| The Hunt for Red October | |
|---|---|
 "Invisible. Silent. Stolen." | |
| Directed By | John McTiernan |
| Screenplay By | Donald E. Stewart, Larry Ferguson |
| Cast | Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, James Earl Jones, Sam Neill |
| Produced By | Mace Neufeld |
| Cinematography By | Jan de Bont |
| Film Editing By | Dennis Virkler, John Wright |
| Music By | Basil Poledouris |
| Studio | Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, Nina Saxon Film Design |
| Distributed By | Paramount Pictures |
| Franchise | Jack Ryan Franchise |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Release Date | March 2, 1990 |
| Runtime | 134 Minutes |
| Rating | PG |
| Budget | $30,000,000 |
| Gross | $200,512,643 |
| Based on | The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy |
Overview[]
The Hunt for Red October is a 1990 American produced action-adventure thriller starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, and Richard Jordan. It was directed by John McTiernan. The film is an adaptation of the 1984 best selling novel of the same name by the late Tom Clancy and featured the first installment of his primary and most famous protagonist, Jack Ryan and is responsible for launching the Jack Ryan Franchise.
The Soviet Union's most notorious and hardliner Russian Captain Marko Ramius has stolen their newest and most advanced submarine, 'The Red October' equipped with a revolutionary "stealth" technology. Ramius has broken off all contact with his superiors and is heading on a direct course for the American East Coast. The Soviet Union alerts the United States of their darkest fears; their Captain has gone rogue and intends to start World War III! They request the US' help in destroying their mad renegade before it is too late.
One man believes differently.
CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is convinced that Ramius intends to defect and must convince his dubious superiors of his outlandish claim before the Russian and American Navies track down and destroy their illusive prey. Who will find the Red October first?
The Hunt is On!
Plot[]
It is 1984 and the Cold War is heating up. A curious incident occurred in which a Russian Typhoon-Class submarine suffered a catastrophic radiation leak and was lost although most of the crew were able to escape; and were thankfully rescued by nearby American ships. It was deemed a tragic and unfortunate accident to the world at large.
This is what really happened...
CIA Analyst Jack Ryan currently assigned in Britain; is working with the UK intelligence assets about the Soviet Navy. A British intelligence agent has acquired a series of secret photographs regarding their newest nuclear submarine, code named "Red October". The Brits are puzzled because there was strange elements in the design that don't seem to match with the standard Typhoon-Class submarine that the October is purportedly a class of. The deeply aerophobic Ryan is forced to fly back to America, to consult with his boss, Admiral James Greer about the enigmatic design. Neither of them nor their regular consultants can come up with any reasonable explanations about the bizarre design. At least to Ryan.
Captain First Rank Marko Ramius, the The Vilnius School Master
Ryan is convinced that the Russians have figured out something new for the Red October. Something that caused them to radically alter the design and delay its launch for over two years. Furthermore, they have brought in Marko Ramius to captain her.
Ramius is a notorious Communist hardliner and patriot who has practically trained the entire Russian submarine officer corps earning him the moniker of 'The Vilnius School Master'. He is also the sub driver whom the Soviets use to captain the lead submarine boat of every class that they have launched for the past decade. He is the best of their best and clearly, the Soviets want him to write the book of how to captain this new submarine. There is something special about this new submarine. Because of this, Ryan tries to convince Greer to allow him to circumvent procedure and let him show the pictures to an old friend of his; Skip Tyler, a former submariner and now engineer.
Greer immediately agrees to Ryan's unconventional proposal and reveals that the Red October just launched ahead of schedule that morning and is already underway, presumably to undergo final field tests.
