hunt for red october movie review

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The movies have one sure way of involving us that never fails.

They give us a character who is right when everybody else is wrong and then invite us to share his frustration as he tries to talk some sense into the blockheads. In "The Hunt for Red October," that character is Jack Ryan, the intelligence man who believes he knows the real reason why a renegade Soviet skipper is trying to run away with a submarine.

The skipper's name is Ramius, and he is the most respected man in the Soviet underwater navy. He has trained most of the other captains in the fleet, and now he has been given the controls of an advanced new submarine named Red October - a sub that uses a revolutionary new drive that is faster than any other ship beneath the waves and almost completely silent. American intelligence tracks the Red October as it leaves its Soviet shipyard, but then the sub seems to disappear. Soon after, the entire Soviet navy mobilizes itself into a vast cat-and-mouse game in the North Atlantic.

The Soviets would like their American counterparts to believe that Ramius is a madman who wants to hide his sub off the American coast and aim its nuclear missiles at New York or Washington. They ask the U.S. Navy to help them track and destroy the Red October. But Ryan ( Alec Baldwin ) believes that would be a tragic mistake. He tells his superior, an admiral played by James Earl Jones , that Ramius is actually trying to defect and to bring his submarine along with him.

That is the setup for John McTiernan's film, as it was for Tom Clancy's best-selling novel, and in both cases it is also the starting point for a labyrinthine plot in which, half of the time, we have to guess at the hidden reasons for Ramius' actions. It is a tribute to the movie, which has much less time than Clancy did at book length, that it allows the plot its full complexity and yet is never less than clear to the audience.

Many military thrillers, especially those set in the Cold War period, rely on stereotyping and large, crude motivations to move their stories along. "The Hunt for Red October" has more fun by suggesting how easily men can go wrong, how false assumptions can seem seductive and how enormous consequences can sometimes hang by slender threads.

Ryan's knowledge of Ramius' personality, for example, upon which so much depends, is based almost entirely on one occasion when they dined at the same table. Everything else is simply a series of skilled hunches.

McTiernan, whose previous films were " Predator " and " Die Hard ," showed a sense of style and timing in those movies, but what he adds in "The Hunt for Red October" is something of the same detached intelligence that Clancy brought to the novel. Somehow we feel this is more than a thriller, it's an exercise in military and diplomatic strategy in which the players are all smart enough that we can't take their actions for granted.

"The Hunt for Red October" has more than a dozen important speaking roles, in addition to many more cast members who are crucial for a scene or two. Any film with a cast this large must depend to some extent on typecasting. We couldn't keep the characters straight any other way. What McTiernan does is to typecast without stereotyping.

Sean Connery makes a convincing Ramius, and yet, with his barely concealed Scots accent, he is far from being a typical movie Soviet.

Baldwin, as the dogged intelligence officer, has the looks of a leading man, but he dials down his personality. He presents himself as a deck-bound bureaucrat who can't believe he has actually gotten himself into this field exercise. And Scott Glenn , as the commander of a U.S.

submarine that finds itself within yards of the silent Red October, is leaner, younger, and has more edge than most of the standard movie skipper types.

The production design lends a lot to the movie's credibility.

I'm told that the interiors of submarines in this movie look a good deal more high-tech and glossy than they do in real life - that there would be more grease around on a real sub - and yet, for the movie screen, these subs look properly impressive, with their awesome displays of electronic gadgetry. The movie does not do as good a job of communicating the daily and hourly reality of submarine life as " Das Boot " did, but perhaps that's because we are never trapped and claustrophobic inside a sub for the whole movie. There are cutaways to the White House and CIA headquarters in Langley, to the Kremlin and to the decks of ships at sea.

If there's one area where the movie is truly less than impres sive, it's the underwater exterior shots. Using models of submarines, the filmmakers have attempted to give an impression of these behemoths maneuvering under the sea. But the outside of a submarine is not intrinsically photogenic, and what these shots most look like are large, gray, bloated whales seen through dishwater.

And yet that lapse doesn't much matter. "The Hunt for Red October" is a skillful, efficient film that involves us in the clever and deceptive game being played by Ramius and in the best efforts of those on both sides to figure out what he plans to do with his submarine - and how he plans to do it. The movie is constructed so we can figure that out along with everybody else, and that leaves a lot of surprises for the conclusion, which is quite satisfactorily suspenseful. There was only one question that bothered me throughout the movie. As one whose basic ideas about submarines come from Cmdr.

