The Hunt for Red October (film)

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The Hunt for Red October

Theatrical poster
Directed by John McTiernan
Produced by Mace Neufeld
Written by Tom Clancy (novel The Hunt for Red October)
Larry Ferguson
Donald Stewart
Starring Sean Connery
Alec Baldwin
Scott Glenn
Sam Neill
James Earl Jones
Music by Basil Poledouris
Cinematography Jan de Bont
Editing by Dennis Virkler
John Wright
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) March 2, 1990
Running time 134 minutes
Country USA
Language English
Budget $30,000,000 (estimated)
Gross revenue $200,512,643 (Worldwide)
Followed by Patriot Games
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

The Hunt for Red October is a 1990 film based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Tom Clancy. It was directed by John McTiernan and starred Sean Connery as Captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. Despite the book's best seller status, no Hollywood studio was interested in making it into a film because of its content. After one and half years, a high-level executive at Paramount Pictures read Clancy’s novel and agreed to develop it into a movie. The United States Navy was initially reluctant to lend their support because of the fear that top secret information or technology might be revealed but many of the admirals were fans of the book and reasoned that the film could do for submariners what Top Gun (also from Paramount) did for the Navy’s jet fighter pilots.

The Hunt for Red October received negative critical reviews from many major publications upon its theatrical release but was one of the top grossing movies of the year, grossing $122 million in North America and $200 million worldwide. The film won the Academy Award for Sound Editing in 1991.

Contents

[edit] Synopsis

Marko Ramius, a Lithuanian, is captain of the Soviet Union's newest ballistic missile submarine, the Red October, equipped with a revolutionary silent propulsion system known as a caterpillar drive. At the start of the movie, he is shown taking the boat out to sea, ostensibly for its first exercise with other units of the Russian Fleet. The captain, however, has another plan—to navigate the submarine to the coast of America in order to defect.

To achieve this, he must murder his political officer, who alone amongst his officers was not hand-picked in support of this action. After this is done, he reads substitute orders to his crew to support the mission, and begins his long journey. He is at first discovered and tracked by the USS Dallas, an American attack submarine, but upon activation of the caterpillar drive he is able to break away. Meanwhile, Soviet authorities read a letter posted by Ramius prior to his departure, announcing his intention to defect. The Soviet Navy immediately puts to sea to locate and sink the Red October. This causes a stir in Washington D.C. when the activity triggers a reciprocal deployment of U.S. assets, as Russian intentions are unclear.

At this point, CIA analyst Jack Ryan, who had been researching the submarine as a project, puts forth the proposition that Ramius may be defecting with the Red October. The President's National Security Advisor, Jeffrey Pelt (Richard Jordan), suggests that Ryan go to the North Atlantic Fleet and somehow make contact with the submarine before the U.S. is forced to sink it as a rogue threat. At various points throughout the film, Pelt is conversing with the Soviet ambassador (Joss Ackland), who first requests American assistance to locate the Red October, and in a subsequent meeting, is instructed to ask the President to help them find the sub and destroy it, falsely claiming that Ramius' letter declared his intention to attack the United States on his own authority. Meanwhile, Red October is moving through an underwater canyon when its silent drive suddenly fails; Ramius realizes that there is a saboteur onboard and must move up his original plans.

Ryan, who has arrived on the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the North Atlantic, is greeted with less than enthusiasm by the ship's captain (Daniel Davis), at least partly because, despite being a civilian, he is wearing a naval officer's uniform (at the request of the CIA director). The naval task force commander, Rear Admiral Painter (Fred Thompson), overrides the captain's objections, remarking that Ryan had been a Marine officer and a Naval Academy graduate before service-related injuries forced his medical retirement. Acceding to Ryan's request to be delivered to the attack submarine USS Dallas, which has been tracking the submarine, they put him on a helicopter which takes him to its location.

After surviving an attack from Soviet Naval Aviation, the Red October finishes its journey through the underwater canyon, where the USS Dallas, through the efforts of a diligent SONAR operator, Ronald "Jonesey" Jones (Courtney B. Vance), locates it again. The arrival of Ryan forces them to break contact with the sub, whose officers have meanwhile deduced that the Dallas had indeed found the characteristic signature of the Red October's drive, and was able to locate her.

Ryan convinces the Captain of the Dallas, Bart Mancuso (Glenn), to make contact with the Red October to facilitate the defection.

The plan goes as follows: Ramius and his Chief Engineer stage a false reactor overload to force the vessel to surface (which Ryan already predicted he would do) and as Red October surfaces it is confronted by a Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate, and sent a morse-code message via signal lamp not to submerge, or be fired upon. Ramius keeps only the officers loyal to him on Red October, and orders the rest of the crew off, claiming that he and the officers are going to scuttle the ship, rather than let it fall into the hands of the US. Consistent with the charade, an SH-60 Seahawk helicopter launched from the frigate fires a torpedo towards the Red October, but Admiral Greer, on board the frigate, detonates the torpedo before it hits the submarine.

