Tom Clancy Week: The Hunt for Red October

Welcome you wild and zany kids to Tom Clancy Week as we look at the various films adapted from his novels and I thought we best showcase one of the most successful if not a few liberties taken with it. Enjoyable yes but a bit over the top given it is an A-list Hollywood production with of all things an action adventures director.  Will the suspense stay intact or will it blast all the windows in the Nakatomi Plaza?  Grab some popcorn and a soda and don’t miss a single cel on the screen.  This is The Hunt for Red October.

 

In Russia, submarine stalks you.

Captain Ramius: We will pass through the American patrols, past their sonar nets, and lay off their largest spoiler, and listen to their rock and roll…while we conduct missile drills.

In 1984, Tom Clancy wrote The Hunt for Red October, a story interlacing a Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius and a CIA analyst Jack Ryan.  The behemoth Typhoon-class submarine weighing in at 32 tons can with a water displacement rendering sonar capture completely inert.  What does that mean for us civvies?  Well folks, that means you have a missile platform lobbing nuclear warheads at all your major cities before we have even a heads up to it.    Captain Raimius (Sean Connery of Dr. No, Marnie, The Anderson Tapes, Outland and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade) is entrusted with a floating death machine that makes very little to no noise in the waters which is one giant missile battery.  Make no mistake about this folks; this is a death dealer plain and simple.  Little does the Soviet Navy realize that Raimius plans to defect and bring the Red October in as a peace offering to the States giving him and his ranking officers a bit of freedom.  

Boy with the success of this movie, The Shadow will be marvelous.

CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin of Knots Landing, Beetlejuice, Miami Blues, The Edge, Clerks Animated Series and The Cooler) briefs (then pants) the government brass on the departure of this killer, quiet submarine and with great detail explains the unbridled threat it poses as the Soviet Navy deploys it.  The chatter is the Soviet Navy fears Raimius plays a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the US.  Ryan pitches the idea that Raimius plans to defect. And as he is the cubicle nerd he is scoffed at by a high ranking Admiral and Ryan retaliates with meeting this Soviet Commander before and knows how the man thinks and that he is well to listen to his worries.

 Ambassador Pelt (Richard Jordan of Logan’s Run, Dune, The Mean Season and Gettysburg) sits in on this meeting giving Ryan the leverage to seek out Raimius before the US Navy sinks them.  With that the clock is ticking on which armada will sink the Red October or will total annihilation occurs.

 

I'm in a sub! In a sub! In a mother f*&%ing sub!

I have just a few comments about this film now.  Director John McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard, Medicine Man, Last Action Hero and The 13^th Warrior) managed to pull off a thriller with his rough and tumble action adventures background, from decent crane shots, to low angle zooms the film captivates the audience with energy but also keeps the intensity of the suspense as well.