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I saw this movie many years ago, soon after its VHS release. It has been a pleasant surprise to find out its enduring quality as solid intelligence thriller, even when some of the visual effects look dated (from the very early years of CGI). The story is very well crafted, specially at managing a lexicon of technical terms while keeping the storyline on the move, capturing a faithful feeling of the Cold War scenario as a chess game between military forces, intelligence analysts and diplomats. Despite some remarkable performances from big names like Sean Connery, James Earl Jones or Scott Glenn, it's less a character driven movie than an fun thriller with some amazing visuals that seem taken out directly from military operations at sea. It lacks some of the elements that make a classic, but is definitely a landmark of its genre.Read full review
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One of the best naval genre movies ever. All star cast with Sean Connery, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Scott Glenn and introducing unknown Alec Baldwin as CIA analyst Jack Ryan. Well acted and written (adapted from Tom Clancy's book) and a believable plot. I was so impressed by Alec Baldwin's portrayl of Ryan that I thought it was a mistake when he wasn't cast in other Clancy novel adaptations like Patriot Games (Harrison Ford) etc. The dvd was of very good quality (hopefully in BluRay some day) and special features like the Director's commentary helped explain a lot of the motivation behind the making of it.
Loosely based upon an (rumored) actual event, Captain Marco Ramius (Sean Connery) is the commander of the Soviet Union's newest and most advanced submarine. It has a state of the art propulsion system called a "caterpillar drive" which is a sort of jet turbine with no moving parts, rendering it silent. This type of system is difficult or impossible to track under water. There could only be but one use for such a weapon, and that is as a first strike weapon. Having grown more and more disenchanted with the tone of his government policies, Captain Ramius has made his decision to defect and turn over his ship to the United States. But first he will need some help. He needs an American sub captain who will allow him to do so without blowing his boat, Red October, out of the ocean. The possibility of this ship's propulsion system was first explored by US engineers years ago, but they couldn't make it work. American CIA agent, Jack Ryan, received smuggled pictures of this boat but couldn't identify specific characteristics of it's construction. This very same boat left it's port that morning and although it was being tracked, it suddenly vanished in silence. While the entire intelligence community believes that Ramius intends to attack, Ryan is sure that he wants to defect. Shortly after departing, Ramius dispatched a letter to his superiors and the Soviet leadership of his intentions. The Soviets have since began a search like no other in history. Unable to find him themselves the Soviets approach the Americans with the story that Ramius has gone nuts and is planning to attack the USA, in an effort to get the Americans to fear allowing the Red October to approach. A complicated plan is sort of played out by ear between Ramius and Ryan, where the crew of the Red October is convinced that there has been a radiation leak, and everyone must get off this boat or die of radiation sickness. Having been directed to one of the deepest spots of the Atlantic Ocean, Ramius surfaces and evacuates his crew onto the decks of the Red October. With the approach of an American war ship, Ramius and his fellow conspirators tell the rest that they intend to dive the boat and scuttle it so that the Americans can't seize it. It was rumored that this actually happened in the mid 1980's, but has never been confirmed.Read full review
i enjoy movies that have some historical significance. i also enjoy documentaries that explain or make us think about world events...how and/or why something happened, who all was involved and the reasons these things happened. some other favorites are 'thirteen days', 'jfk', 'apollo 13', 'a time to kill', to name a few. i also like sean connery, and i especially liked scott glenn's character as the sub skipper. this was a far cry from his'urban cowboy' role. 'hunt for red october' is an excellent movie.
My husband especially enjoys this movie. Sean Connery is superb, as usual. The story is fast moving and entertaining for the most part. Interesting to see the thinking going on in the Super Powers' brains and how little it would take to spark off another world war because of nations' distrust of enemy nations with mass destruction of human life hanging in the balance!
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