THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER: 4K Blu-ray Steelbook reissue (Paramount, 1990) Paramount Home Video
The Hunt for Red October (1990) was the
first of Clancy’s novels to be reincarnated for the movies. Director, John
McTiernan helms this impressively mounted super-production that, despite its
‘dated’ cold war themes, continues to hold up spectacularly well under today’s
scrutiny. Alec Baldwin, then very much considered the hottie du jour after
fitful starts in 1987’s Forever Lulu, and supporting work in 1988’s Beetlejuice
and Working Girl, was officially launched as a leading man with this movie.
Alas, Baldwin’s performance, at least in retrospect, is more than a little ‘wet
behind the ears’, his take on Clancy’s CIA analyst come reticent man of
action, not altogether successful at playing upon Clancy’s own impressions of
Ryan as the proverbial fish out of water. It is important to remember Jack Ryan
is not an action star cut from the same cloth as a John Rambo; the uniqueness
of Clancy’s take on heroism, as just a man whose split-second insight makes
crucial contributions without guns blazing, allows the rest of McTiernan’s
ensemble to truly shine. Perhaps, to counterbalance audiences’ expectations for
the traditional actioner, we get Sean Connery as Marko Aleksandrovich Ramius, a
crusty commander of this Russian nuclear sub (a part originally filled by Klaus
Maria Brandauer, who inexplicably withdrew at the last possible moment, citing
a conflict of commitments). Connery, whose reputation as James Bond has subsequently
colored our impressions of all other big screen representations he has assumed,
drew inspiration from Connery’s own previous military service in the Royal Navy.
Recognizing the novel’s potential while it was still
in galleys, producer, Mace Neufeld optioned The Hunt for Red October all
the way back in 1985. Alas, convincing any studio to partake of his ambitious
plans to bring it to the screen proved daunting to downright impossible, the
rights to Clancy’s book languishing under Neufeld’s control for several years
thereafter. It seemed no one except Neufeld could see the blockbuster potential
until Paramount Pictures very reluctantly agreed to develop it, hiring
screenwriters, Larry Ferguson and Donald Stewart. Later, at McTiernan’s
request, their work would be heavily rewritten by filmmaker, John Milius. The
U.S. Military’s concerns over leaked classified information and/or technology,
offset by several admirals who, apart from having the deepest admiration for
Clancy’s novel, thought a picture based on it might do for submariners what Top
Gun (1986) had for jet fighter pilots. To this end, Neufeld was granted
restricted access to two subs; the Chicago and Portsmouth, expertly
rechristened in Terence Marsh’s production design as the fictional ‘Red
October’. As filming within the confined quarters of a real sub was virtually
impossible, five Paramount sound stages were converted into claustrophobic
mock-ups of the Red October and its American counterpoint, the Dallas, cramming
62 cast and production crew into close quarters, mounted onto hydraulic gimbals
to tilt at 45-degree angles, convincingly simulating underwater movement.
To avoid a Soviet/U.S. brouhaha over Mikhail
Gorbachev’s then newly minted perestroika, the movie positions itself in Nov.
1984 (the waning bad ole days of the Cold War). We meet Soviet Captain Marko
Ramius (Sean Connery with a laughable Russian accent), commander of the Red
October, a Typhoon-class nuclear missile submarine with a stealth caterpillar
drive to render it moot to sonar detection. Ramius departs to conduct maneuvers
with the attack sub, V. K. Konovalov, commanded by his former student, Captain
Tupolev (Stellan Skarsgård). However, once at sea, Ramius murders political
hack, Ivan Putin (Peter Firth) and relays false orders to the crew, they are on
a collision course to conduct missile drills off America’s east coast. In
Washington, CIA analyst and ex-marine, Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) addresses the
joint commanders on Red October’s threat. Vice Admiral James Greer’s (James
Earl Jones) inquisitive faith in Ryan’s clairvoyant abilities to cut through
all the cloak and dagger is unassailable.
While the military fret over Ramius’ plans for an unauthorized nuclear
strike, Ryan wisely deduces Ramius very likely plans to defect. Intrigued by
Ryan’s hypothesis, National Security Advisor, Dr. Jeffrey Pelt (Richard Jordan)
sets up a rendezvous between Ryan and the navy in the Atlantic.
