Hunt For Red October
Out of all the main characters / franchises to have come out of the rather disposable realms of the espionage / spy novel genre, none have proven to be more durable, popular, or as hard to find believable as one Jack Ryan, a supposed CIA Analyst a.k.a. desk jockey and / or the guy that gives intelligence briefings to the people actually in charge of making decisions on such matters, who invariably gets caught up in the dramatic events that he is evidently analyzing and consulting on to the point that he becomes part of the action itself, usually winding up working hand in hand with military commanders and Special Forces operatives to take down the bad guys firsthand (eventually becoming the U.S. President in the process). As created and conceived by Tom Clancy, the Everyman nature of the character is probably what gives him the most appeal with the generally older, conservative male types who helped Clancy make a fortune for years as a novelist. Becoming a movie franchise was practically a given, starting with this 1990 Cold War adventure that was hampered by the obvious miscasting of Alec Baldwin as Ryan. Giving us a simpering, sniveling interpretation of the character as being somebody always trying to appease the various military officers whom he comes into contact with, Baldwin eschews any pretensions of coming across as a tough guy in his own right and spends much of his screen time pleading with others to believe him and the carefully thought out theories which he comes up with. Fortunately, when it came to this movie being a box office smash, nobody bought a ticket to see Baldwin play Ryan but rather to see top billed Sean Connery essay the role of a legendary Russian submarine captain named Marko Ramius, a guy who has literally hijacked his own sub and charted a course for the American coast to either A) defect to our country or B) launch a surprise nuclear attack on American soil based on some insane urge to bring about the end of all humanity triggered by the recent death of his wife. The Russians of course are claiming the latter, and the Red October ship is certainly the one to do it, boasting advanced, top secret anti sonar technology which would easily allow this one ship to just slip in and wipe out the entire continental United States with almost no warning whatsoever and also stand a very good chance that The Soviet Union would suffer little to no damage from any kind of possible retaliation. But Ryan (who has extensively researched Ramius and had even met him briefly once) has latched onto the defection theory with an iron grip, convinced that The Russians just don’t want their advanced supersub to fall into our hands and hence are trying to get our own navy to hunt it down for them as an enemy combatant. Ryan is right of course, as Connery’s Ramius has already made plans for his impending life in the “new world”, but first he must deal with our military (who mostly believe rabidly that Ramius is planning a nuclear shower) along with his old Russian protégé now commanding his own sub who is looking to take down his mentor not to mention a KGB operative onboard the Red October itself who is trying to sabotage things (and when he finally reveals himself, his grand strategy is to just fire a gun randomly all around the ship hoping to hit something) all before Ryan can finally make contact and get aboard so that everything can be smoothed out. Fortunately, besides Connery and Baldwin, the film is blessed with a pretty heavy duty ensemble cast that helps carry Baldwin through most of his scenes including Scott Glenn, James Earl Jones (playing Admiral Greer whom he would reprise in the sequels alongside Harrison Ford as Ryan), Sam Neill, Joss Ackland as the constantly lying Russian Ambassador, Tim Curry (who like Connery, doesn’t even attempt to do a Russian accent and just talks like he always does), Jeffrey Jones, Fred Dalton Thompson, and Stellan Skarsgard. A pretty impressive lineup, plus the studio had the foresight to hire Die Hard director John McTiernan to helm the proceedings here, bringing a brisk pace to a 135 minute film without ever really slowing down or boring the viewer (which can be a tough job in any movie set on a submarine). The key is in Connery being the star here as Ramius and NOT Baldwin as Ryan, bringing depth, humanity and gravitas to the table even as he is compelled to commit murder in order to preserve his mission on the so called “political officer” of the ship (apparently Communists like to have government officials onboard their vessels who can overrule the commanding officers on sight and make sure that nothing out of hand is going on), gruesomely breaking his neck and then telling Curry’s doctor that it was an accident. Connery carries things extremely well even as the ad campaign played up the entire “psycho Russian captain looks to nuke America all by himself” angle although Connery states early on in the film that both he and his officers only intend to defect (certainly well before Ryan figures that out) so the tension of wondering whether there will be a mushroom cloud ending here (that would be saved for Sum Of All Fears) is negated by the fascinating character study of Connery’s Ramius and the somewhat less threatening aspects of whether or not another sub will blow him out of the water before he can reach his new home. But Connery is up for that challenge and he is ably supported by Neill as his second in command with Glenn’s American submarine skipper also standing out here as well. Eventually, we do get treated to the sight of the American and defecting Russians working together with Connery even putting Glenn in charge of the Red October while he and Ryan go hunt down that pesky KGB saboteur (and Ryan’s whole “unlikely action hero” persona comes into play here). Shortly after, Baldwin’s ego would get blown out of proportion (having never been that big of a star to begin with) and his salary demands for Patriot Games would lead to Harrison Ford taking on the role of Ryan instead (and doing a better job with it even if those later movies were inferior to this one). So, points are awarded for getting the cumbersome Jack Ryan movie franchise off the ground by cleverly NOT making it about Jack Ryan at all but rather instead the infinitely more fascinating legendary Russian sub commander who is likewise played by a legend as well…
8/10