Deep underwater in the Atlantic, the Los Angeles-Class Submarine USS Dallas is conducting sonar drills with veteran sonar operator, Seaman Jones is tutoring a newbie in the fine art of interpreting sonar returns. His student however discovers to his chagrin that the "target" that he has been tracking is not a submarine but a whale. Jones finds his lesson interrupted by a new sonar contact. The computer tentatively identifies the contact as a Russian Typhoon-Class but not one of the previously recorded models. Jones alerts the Captain Bart Mancuso who has the Dallas come about to start shadowing the new Russian sub, confident that they will soon know all about their latest contact.
Ramius burns his real orders after killing Putin
Aboard the contact, the Red October; Captain Ramius finds himself confronted by the ship's Political Officer Putin. The official spy and representative of the USSR's Communist Party, Putin is highly suspicious of Ramius. He is "too much of a sailor and not enough of a Communist" in his opinion and worries about the powerful influence Ramius wields among the submarine officer corps. Ramius scoffs as they unlock their special orders from a sealed vault which details how the Red October is to conduct a series of evasion drills to test the stealth drive against the Alfa-Class Konovalov, commanded by his former student Captain Tupolev. As Putin gets up to officially announce the orders to the crew, Ramius savagely attacks and kills Putin before destroying their original orders and replacing them with a different set.
Ramius summons help and claims that Putin slipped and fell. The Ship's Doctor, Petrov confirms that Putin is dead, clearly from an accident and finds himself a witness as Ramius claims Putin's missile key for himself. Petrov is disturbed, claiming that it's standard procedure to keep the keys separate and held by two officers as to prevent a single man from launching the submarine's missiles on his own. Petrov proffers himself to hold the key safely for now. He further suggests that they should immediately contact Soviet Navy HQ and return back to the naval yards after this tragic accident as they will obviously need a replacement Political Officer.
Ramius flatly refuses; proclaiming that the Soviet Navy does not cancel missions because of accidents and produces their orders which that announces that the October is to head West and evade detection attempts through the use of their new drive system by the Russian Navy while maintaining full radio silence. Petrov nervously subsides his arguments even as Ramius icily comments that he will "try" to forget Petrov's comments when he makes his report later.
Studying the photographs of the Red October, Skip Tyler comes to the startling conclusion that the Russians have made a revolutionary breakthrough in a form of the magnetohydrodynamic drive; an electrical propulsion system. A very quiet propulsion system, in effect; a stealth drive for submarines.
Tyler admits that the US had tried to develop their own version many years ago but could never get theirs to work properly. He further speculates that armed with its arsenal of nuclear missiles, the Red October is the ultimate deterrent ... or the ultimate first strike weapons platform as it will not trip the sonar arrays used by the anti-submarine detection nets, surface ships, and the submarines all rely on. A submarine equipped with this drive would be able to bypass all of the US defense nets and could decapitate their entire political and military command network before the US even knew that it was there much there be able to respond to it. In essence, it could win World War III in favor of the Soviets.
What do you mean it's gone? The Red October vanishes before Jones and Mancuso
Meanwhile, Ramius orders their silent drive to be activated and the Dallas immediately loses their sonar signature on the Red October which slips off into the dark waters. Aboard the Dallas, Jones is absolutely confounded at the signal loss and frantically begins conducting a diagnostic on the sonar arrays but can't find a single thing wrong with them.
Jack Ryan finds himself inexplicably summoned by Admiral Greer to a high-level briefing back in Washington. Ryan is stunned to discover that the USSR has inexplicably launched every single naval vessel, submarine, and airplane asset and are being deployed to the Atlantic. The Joint Chiefs fear that this inexplicable aggressive posturing is a prelude to World War III. Greer announces that Ryan is to personally brief the Joint Chiefs and Dr. Jeffrey Pelt, the President's National Security Advisor regarding the Red October and its capabilities.
After detailing its suspected capabilities from the photographs and Skip Tyler's theories about the October's silent drive, Ryan learns that certain American intelligence assets have intercepted orders that the Russians are to find and locate the Red October and sink her at all costs. While most of the room panics at the news, believing that they are facing a potential lunatic who is courting nuclear Armageddon; Ryan has an epiphany.
