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{{work|wppage=The Hunt for Red October}}{{cleanup|The page, although specifically for the novel, crams in information about the film, which should be moved to [[The Hunt for Red October (film)|that page]].}}
{{work}}
{{Infobox book
[[File:bloghuntoctober_4-1_6927.jpg|frame]]
| title = The Hunt for Red October
| image =HuntForRedOctober.JPG
| caption =1st edition
| author = Tom Clancy
| central theme =
| elevator pitch = Tom Clancy's first published novel, featuring a rogue prototype Soviet nuclear missile submarine. Jack Ryan is the man on the spot to assist its officers with their plan to defect to the United States.
| genre =
| franchise = Jack Ryan
| preceded by = Red Rabbit
| followed by = The Cardinal of the Kremlin
| publication date = October 1, 1984
| source page exists =
| wiki URL =
| wiki name =
}}
{{quote|"'''''RIGHT FULL RUDDER!'''''"
|'''Captain 1st Rank Marko Ramius'''}}
 
The first and [[First Installment Wins|most famous]] novel by [[Tom Clancy]], first published in 1984.
{{quote|"'''''RIGHT FULL RUDDER!'''''"|'''Captain 1st Rank Marko Ramius'''}}
 
The first and [[First Installment Wins|most famous]] novel by [[Tom Clancy]], first published in 1984 and adapted reasonably closely into a 1990 film starring [[Sean Connery]] (playing the Lithuanian captain) and [[Alec Baldwin]], playing Jack Ryan.
 
It's a [[Cold War]] tale of the fictional [[Cool Boat|"Typhoon" class missile submarine]] ''Krasniy Oktyabr'' ("Red October"). In the film, the sub has an [[Soviet Superscience|experimental magnetohydrodynamic propulsion system]] (more easily referred to as Caterpillar Drive, and in the book it's just a ducted tunnel drive -- basically a scaled up jet ski engine), which allows it to run more quietly than any other ship at sea; effectively making it nigh-invisible to SONAR detection. On its first deployment, Captain Marko Ramius murders his political officer, taking his [[Two-Keyed Lock|set of keys]] for the ''October'''s nuclear missiles. Conspiring with his senior officers, Ramius notifies his crew that they will be testing the ship by evading both the U.S. and Soviet navies to reach the eastern coast of the United States itself...
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The ''Typhoon''-class submarine is real, and the largest submarine in the world. The submarine in the story, though, is quite considerably different to its real-life counterpart, to the point where they can't really be considered the same vessel, mainly because of its fictional "silent" propulsion system. On the other hand, the film maintains [[Plausible Deniability]] by specifically stating it to be a prototype variant of its class, and at least alludes to [[The Great Politics Mess-Up|future Soviet political instability]] as a good reason why they never got around to producing more.
 
----
{{tropelist}}
=== The book contains examples of:. ===
* [[Anti-Mutiny]]: The GRU mole.
* [[Awesomeness By Analysis]]: Seaman Jones. In just a few hours, he finds a way to beat the Red October's top secret stealth propulsion system and track the sub.
* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Jack Ryan: CIA academic and retired Marine, with a doctorate in history. He also speaks Russian, but only in the film.
** Later book confirm he does know some Russian, but his ability to speak it consistently is far from fluent.
* [[Badass Bureaucrat]]: Jack Ryan starts as this. He is considered completely incorruptible and can figure out any [[Fog of War|riddle]] that [[Gambit Pileup|international politics]] can bring to bear.
* [[Based on a True Story]]: the story was inspired by a real-life mutiny on board a Soviet frigate (the ''Storozhevoy'', mentioned in the book) in 1975, but differs in several key respects from it.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: in the movie, the ''Dallas'' swoops in to drop a couple of decoys and save the Red October.
