The Hunt for Red October (1990)

One of my new year resolutions was to rewatch more movies and this is one I was meaning to see again for a long time. When I saw this first during the nineties I loved it and played the music of it a lot (which is mostly a Russian choir singing). As I watch a lot of movies I thought I had forgotten a lot about it, but as I started watching it all came back and enjoyed it as much as I did before.

The story is about a Russian submarine captain (played by Sean Connery) who has taken Russias newest and most advanced nuclear submarine and is heading to the U.S. with it, Neither the Russians nor the Americans knows what his plans are and since the submarine is near silent it’s almost impossible to track. It’s up to Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin), who knows most about the captain to help the US finding it and take appropriate action.

It almost seems to be that it is impossible to make a bad movie when it is set on a submarine (Das Boot, Crimson Tide) and this action thriller doesn’t disappoint either. It looks beautiful with bright red and greens on various submarines and convincing sound design. Sean Connery is great as the Russian captain and . I always liked the fact that the Russians start out talking Russian and through a clever closeup of one of them speaking and switching to English you don’t mind the fact that everyone suddenly talks the same language.

12 thoughts on “The Hunt for Red October (1990)

  1. I like this movie as well. I also love that no matter what the background of the character he plays, Sean Connery never attempts an accent.

    Great observation about the music/choir.

  2. Such an enjoyable Cold War thriller that arrived ironically as that conflict was ending. Distilled Tom Clancy’s techno-thriller novel into a great crowd-pleaser. Fine look back, Nostra.

    • Yeah, I read Connery initially wasn’t interested because it wasn’t relevant anymore. When he heared it was set in the past he agreed. Thanks!

  3. I normally don’t like submarine movies but this is definitely a great one. I quite like Baldwin as Jack Ryan, too bad he didn’t get to reprise his role. Btw, haven’t seen you around FC in a long while Nostra, hope to see you soon 😀

    • Yeah, Baldwin was very good. Sorry for not dropping by ruth, but have been very busy the last few weeks for a new work assignment. My mailbox has hundreds of unread blog posts. Hope to get around to them soon…

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