Ryan, Mancuso and Jonesey travel to the Red October via a DSRV and offer any support they can provide. Once Ramius realizes that he can trust them, he formally requests asylum to the United States of America, which Mancuso grants.

All goes well until Soviet torpedoes are heard in the water, from the Soviet attack submarine V.K. Konovalov that has also found the Red October. After the first torpedo is fired upon the Red October, Ramius orders Ryan to steer the ship directly into the torpedo's path. Everyone else insists that Ryan not do so, but Ryan reluctantly complies. When the torpedo hits the hull, it breaks apart without detonating, and it is finally realized on both sides that the maneuver was a tactic to close the gap before the torpedo had a chance to arm. Ryan believes it's over; however, Ramius knows that the captain of the Konovalov will soon fire another torpedo, this time with all safety mechanisms deactivated.

Concurrently, the saboteur planted by the KGB or GRU, an enlisted member of the crew, ostensibly a cook, reveals himself by shooting at the captain, missing and instead fatally wounding the executive officer, Vasily Borodin (Sam Neill). Ryan and Ramius go after the cook, while Mancuso takes command of the Red October to deal with the external threat. As Ramius predicted, the Konovalov fires another torpedo which arms at launch. While chasing the cook, Ramius is shot and injured leaving Ryan to search for him in the submarine's missile bay. As the cook attempts to (and nearly does) detonate one of the missiles, he is gunned down by Ryan. Meanwhile, USS Dallas and Red October make a series of evasive maneuvers, causing the torpedo (with safeties disabled) to target the Konovalov instead and destroy it. The crew of the Red October who had evacuated and were on board a US Navy rescue ship witnessed the explosion and believed it to be the Red October that had been destroyed. Ultimately the submarine finds haven in the Penobscot River in Maine, and Ryan flies home with a teddy bear that he had promised for his daughter.

[edit] Differences between the book and film

While the film plot is largely the same as that of the novel, there are several differences worth noting.

In the film, the order of many events has been changed from that of the book. Certain events found in the book have been removed completely. Most notable of these deletions is the involvement of the Royal Navy, which is heavily involved in the search for Red October. Also gone is the demise of the Politovsky, a Russian Alfa class submarine, which sinks after a reactor accident while looking for Red October.

Ramius' motivation for defecting in the film has much less significance than in the novel. The book tells of Ramius' desire for justice over the death of his wife, who died after suffering from appendicitis, having received inadequate treatment from the state-run health care system and from a doctor within it who had been drinking. The doctor, through personal connections to high party officials, was able to escape punishment, thus leading to Ramius' determination to punish the Socialist system as a whole. The film contains little or no mention of this background, and in the final scene, when asked why he defected, Ramius' reply suggests that his reason was simply the fact that a first strike vessel such as Red October was constructed is what prompted him to defect.

The creative thinking of the character Jack Ryan is significantly increased in the film version. While in both the book and the film Ryan does devise the theory of Ramius' intent to defect with the submarine, in the book it is Skip Tyler, a former sub driver, who comes up with the idea of faking a reactor accident on Red October in order to get the crew off.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Memorable Quotes

Putin is reading from a copy of the Holy Bible that belonged to Ramius' deceased wife; Putin reads aloud from the book of Revelation Chapter 16, verses 15 through 17 and also reads a quote by Robert Oppenheimer of an ancient hindu text, apparently notated in the book by Ramius himself. As Putin quickly dies on the floor from his broken neck, Ramius quietly quotes part of John 13:36 saying "where I am going, you cannot follow".

"Jack, next time you get a bright idea, just put it in a memo!" (Ryan to himself as he's about to arrive at the USS Enterprise)

"Be careful what you shoot at---most things in here don't react too well with bullets." (Ramius to Ryan, as Ryan is about to enter the missile room of Red October )

[edit] Production

Producer Mace Neufeld optioned Tom Clancy’s novel after reading the galley proofs in February 1985. Despite the book becoming a best seller, no Hollywood studio was interested because of its content. Neufeld said, “I read some of the reports from the other studios, and the story was too complicated to understand.”[1] After one and half years, he finally got a high-level executive at Paramount Pictures to read Clancy’s novel and agree to develop it into a movie.

Screenwriters Larry Ferguson and Donald Stewart worked on the screenplay while Neufeld approached the United States Navy in order to get their approval. They were initially reluctant because of the fear that top secret information or technology might be revealed. However, several admirals were fans of Clancy’s book and reasoned that the film could do for submariners what Top Gun did for the Navy’s jet fighter pilots.[1] Captain Michael Sherman, director of the Navy’s western regional information office in Los Angeles, suggested changes to the script that would make the Navy look good.[2]

