The franchise built around characters Jack Ryan and James Greer started for many with the book made movie of the same name called The Hunt for Red October (1990). The Tom Clancy book The Hunt for Red October that inspired it all was first published in 1984, and told the story of a new class of Soviet Union nuclear submarine using a hypothetical magnetic propulsion system with crew intent headed towards the United States with intent unclear. The ensuing thriller packed with suspense subsequently started a popular book, movie, and television series.
(From left, Sean Connery as Red October Captain Marko Ramius, Alec Baldwin as CIA Analyst and former Marine Jack Ryan, and Scott Glenn as Dallas Captain Bart Mancuso in the movie The Hunt For Red October).
As our focus here is the movie adaptation of The Hunt For Red October, we first are introduced to the launching of the Soviet Nuclear Submarine Red October with Captain Marko Ramius, as played by Sean Connery, as the ship’s captain. We learn that Ramius’ wife has died a year before the launching of the submarine, and that Ramius has chosen a crew of single men with a crew loyal to him with the political agenda of seeing this new creation for making war kept from the hands of the leadership of the USSR.
(Courtney B. Vance as Seaman Ronald ‘Jonesy’ Jones in the movie The Hunt For Red October).
A sonar expert aboard the USS Dallas named Seaman Ronald ‘Jonesy’ Jones, as played by Courtney B. Vance, gives USS Dallas Captain Bart Mancuso the first ability to track the Red October. Scott Glenn portrays Bart Mancuso. At the initial point of contact, neither man understands neither the significance of the capabilities of Red October nor the intention of the ship’s crew to defect. Something even more significant further eludes them.
(From left, Alec Baldwin as CIA Analyst and former Marine Jack Ryan and James Earl Jones as CIA Deputy Director and Admiral James Greer in the movie The Hunt For Red October).
It is the combination of CIA Deputy Director Admiral James Greer and CIA Analyst / former Marine turned stock analyst Jack Ryan that discover hints of the larger stakes underpinning the defection. James Earl Jones plays Greer, the boss to Ryan as played by Alec Baldwin. The Soviets were quicker to determine the intent of the crew of the Red October, so they have sent the naval fleet of the Soviet Union to sink the boat that launched to start the movie. Sam Neill as Red October Captain and second in command Vasili Borodin serves Ramius in an important role through the course of the film.
(Sam Neill as Red October Captain Vasili Borodin in the movie The Hunt For Red October).
An appealing and redeeming quality of the film The Hunt for Red October was that the movie kept largely to the story of the source novel from which it was drawn. Larry Ferguson, Donald E. Stewart, and David Shaber wrote the screenplay that called for roles for Fred Thompson, Tim Curry and others of note in crafting what worked as a story. The intrigue of the story coupled with the quality unfolding of the intrigue make this a movie that I can watch again and again. The film The Hunt for Red October scores a 4-star rating on a scale of one-to-five from my corner.
Matt – Saturday, May 23, 2020
Matt Lynn Digital 