The Hunt for Red October

1990 Action/Adventure

The first of several films based on Tom Clancy's "Jack Ryan" technothrillers, Hunt for Red October stars Alec Baldwin as eccentric CIA analyst Ryan and Sean Connery as Soviet submarine commander Marko Ramius. Ramius sets the plot in motion when he murders his political adviser, burns his orders, and steers his sub Red October towards American waters, hoping to defect. The CIA, aware that the Red October was about to embark on an evasive mission to demonstrate its ability to avoid detection and fire its nuclear missiles upon U.S. installations, believes that Ramius is insane, and that he plans to start World War III. To cover their own behinds, the Russians back up the CIA's suspicion. Only Jack Ryan believes that Ramius' mission is not as apocalyptic as it seems -- and it is Ryan who is assigned to infiltrate the Red October to prove his theory. The sort of film that in an earlier era would have been called a "thinking man's thriller," The Hunt for Red October ushered in a new series of Hollywood-produced post-Cold War adventure films, including 1995's Crimson Tide. more..

Director: John McTiernan

Starring: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones

Reviews

  • The Industrial Light & Magic special visual effects unit does yeoman work in staging the action with cliffhanger intensity.

    - Variety

    27 April 2013

  • This Tom Clancy thriller gets the proper screen treatment here with this first-rate cast and direction by one of the genre's best: Die Hard director John McTiernan.

    Marjorie Baumgarten - Austin Chronicle

    27 April 2013

  • 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.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    27 April 2013

  • Hunt is coldly clinical rather than emotionally resonant; so is the measured ensemble work of a super cast.

    Mike Clark - USA Today

    27 April 2013

  • The production is as clean and effective as Red October herself; there's not one dial or glowing radar screen too many; the underwater hits and near-misses are clearly choreographed and the undersea intensity is captured perfectly by Jan De Bont's camera work.

    Sheila Benson - Los Angeles Times

    27 April 2013

Awards

  • Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing

    Academy Awards (1991)

  • Best DVD Collection

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (2004)

     
  • Best Actor

    BAFTA Awards (1991)

     
  • Basil Poledouris

    BMI Film & TV Awards (1991)

  • Best Sound Editing - ADR

    Motion Picture Sound Editors (1991)