Edward Beach's classic "Run Silent, Run Deep," in which the onboard oxygen supply was a source of constant concern, I kept asking myself if those Russian sailors should be smoking so much, down there in the depths of the ocean.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Hunt for Red October (1990)

134 minutes

Sean Connery as Marko Ramius

Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan

Scott Glenn as Bart Mancuso

Sam Neill as Vasily Borodin

James Earl Jones as James Greer

Joss Ackland as Andrei Lysenko

Richard Jordan as Jeffrey Pelt

Directed by

• John McTiernan

Produced by

• MacE Neufeld

Screenplay by

• Larry Ferguson
• Donald Stewart

Photographed by

• Jan de Bont
• Dennis Virkler
• John Wright
• Basil Poledouris

Based On The Novel by

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The hunt for red october, common sense media reviewers.

Book-based Cold War submarine drama is tense and thrilling.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Studying and knowing your subject well helps you m

Jack Ryan is an academic achiever who knows his su

A man smashes another's head into a table, breakin

A minor character mentions whales humping. A line

"Hell," "ass," "butt," "goddamn," "Jesus," "s--t,"

Many secondary and minor characters smoke frequent

Parents need to know that The Hunt for Red October is a tense submarine drama based on a Tom Clancy novel. There are a couple of gunfights; blood is seen two or three times, although it's not gory; and one character murders by breaking another's neck. Profanity is infrequent but varied, with "hell" half a…

Positive Messages

Studying and knowing your subject well helps you make the right decisions. When the stakes are high, the rewards are great, so you have to be willing to take chances.

Positive Role Models

Jack Ryan is an academic achiever who knows his subject well and is able to put his knowledge into action to good effect. He's also clever and brave. Marko Ramius is willing to risk everything and ruthlessly goes after his goals. He's also very clever but fearless. The many supporting characters all try to fulfill their duties and make the right decisions.

Violence & Scariness

A man smashes another's head into a table, breaking his neck and killing him. Two gunfights; blood from gunshot wounds two or three times. A death scene is quiet and not gory. A plane crashes into an aircraft carrier in a fiery explosion.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

A minor character mentions whales humping. A line references the Playmate of the Month.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

"Hell," "ass," "butt," "goddamn," "Jesus," "s--t," and "son of a bitch." "Take a dump" twice.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Many secondary and minor characters smoke frequently. Ryan accepts a cigarette as a goodwill gesture and, after a puff, looks ill and coughs. Adults are occasionally seen with drinks that aren't identified but look like alcohol.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Hunt for Red October is a tense submarine drama based on a Tom Clancy novel. There are a couple of gunfights; blood is seen two or three times, although it's not gory; and one character murders by breaking another's neck. Profanity is infrequent but varied, with "hell" half a dozen times and stronger words such as "s--t" and "ass" once each. A minor character mentions whales humping. A line references the Playmate of the Month. It's a good starting point for talking about the Cold War since the story arises entirely from tense Soviet/American relations, with each regarding the other as the enemy. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Community Reviews

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• Kids say (11)

Based on 2 parent reviews

Fantastic movie

The hunt for red october, what's the story.

A previously unknown Russian nuclear sub called the Red October is detected on-course for the East Coast of the United States. While the U.S. submarine fleet tries to locate the sub, CIA analyst Jack Ryan ( Alec Baldwin ) is convinced that its commander, Marko Ramius ( Sean Connery ), is trying to defect to the West. But if Ryan is wrong and the U.S. fleet can't find and stop the sub, the Soviet Union would have first-strike capability just off America's shores. Ryan suddenly finds himself in the middle of a deadly game of chess between two superpowers on the brink of nuclear war.

Is It Any Good?

THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER keeps tension and suspense front and center. The plot builds nicely, keeping you guessing as it moves quickly along. The tight writing and strong acting make much of essentially watching a chess game in which players try to guess the others' next moves. Every ounce of Sean Connery's charisma is on display, and a young Alec Baldwin is fun to watch as a nerdy government analyst who's a bit out of his depth. Both are strongly supported by the likes of Sam Neill, Stellan Skarsgård, James Earl Jones, Tim Curry, and more.

Although the content is fine for most tweens, it's more likely to be enjoyed by teens who can appreciate tension as a dramatic device. Navy and submarine buffs also will enjoy the depictions of strategizing, navigating, and sonar operations in the cramped confines of both Russian and American subs. It's fun to see what cutting-edge technology was like 30 years ago, and it's also a bit of a history lesson about the tensions of the Cold War, reminding us of how much U.S./Soviet tension was a huge backdrop to life then.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the Cold War. What was it about? How did it begin and end?

Have you seen any other movies, played any games, or read any books with Jack Ryan as a character? How does this one compare? Which is your favorite?

