The wild hunt

 

“The Hunt for Red October” is a 1990 film starring Sean Connery as a rogue Soviet submarine captain. It´s based on a novel by Tom Clancy. One of the protagonists of the story, Jack Ryan, is probably based on Clancy himself. How freely I can´t say!

I don´t think the film is *that* good or interesting, but Sean Connery can make any film – no matter how awful – into a treat. Also, “The Hunt for Red October” does have a Cold War feel that makes me almost nostalgic. And yes, the Cold War stereotypes of Russians (Communist or anti-Communist) are very Hollywood-esque and frankly ridiculous, but that simply adds to the nostalgia.

The rogue captain, named Marko Ramius, is said to be Lithuanian and decides to abscond to the United States when realizing that the Soviets are developing a new class of submarines that are almost impossible to detect by sonar. Not suspecting that Ramius and some of his officers are traitors, the Soviet fleet puts *them* in charge of the prototype, named Red October. Ramius then decides to make a daring escape to America in the actual submarine. In the process, he kills a political commissar actually named Putin! 

Naturally, the Soviet Red Fleet isn´t amused and goes after him, while Soviet diplomats tell the US leadership that Ramius has gone insane and wants to nuke America. Unfortunately for the evil Reds, CIA analyst Jack Ryan has met Ramius on a previous occasion and suspects him of being a covert anti-Communist. Ryan convinces a sleezy Washington operative to give him three days to find out the truth about the captain´s intentions. Several major plot holes later, the Americans realize that Ramius is really on their side, while the Russians are still in hot pursuit…

As I said, not exactly a deep philosophy lecture, but could perhaps be splendidly devoured on a rainy autumn evening. Should perhaps be watched together with the documentary “The Real Hunt for Red October”, reviewed by me elsewhere on this blog.

The real hunt for "Red October"