* [[Bothering by the Book]]: The President had the Attorney General had dugdig up some precedents in maritime law that would have granted America the right to keep the Red October until such time as the Russians paid the US Government a finder's fee as determined by a salvage court - which had a one year backlog of cases to go through before even attempting to assess how much the Russians would have to fork over to get their sub back. However, since the Navy and CIA worked out a plan to trick the Russians into thinking that the Red October had been destroyed, this trope never got past the planning stage.
** Before the final 'fake its destruction' plan the Justice Department was also working on plans to use the narcotics trafficking laws and impound the submarine for a full search-and-seizure the instant it entered American waters, as another delaying tactic to avoid having to give it back until they were finished examining it.
* [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]]: Jones is described as weird even by Navy sub sonarman standards.
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* [[Death by Falling Over]]: How Ramius disposes of Putin.
* [[Defector From Decadence]]: See [[It's Personal]].
* [[Everyone Knows Morse]]: [[Justified]] to some extent: the British Signals Officer is the one who sends the message via blinker from ''HMS Invincible'' to the ''Red October''. It is described as a slow and rather jerky process since the officer is a bit rusty at it, even after having gone and given himself a refresher beforehand because they'd planned in advance to use Morse. On the other hand, Ramius knowing Morse is entirely believable, since he's from an older school of military.
* [[Expy]]: Andre Narmonov is one for Soviet premier Konstatin Chereneko; when he died 11 months after taking office, later novels would turn him into an expy of Gorbachev.
* [[Feed the Mole]]: The CIA uses {{spoiler|Henderson}} to feed the KGB false data about the operation to acquire the titular submarine of the novel.
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* [[Hot Sub-On-Sub Action]]
* [[If I Wanted You Dead...]]: The Americans, being understandably nervous about the Soviet fleet off their shores, give them several such moments, with the [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|Crowning Moment of Awesome]] being {{spoiler|having four A-10 Warthogs zoom in under the radar horizon and box the ''Kirov'' with flares}}.
* [[It's Personal]]: In the book Ramius' main motive was to punish the state for the fact that his wife had died in a botched operation directed by a surgeon who had got the job from [[Upper Class Twit|Party Patronage]] ''and'' had been [[Drinking On Duty]]. The movie emphasized his desire to prevent nuclear war; perhaps it was quite reasonably felt that the audience would prefer a more grand motive for treason than revenge even if it was treason against an enemy.
** Not only was his wife's routine operation botched, but the "antibiotics" given to correct the botch were Soviet-manufactured "bonus" drugs. (In Clancy's version of the USSR at least, the workers are given a bonus for exceeding quota, and those products produced just to make quota were often poor or fraudulent, bypassing quality control completely). Further, what he considers the greatest crime is the State's suppression of religion that robbed him of a "hope, even if it was a lie" of seeing his wife again.
** This plot device has come in for some criticism from Russian readers after the end of the Cold War, as commanding a nuclear missile submarine was a post of considerable responsibility and prestige; a surgeon who killed such an individual's wife through medical negligence would need a relative on the Central Committee to keep him out of the Gulag, and even then he'd probably just end up [[Reassigned to Antarctica|working in one as a prison doctor instead of an inmate]]. In Clancy's defence, however, there were limits to how much research he could do from the other side of the Iron Curtain.
* [[The Medic]]: Doctor Petrov, naive but caring about his men, as well as a good officer who keeps order when the ''Red October'' is being evacuated. A quite [[Worthy Opponent]] -- in the movie, anyway, where he's played by [[Tim Curry]]. In the book he's described as being a doctor of dubious competence.
* [[Mnogo Nukes]]
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* [[Name's the Same]]: [[BioShock (series)|Jack Ryan]].
* [[Nerds Are Sexy]]: It's stated the ship's sonar officer, despite not being hugely attractive, gets a lot of "action" on shore leave.
* [[A Nuclear Error]]: [[Averted Trope]] -- it's [[Discussed Trope|specifically stated]] that A) if he had wanted to and were capable of doing so, Ramius could have launched from right outside the docksideharbor and his missiles would still have enough range to hit the U.S. and B) Soviet controls against a rogue launch are even stricter than their NATO equivalents.