Movies set in submarines usually have a lot of tension. Why is that? What do you think life on a submarine is really like?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 2, 1990
• On DVD or streaming : December 1, 1998
• Cast : Sean Connery , Alec Baldwin , James Earl Jones
• Director : John McTiernan
• Inclusion Information : Black actors, Indigenous actors
• Studios : Paramount Pictures , Mace Neufeld Productions , Nina Saxon Film Design
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : History
• Run time : 134 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• Award : Academy Award
• Last updated : August 9, 2024

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The Hunt for Red October Reviews

...a consistently watchable yet erratically-paced drama...

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 22, 2023

It's a tad obsolete, but that does not impede it from being tremendously dynamic and entertaining. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Nov 12, 2022

As an espionage thriller, I must say, it has a tension that runs against the clock like a torpedo under the sea as it outlines its plot of diplomacy and naval strategy in the twilight of the Cold War. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Aug 25, 2022

If you liked the Cold War, you'll love The Hunt for Red October.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Aug 18, 2021

...The Hunt for Red October still makes sense in a Boys' Own way even if the hopeful world described has long vanished...

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | May 2, 2021

With enough of a corkscrew plot to keep anyone guessing and with plenty of edge-of-your-seat suspense, this high-stakes espionage thriller never misses a beat.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Sep 14, 2020

With a chilly majesty to its scale despite its confined locations, this is a supremely confident film with the courage of its convictions as the story slowly and steadily unfolds. 30 years on it still packs a powerful punch, the tension ratcheting.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 10, 2018

It's to McTiernan's credit that so much of this is made intense. Every silence on board the Russian sub, whether they're squeaking through a narrow underwater canyon or sending out a single sonar ping, seems occasion to hold your breath.

Full Review | Oct 18, 2018

Coupled with Connery's magnetic performance, that's enough to make The Hunt for Red October as watchable today as it was during its 1990 release.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 8, 2018

the kind of action thriller that is rarely made today-one that emphasizes intellect and logic, intuition and political maneuvering over might and brawn

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 17, 2018

Clancy is known for writing difficult books, but the movie makes plausible a preposterous situation because of Baldwin's convincing, low-key approach to being a film hero.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Feb 11, 2015

You may not be limp from accumulated tension when this hunt is over, but its cautiously upbeat global message leaves a satisfying glow and it operates with a crackerjack premise.

Full Review | Feb 11, 2015

The Hunt for Red October is a happy cinematic event, the first motion picture that allows us to experience the sweaty-palm thrills of the Cold War without worrying that the world will blow up this year.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 11, 2015

An exciting techno-suspense thriller with a hollow center.

Though Hunt shows fitful signs of life, it lacks the human drama of Das Boot, the technical dazzle of The Abyss and the old-fashioned brio of Run Silent, Run Deep.

Based on Tom Clancy`s phenomenally successful techno-thriller novel, The Hunt for Red October proves that a film can equal, if not surpass, the intrigue and excitement of the story it is based on.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Feb 11, 2015

Like the nuclear submarine it's named after, The Hunt for Red October is big, shiny, and expensive. But it's also hard, cold, and cumbersome, just when it's trying hardest to be likable and even friendly.

Red October is an idealized, dreamy fantasy of life in the business world-harmless as airplane reading, a bit dull on the big screen.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Feb 11, 2015

This is first-rate adventure stuff, an all-missions-accomplished submarine movie.

The Hunt for Red October is overplotted and sometimes implausible, but McTiernan's clipped style and lavish budget help it through the choppier waters.

The Hunt for Red October Review

01 Jan 1990

134 minutes

Hunt for Red October, The

Now that Soviets are so hip and lovable, and Hollywood is falling embarrassingly behind international relations, this submarine thriller may be one of the last of an endangered species: the Cold War cloak-and-dagger drama. The get-out in Hunt, though, is an intro fixing the Tom Clancy tale back in 1984, so the Muscovites can still be shifty adversaries.

Raimus’ actions send them apeshit at the Kremlin, and the entire Red Navy is sent to pursue and destroy him and the Red October. Over in D.C. the defence brains can't help but notice scads of Russian subs heading their way in some haste, and deduce it would be sensible to get their own mitts on the secret sub.

So far, so-so. One mystery kept going rather well is just what the captain really is up to. He might be nuts, he might be defecting, he might be pretending to be defecting because he really is nuts, and round it goes.