He believes that Ramius might be trying to defect; citing that Ramius is not a Russian by birth but Lithuanian who was raised by his paternal grandfather. Further, he is in a unique position as he trained most of their submarine officer corps so he would know men whom he could trust and would be sympathetic to his aims. His political connections and his reputation would allow him with unprecedented power over his crew selection as well. And Ramius has no children or close family ties as his wife died roughly a year ago.
The Joint Chiefs are skeptical but Pelt is interested enough to listen to Ryan's outrageous idea. Pelt cheerfully admits that as a politician, he's a cheat and liar but also likes to keep his options open. And he's willing to give Ryan a chance. He has three days to confirm his theory or else, Pelt will have no choice but to order the US Navy to destroy the Red October with Ramius aboard before it can get within range to launch its missiles at the US.
"You're expendable Dr. Ryan"
Ryan protests that he is merely an analyst and not a field agent but Pelt counters that he's also the only one with the crazy theory and the only person willing to stake their professional reputation on it. Ryan counters by proclaiming that he's also expendable to which Pelt reluctantly admits that he is correct.
Deep underwater and out of radio contact in his plot to "surprise" his old teacher in the search and detection exercises aboard the Konovalov, Captain Tupolev has just learned of their new orders. Furious at Ramius' betrayal, he orders the Konovalov to maximum speed even as he ponders where Ramius is now and that he will be forced to kill his old friend and mentor.
Ramius meanwhile finds himself confronted by a number of his officers in his cabal who are all worried over the unexpected death of the Political Officer. Ramius proclaims that the death was a necessity and reveals that before they sailed, he posted a letter to the Admiralty regarding their intentions to defect. The cabal are all horrified but Ramius bluntly refers to a historical precedent regarding a Spanish Conquistador who literally burned his ships upon arriving at the New World. Hence, his men were well motivated to win as they lacked the means to go back. Likewise, the officers of the October now lack a way to go back, they can only go forward.
Not all of his officers are convinced however but are cowed by Captain Borodin, Ramius' first mate and close friend who orders them back to their stations. Afterwards, Borodin quietly remarks that they might have been right that the letter was a mistake. Ramius dismisses his worries; he has trained their officer corps, he knows how they think and react. They have nothing to fear from the Russians ... what he does not know is how the Americans will react. If they meet the right American, then their plot to defect will work. But if they don't meet the right sort of American commander, if they encounter some headstrong "buckaroo" they will never reach the New World and their freedom ... they will merely die in sight of it.
Meanwhile, a terror stricken Ryan finds himself aboard a cargo plane that lurches through heavy turbulence to land on the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier in the North Atlantic. Dressed incognito in a faked up naval uniform, Ryan is led to Admiral Painter and his aide, Charlie Davenport where he reveals the truth behind the Red October's stealth drive, the massive Russian naval deployment, and his belief that Ramius' defection. He further relates his hopes that they hopefully get a quick look at the October's stealth drive before returning her to the USSR.
Painter is curious and asks about the hundreds of crewmen aboard the Red October; most of them will be patriots and probably a lot of them have families and friends back home. Surely not all of them will wish to defect and will outnumber the would-be defectors. The loyalists will surely resist turning over the October to the United States or even allowing Ramius and his cabal to defect. It would also take the technicians months to properly study and reverse-engineer the Red October's stealth drive, just a quick look at it wouldn't be enough. Painter patiently remarks that Ryan clearly hasn't thought things through too well and seeing the weary Ryan, asks the last time that he got some sleep. Ryan admits that he hasn't gotten any since he left London and Painter gently proffers him a cabin to get some rest.
