The Hunt for Red October

Easily the best adaptation of any Tom Clancy novel, 1990's The Hunt for Red October starred Sean Connery as defecting Russian sumbarine captain Marko Ramius and Alec Baldwin as CIA analyst Jack Ryan who sniffs out the truth and finds himself thrown into the field to bring Ramius in before the United States or the Russians (claiming Ramius plans to fire his missiles on U.S.) can sink the stealth prototype submarine the Red October.

Directed by John McTiernan and adapted by Larry Ferguson and Donald E. Stewart, The Hunt for Red October offers a tense thriller with clever methods to move the Russians from speaking Russian to English and back again limiting the need of subtitles (still a hard sell in 1990 for most mainstream films). Cutting between the Russian submarine, the American submarine tracking her, and Ryan from his initial trip to the White House to eventually boarding the Red October in the film's final act, there's enough variety to never get bored in any one setting (even given the physical limitations of the submarines) while capturing the looming threat of Cold War tensions always bubbling under the surface.

There are several great pieces here including the cat-and-mouse game of the American and Russian subs, Ryan's struggle to prove his theory and help bring in Ramius, and the late introduction of Stellan Skarsgård as a Russian submarine captain who (along with the spy aboard the Red October) throws chaos into the best laid plans leading to a great final act forcing old enemies to trust each other in order to survive.

Also featuring Scott Glenn, Tim Curry, James Earl Jones, and Sam Neill in supporting roles, the film was a huge box office success, becoming the fifth-highest grossing film in the United States in a year that also included Ghost, Pretty Woman, and Home Alone (although it received a mixed response from some critics who found the story hard to follow). The film would only take home one Academy Award (for sound editing), but became an instant classic that has stayed in print on home video from VHS to 4K and can also be found on a variety of streaming platforms.

The film introduced Clancy's thinking man's hero to movie audiences. Harrison Ford, who the studio originally wanted for the role, replaced Baldwin in the next two sequels which, whether from the recasting or simply weaker scripts, don't ever reach the heights of this film. Ben Affleck and Chris Pine would also take on the role for a single film each (with Pine's acting as an underrated origin story for the character), and John Krasinski most recently played the titular character in the Amazon series. The Hunt for Red October set the standard which still has yet to be matched.

• Title: The Hunt for Red October
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