Alas, there are mighty gaffes here that sink a promising idea. The first is the failure of screenwriters, director and cast to get to grips with language. Ostensibly they opted for the conventional: Yanks play Yanks and Brits play the Russkies, mainly as nitwits. But in the opening sequences Captain Sean Connery, First Officer Sam Neill and KGB clown Peter Firth manfully tackle Russian. This sets a catastrophically hilarious tone, when long, painfully delivered lines you think must be quite profound are rendered into subtitles like "It is time". "Yes, it is time". Mercifully the Russian dissolves into English (or Scottish as the case most certainly is with you-know-who) except when the crew bursts into song.

Credulity is scuttled on terra firma as well, thanks to outrageous over-exposition. Alec Baldwin's fresh-faced CIA naval intelligence analyst Jack Ryan, for example, is allegedly so attuned to Ramius' mind he's practically psychic, predicting the Cyaptyin's every underwater move. He addresses himself in the mirror while shaving "Now, what's he going to do. . . ? What would I do. . . ?" Quick cut to him bursting into the admiral's office yelling "I know what he's going to do!"

Baldwin, while quite a dish, and Connery, while we all love him, haven't a chance of recovering the first 90 minutes from such absurdity. Finally, in the last 40 minutes, it picks up some steam and we get what we came for: air-sea stunts, underwater effects, hunters closing in on the prey, a saboteur doing his stuff, lethal weapons and a few twisteroos. The trick is to still be awake to enjoy them.

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The Hunt for Red October (1990)

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The Hunt For Red October – Book and Movie Review

The Hunt For Red October , written by Tom Clancy and published in 1984, was a huge commercial and critical success. Critics often mention it as one of the best spy novels of all time. The novel was also the basis for a successful movie starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin.

The Hunt For Red October: Title

The title uses a classic title archetype, the Prize, the Soviets and Americans both want to possess the submarine Red October and its revolutionary new stealth drive.

(For more on titles, see How to Choose a Title For Your Novel )

The Hunt For Red October: Logline

When a revolutionary new soviet submarine tries to defect to the USA, the Russians chase it across the Atlantic with everything they have. A CIA analyst who suspects the submarine captain’s true motives has to come up with a plan to guide the rogue submarine to safety.

(For more on loglines, see The Killogator Logline Formula )

The Hunt For Red October: Plot Summary

Warning: My plot summaries contain spoilers The major spoilers are blacked out like this [blackout]secret[/blackout]. To view them, just select/highlight them.

It’s 1984. After the death of his wife, Marko Ramius, one of the Soviet Navy’s best submarine captains, decides to defect to the United States in a revolutionary stealth submarine,  Red October. The submarine’s officers are in on the plan but the crew are told they are carrying out a wargame where the Soviet Navy will attempt to locate them.

When the Soviet Navy’s leaders receive a letter from Ramius telling them he’s defecting, they immediately send the entire Soviet Northern Fleet to sea with orders to sink the Red October at all costs.

The sudden sortie of the Northern Fleet unnerves the US Navy, which starts making preparations for war. Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst, learns of Ramius’s letter and the sortie of the Northern Fleet. Ryan guesses Ramius is planning to defect and convinces the CIA that the revolutionary submarine is a prize worth risking a lot for. The CIA assigns him to help Ramius escape.

Escape Plan

Ryan gets in contact with Ramius and they arrange a fake reactor meltdown in the Red October forcing the enlisted crew to abandon ship. When the crew evacuate the submarine, Ramius and the other officers stay behind, claiming they are going to scuttle the Red October so  it doesn’t fall into American hands. Ryan arranges for an obsolete US submarine, to be blown up at the location to add to the deception.

Ryan boards the  Red October  and meets Ramius. They realise that there is a KGB agent on the submarine. The KGB agent wounds Ramius and tries to sink  Red October by igniting a missile inside her, but Ryan kills him before he can complete his plan.

A final [blackout]Soviet attack submarine discovers the  Red October,  realises the deception and attacks. The attack submarine damages the Red October but the Red October finally rams it and it sinks.[/blackout]

With the last [blackout]Soviet submarine sunk, the Americans escort Ramius and the  Red October to safely in the USA. The crew return to the Soviet Union reporting that the submarine sank. [/blackout]

(For more on summarising stories, see How to Write a Novel Synopsis )

The Hunt For Red October: Analysis

The Hunt For Red October has dual protagonists – Jack Ryan and Marko Ramius. This gives it a relatively unusual Hybrid plot (see spy novel plots ).

Ramius is On The Run (in particular the sub-type of the On The Run plot called a Straight Run) – trying to defect with his submarine.

