The Hunt for Red October came out 25 years ago this week and it wasn’t always a given that the Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin Cold War thriller would be a blockbuster hit.
Author Tom Clancy had serious trouble getting the book sold in the first place!
Then, there were those casting issues as both lead roles were to be famously played by others. There were also a few names that were in the running that might be quite shocking.
Although those The Hunt for Red October quotes show how impeccable the script was at capturing Clancy’s tense prose, there were issues in post production that could have derailed the film completely.
We celebrate the 25th anniversary of a classic and present 25 things about The Hunt for Red October that maybe you did not know!
Watch The Hunt for Red October online and after checking out our slideshow of fun facts, we bet you’ll look at the Jack Ryan first film a little differently.
Director John McTiernan used the same bear that Jack Ryan takes home at the end of The Hunt for Red October as he does in the hands of Bruce Willis' John McClane at the beginning of Die Hard.
Harrison Ford may have famously followed up Alec Baldwin in the role of Jack Ryan after The Hunt for Red October. But he was the one first offered the role and turned it down for this particular movie because he thought too much of the story focused on Sean Connery’s Russian sub commander Captain Ramius.
Members of Congress and even former spies have wondered how Tom Clancy knew so much about nuclear submarine technology and specific vessels that had come from classified information. The Hunt for Red October book is so spot-on, yet Clancy promises it is just fictional luck.
Clancy tried to get the book published but he was met with a comprehensive “no†from the publishing world. The Naval Institute Press was the big winner as the group that had previously published Clancy’s non-fiction work put the book out. Ronald Reagan read it. Loved it. And the rest was history.
There was more of Cathy Ryan, aka Mrs. Ryan, shot for The Hunt for Red October, but a ton of actress Gates McFadden's scenes were cut in post. They recast the role for the Harrison Ford movie with Anne Archer playing the part and, yes, the part was seriously pumped up.
Getting cut from a film is no easy thing to go through. So these actresses who auditioned to be Cathy Ryan might be glad they didn’t get the part: Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, Sally Field, Jessica Lange and Cher.
When Putin reads bible verses to Captain Ramius, it is from Revelation 16:15-17. And it is quite haunting and truly sets the tone for the film.
The film starts in Russian, but if you notice switches to a point where the Russians are speaking English. Filmmakers chose quite an awesome moment to do that. It is when the character says, “Armageddon.†Then he proceeds in English. That word is the same in both Russian and English.
Director McTiernan was working on The Hunt for Red October, so he wasn’t available to film Die Hard 2, after the success the first film brought him. He did return for Die Hard: With a Vengeance, the third John McClane movie. And if you look really closely in The Hunt for Red October, the motto of the USS Reuben James is “Back with a Vengeance.†The subconscious is an amazing thing, isn’t it?
The Hunt for Red October did not suffer a decline in interest due to a massive change in the political landscape. When the film started shooting, the Cold War was still in effect and, in fact, raging. When it was released in 1990, the Soviet Union had announced the disbanding of the Communist Party. The Berlin Wall would fall, and so too would Eastern Europe as a whole.
Lou Piniella has said that he and his Cincinnati Reds team went and saw the film as a group in 1990 and it served as inspiration for them throughout a season that would end in them being World Series Champs.
The U.S. Navy was fully involved in the filming of The Hunt for Red October. Even though it painted a somewhat chaotic picture of life on a U.S. Navy submarine, they hoped that it would do the same for recruitment that Top Gun had done for Navy fliers.
The U.S. Navy was so proud of the film and saw the inspiration potential in it that they set up recruitment booths at theaters across the country.
Sean Connery wasn’t always going to play the Russian sub leader. The first actor cast in the role is one of our classic faves, Klaus Maria Brandauer. Soon before shooting was set to begin, Brandauer broke his leg. He suggested his good pal who, you know, used to be James Bond… a man who used to fight Russians!
The beginning of the movie finds our location at Heathrow Airport in London. Nope, that's really LAX!
Even Connery first balked at taking the part. When he was faxed the script, the first page didn’t arrive. As it appeared things were changing in the Soviet Union, Connery thought the movie would arrive and be dated. He later found out it was “historical†and took place in 1984. Then, he signed on.
Harrison Ford, and subsequently Alec Baldwin… neither were the first choice to play Jack Ryan. Kevin Costner was first offered the role and turned it down. He would play a part in a Jack Ryan movie as he took a mentoring spy role in the recent reboot, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
At the end of the film Captain Ramius reads a poem that he credits to Christopher Columbus. Given the view of America he has, it is an impeccable choice. One thing, Columbus didn’t write that poem, it was penned by the film’s screenwriter.
Sean Connery didn’t have to wonder what it was like to be in the Navy. He was in the Royal Navy before becoming an actor.
That double-beeping sound of the Red October moving across the USS Dallas’ sonar screen is the same exact sound effect that accompanies Jack Ryan’s EKG in Patriot Games.
After the film was released, the real life crew of the USS Dallas gave itself a new motto, “The hunt is on.â€
Cathy Ryan’s part in the film wasn’t the only thing that was cut. McTiernan fired his first editor when the two clashed over the style.
While Sean Connery originated the role of Bond, his The Hunt for Red October co-star Sam Neill wanted to be Bond. He auditioned for the part of the superspy when Roger Moore retired. No, he did not get it. But he did get the part in Jurassic Park after Harrison Ford said no, after famously saying no to being Jack Ryan the first time. Small world, no?
When the film debuted in 1990, it made an impressive $17 million in its first weekend. The Hunt for Red October banked $200 million before all was said and done.
The Hunt for Red October star Alec Baldwin has something in common with Ben Affleck. Affleck also only appeared in one Jack Ryan flick, The Sum of All Fears. Harrison Ford played the role twice and Chris Pine recently revived it. We’ll see if he gets a second shot.
