The Hunt for Red October (1990)

The Hunt for Red October is a 1990 American action spy thriller film based on Tom Clancy's novel of the same name. It was directed by John McTiernan and stars Sean Connery as Captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. The fictional story is set during the Cold War era. It involves a rogue Soviet naval captain who wishes to defect to the United States, and an American CIA analyst who correctly deduces that circumstance, and must prove his theory to the U.S. Navy to avoid a violent confrontation between the two nations. The ensemble cast features Scott Glenn, James Earl Jones and Sam Neill.

The film was a co-production between the motion picture studios of Paramount Pictures, Mace Neufeld Productions, and Nina Saxon Film Design. Theatrically, it was commercially distributed by Paramount Pictures and by the Paramount Home Entertainment division for home media markets. Following its wide release in theaters, the motion picture was nominated and won a number of accolades including the Academy Award for Best Sound Editing in 1991. On June 12, 1990, the original motion picture soundtrack was released by the MCA Records music label. The soundtrack was composed and orchestrated by musician Basil Poledouris.

The Hunt for Red October received mostly positive reviews from critics and was one of the top grossing films of the year, generating $122 million in North America and over $200 million worldwide in box office business. The film was the first in a set of sequels throughout the years involving the fictional character of Jack Ryan. However, for the role of Ryan, a number of different actors were cast for the subsequent reincarnations of the film saga, including Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine.

Synopsis

In 1984, Soviet submarine Captain First Rank Marko Ramius (Connery) commands Red October, a new Typhoon-class nuclear sub featuring a caterpillar drive, rendering it undetectable to passive sonar. Ramius leaves port on orders to conduct exercises with the V.K. Konovalov, commanded by his former student Captain Tupolev (Skarsgård). Once at sea, Ramius kills political officer Ivan Putin (Firth), and commands the crew to head toward America's east coast to conduct missile drills.

Actors