The wily Tupolev anticipates Ramius’ route and plots a
course to intercept and sink the Red October. Aboard the sub, an unknown
miscreant sabotages the caterpillar drive, allowing Petty Officer Jones
(Courtney B. Vance), a sonar technician aboard the USS Dallas to detect Red
October. Meanwhile, Ryan stages a highly dangerous mid-ocean rendezvous with
the Dallas. He implores Commander, Bart Mancuso (Scott Glenn) to contact Ramius
and determine his true intentions. Perhaps, already identifying the fallout
from Ramius’ defection, Soviet Ambassador Andrei Lysenko (Josh Ackland)
suggests Ramius is a renegade who must be stopped at all costs. The order to
sink the Red October is given. But Ryan has been successful in convincing
Mancuso the Russians want to defect – not attack. Mancuso offers Ramius and his
men full support and Ramius, pleasantly surprised, accepts their aid. To throw
his comrades off his scent, Ramius stages a false nuclear reactor emergency and
orders his men to abandon ship.
With only his officers left aboard, Ramius submerges
the Red October. Ryan, Mancuso, and Jones board her via a rescue sub and Ramius
requests asylum. Red October is engaged in a surprise attack by the V. K.
Konovalov. In all the ensuing chaos, the sub’s cook, Loginov (Tomas Arana) is
revealed as the saboteur, an undercover GRU agent who fatally shoots First
Officer Vasily Borodin (Sam Neill) and wounds Ramius. Ryan retaliates, killing
Loginov before he can detonate one of Red October’s nuclear missiles.
Skillfully, Ramius stages a series of evasive maneuvers that cause the V. K.
Konovalov to be destroyed by its own torpedoes. Ryan and Ramius steer the Red
October to Maine as Ramius confesses he could not support his initial directive
of a first strike on the United States. As the Red October resurfaces, Ramius
breathes a sigh of relief and Ryan, whimsically welcomes Ramius to his adopted
country, quoting Christopher Columbus, “Welcome to the New World, sir.”
Despite its high stakes’ drama, overall The Hunt
for Red October is a bit of a snooze. I have to admit, McTiernan’s glacial
pace in storytelling was a problem for me in 1990 and remains thus in 2020. Do
not misunderstand. I sincerely enjoy a well thought out and evenly paced
narrative. But this one just seems interminably to elongate before getting to
the good stuff. While McTiernan excels in his visual storytelling, the plot
never develops that prerequisite escalation for thrills. Alec Baldwin is
another hurdle to overcome; Baldwin, then, too hung up on his newfound status
as a ‘leading man’ to actually convince, either as the book-wormish
system analyst or doting father and ‘common man’ who finds himself in
these extraordinary circumstances. One gets the distinct sense Baldwin just
wants to break out, hoping against hope for a flashier John McClaine-styled
part a la Bruce Willis’ Die Hard (1988). As this never happens, Baldwin
does his level best to oraculate the technical aspects of the plot. He is given
a lot of exposition on sub-building and does a fairly credible job of
distilling specs and blueprints into engaging enough dialogue. But on the
whole, he never quite sheds the image of an overindulgent ‘pretty boy’ better
suited to be ogling starlets, poolside at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Despite its
shortcomings, The Hunt for Red October was a hit, grossing $200 million
on a relatively restrained budget of $30 million. That Alec Baldwin did not
reprise his role in subsequent films based on Tom Clancy’s novels is generally
attributed to Baldwin’s prior commitments on Broadway’s revival of A
Streetcar Named Desire. However, more recently, Baldwin has made the claim
he deliberately withdrew from participation due to ‘sleazy Hollywood tools’
– whatever that means.
We should point out that this ‘new’ steel book
incarnation of The Hunt for Red October is identical to the disc featured
in the Jack Ryan Collector’s Set, released by Paramount almost a year
ago. So, for those looking for improvements and added content – think again. If
you already own this, there is no point to this re-purchase. The Hunt for
Red October was shot on 35mm anamorphic 2.35:1 Panavision, remastered in
full native 4K and colored graded in both HDR10 and Dolby Vision. Cinematographer,
Jan de Bont shot this one dark. The image is not as refined as one might
anticipate, but overall, it advances predictably. HDR has enriched the darkest portions
of the frame as well as augmenting the highlights. The color palette – distinctly
muted – also achieves subtler nuances. We
get an English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD surround mix that retains the big wide
sound stage foley with pristine dialogue and solid spatiality in its music cues.
The only extras on the 4K disc is the same audio commentary from director, John
McTiernan. Mercifully, you also get the original Blu-ray, and this includes the
half-hour featurette, Beneath the Surface – a ‘making of’, plus an original
theatrical trailer and digital copy on a paper insert. Bottom line: I was never
entirely a fan of The Hunt for Red October, preferring the subsequent
Harrison Ford outings as Jack Ryan instead. This one is for those who do not
already own the comprehensive Jack Ryan Collector’s Set. Others can sincerely
pass.
FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
3.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
4.5
EXTRAS
1
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