When the Soviet Union dismantled Communism in late 1989, it naturally had worldwide repurcussions. As we all know, it also had quite an effect on movies and novels. For during the Cold War, spy fiction emerged as a growing genre, either in the form of escapism (the James Bond movies and novels) or seriousness (John Le Carre's novels, particularly THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD, along with the resulting movie). So, in 1990, when THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER came out, the Cold War was pretty much over, so the studio, Paramount, marketed it as a period piece (granted, that "period" was 1984 or so, but still). That shrewd strategy, the fact it was meant as entertainment, plus the box office drawing power of Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, and Tom Clancy, whose novel the movie was based on, helped make it a hit. Sadly, when THE RUSSIA HOUSE, another post-Cold War movie - this one adapted from le Carre's post-Cold War novel - came out, even the drawing power of Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer couldn't bring people, because the subject seemed like old news. But both films, along with having the irony of having the original 007, Connery, as their stars, are worth seeing.
In the case of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, this is sometimes in spite of itself. As with the novel, the story of the movie is very simple. Captain Marko Ramius (Connery) is the commander of a new Soviet nuclear submarine called the Red October, equipped with a new "catterpillar" drive which, in essence, makes it silent and undetectable. As one military type puts it, they could park outside of D.C., and no one would know. Ramius is planning to go to the U.S., but not for that reason. He and his officers (excluding political officer Ivan Putin (Peter Firth), whom Ramius kills) are planning to defect to America. Naturally, the Soviets go after him, and try to convince the Americans Ramius is a madman about to declare war on the U.S. The Americans seem all too willing to believe this (or, of course, that Ramius is acting under orders) except for Jack Ryan (Baldwin).
Ryan, Clancy's hero in several novels, is a CIA analyst. He was the one who first brought news of the catterpillar drive to Washington, he's a naval historian, and he has several hunches which lead him to believe Ramius might want to defect (he handpicked his officers, the day of the voyage is the anniversary of his wife's death, he's been regarded as a maverick). National Security Advisor Jeffrey Pelt (Richard Jordan) isn't sure Ryan's right, but he's willing to give him a chance. So Ryan gets sent to an aircraft carrier, and then to a submarine which, by chance and the sharp ears of Seaman Jones (Courtney B. Vance), its sonar operator, has been tracking Red October, the U.S. Dallas. Its commander, Bart Mancuso (Scott Glenn), is even more skeptical than Pelt was, but when Ryan is able to accurately predict one of Ramius' moves, he reluctantly agrees. So, the movie becomes a race against time. Will Ryan and the Americans, or the Soviets, get to Ramius first?