* [[The Political Officer]]
* [[Ramming Always Works]]: Justified by ''Red October'' lacking enough manpower to fire torpedoes and Ramius' expert knowledge of how Soviet submarines handle, being effectively the submarine captain version of a test pilot for new designs. And because they plan to dissect the sub anyway so a little damage is less of a big deal.
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* [[Techno Wizard]] : Seaman Jones
* [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]]: The titular Hunt is called off about 80% through after the ''October'''s apparent going down. Cue {{spoiler|a lingering Soviet attack sub}}.
 
=== The film contains examples of: ===
* [[Action Film Quiet Drama Scene]]: Between the crash on the aircraft carrier and Jack's harrowing arrival aboard the ''Dallas'', there is the scene of Ramius talking about fishing when he was a boy.
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]
* [[Aerial Canyon Chase]]: At least twice, in a missile submarine.
* [[Age Lift]]: In the novel, Mancuso is said to be in his mid-thirties, young for a command of this level; Scott Glenn, however, was 48 at the time the movie was made.
* [[All-Star Cast]]: What else do you call this combination? [[Sean Connery]], [[Alec Baldwin]], [[Jurassic Park|Sam Neill]], [[Tim Curry]], [[Stellan Skarsgard]], [[James Earl Jones]], [[Scott Glenn]], even [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Gates McFadden]] ([[Deleted Scene|briefly]]) ...
* [[Americans Are Cowboys]]:
{{quote|(Ramius sees Mancuso's sidearm and says to Borodin that Mancuso is a ''бакару'' (sounds just like the English "buckaroo"). Ryan laughs.)
'''Capt. Bart Mancuso:''' What's so funny?
'''Jack Ryan:''' Ah, the Captain seems to think you're some kind of...cowboy. }}
* [[The Artifact]]: When Ryan is trying to convince his superiors that Ramius is defecting to the United States, he mentions that "today is the first anniversary of his wife's death." This has nothing to do with anything in the movie, as it happens, but is a reference to Ramius' motive for defection in the book (see [[It's Personal]] above).
* [[Asshole Victim]]: {{spoiler|Political Officer Putin}}, according to 2nd. Lt. Victor Slavin.
* [[Audience Surrogate]]:
** Seaman Beaumont early on. Seaman Jones is able to deliver quite a bit of exposition to the audience while training him.
** Once they arrive on the ''Red October'', Jack Ryan takes on this role, having the situation explained to him by Mancuso and Ramius.
* [[Awesomeness By Analysis]]: Jonesy
{{quote|A torpedo passes by the sub just after Ramius and Mancuso share a handshake
'''Russian Sailor (in English)''': Another torpedo. The Americans are shooting at us again!
'''Seaman Jones''': [[Hyper Awareness|Pitch is too high]]. [[Oh Crap|The torpedo's]] ''[[Oh Crap|Russian]]''. }}
* [[Backed by the Pentagon]]: The scenes on the flight deck were shot on the actual ''Enterprise.'' Scott Glenn (Mancuso) also spent a month aboard ''USS Salt Lake City'' where he was treated as though he was the commanding officer. According to director John McTiernan he came back completely different, very soft-spoken and calm, with a manner he described as being similar to a college president.
* [[Badass Boast]]:
{{quote|'''Kamarov:''' Stop pissing, Yuri. Give me a stopwatch and a map, and I'll fly the Alps in a plane with no windows.}}
* [[Based on a Great Big Lie]]: Inverted. The film opens with a disclaimer to the effect that, according to American and Soviet authorities, it is ''absolutely '''not''''' [[Based on a True Story]]. The audience is left to draw their own conclusions.
* [[Big Damn Heroes]]:
{{quote|'''Jones''' Way to go, ''Dallas''!}}
* [[Bilingual Backfire]]: When the Americans first meet Ramius and his crew.
* [[Bilingual Bonus]]: The [[Ominous Latin Chanting|Ominous Russian Chanting]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPsL2WVhFCc backing] the [http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1187123/Theme-Hunt-For-Red-October-Lyrics awesome] [[The Reveal|reveal]] of the ''Red October''.
