Customer Reviews

The Hunt for Red October (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(189)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(24)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

This great movie was previously only available on DVD as a "bare-bones" edition -- a non-anamorphic presentation of the movie, with only a trailer and no real extras. But with this release, the film finally gets the Special Edition treatment!

The special features for this disc will reportedly include a new anamorphic transfer, both a Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track AND a DTS 5.1 sound track, an audio commentary by director John McTiernan, a "Beneath the Surface" featurette (new interviews with Alec Baldwin, James Earl Jones, screenwriter Larry Ferguson and producer Mace Neufeld) and the theatrical trailer. Not TONS in the way of extras, but certainly a lot more than what was on the previous edition.

And for you Tom Clancy fans, Paramount has also announced "The Jack Ryan Special Edition DVD Collection" for release on the same day this disc is released, May 6th. The box set will include the new Special Editions of "The Hunt for Red October", "Patriot Games", "Clear and Present Danger", and "The Sum Of All Fears"... each with new bonus material, new anamorphic transfers and both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 sound. (The movies will be available separately as well as in the 4-disc box set.)

As for my review of "Hunt For Red October":

Personally... and I'm sure that Harrison Ford fans will lambast me for this... I think that Alec Baldwin made the best Jack Ryan in the series. At least, he fit my own personalized vision of the character as I was reading the book better than Ford did. "The Hunt For Red October" is also far and away the best movie based on a Tom Clancy book and follows the SPIRIT of the book more closely than any of the others. Sure, they took some liberties with the details of the story, but they got the broad strokes absolutely dead-on correct. What movie based on a thick, highly technical, politically complex book could possibly match it exactly scene for scene???

One of the thrilling things for me when I watch this film is seeing INTELLIGENT characters actually THINKING their way through problems. There are political, personal and technical issues that many of the characters are forced to deal with, and it is a joy to watch -- for example -- Alec Baldwin's Jack Ryan using his MIND and not his fists to get into and out of situations. This movie is defenitely a thinking man's action film.

But that is not to say that this isn't an exciting movie with lots of plot twists, and some of the best submarine battles ever put into a movie. And to top all that off, you get Sean Connery AND the underrated Sam Neil as the "villains", and James Earl Jones in a superb supporting role. This is also directed by one of the best action-film directors working today, John "Die Hard" McTiernan (although I don't know WHAT he was thinking with the "Rollerball" remake). What more could you want in an action film?

SOME TRIVIA: Star Trek fans take note, that is Gates (Dr. Beverly Crusher) McFadden in a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo role as Jack Ryan's wife at the beginning of the movie. ... People in and around Portland, Oregon may be interested to know that the "Russian" submarine that breaches the water towards the end of the film is actually an American submarine called the USS Blueback which is retired and on permanent display for public tours at OMSI, the Portland science building.

The Hunt for Red October is my favorite movie of all time, bar none. It's the kind of movie you can watch over and over.. I've probably watched it a couple of dozen times over the years, first on VHS, then DVD, now on BD. Mind you, I'm not in the habit of re-purchasing titles, but in this case, I made an exception.

The picture is the best I've seen for a film of this vintage. It's not up to the quality of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, but it is a film that's nearly 20 years old. All that said, there is a noticeable improvement over my copy on DVD.

The audio was remastered in Dolby TrueHD 5.1, and is utterly stunning. Good thing my wife & kids are out of town tonight, because I'd be in trouble if they were here -- the sound's so good, I've got the shades drawn and the sound turned up, we're going movie-theater style here.

Don't expect a gaggle of extras here, just expect a great copy of the film with fantastic audio.

I won't bother reviewing the movie, as there are plenty of reviews here that emphasize the movie itself. What I want to make clear here is that the quality of the DVD transfer and sound is totally unacceptable. The transfer is grainy, unsaturated, has horrible black levels, and perhaps worst of all, has insane compression artifacts. Top that off with the fatc that it's NON anamorphic, and you're in for a miserable experience.

The studio is about to release a second edition, which I was looking forward to until I saw the stats - it's also non anamorphic, which means it's probably the same, rotten transfer. Until they remaster this movie, stay clear...

I really enjoyed this movie when I saw it in the theater, and it still holds up well after all these years. A cold war thriller. What happens when a state of the art russian submarine goes streaking for the United States with the entire russian fleet trailing it? I thought the movie was very true to the book. Alec Baldwin's performance was excellent. He fits the character of Jack RYan much better than Harrison Ford does in the later films.

