For this week’s FSF selection, I’ll go in a direction I haven’t yet gone: the military thriller. From a literary standpoint the leader in this genre for many years was Tom Clancy. Today’s movie is both the adaptation of the best of his books, and the best movie version of any of his many works.
The Hunt For Red October (1990)
In large part I think Red October succeeds as a film because its story is at once both simple and complex. It’s simple in that there’s no question who the good guys and bad guys are: the protagonists are the Americans and Soviet Navy officers who want to defect, while the bad guys are the godless pinko commie bastards out to prevent that defection. We don’t have to contend with the now seemingly standard trope in military thrillers that the poor front-line American troops have to battle their own commanders as much as the enemy. The story is also complex, however, in that the aforementioned defection - and theft of a whole Soviet ballistic missile sub - is not exactly an easy thing to pull off. This challenging storyline, along with the high-level political maneuvering between the US and USSR, provide plenty of opportunities for dramatic tension and thrilling scenes.
The story wasn’t the only reason Red October succeeded, however. I’ve always felt that a truly great military thriller needs to have a certain brashness or bombast to make it sing, though if it has too much, it can descend into pulpy caricature. Two men in particular made sure that Red October had just the right amount: Director John McTiernan and Actor Sean Connery.
McTiernan hasn’t done much lately, but when he tackled Red October he was coming off directing a couple of excellent action outings - Die Hard and Predator, both of which included pitch perfect amounts of the very bombast I’m talking about. Meanwhile, Connery built a career on playing characters that were just a bit larger than life, and was a perfect fit to play a sub captain crazy enough, and egotistical enough, to try to steal his vessel and tell his superiors he was going to do it first.
Of course the rest of the cast turns in solid performances as well, from Alec Baldwin (I know, I know) to the great James Earl Jones and Fred Thompson, down to the underrated Scott Glenn and Sam Neill.
Finally, though Red October doesn’t, in my opinion, represent his finest work, I’ll toss a shout out to the film’s composer - Basil Poledouris. Though not as well known as the John Williams’ and Danny Elfmansof the world, for my money if you needed a big, brassy adrenaline-pumping score in the 80's and 90's, Poledouris was your guy. Robocop, Conan the Barbarian and Starship Troopers may not have been the best movies ever produced (though I still am somewhat embarrassed to admit that I really enjoy them all.) but dang it, tracks like Klendathu Drop and Riders of Doom are simply unmatched when you need to get pumped up for late-night hockey or a particularly large batch of Christmas cookie baking.
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