Director: John McTiernan

Cast: Alec Baldwin, Sean Connery, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Joss Ackland, Richard Jordan, Stellan Skarsgård, Courtney B. Vance, Peter Firth, Tim Curry, Jeffrey Jones, Timothy Carhart, Larry Ferguson, Fred Dalton Thompson, Daniel Davis, Ned Vaughn, Anthony Peck, Ronald Guttman, Tomas Arana, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Rick Ducommun, Mark Draxton, Tom Fisher, Pete Antico, Anatoli Davydov, Ivan G'Vera, Boris Lee Krutonog, Kenton Kovell, Gates McFadden, Andrew Divoff, Philip Ettington

Release: 1990-03-02

Runtime: 134

Plot: A new, technologically-superior Soviet sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast under the command of Captain Marko Ramius. The American government thinks Ramius is planning to attack. A lone CIA analyst has a different idea: he thinks Ramius is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find him and prove it — because the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find him, too.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I picked up the first three Jack Ryan movies in 4K via a Vudu mix-and-match sale earlier in the week. I watched The Hunt for Red October tonight.

It holds up really well. Aside from some dodgy compositing in a handful of the visual effects shots, I believed what I was looking at.

The two performances that stand out to me with this film are Scott Glenn as Captain Mancuso, and Courtney B. Vance as the experienced sonar technician Jonesy. It's easy to stand out when you're playing Jack Ryan, and it's easy to stand out when you're playing Captain Ramius. But for those two roles, it's the performances that made them stand out.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Yeah, the FX work at the end of the film with Ryan and Ramius always calls attention to itself. Submarine films always rely upon sound and I though the sound work on Hunt was quite good; particularly the sequence in which the Red October is targeted by Soviet torpedoes. Really an effective scene with its use of time and editing to generate tension.

It is a great film; McTiernan's career trajectory always makes me shake my head and ask "WTF happened?"

I read the novel in the mid to late 80s and thought the movie did a fine job of conveying the story and was pretty faithful to the novel, as I recall anyway. I agree with your assessment of Glenn and Vance, but I would also mention Sam Neill as Captain Borodin - whom I thought was quite effective as Ramius' friend and confidant. His character was used via exposition to reveal Ramius' plans and thought processes to the audience, but nevertheless I found him to be a warm and sympathetic character and another in a line of fine performances from Sam Neill.

- Walter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

It is a great film; McTiernan's career trajectory always makes me shake my head and ask "WTF happened?"

To answer your rhetorical question: He hired a P.I. to illegally wiretap one of his producers, and then lied to the FBI about it.

 

[Worth]

To answer your rhetorical question: He hired a P.I. to illegally wiretap one of his producers, and then lied to the FBI about it.

Yes, but the more honest answer is that he had a string of flops prior to that. If his legal problems had happened earlier, after he was coming off Predator, Die Hard and Hunt for Red October, I'd bet Hollywood would have been a lot more forgiving.

At any rate, it looks like he's trying to get a new project going:

https://www.screendaily.com/news/um...es-title-tau-ceti-4-exclusive/5139104.article

 

[Tino]

I remember the RED billboards on the BQE in NYC in early 1990

“3/2/90. The Hunt Is On”

 

[Walter Kittel]

Since we are reminiscing here, one of the first things that stood out in the film for me was the clamshell laptop with (I believe) a back-lit display. Pretty snazzy for 1990.

Googled a little bit, and it might have been a Zenith Supersport SX. Better than anything I had at the time.

- Walter.

 

[DavidJ]

I'd like to watch this again soon. I thought they did a good job adapting the book too and I like Connery in the role but I didn't necessarily buy him in it. And yes, the greenscreen work at the end isn't very good even for the time period.

 

[Tommy R]

Was there more footage shot of Beverly Crusher as Jack Ryan’s wife? Always thought it funny that she was barely in it.

 

[RobertR]

The best movie adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Was there more footage shot of Beverly Crusher as Jack Ryan’s wife? Always thought it funny that she was barely in it.

I think she accepted the part with the expectation that she'd have a bigger role to play in future movies. But then Alec Baldwin opted to do A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway rather than Patriot Games. Once they recast Jack Ryan, they were free to recast his wife as well. For some reason, her name was Caroline in this, rather than Cathy like the novels and all subsequent portrayals.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Man, did Baldwin mess up!

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The best movie adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel.

I agree. I loved Clancy's earlier novels (before he became a product instead of an author), and this film captures the book very well. It also has some great performances - - I can even get past a Soviet submarine commander with a Scottish accent.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Tom Clancy's Without Remorse is currently filming with Michael B. Jordan in the role of Mr. Clark. Where will it rank in the films adapted from Clancy's novels? I guess we'll find out next year.

I really enjoyed Without Remorse. It was a pretty gritty novel that felt like a change of pace for Tom Clancy. I'm fine with Jordan in the lead role, but I do wonder how closely the film will stick to the source material based on a few blurbs I've read on the web.

- Walter.

 

[Sam Favate]

If I recall, this movie had the largest opening weekend ever (at the time) for March, and proved you could have a blockbuster outside of summer and the holidays.

 

[Tino]

If I recall, this movie had the largest opening weekend ever (at the time) for March, and proved you could have a blockbuster outside of summer and the holidays.

$17,161,835 (Domestic) in 1990

Approx $35,000,000 in 2019

 

[Tino]

I think she accepted the part with the expectation that she'd have a bigger role to play in future movies. But then Alec Baldwin opted to do A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway rather than Patriot Games. Once they recast Jack Ryan, they were free to recast his wife as well. For some reason, her name was Caroline in this, rather than Cathy like the novels and all subsequent portrayals.Most of

Gates McFadden filmed her role during the year she had been dismissed from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Afterward, she rejoined the show and had to be replaced by Anne Archer in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994).
Most of Gates McFadden's role as Cathy Ryan was deleted from the final print.
IMDb

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Gates McFadden filmed her role during the year she had been dismissed from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Afterward, she rejoined the show and had to be replaced by Anne Archer in Patriot Games (1992) and Clear and Present Danger (1994).
Most of Gates McFadden's role as Cathy Ryan was deleted from the final print.
IMDb

That explains it! Thank you.