This week’s movie is The Hunt for Red October (1990).
The film is the first of four in the Jack Ryan series (based on the Tom Clancy novels), and is a cold war action thriller about the USSR’s top submarine captain, in command of their newest and best sub, who defies orders and sets a course for the USA. Jack Ryan and other CIA analysts try to ascertain whether he is trying to defect or start a war. The film is the last great film from John McTiernan (and the last of the McTiernan quality action trilogy – Predator, Die Hard and this). The film has strong leads in Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin (who is a good Jack Ryan and played it much differently than what most consider the quintessential Jack Ryan in Harrison Ford’s portrayal), while also having a great group of supporting and bit actors – Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Rick Ducommun, Tim Curry, Stellan Skarsgard, and Jeffrey Jones. McTiernan also brought his Die Hard D.P., Jan de Bont, back to shoot the film, while Basil Poledouris (who scored many classic 80s film like RoboCop and Red Dawn) was hired to put music to the film. What makes it great are the performances, the mix of action, tension and spy coolness, and style that McTiernan brought to his early films – humor, action, suspense all melded together to make an entertaining end product. Check out the trailer.
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