Product Details

• Actors: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones
• Directors: John McTiernan
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Russian
• Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: December 7, 1992
• Run Time: 134 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (254 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 0792116887
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #465 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  #1 in	Video > Mystery & Suspense > Mystery & Suspense Masters > Tom Clancy Thrillers
  #1 in	Video > Action & Adventure > Action Stars > Sean Connery
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• This is item 1 in The Jack Ryan Series.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential video

Before Harrison Ford assumed the mantle of playing Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan hero in Patriot Games, Alec Baldwin took a swing at the character in this John McTiernan film and hit one to the fence. If less instantly sympathetic than Ford, Baldwin is in some respects more interesting and nuanced as Ryan, and drawing comparisons between both actors' performances can make for some interesting postmovie discussion. That aside, The Hunt for Red October stands alone as a uniquely exciting adventure with a fantastic costar: Sean Connery as a Russian nuclear submarine captain attempting to defect to the West on his ship. Ryan must figure out his true motives for approaching the U.S. McTiernan (Predator, Die Hard) made an exceptionally handsome movie here with action sequences that really do take one's breath away. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great movie finally gets the Special Edition treatment, February 25, 2003

By	Scott Andrews (Hillsboro, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Hunt for Red October (Special Collector's Edition) (DVD)

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.

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great movie equals poor DVD, November 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hunt for Red October (DVD)

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.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Most things in here don't react well to bullets...", October 17, 2001

By	Priscilla Stafford (Yokohama, Japan) - See all my reviews

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".