The Hunt For Red October

IRSHAD SALIM: Every year, as October comes, I recall a few nuggets from my memory bank, and reminisce them. One of them is the 1990 thriller movie The Hunt For Red October. Awesome (zabardast in Urdu) would be an understatement –a top critic has dubbed it though “overplotted and sometimes implausible.”

The novel and the movie is about a Soviet nuclear submarine headed toward American waters dropping off U.S. scanners, and the Americans scrambling to respond.

Like the nuclear sub it’s named after, The Hunt for Red October, according to another top critic, “is an idealized, dreamy fantasy of life in the business world-harmless as airplane reading, a bit dull on the big screen.” Some said:

“Based on Tom Clancy`s phenomenally successful techno-thriller novel, The Hunt for Red October proves that a film can equal, if not surpass, the intrigue and excitement of the story it is based on.” Full Review

“The first motion picture that allows us to experience the sweaty-palm thrills of the Cold War without worrying that the world will blow up this year.” Full Review

“Coupled with Sean Connery’s magnetic performance, that’s enough to make The Hunt for Red October as watchable today as it was during its 1990 release.” Full Review

“The kind of action thriller that is rarely made today-one that emphasizes intellect and logic, intuition and political maneuvering over might and brawn.” Full Review

“As an espionage thriller, I must say, it has a tension that runs against the clock like a torpedo under the sea as it outlines its plot of diplomacy and naval strategy in the twilight of the Cold War.” [Full review in Spanish] Full Review

“With enough of a corkscrew plot to keep anyone guessing and with plenty of edge-of-your-seat suspense, this high-stakes espionage thriller never misses a beat.” Full Review

“…The Hunt for Red October still makes sense in a Boys’ Own way even if the hopeful world described has long vanished…” Full Review

“The big question hanging over…is how, in the current world climate, this cold war thriller will stand up to the warm glow of glasnost. The answer is: just fine.” Full Review

More reviews here at Rotten Tomatoes…WATCH the movie here… or WATCH it on Netflix

Honorary contributors to DesPardes: Adil Khan, Ajaz Ahmed, Anwar Abbas, Arif Mirza, Aziz Ahmed, Bawar Tawfik, Dr. Razzak Ladha, Dr. Syed M. Ali, G. R. Baloch, Hasham Saddique, Jamil Usman, Jawed Ahmed, Ishaq Saqi, Khalid Sharif, Majid Ahmed, Masroor Ali, Md. Ahmed, Md. Najibullah, Mustafa Jivanjee, Nusrat Jamshed, Shahbaz Ali, Shahid Hamza, Shahid Nayeem, Syed Ali Ammaar Jafrey, Syed Hamza Gilani, Mushtaq Siddiqui, Shaheer Alam, Syed Hasan Javed, Syed M. Ali, Tahir Sohail, Usman Nazir

1 thought on “The Hunt For Red October

  1. Sir, its my one of my favourite movie. I have seen it many many times and never got bored. The key subject of the movie is magnetic field propulsion of submarine that makes no noise.
    There is another movie of same genere 2002 movie “K-19:The Widowmaker” you will like it.

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