As for the DVD, this is a strictly second rate production. Other reviews mention the flaws: there is an annoying pause as the DVD changes layers; the print is clearly second rate and is more of VCR type quality, you can see dust and flaws on the original; there are no real extras except for the trailer. In terms of DVD quality, this one was a real disappointment. However, the sound quality is excellent.

Bottom line: if you enjoyed this movie then the DVD may be worth adding to your collection. If you're not totally in love with the film then the second rate production on this DVD are enough that you will want to pass. I'd give the movie 4 stars but the DVD 2 stars for an overall rating of 3. Hopefully they will remaster it in a special edition with more features and higher quality production.

It is obvious that Paramount's late entry into the DVD format and lack of support shows on this movie. It is not anamorphic transfer but a second generation print used for making VHS tapes..hence the poor video and dust specks. Sound is also lacking it's depth of realism though it is Dolby. I have also noticed a "pause" when the layer change occurs. This seems to be common on all of their releases thus far and hope that they would take a second look at their quality -vs- the demand by the public for DVD titles. The $29.95 MSRP for the movie is NOT worth it's features or quality and unless you can find it on sale somewhere, would pass on it until Paramount can become serious with their DVD's.

Thought is was nice in DVD, but then decided to take a chance on Bluray.
What a difference. Not in the habit of upgrading a DVD, but now that I've seen and heard the difference that BD makes, I'll be replacing several of my old DVD versions. Just a classic that belongs in anyone's inventory.

This is a great movie but the movie lacks any special features and looks really bad. You might as well save your money and get the VHS version,

I love the movie and it's in my top-ten list. The quality of the cast is unbelievable and it has an amazing sense of rythm. However, after using the VHS version quite a few times, I have to say that the DVD image quality (especially color) is worse than the tape. Muddy images, horrible flesh tones . I was not too excited about the audio either. Don't waste the money on the DVD, buy the VHS.

"The Hunt for Red October" is an absolutely great adaptation of one of the best novels ever written. The producer's of this movie took Tom Clancy's masterpiece and made one of the best military action movies ever. While they didn't stick to the novel perfectly, that's no big deal, it's still a great movie. Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin and the rest of the cast performed admirably. Although later films have Harrison Ford and now Ben Afleck in the role of Jack Ryan, to me, Alec Baldwin epitomized Jack Ryan. Sean Connery turned down the role of Sybok in Star Trek V to do this role, clearly a no brainer there. I would recommend this DVD to anybody. I would also recommend the book.

Now this is a movie worth watching. "The Hunt for Red October" has such a superb casting with actors Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones, Richard Jordan, Joss Ackland, and more.

Under the command of Captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery), a technologically superior Soviet nuclear sub, the "Red October", is heading for the U.S. coast. When the American government hears this, they immediately jump to the conclusion that the Russians are planning to attack the United States. But then strangely enough, they find out that the entire Russian naval and air commands are trying to find the "Red October": there orders, to sink the submarine! The Americans are told that they think that Ramius is mad and that he's going to shoot nuclear missiles into America so of course, the American government agrees to help the Soviet hunt the "Red October" to stop him. But a lone CIA analyst, Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin), has a different idea that he thinks that Ramius is planning to defect but he has only a little time to be able to prove it with the reluctant help of Cammander Bart Mancuso (Scott Glenn). The hunt is on!!

On my list of favorite movies ever, "The Hunt for Red October" measures up to such submarine movies such as "Run Silent, Run Deep" with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster and "U-571" with Matthew McConaughey. This movie is based on Tom Clancy's bestseller and you have to admit, he was a genius in writing this story.

I love the acting done by not only Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin, but also of Sam Neill as Vasily Borodin, Scott Glenn as the Commander, and naturally James Earl Jones as Admiral James Greer. My favorite parts are probably the very last 40 minutes (of which I won't tell what happens because I don't want to give anything away to anyone who hasn't watched this movie yet) and the parts where National Security Advisotor Jeffrey Pelt (Richard Jordan) and Amabassador Andrei Lysenko (Joss Ackland) and talkint to each other. And the whole movie has very subtle humor which I like.

Watch "The Hunt for Red October" and if you like it, I also recommend other submarine movies such as "Run Silent, Run Deep" and "U-571".