* [[Captain Obvious]]
{{quote|'''Steiner''': Hey, I think someone's shooting torpedoes!
'''Mancuso''': No [[Precision F-Strike|shit]], buckwheat! Get the hell out of here! }}
* [[Character as Himself]]: Stanley the stuffed toy Teddy bear is listed "as himself" in the end credits.
* [[Coming in Hot]]: With the aid of [[Just Plane Wrong|anachronistic]] [[Stock Footage]] and [[Eject! Eject! Eject!]] instruction heard from the tower.
* [[Compressed Adaptation]]: The movie gets rid of the British role entirely, ditches the [[Feed the Mole]] sideplot and most of the fleet-level conflict between the U.S. and Soviets, and cuts out most of Clancy's rhapsodizing about the intricacies of sub warfare.
* [[Cunning Linguist]]: Jack Ryan.
* [[Cut Himself Shaving]]: An inconvenient political officer "slips on his tea."
* [[Death by Adaptation]]: {{spoiler|Borodin.}}
* [[Description Cut]]: Ramius mentions to Borodin that a "buckaroo" will be sent to meet them - and we immediately cut to Ryan in the plane, bouncing about uncomfortably in the turbulence.
* [[Everyone Knows Morse]]: Mancuso sends Morse messages to Ramius (watching by periscope) with a light blinker, asking for an active sonar ping to signal Ramius' agreement. It's at least discussed, as Mancuso says, "My Morse is so rusty, I could be sending him dimensions on [[Playboy|Playmate of the Month]]."
* [[Eureka Moment]]: When Ryan figures out the last part of Ramius' plan. "How do you make a crew want to get off a ''nuclear'' subma..."
* [[Expospeak Gag]]: Teaching Beaumont to use the sonar, Seaman Jones describes the contact he's found as a "biologic":
{{quote|'''Beaumont:''' A what?
'''Jones:''' A whale, Seaman Beaumont, a whale. A marine mammal that knows a heck of a lot more about sonar than you do. }}
* [[Fake Nationality]]: It's a Hollywood flick, so it's a given that many of the major Russian characters were played by non-Slavic actors. The most obvious is [[Sean Connery]] as Lithuanian-born Captian Ramius, as his Scottish accent almost makes it as jarring as an [[Patrick Stewart|Englishman]] [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|playing a French captain]] (or an [[Claude Rains|Englishman]] [[Casablanca|playing a French captain]]). Averted, though, with most of the Soviet extras since most had obviously Slavic features.
* [[Heroic BSOD]]: While a few of the officers are bothered by {{spoiler|Ramius killing Putin, see [[What the Hell, Hero?]] below,}} they are, [[The Stoic|with one exception,]] shocked out of their minds when he reveals that he {{spoiler|sent a letter to Admiral Pedorin telling him of their plans to defect.}}
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Borodin [[Taking the Bullet|takes a bullet]] from the saboteur.}}
** The crew of the ''Red October'' end up believing Ramius and the officers did a collective one since they were fooled into thinking that they got them off so they could scuttle the sub rather than have it captured.
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: Tupolev, thanks to a [[Misguided Missile]].
* [[Hyper Awareness]]: Seaman Jones, [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that veteran sonar operators in [[Real Life]] really are that good, to the point of identifying individual ships by the sound of their engines.
{{quote|'''Seaman Jones''': [[Awesomeness By Analysis|Pitch is too high]]. The torpedo's ''Russian''.}}
* [[If I Wanted You Dead...]]: Subverted in the film, after the Red October evades a torpedo launched from a Soviet anti-submarine patrol plane, one of the crew asks "Why's our own navy shooting at us?" and is told by the first officer "If they were really shooting at us, we'd be dead."
* [[I'm a Doctor, Not a Placeholder]]: Ryan to Ramius:
{{quote|'''Ramius''': Ryan, sit here.