The ‘Straight Run’ Plot The Protagonist: Is involved in an Inciting Incident with a group of Antagonists. Realises they are not safe from the Antagonists. Is also not safe from the authorities, as they are tricked or controlled by the Antagonists. Goes on the run, pursued by both the Antagonists and the authorities. Involves one or more Allies in their escape (Optionally, there is a romance sub-plot with one of the Allies). Narrowly avoids capture and death (or is captured and escapes) by both the Antagonists and the authorities. Persuades the authorities they should work together to stop the Antagonists. Confronts the Antagonists and stops (or fails to stop) them.

Ryan has a Mission – to try to help Ramius defect.

The ‘Mission’ Plot The Protagonist: Is given a mission to carry out by their Mentor. Will be opposed by the Antagonist as they try to complete the mission. Makes a plan to complete the Mission. Trains and gathers resources for the Mission. Involves one or more Allies in their Mission (Optionally, there is a romance sub-plot with one of the Allies). Attempts to carry out the Mission, dealing with further Allies and Enemies as they meet them. Is betrayed by an Ally or the Mentor (optionally). Narrowly avoids capture by the Antagonist (or is captured and escapes). Has a final confrontation with the Antagonist and completes (or fails to complete) the Mission.

The two protagonists come together towards the end of the novel in a last confrontation with the antagonists (the Soviets).

Like Alistair Maclean, Tom Clancy is not an author for whom character study is important. With the focus on technology and the details of warfare, Clancy makes use of a large cast of faceless naval officers doing their jobs. All the American and British characters are pretty generic ‘good guys’ who work together with little conflict. In some ways this is realistic—real military operations do include many people working together relatively smoothly.

Of the two main characters, Ramius is the one who is somewhat interesting. Ryan himself is an old-fashioned nice guy hero, with very little depth and no characterisation other than being quick-witted and straight-talking. The loss of his wife and a growing hatred of the Soviet system motivates Ramius though. He also murders the Red October’s  political officer, who is just doing his job, which shows a ruthless streak.

Technothriller

The Hunt for Red October popularised the technothriller genre. Though books like Firefox had a similar focus on sophisticated technology, Clancy presented facts in such minute detail in  The Hunt for Red October  that critics described it as “containing as much technical information about submarines and undersea warfare as a Naval Academy textbook.”

But even the author of a technothriller must use artistic licence, if only because many details are secret. Clancy’s technique in this case, which he called ‘joining the dots’, involved extrapolating from publicly available sources of information. This lead to his being contacted by the FBI, who believed he must have received classified information, causing Clancy some amusement. He stated, in a New York Times interview that: “I’ve made up stuff that’s turned out to be real, that’s the spooky part”.

Reality: Soviet Naval Defections Tom Clancy very loosely based The Hunt For Red October on two real-life incidents. The first was a Soviet submarine tender captain who sailed his barge to Sweden and defected, possibly with some help from the CIA. The second was a 1975 mutiny aboard the Soviet frigate  Storozhevoy , whose political officer seized control of the ship and tried to sail to Leningrad, and launch a new revolution. The Soviet Navy hunted the Storozhevoy down and recaptured it. They shot the mutiny’s ring leader and sent his second in command to prison for eight years.

The Hunt For Red October: My Verdict

The archetypal technothriller. A must read.

The Hunt For Red October: The Movie

The Hunt For Red October  was filmed in 1990. The movie starred Sean Connery as Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Ryan. The movie, which follows the plot of the novel faithfully, with a few exceptions, is pretty good, but nowhere near as good as the novel. Sean Connery makes a good Ramius though and a couple of the scenes, such as the Red October’s crew singing the Soviet national anthem , are great.

The Hunt For Red October: The Game

Games companies released three video games based on The Hunt For Red October in the eighties and nineties, but they’re obsolete now.

More interesting is the board game, which is really a naval wargame with the Soviet Navy fighting against the US Navy and its NATO allies.

The board is a map of the North Atlantic and Arctic, and there are eight scenarios, the hunt for the Red October itself , and various WW3 scenarios, such as escorting a convoy from the USA to Europe. It’s a fun game with relatively simple rules, so if you like board wargames with lots of counters and dice rolling you’ll probably enjoy it. It’s easy enough to find on eBay if you want to get hold of it. There’s also a companion game based on Clancy’s speculative war novel  Red Storm Rising, and if you want to play the whole of an imaginary 1980s WW3, you can combine the two games.

The ‘Ryanverse’: Sequels to The Hunt For Red October

So far there have been over a dozen novels featuring Jack Ryan, mostly sequels, but also some prequels. Jack Ryan rises to Deputy Director of the CIA, joins the government as National Security Advisor, becomes Vice President and eventually becomes President of the USA. As Ryan moves into politics, the novels become a vehicle for Clancy’s paleoconservative political views, and the quality drops precipitously. I don’t feel I can recommend them.