Alone, Painter discusses Ryan with Davenport who is openly contemptuous of Ryan's wild speculations about the defection and is further insulted that Ryan is dressed up in a fake uniform. Painter however remarks that Ryan is a former Marine officer who was in a helicopter crash during his final year of training that left him in traction for the better part of a year and took another year to relearn how to walk. Painter suggests that Davenport cut Ryan some slack before remarking that it in all probability, the Ruskies will find the October before they do and blow them away.
Aboard the Dallas, Jones requests a meeting with Captain Mancuso who is busy poring over charts and radio dispatches about the sudden Russian naval exercise. Jones has been studying and fiddling with the recordings from the previous day. Right before the new Typhoon sub disappeared, he picked up some odd sonar readings that the computer dismisses as "magma displacements". And every now and then, he's kept on picking up those strange "magma displacements". Jones however had an idea and ran the sounds at ten times normal speed; producing an odd but distinctly mechanical sounds ... which means man made.
He points out the plot of these "magma displacements" show that whatever it is is steadily moving towards an underwater formation known as 'Thor's Twins' which is the opening of a series of underwater canyons that is used exclusively by Russian submarines thanks to their highly detailed charts of the region. Jones is convinced that this Russian naval exercise is a hoax, intended to distract the US fleet while the new Typhoon is using some sort of new silent drive to sneak pass the US defenses. Mancuso is convinced of Jones' theory and begins plotting an intercept course.
Meanwhile Dr. Jeffrey Pelt has a tense confrontation with the Soviet Ambassador regarding the Soviet's abrupt and massive naval deployment to the Atlantic. Pelt demands an explanation and if the Soviets are beginning an offensive naval war against the US. The Ambassador weakly proclaims that the Soviets have lost one of their submarines and are conducting a massive rescue operation. Pelt is relieved and then announces that the US Navy will do everything in their power to assist; by deploying their ships and subs to "help" to search alongside the Russian ships and subs and leaving the Ambassador unable to refuse their "generous" offer of aid.
While navigating the Thor's Twins route however, the Red October unexpectedly suffers an internal explosion in their stealth drive that renders it inoperable and forcing Ramius to continue on under the regular propellers and thus becoming detectable to sonar. His Chief Engineer Melekhin sourly reports that the explosion was no accident but sabotage; leaving Ramius to suspect that the Soviet GRU may have an agent aboard. They are soon attacked by a Soviet airplane dropping torpedoes but manage to evade being destroyed thanks to a tricky and risky underwater maneuver only capable thanks to Ramius' iron nerves.
Captain Borodin is able to dismiss the crewmen's fears about the near miss; proclaiming that if their navy had really been trying to kill them―they would already be dead. But things are becoming increasingly complicated and tense aboard the October with the crew becoming frightened and nervous.
A rested Ryan is alarmed to learn from Painter that a number of Russians subs have taken position to blockade the US ports while other ships are pinging their sonars away like mad. On a computerized map display of the various ship's positions, Davenport compares the tactic to hunters and beaters; the subs are lying in wait for the October while the beaters are trying to drive Ramius into panicking and giving himself away. Ryan then noticed a lone US submarine by itself and discovers that it is the USS Dallas and its skipper is tracking a seismic anomaly. Ryan realizes that the Dallas has found the October.
The Dallas has just managed to reacquire the October and are starting to shadow her when they receive an urgent message for them to break contact and make a risky transfer via helicopter for an important VIP who has urgent classified information for Captain Mancuso.
The Soviet Ambassador asks for the US' help to sink the Red October
Meanwhile back in Washington; the Soviet Ambassador is back meeting with Dr. Pelt with urgent information, relating that his superiors were reluctant to inform him with the truth about their missing sub. He now tells Pelt that the submarine's captain has gone renegade and intends to launch his missiles at the US. Moscow is embarrassed but fears a misunderstanding could trigger a nuclear war and requests for the US' aid in finding the October and destroying her at all costs.