'''Ryan''': I'm not a naval officer, I'm with the CIA!
'''Ramius''': CIA?
'''Ryan''': I'm not an agent, I just write books for the CIA!
'''Ramius''': ...whatever. }}
* [[I Was Never Here]]: "Now understand, Commander: That torpedo did ''not'' self-destruct. You heard it '''hit''' the '''''hull'''''. And [[Trope Namer|I...]] ''[[Trope Namer|was never here]]''."
** Also starts with text saying that officially, "[[Suspiciously Specific Denial|None of what you are about to see ever happened]]".
* [[Lzherusskie]]
* [[Meaningful Background Event]]: After the Soviet [[Reporting Names|Bear]] bomber drops its torpedo <ref> The first attempt by the Soviets to destroy ''Red October''</ref>, the co-pilot looks towards the pilot with a horrified look on his face.
* [[Misguided Missile]]: Thanks to some clever maneuvering and disengaged torpedo safeties, and a bit of help from ''Dallas'', the ''Red October'' manages to string around a pursuing torpedo so that it hits the very attack sub that fired it.
* [[Mr. Exposition]]: Jones while explaining all sorts of basics of sonar and sub tactics to Beaumont, some of which anyone on board a sub ought to already know.
* [[Nausea Dissonance]]: Ryan hates flying because of turbulence. When he's on a turbulent flight to the ''Enterprise'', the navigator goes into excruciating detail about a ''really'' rough ride on his last mission.
* [[Nerves of Steel]]: Marko Ramius quizzes Ryan about Ryan's books while a torpedo is homing in on their sub.
* [[Not Even Bothering with the Accent]]: Most of the actors playing the Russian characters, but especially Sean Connery.
* [[A Nuclear Error]]: [[Rule of Drama|In order to heighten tensions and give a deadline for the affair,]] the movie never explains what the book did about the range of SS-N-20s or Soviet safeguards against rogue launch.
* [[Oh Crap]]: Subverted. Tupolev's second officer, when he finds out {{spoiler|that their torpedo is now going to hit them instead}}, he doesn't freak out, but simply points out to his captain how much of an arse he had been.
* [[Of Course I Smoke]]: Jack Ryan makes a point about how he doesn't smoke, repeatedly turning down cigarettes. However, after arriving aboard the ''Red October'', he accepts a cigarette from one of the Russian officers. Ryan's coughing amuses the Russians, and helps to ease the tension between both sides.
* [[Old Master]]: Captain Ramius's nickname? The Vilnius Schoolmaster. He trained many of the Soviet navy's sub skippers, including Tupolev.
* [[Ominous Latin Chanting|Ominous Russian Chanting]]: ''Hymn to Red October'', the movie's theme.<ref>which is not, contrary to popular belief, any official Soviet national song, but created specifically for the movie</ref>
* [[Opening Scroll]]: Contains a [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]].
* [[The Other Darrin]]: Alec Baldwin's only appearance as Jack Ryan. He'd be replaced by [[Harrison Ford]], then [[Ben Affleck]].
* [[Precision F-Strike]]: "You arrogant ass, You've killed ''us''!"
** "Son of a ''BITCH!''" "[[Deadpan Snarker|Do you have something you'd like to add to our]] ''[[Sarcasm Mode|discussion]]'', [[Deadpan Snarker|Doctor Ryan?]]"
* [[Prop Recycling]]: The teddy bear Jack Ryan gets his daughter at the end is the same teddy bear John McClane was bringing for his kids at the beginning of ''[[Die Hard]]'', also directed by John McTiernan.
* [[Punch Clock Villain]]: Putin. "I am only doing my job, it ''is'' my responsibility!"
* [[Refuge in Audacity]]: When Tupolev fires torpedoes at the ''Red October'', Ramius orders the crew to make the submarine close with the torpedoes at full speed. He correctly deduces that by getting close to the torpedoes shortly after they've fired, he can catch them while their safeties are still on and ram them with minimal damage. [[Casual Danger Dialogue|All the while calmly asking Ryan what kind of books he writes.]]