However, ‘Tom Clancy’ remains very popular. His name has become a brand used on many inferior technothriller novels, not actually written by Clancy. Clancy himself died in 2013, but novels and games with his name on continue to be published.

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The Hunt For Red October  novel is available on Amazon US  here  and Amazon UK here .

The Hunt For Red October  movie is available on Amazon US  here  and Amazon UK  here .

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The Star of 'The Hunt for Red October' Isn't Jack Ryan; It's Submarine Warfare

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Mark wahlberg’s 53% rotten tomatoes action thriller is a major win for paramount+, pixar just announced a brand new movie at d23.

The Hunt for Red October is the first Jack Ryan movie, which starred Alec Baldwin as Tom Clancy 's famous character. Harrison Ford took over the role for two sequels, Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger , before it moved to Ben Affleck for The Sum of All Fears . Paramount then attempted a reboot with Chris Pine and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit before moving the character to television with the Amazon series Jack Ryan starring John Krasinski . This is all pretty surprising when you consider that Jack Ryan is a pretty dull, uninteresting character who consciously avoids being in the middle of the action. Only Hunt for Red October seems to really understand that because the star of the film isn't Ryan or even Sean Connery 's submarine captain Marko Ramius. It's the art of submarine warfare.

For those who haven't seen John McTiernan 's classic thriller, which turns 30 this year and is available on 4K starting today, the plot concerns Ramius and his submarine, the Red October. The Red October has a new propulsion system that allows it to run virtually silent, which is deeply concerning for Americans since the submarine could drive right up to the US coast and fire nuclear missiles. However, Ramius' plan isn't to attack, but to defect, and CIA analyst Ryan has figured it out. The plot is about how everyone can try to maneuver around Cold War tensions so that Ramius can defect without setting off World War III.

On the one hand, Hunt for Red October is probably the best depiction of Ryan since it understands him in the John McClane mold of everyman who doesn't want to be a hero. Ryan doesn't set out to be in the middle of the action; he intends to just relay information, but his superiors put him in the fray until he decides that he must participate to save the world from a nuclear crisis. The problem with the other Jack Ryan adaptations is that they either fail to give him a proper counterbalance (Sean Miller in Patriot Games is no Marko Ramius), have him overshadowed by a more interesting, active character like John Clark, or lean away from the analyst bit to make him more generic military-style hero.

The Hunt for Red October is able to take the strain off the thin Ryan character by giving equal weight to not only Ramius, but the whole ensemble. Red October has a deep bench with Sam Neill , Scott Glenn , Courtney B. Vance , Tim Curry , Fred Thompson , and James Earl Jones all giving great supporting performances. You feel the full weight of the conflict rather than Ryan trying to carry it all on his shoulders. Furthermore, with this many players, it lends more credence to the stakes. This rich cast of characters is able to bring their own skills to the table so that while Ryan may be the guy who connects the dots, you still need Vance's radio tech to discover the Red October or Glenn's sure-handed captaining when torpedoes have been fired.

Of course, studio franchises being they are, Paramount was always going to seize on the Ryan character because that's where the source material is. There's a whole "Ryanverse" that can be mined for material, and it is still is. In addition to the Jack Ryan TV series, later this year we'll get Michael B. Jordan in John Clark's origin story, Without Remorse . But when you look at The Hunt for Red October , you don't think, "Ah, I need more movies with this Ryan character." You think, "We need more submarine movies like this that feel realistic while sacrificing none of the action-thriller plot beats of the modern blockbuster."

Sadly, that magical formula is a lot harder to emulate, and that's a shame. The submarine movie remains a rare beast, and to be fair, it's tough to do it better than what McTiernan accomplished with his 1990 movie. Watching the new 4K, which looks terrific and really shows off Jan de Bont 's impressive cinematography, you see that the director, who was coming off Predator and Die Hard , is still at the top of his game by never losing the geography of the submarine standoffs. Dennis Virkler and John Wright 's editing deserves special attention for how they move between so many settings—US submarines, Russian submarines, command centers, etc.—while avoiding confusion. If you ever wanted to get someone into submarine movies, The Hunt for Red October is pretty strong place to start.

While the Jack Ryan character has a long and industrious career that doesn't seem likely to end any time soon (a third season of the Amazon series is already on the way), the legacy of The Hunt for Red October shows that the film's strongest asset isn't the wily analyst but the specific adventure he goes on in his debut picture. Maybe if Amazon is feeling bold they'll stick John Krasinski in a metal tube underwater and go from there.

The Hunt for Red October is now available on 4K Blu-ray.