After a very risky personnel transfer from a helo, Mancuso has just learned from a half-drowned Ryan that he has found the Red October when he further receives urgent orders to sink her from Washington. Even as he rigs the Dallas for battle, Ryan begs Mancuso to reconsider. He is convinced that the Soviets are so afraid of Ramius and the Red October defecting and have concocted this bold faced lie because they can't find her and sink her themselves and need the Americans' help to do so.
At the last second, Mancuso is reluctantly convinced that Ryan ... might not be entirely wrong and deliberately allows the October to detect the presence of the Dallas before flooding his torpedo tubes and opens the outer doors, signaling his readiness to shoot.
The October responds by flooding her own tubes but does not open their outer doors. After a long tense standoff, Ramius decided to surface the submarine and take a quick look around to confirm that they are alone via the periscope. The Dallas follows her and Ryan guesses that Ramius will be the only one looking through the scope and seizes on the chance to communicate with him; having Mancuso use Morse Flash Code to confirm his intentions to defect and further, warns him that the Soviet Navy has blockaded all of the American ports and plots to divert the October to an underwater formation known as the Grand Banks which lies outside of the other Russian submarines' operational zones.
Aboard the October, Ramius pronounces his intention to give the American sub a wide berth and suggests an evasion run southward which will take them to the Grand Banks.
Nearly a day later and shortly before arriving at the Grand Banks however, the October suffers a massive radiation leak tripping alarms in every compartment of the submarine. Although Ramius immediately orders them to surface and vent the compartments with outside air, Dr. Petrov however is adamant that this measure won't be enough and begs for the crewmen to get off the boat as the inside is now toxic. Ramius reluctantly agrees with Petrov and has the crew evacuated and take shelter in the inflatable lifeboats which will be lashed to the deck.
As they begin their hasty evacuation, Borodin spots a ship on the horizon rapidly steaming towards them and identifies it as the American man o' war Ruben James. Ramius orders Petrov to take command of the crewmen while he and the other officers will re-enter the October and dive to scuttle the ship, even as the Ruben James begins shooting warning shots off the October's bow not to submerge.
As Petrov and Russian crewmen hastily row for the safety of the Ruben James; they witness a helicopter taking off and dropping a torpedo into the water. The torpedo rapidly pursues the fleeing submarine, it's sonar pinging away madly. Mere seconds before the torpedo can impact the hull, Admiral James Greer secretly triggers the self-destruct before calmly informing the frigate's weapons officer that no one had touched that self-destruct button; that he heard the torpedo hit the hull of the sub; and furthermore and most importantly: Greer was never ever there in the first place.
The Dallas is already moving on their part of the operation; dispatching a special DSRV (Deep Submerge Rescue Sub) which docks with the submerged October and allows its small crew of Captain Mancuso, Sonarman Jones, and CIA Analyst Jack Ryan aboard the Russian sub. Ramius is incensed at the torpedo attack which was most definitely not part of their earlier communique and notes that Mancuso is armed and mutters to Borodin that they have a "buckaroo" in charge. Ryan explains that it was sell the illusion to his crewmen that they were deceased before assuring Ramius that his crewmen were being rescued at they spoke.
East Meets West; Russian Captain Marko Ramius shakes American Captain Bart Mancuso's hand
Ramius subsequently presents the Red October and on behalf of its officers, requests asylum from the United States. Even as Mancuso accepts on behalf of the US; they are interrupted by the sound of a fast moving torpedo screaming past them.
The Russian officers panic, thinking that the Americans are shooting at them again but Jones corrects them, identifying that its screw bearing is too high-pitched ... the torpedo is of Russian make.
Aboard the newly arrived Konovalov, Captain Tupolev is murderously enraged at his weapon officer's miss. His fearful subordinate explains that the targeting solution was incorrect and that the torpedo armed itself after it was past its target. Tupolev demands that he adjust the settings and shoot again.
Mancuso rushes for the DSRV and orders them to disengage and take off even as the October struggles to fight back deprived of most of its crew with Jones and even Ryan being hastily pressed into service as a bewildered helmsman.