** [[Truth in Television]]: Soviet submarine doctrine called for submarines under attack to close with the torpedoes and dive, the idea being to generate a miss due to the speeds involved and rapid aspect change. American doctrine, as seen with ''Dallas'', running away from the torp, launching countermeasures and going higher (though not always involving an emergency blow).
* [[Retirony]]: "I would have liked to {{spoiler|have seen Montana}}."
* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: The first word when Russians start speaking English is "Armageddon" (which is the same in both languages), hinting at the reason Ramius did what he did.
* [[Running Gag]]: Jack Ryan impersonating various ship captains.
** Also whenever he's doing something unpleasant or dangerous;
{{quote|'''Ryan:'''"Jack, next time you get a bright idea write a goddamn memo!"}}
* [[Shown Their Work]]: The portrayal of submarine life and submarine warfare is pretty realistic.
* [[Silent Running Mode]]: Submarines are of course designed to do this from the very start. ''Red October'' is a particular example in that its caterpillar drive makes it unusually quiet even for submarines.
* [[Smug Snake]]: Capt. Tupolev.
* [[The Stoic]]: Engineer Melekin, the only officer who doesn't share in the [[Heroic BSOD]].
* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]: In the [[Opening Scroll]], which bothers to remind you that this movie is totally fictitious. ''Honest.''
* [[Tension-Cutting Laughter]]: When Ryan, Captain Mancuso and Seaman "Jonesy" Jones arrive aboard the titular sub, there is dead silence as the Americans and Russians stare at one another. But when Ryan accepts a cigarette from one of the Russian officers, he coughs while smoking (earlier, he'd explain that he doesn't smoke, repeatedly turning down cigarettes), which amuses the Russians and soon eases the tensions between both sides.
* [[Translation Convention]]: Well executed switch from Russian-speaking Russians to English-speaking Russians early in the film; the switch occurred as they used a word that is pronounced identically in English and Russian. Clever.
** Once the Americans meet them, they switch back to subtitled Russian, as only Ryan can understand it, and Raimus speaks English.
* [[We Used to Be Friends]]: Tupolev and his old teacher, Ramius. Subverted, in that ''Tupolev'' believes they were friends and holds Ramius in high regards, while Ramius appears rather disdainful of Tupolev.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Twice, in the same scene:
** The assassination of {{spoiler|[[The Political Officer]]}}. When the rest of the command crew bring this up to Ramius over dinner, Borodin defends Ramius's action, saying "Did you think he would just go away and sulk while we carried out our plans?" Only one of them objects on the basis of murder being wrong; the rest are worried the crew will find out and mutiny.
** When Ramius reveals he {{spoiler|told Russian fleet command that they're defecting.}} Even Borodin, who respects Ramius greatly and waits until the others leave to voice his own objection, is shocked.
{{quote|'''Kamarov:''' In the name of god, ''why?''
'''Ramius:''' When he reached the new world, Cortez burned his ships. As a result, his men were well-motivated.
'''Kamarov:''' You have signed our ''death warrants.'' }}
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Jack Ryan broke his back in a helicopter crash when he was a Midshipman at the Naval Academy, and spent over a year in the hospital recovering from his injuries. He is shown early in the movie being entirely unable to sleep on airplanes (before the helo crash is brought up in the film). Later, he has to ride in the back of a small airplane getting bounced around in order to get to the ''Enterprise''. And ''then'', he has to ride in a helicopter in order to link up with the ''Dallas''.
{{quote|''Jack, next time you get a bright idea just put it in a memo!''}}
* [[Worthy Opponent]]: Capt. Tupolev; also {{spoiler|the Russian mole aboard the Red October as well}}.
* [[Zipping Up the Bodybag]]: Early in the film, we see Political Officer Putin being zipped up as Captain Ramius expresses his regret over the unfortunate death from [[The Coroner Doth Protest Too Much|slipping on some spilled tea.]]
 
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