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Reviews/Film; Connery as Captain of a Renegade Soviet Sub

By Vincent Canby

• March 2, 1990

Very early in ''The Hunt for Red October,'' Marko Ramius (Sean Connery), the captain of a new, atomic-powered, top-of-the-line Soviet submarine named the Red October, barehandedly murders a fellow officer aboard ship.

The captain seems to be mad. He's been reading about Armageddon and it's known that he has been despondent ever since his wife died.

Good grief - a maniac in charge of a ship equipped with enough missiles to wipe out virtually every major city in the United States!

What's worse is that the Red October has a new hydropropulsion system, a technological breakthrough, which allows it to escape detection by even the most sophisticated sonar equipment. Only a hotshot sonar engineer would be able to tell the difference between the sounds of the Red October and the mating of whales.

It's conceivable that the lunatic captain could remain submerged off Coney Island and incinerate everything between the Ferris wheel and Denver. Is there no hope for mankind? On and off the pulses pound as the mind prepares to reel.

John McTiernan's ''Hunt for Red October,'' based on the Tom Clancy suspense novel, begins with a screen note to the effect that the events portrayed took place in November 1984, shortly before Mikhail S. Gorbachev became leader of the Soviet Union. The note adds, ''Nothing of what you are about to see ever happened.''

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The Hunt for Red October

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The Hunt for Red October (1990)

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A review by Wuchak

Written by wuchak on may 30, 2023.

Submarine strategies with Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin and Scott Glenn

Just before Gorbachev’s rise to power in the USSR, a notable naval commander (Connery) takes a technologically advanced submarine on its maiden voyage to conduct missile drills off of America's east coast. Something happens to draw the ire of the Soviet brass while a CIA analyst (Baldwin) believes the captain might be defecting. James Earl Jones, Sam Neill and Courtney B Vance are on hand.

Based on the 1984 Tom Clancy novel, “The Hunt for Red October” (1990) is a well-done Cold War thriller and the first of current... read the rest.

A review by CinemaSerf

Written by cinemaserf on june 24, 2024.

When British intelligence sends some photographs to CIA analyst "Jack Ryan" (Alec Baldwin) he immediately races to his boss (James Earl Jones) with what seems like a fantastic tale about a submarine that uses a hydro-dynamic drive. That renders it almost silent to traditional sonar and therefore a threat to NATO. Next thing we know, the Soviet's have mobilised their Atlantic fleet and it occurs to "Ryan" that they could have a defection on their hands. He now has to convince his sceptical superiors that this isn't just a wild goose chase, and that "Ramius" (Sean Connery) has a plan to bring his... read the rest.

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Hunt for Red October, The (United States, 1990)

The Hunt for Red October has a much different feel from any of the other Jack Ryan films (to date, there have been five plus a web series). Part of this is because, with a seasoned veteran like Sean Connery posed opposite a lesser-known actor (Alec Baldwin), concessions had to be made to enhance Connery’s scenes. Also, John McTiernan’s directorial style is substantially different than those of his successors. McTiernan is a master of escalating tension, although The Hunt for Red October doesn’t show it as well as Die Hard . The movie personalizes the global crisis sufficiently for the audience to have a deeper rooting interest than in whether or not World War III breaks out.

Post-World War II, there have been many movies about submarine warfare. The most successful of these, Wolfgang Petersen’s Das Boot , is an exhausting, white-knuckle affair that set the gold standard for undersea battles. Although there is some sub-to-sub combat in The Hunt for Red October , it’s treated as one of many plot elements and McTiernan doesn’t take the time or effort to set things up the way Petersen did. There’s no sense of claustrophobia and the dangers of suffocation, drowning, or being crushed are minimized. That’s because in every other submarine movie, the fate of the boat is central to the story. In The Hunt for Red October , it’s a secondary concern. This isn’t really a submarine movie; it’s a movie about late-era Cold War political maneuvering.

The story, which is set in 1984 to allow events to transpire before the collapse of the Soviet Union, postulates that the USSR has developed a prototype Typhoon class sub fitted with a new drive that allows it to run silently, making it virtually undetectable and, as such, an obvious first strike weapon. The boat, named Red October , is commanded by respected submarine captain Marko Ramius on its maiden voyage. Unbeknownst to his superiors, Ramius plans to defect and most of the officers on board are co-conspirators. While at sea, Ramius kills the Red October ’s political officer, Ivan Putin (Peter Firth), before engaging the caterpillar drive and causing the sub to “disappear.”