The Navy gave the filmmakers unprecedented access to their submarines, allowing them to photograph unclassified sections of USS Chicago and USS Portsmouth to use in set and prop design. Key cast and crew members took rides in subs including Alec Baldwin and Scott Glenn taking an overnight trip on the USS Salt Lake City. Glenn, who played the commander of the USS Dallas, trained for his role by temporarily assuming the identity of a submarine captain on board the USS Houston (which portrayed the USS Dallas in most scenes).[1] The sub's crew all took "orders" from Glenn, who was being prompted by the actual commanding officer.[1] (Glenn does have military experience in real life, as a U.S. Marine.) Alec Baldwin also learned how to steer a Los Angeles-class submarine. Some of the extras portraying the Dallas crew were real-life U.S. Navy submariners, including the pilot of the DSRV, Lieutenant Commander George Billy, the actual commander of the DSRV. The actual submariners cast as extras came from submarines homeported in San Diego after it was determined that it was easier to hire real submariners rather than teach actors to how to "play" submariners. Crew members from the USS La Jolla, including Lt. Mark Draxton, took leave to participate in filming. According to an article about the filming in Sea Classics magazine, at least two sailors from the Atlantic Fleet-based Dallas took leave and participated in the Pacific Fleet-supported filming. The crew of the USS Houston called their month-long filming schedule the "Hunt for Red Ops." During this time the Houston made over 40 emergency surfacing "blows" for rehearsal and for the cameras.[1]

Baldwin was approached to do the film in December 1988 but he was not told for what role. Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer was cast as Soviet sub commander Marko Ramius but two weeks into filming he had to quit due to a prior commitment.[1] The producers quickly faxed a copy of the script to Sean Connery who agreed to do it. He arrived in Los Angeles on a Friday and was supposed to start filming on Monday but he requested a day to rehearse and get into the role.[1]

Estimates for the film’s budget ranged from $30 – 50 million with much it going to the Navy for use of their equipment and personnel. The Navy had lent out the 360-foot long fast-attack USS Houston (which doubled for the USS Dallas), the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier, helicopters, two frigates, and a dry-dock crew.[2]

Filming in actual submarines was deemed impractical and so five soundstages on the Paramount backlot were used. Two 50-foot square platforms housing mock-ups of the Red October and the USS Dallas were built. In addition, they stood atop of two hydraulic gimbals that simulated the sub’s movements. Connery recalled, “It was very claustrophobic. There were 62 people in a very confined space, 45 feet above the stage floor. It got very hot on the sets, and I’m also prone to sea sickness. The set would tilt to 45 degrees. Very disturbing.”[2] The veteran actor shot for four weeks and the rest of the production shot for additional months on location in Port Angeles, Washington to the waters off Los Angeles.[2]

To keep the audience oriented, each country's submarine had its own background color scheme: Soviet submarines, such as the Red October and Konovalov, had interiors done in black with silver trim. American ships, such as the Dallas and the aircraft carrier Enterprise, had gray interiors (although during one scene when the Dallas goes to alert status, it is flooded with red light).

Early filming was done aboard the USS Reuben James in the area of the Straits of San Juan De Fuca and Puget Sound (March 1989). The ship operated out of the Coast Guard Station at Port Angeles. The SH-60B detachment from the World Famous Battlecats of HSL-43 operated out of NAS Whidbey Island, after being displaced by the filmcrew.

[edit] Reception

The Hunt for Red October debuted in 1,225 theaters on March 2, 1990, grossing $17 million on its opening weekend, more than half its budget.[3] The film went on to gross $122 million in North America with a worldwide total of $200 million.[3]

The film received negative critical reviews from many major publications upon its theatrical release but was one of the top grossing movies of the year. The Washington Post’s Hal Hinson criticized the film in his review, commenting, “Nothing much happens, at least not onscreen...There isn’t much to look at. When the action sequences finally come, the underwater images are murky and impossible to follow.”[4] Vincent Canby in his review for the New York Times wrote, “Mr. McTiernan is not a subtle director. Punches are pulled constantly. The audience is told by word and soundtrack music when it should fear the worst, though the action on the screen gives the lie to such warnings.”[5] Newsweek’s David Ansen wrote, “But it’s at the gut level that Red October disappoints. This smoother, impressively mounted machine is curiously ungripping. Like an overfilled kettle, it takes far too long to come to a boil.”[6] Roger Ebert, however, called it "a skillful, efficient film that involves us in the clever and deceptive game being played."[7] Nick Schager, for Slant magazine's review, notes, "The Hunt for Red October is a thrilling edge-of-your-seat trifle that has admirably withstood the test of time."[8] Currently, the film has a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Thomas, Bob. "High-Tech Novel Took Five Years to Reach Screen", Associated Press, March 2, 1990. 
  2. ^ a b c d Donohue, Cathryn. "Red October Surfaces as a Movie", Washington Times, March 2, 1990. 
  3. ^ a b "The Hunt for Red October", Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-12-03. 
  4. ^ Hinson, Hal. "Red October: Full Speed Astern", Washington Post, March 2, 1990. 
  5. ^ Canby, Vincent. "Connery as Captain of a Renegade Soviet Sub", New York Times, March 2, 1990. 
  6. ^ Ansen, David. "The Hunt for Red October", Newsweek, March 2, 1990. 
  7. ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Hunt for Red October", Chicago Sun-Times, March 2, 1990. Retrieved on 2007-10-25. 
  8. ^ Schager, Nick. "The Hunt for Red October", Slant, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-10-25. 

[edit] External links

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