The Ruben James and the Dallas are taken aback at the Konovalov's surprise attack but are hapless bystanders as the Konovalov didn't shoot at a US ship―and it would be an act of war if the James or the Dallas were to attack a Russian nuclear submarine. The rescued Soviet crewmen aboard the Ruben James are startled when alarms begin shrieking aboard the battleship and proudly realize that their Captain has escaped the torpedo strike and mistakenly believe that he is beginning his counterattack.
Even as the Konovalov fires again; this time however, Red October does the unthinkable but turning directly into the torpedo's path on Ramius' order and begins accelerating towards it.
A returning Mancuso is shocked and tries to get Ryan to steer the ship out of the torpedo's path but Ryan is convinced to listen to Ramius' unflinching calm. Seconds later, the torpedo impacts and breaks apart to the utter befuddlement of Mancuso who belatedly realizes that Ramius had deliberately turned into the torpedo's path to cut down the distance and prevent the torpedo's in-built safety systems from arming itself. Ryan is jubilant at the brilliant counter to the torpedo but Ramius refutes that; proclaiming that Tupolev will now be removing the safeties of his torpedoes and won't make the same mistake again.
Borodin has been plotting a firing solution for their counterattack when he spots movement by the hatch and hastily shoves Ramius out of the way before he is fatally struck by several bullets by an unknown gunman. Ramius realizes that the GRU saboteur hid aboard and did not leave with the rest of the crew even as Mancuso returns fire with his own sidearm, forcing the saboteur to flee. A dying Borodin remarks sadly that he would have liked to have seen America before expiring.
Soon afterwards, the mixed October crew see a warning alarm from the missile bay and fears the saboteur must be tampering with the ballistic missiles and could destroy the sub with it. Ramius and Ryan pursue the saboteur to stop him even as Tupolev fires another torpedo without safeties.
Even as the torpedo come hurtling in, the Dallas unexpectedly comes up from behind the October; causing the torpedo to lock onto them instead. Hastily launching their countermeasures, the Dallas performs an emergency blow to rapidly surface the submarine. The Soviet crewmen aboard the Ruben James witness the Dallas breaching the surface, apparently frantically escaping a counter attack by their Captain. The Dallas' successful evasion however causes the torpedo to lose its lock on, continuing it's relentless hunt for a new target.
Gun Duel in the Red October's Ballistic Missile Room
Entering the missile bay, Ramius is wounded by the saboteur even as Ryan frantically tries to stop him from rigging one of the missiles to ignite and melt the entire sub and after a protracted battle; is able to gun him down.
Meanwhile, the torpedo has reacquired the October and is in hot pursuit while Mancuso redirects the sub on a direct collision course with the Konovalov before turning at the last second. A stunned Tupolev is viciously berated by his second in command for his disabling of the safeties to prevent their own torpedo from killing them even as the torpedo strikes the Konovalov head on instead.
The massive underwater explosion is witnessed by the Ruben James and the former Red October crewmen aboard her, gravely salute their brave fallen captain.
The Soviet Ambassador is Washington is once again meeting with Dr. Jeffrey Pelt who solemnly confirms that the October has been destroyed but the majority of the crew has been rescued and will be returned to the USSR as soon as arrangements can be made. The Ambassador is grateful, remarking that it is a great pity that little to nothing will be able to be recovered due to the severe depth of the ocean in that area. He however has another matter that he brings up with Pelt; the USSR has not heard from an Alfa-Class Submarine for some time and are greatly concerned. An aggravated Pelt visibly sighs, scathingly demanding if the Soviets have lost yet another submarine causing the Soviet Ambassador no little embarrassment.
A recovering Ramius is busy taking in his first look at the United States, bemused at how they came all this way to hide a submarine in a river. Ryan corrects him that it is hundreds of miles from the nearest Naval Base so the Soviet satellites will never bother to look here so it should be relatively safe. Even so, Ryan thinks that there will be a lot of heads rolling back in Russia over this entire fiasco.