The Hunt for Red October features an A-list (male) cast. The unquestioned “draw” was Connery, who had settled nicely into his post-007 life. Just three years beyond wining an Oscar for The Untouchables , Connery had starred in both Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and The Presidio and had not yet entered the slide that would lead to his quitting the industry in disgust. Even though The Hunt for Red October is now recognized as the first of the “Jack Ryan series,” it is very much Connery’s film. This is especially true because Alec Baldwin, the wet-around-the-ears actor chosen to play Ryan, is neither charismatic nor convincing. Baldwin shows none of the intensity that would define his star-making performances in such films as Prelude to a Kiss and Glengarry Glen Ross . The supporting cast is comprised of veteran characters actors Scott Glenn, Sam Neill (as Ramius’ confidante and second-in-command), James Earl Jones, Richard Jordan (as the American National Security Advisor), Joss Ackland (as a top Soviet diplomat), Tim Curry (as the Red October ’s doctor), Courtney B. Vance (as the Dallas ’ sonar operator), and Stellan Skarsgard (as Captain Tupolev, the commander of another Soviet sub).

Although The Hunt for Red October wasn’t Sean Connery’s final film (he would go on to make more than a dozen other movies before retiring in 2003), it could be considered his last great role (some would argue that was in Finding Forrester ; others might suggest The Rock ). To an extent, The Hunt for Red October was a victim of unfortunate timing. During its initial box office run, the collapse of the Soviet Union robbed it of a sense of immediacy. Nevertheless, the mix of traditional thriller elements, Cold War storytelling, and submarine warfare generate sufficient tension to engage the viewer throughout. Coupled with Connery’s magnetic performance, that’s enough to make The Hunt for Red October as watchable today as it was during its 1990 release.

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The Hunt for Red October

Dove review.

Captain Marko Ramius of the submarine Red October has a plan and the plot of the movie circles around his intentions. Does he plan to defect from the then-Soviet Union to the United States, or does he plan to get close enough to the U.S. in order to deploy missiles at the country?

The movie has a bit of a James Bond feel to it and interestingly enough, Sean Connery plays Captain Ramius. Alec Baldwin plays Jack Ryan, the only man who seems to believe that Ramius truly intends to defect to the United States. With a saboteur on board the Red October, the plot climaxes with a revelation of intent and some great action sequences. However, the movie is peppered with strong language, and we cannot award our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal to this film.

Dove Rating Details

Several men are shot and killed; one character's neck is broken; torpedo attacks;

GD-6; J-5; Chr*st-2; G/OMG-4; Mother of God-1; H-17; A-3; SOB-2; D-5; S-1; P-1; B-1; Bu*t-1; Puke-1; A comment about the sound of whales humping.

Smoking and drinking.

Shirtless man.

The topic of betrayal and the theme of corrupt governments is included.

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The Hunt For Red October Parent Guide

The Red October is a high-tech submarine that is the pride of the Russian navy. Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) has been ordered to test the new sub with routine maneuvers, but he secretly has other plans for the vessel and its crew.

Release date March 2, 1990

Run Time: 134 minutes

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The guide to our grades, parent movie review by rod gustafson.

Based on the popular Tom Clancy novel set in 1984, the Red October is the pride of the Russian navy. This high-tech submarine is fitted with a magneto propulsion drive that enables the sub to move silently, making it nearly invisible to enemy sonar.

Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery) has orders to test the new sub with routine maneuvers involving other USSR fleet members, but he has a different plan. Quietly murdering the Soviet political leader on board, Ramius informs the crew the purpose of their mission is to sneak the vessel out of the North Atlantic, past the American coastal defense, and into U.S. waters.

Political thrillers demand a quality script—and this one delivers. Yet what really sets this movie apart from the rest of this genre is the near lack of objectionable content. Two killings are depicted (one the result of a shooting, the other hand to hand confrontation), but neither are gratuitous in their portrayal. Beyond that, only a handful of mild profanities exist.

Supporting the ideals of freedom, this movie puts you on the edge of your seat for over two hours and contains some of the greatest tactical scenarios put to film, resulting in one of the few action adventure titles I can recommend for parents and teens to enjoy together. With a recent re-release on DVD in wide screen, accompanied by a surround sound track that immerses you into the action, this title is worth hunting down.

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The hunt for red october parents' guide.

Ramius’ plan includes measures to keep his crew safe, yet he kills the political leader without remorse. Why? Is he justified in this decision? Could he have considered any other options?

The most recent home video release of The Hunt For Red October movie is July 29, 2008. Here are some details…

The Hunt for red October releases to home video on 29 July 2008.

Related home video titles:

If you find sub films captivating, check out our review of U-571 . For a look at another film about people trying to escape from Russia, check out East-West .

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