The Hunt for Red October (film)
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The Hunt for Red October was a 1990 film based on the best-selling novel of the same name. It starred Sean Connery as Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan, and featured James Earl Jones, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, Richard Jordan, Joss Ackland, Peter Firth, Jeffrey Jones, Fred Dalton Thompson, Courtney B. Vance, Tim Curry, and Stellan Skarsgård.
Critical reaction
The film received mostly positive critical reviews when released and was one of the top grossing movies of the year. Rotten Tomatoes [link] gives the film a 95-percent positive rating. Nicholas Schager, for a 2003 Slant Magazine review, notes, "The Hunt for Red October is a thrilling edge-of-your-seat trifle that has admirably withstood the test of time." [link]The success of the film likely played a part in the development of several later submarine-oriented movies such as Crimson Tide, U-571, and . Also, the popularity of the renowned Sean Connery and young, handsome Alec Baldwin played a major role in the advertisement of this thriller.
Featured cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Sean Connery | Capt. Marko Alexandrovich Ramius |
| Alec Baldwin | Dr. (Sir) John Patrick "Jack" Ryan |
| Scott Glenn | Cmdr. Bartolomeo Vito "Bart" Mancuso |
| Sam Neill | Capt. 2nd Rank Vasily Borodin |
| James Earl Jones | V-Adm. James Greer |
| Joss Ackland | Ambassador Andrei Lysenko |
| Richard Jordan | Dr. Jeffrey Pelt |
| Peter Firth | Political Officer Ivan Yurevich Putin - Red October |
| Tim Curry | Dr. Yevgeniy Konstantinovich Petrov - Red October |
| Courtney B. Vance | Sonar Technician 2nd Class Ronald "Jonsey" Jones - USS Dallas |
| Stellan Skarsgård | Capt. Viktor Alexeyevich Tupolev - V.K. Konovalov |
| Jeffrey Jones | Oliver Wendell "Skip" Tyler |
| Timothy Carhart | Lt. Bill Steiner |
| Anthony Peck | Exec/Lt.Cmdr. "Tommy" Thompson - USS Dallas |
| Larry Ferguson | Chief of the Boat, Watson - USS Dallas |
| Fred Dalton Thompson | R-Adm. Joshua Painter - USS Enterprise |
| Daniel Davis | Capt. Charlie Davenport - USS Enterprise |
| Sven-Ole Thorsen | Russian Chief of the Boat - Red October |
Trivia
- Many of the actors playing American sailors took a cruise on a real submarine to get a feel for their roles. Scott Glenn, who played the commander of the USS Dallas, trained for his role by temporarily assuming the identity of a submarine captain (the sub's crew all took 'orders' from Glenn, who was being prompted by the actual commanding officer). (Glenn does have military experience in real life, as a U.S. Marine.)
- Klaus Maria Brandauer was originally cast as Marko Ramius. Coincidentally, Brandauer played opposite Sean Connery in the James Bond film Never Say Never Again. The two were again cast together in the 1990 film adaptation of John LeCarre's Cold War drama, The Russia House.
- Videotapes of the movie were specially made; the parts of the videocassette that are normally black were molded in red plastic. This was apparently an anti-pirating measure.
- The climax of the book and the movie present one significant difference. In the book, the Red October rams the broadside of the pursuing Soviet submarine, damaging its prow but destroying the enemy; in the film, the Red October (with the assistance of the USS Dallas) draws a torpedo fired by the enemy submarine to hit that enemy vessel, and escapes undamaged.
- The altered opening credits sequence for the episode "In a Mirror, Darkly" shows a scene from The Hunt for Red October of a submarine firing a torpedo.
- In The Simpsons' episode 3F19 "When You Dish Upon A Star", Comic Book Guy shouts to Alec Baldwin, referring to the film: "Alec! Alec! Regarding that so-called "silent propulsion system" in The Hunt For Red October. I printed out a list of technical errors which I think you'd enjoy discussing!"
| Jack Ryan films |
| Alec Baldwin: The Hunt for Red October |
| Harrison Ford: Patriot Games | Clear and Present Danger |
| Ben Affleck: The Sum of All Fears |
External links
- [Fan site]
Other Navy-related films of interest
- (2002)
- U-571 (2000)
- [Silent Service] (1995) ([imdb entry])
- Crimson Tide (1995)
- The Fifth Missile (1986)
- Das Boot (1981)
- The Bedford Incident (1965)
- Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
- The Caine Mutiny (1954)
- The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
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