"Welcome to the New World"
Ramius muses thoughtfully that "a little revolution now and then can be a healthy thing" as he points out that many of those heads will belong to those who advocated for the design and construction of the Red October herself, which was purposefully created to be a first strike weapons platform to win them World War III. Ryan smiles as he welcomes Ramius to "the New World".
Cast[]
- Sean Connery as Marko Aleksandrovich 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 Dr. Jeffrey Pelt
- Peter Firth as Ivan Putin
- Tim Curry as Yevgeniy Petrov
- Ronald Guttman as Lieutenant Melekhin
- Michael Welden as Gregoriy Kamarov
- Boris Lee Krutonog as Victor Slavin
- Courtney B. Vance as Ronald "Jonesy" Jones
- Stellan Skarsgard as Viktor Tupolev
- Jeffrey Jones as Dr. Skip Tyler
- Timothy Carhart as Bill Steiner
- Anthony Peck as Tommy Thompson
- Larry Ferguson as Master Chief Watson
- Fred Dalton Thompson as Joshua Painter
- Daniel Davis as Captain Charlie Davenport
- Sven-Ole Thorsen as Chief of the Boat of Red October
- Gates McFadden as Dr. Caroline Ryan
- Tomas Arana as Igor Loginov
- Ned Vaughn as Seaman Beaumont
- Peter Zinner as Yuri Ilyich Padorin
- Peter Jason as Reuben James
- Shane Black as Crewman
Production[]
The Hunt for Red October was based on the best selling novel of the same name written by Tom Clancy which was published and released in 1984. Despite its proven financial success and many fans including then-President Ronald Regan praising it; many film companies felt that the complex politically driven plot was simply too complicated for a film. Despite this, producer Mace Neufield believed that it could be done and optioned Clancy's novel and sought to convince several movie studios to back his project for over a year and a half. He was finally able to convince Paramount Pictures to back the project.
Although the US Navy was at first reluctant to provide support for the film as it could inadvertently give away classified information, a number of Admirals were also fans of Clancy's novel and further reasoned that this film "could do for submarines what Top Gun did for their aviators".
Principal photography commenced on the 3rd of April 1989 and ran through July 20th of that same year.
Additional/Alternate Taglines[]
- Invisible. Silent. Stolen.
- The director of "Die Hard" takes you beyond the realm of danger into the very heart of suspense.
- From the thrilling #1 best seller comes the electrifying motion picture.
- The Hunt is On.
- Join the Hunt
Reception[]
In addition, the film won the 1991 Oscar for Best Sound Effects Editing; a BMI Film Music Award; and a Motion Picture Sound Editors Award. Actor Sean Connery was also nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor for his role as Captain Marko Ramius but lost out to Philippe Noiret for his performance in Cinema Paradiso.
Trivia[]
- Sean Connery was not intended to be Marko Ramius originally, that honor went to Klaus Maria Brandauer. However Brandauer broke his leg shortly before filming and suggested recasting his part with his friend, Sean Connery. Connery himself was ambivalent to the role and originally turned it down as he thought the that film was simply "unrealistic" due to the current political climate after reading the script. He changed his mind when he learned that the person who faxed him the script had failed to include the cover sheet which stated it took place several years earlier during the Cold War.
- Alec Baldwin was given the opportunity for the role of Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October after Harrison Ford turned it down first. However for the sequel, Patriot Games; Baldwin asked for a huge salary increase for returning to the part. Reputedly, the producers refused stating that "for that price, we could get Harrison Ford". Baldwin held onto his demands and the producers eventually agreed to the salary increase, but only for Ford instead.
- The crew of the real life submarine, the U.S.S. Dallas subsequently adopted the movie's tagline, "The Hunt is On" as the unofficial motto of the sub,