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Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

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Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#61

Post by jayrot »

gwbennett wrote: post #35

Great read on how ILM made the shots. As a crew member on the USS Salt Lake City (SSN-716), we took many of the cast and crew out to sea for 24 hours before they made the movie to get a feel for what sub-life was like before they made the movie. All the cast and crew were great, and I think it made the movie better. Actor Scott Glenn, who plays the Captain of Dallas, modeled his character after our Captain, Tom Fargo…

>Actor Scott Glenn, who plays the Captain of Dallas, modeled his character after our Captain, Tom Fargo.

Terrific character. I just love the competency and leadership. Hopefully your Cpt. Fargo was just as good.

My favorite exchange from the movie is when Jonesy brings his report to the captain. He's aware of how crazy this theory sounds, especially when his very serious and hard-to-read captain rephrases it back to him. Jonesy starts getting nervous and fumbling and Mancuso cuts him off -- "Relax, Jonesy. You sold me." Not quite sure why that simple line hits so hard.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7g6dKncO-I

Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#62

Post by cdkmoose »

Love this movie, it turned me into an avid reader of Clancy.

At the time of this movie, I was working as a software engineer for a defense contractor building combat control systems for submarines. When it was released, the company took the entire department, including former Navy submarine officers now project/program managers to a private viewing. There were definitely groans when some things on the sub were inaccurate, but given the level of hands-on knowledge and expertise in the audience, it was very well received.

Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#63

Post by ubermonkey »

xxr wrote: post #44
tptacek wrote: post #37

Just a quick note that this film really holds up, like weirdly well given its subject and vintage. If you haven't watched it in a long time, add it to your list.

The trick they use to handle the transition from Russian to English dialogue is so cool.

That is one of my favorite moments in the film, and maybe in filmmaking generally.

Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#64

Post by petsfed »

stult wrote: post #54
tptacek wrote: post #37

Just a quick note that this film really holds up, like weirdly well given its subject and vintage. If you haven't watched it in a long time, add it to your list.

Similarly the Clancy book Red Storm Rising really holds up well, and weirdly may be one of the best primers on Russian military practices, culture, and capabilities as the force was constituted during the first year of their full scale invasion of Ukraine.

I mean, aside from the weird civilian rape-to-romance subplot, yeah. Technically it holds up well. Which is true for most of Clancy's novels.

Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#65

Post by RajT88 »

psunavy03 wrote: post #58
stult wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similarly the Clancy book Red Storm Rising really holds up well, and weirdly may be one of the best primers on Russian military practices, culture, and capabilities as the force was constituted during the first year of their full scale invasion of Ukraine.

Arguably RSR vis a vis Ukraine in 2022 is a great primer on just how much the Russian military had decayed from their mid-80s Soviet peak. You can study histories and interviews from the late Cold War about just how much of a bloodbath the NATO militaries expected a Russian invasion of West Germany to be. The USAF A-10 fleet was expected to have been wiped out in approximately 2-3 weeks of fighting based on expected…

> The bravery is there, but they just don't have the same ability to integrate the details at scale such as fires, logistics, and large-scale joint operations, because they're still trying to shake off their Soviet past.

Welllll. I saw posted here last week (cannot find it now), that the US helped them with the logistics and recon a lot more than was previously known. Like, "Shoot your artillery here at this time, and you'll like what happens. If you don't like it, we'll work harder to make you happy."

Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#66

Post by RajT88 »

sizzzzlerz wrote: post #53

I really liked the movie which was pretty faithful to Clancy's book and, I think, to submarine life itself but the one thing I didn't like about it was the choice of Sean Connery as Ramius. For a supposed Russian speaker, his Scottish accent was a bit jarring to my ears. He did a great job with the role but the believability was compromised. I be curious to know who the producers considered for that part and why they…

Listen. If you're watching Connery in a film in 1990, you've had decades to learn to suspend disbelief regarding his accent skills.

Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#68

Post by psunavy03 »

RajT88 wrote: post #65
psunavy03 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably RSR vis a vis Ukraine in 2022 is a great primer on just how much the Russian military had decayed from their mid-80s Soviet peak. You can study histories and interviews from the late Cold War about just how much of a bloodbath the NATO militaries expected a Russian invasion of West Germany to be. The USAF A-10 fleet was expected to have been wiped out in approximately 2-3 weeks of fighting based on expected…

> The bravery is there, but they just don't have the same ability to integrate the details at scale such as fires, logistics, and large-scale joint operations, because they're still trying to shake off their Soviet past. Welllll. I saw posted here last week (cannot find it now), that the US helped them with the logistics and recon a lot more than was previously known. Like, "Shoot your artillery here at this time, an…

There are two things a NATO/Western military has that the Ukrainians don't fully have yet: the technology and assets you're talking about, but also officers and noncoms who've been brought up in the type of warfighting culture that can best make use of it. There's a great article from the start of the war written by a retired Army three-star here: https://www.thebulwark.com/p/i-commanded-u-s-army-europe-her...

The reason the US and Western militaries could utterly crush an opponent in places like Iraq is due to having not just cool gear, but a culture that promotes excellence in execution. Junior folks who can excel at small-unit tactics, and senior folks who have learned how to operate and orchestrate the large-scale machine over a 20-30 year career.

Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#69

Post by 100k »

If you like this movie, I recommend Jamelle Bouie and John Ganz's podcast "Unclear and Present Danger" (the name is a riff on Clancy as well) which covers the political and military thrillers of the 1990s and how they dealt with the United States' changing place in the world after the end of the Cold War.

They have done two episodes on this movie:

https://jamellebouie.net/unclear-and-present-danger/2021/10/...

https://jamellebouie.net/unclear-and-present-danger/2022/10/...

Re: Hunt for Red October 1990 (2016)

#70

Post by leopoldj »

gwbennett wrote: post #35

Great read on how ILM made the shots. As a crew member on the USS Salt Lake City (SSN-716), we took many of the cast and crew out to sea for 24 hours before they made the movie to get a feel for what sub-life was like before they made the movie. All the cast and crew were great, and I think it made the movie better. Actor Scott Glenn, who plays the Captain of Dallas, modeled his character after our Captain, Tom Fargo…

Google search is weirdly hallucinating saying "Theodore Scott Glenn is an American actor and Distinguished Professor at Rutgers University". As far as I can tell the actor and professor are two different people. Am I wrong? Can't tell what is true/false anymore.
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