In 1984, I read a book that surprisingly made it to the top of the Best Sellers List: Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October. Clancy would go on from that shockingly successful novel to dominate the Military Tech genre at the end of the Cold War.
The Hunt for Red October is the story of a captain of a Russian submarine who wants to defect with his crew and the advanced technology on the nuclear sub. Jack Ryan, a military analyst (who would go on to star in many more Clancy novels and their movie versions), believes the captain’s story, but elements of the Government think the captain wants to launch a nuclear attack on the U.S. instead. Jack Ryan is given three days to confirm or deny the captain’s true intentions.
The 1990 movie version of The Hunt for Red October stars Sean Connery as the Russian captain and Alec Baldwin as Jack Ryan. Both actors are brilliant in their roles. However, Alec Baldwin blew his chance at starring as Jack Ryan in future movies when he described his boss, Disney studio Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, as “the eighth dwarf — Greedy.”
Are you a fan of the Jack Ryan movies? Do you like Tom Clancy’s novels? GRADE: A
I enjoy the movies made from Clancy’s novels but find his novels poorly written and a bit on the right wing side.
Steve, I agree with you on the superiority of the movies based on Clancy’s novels over the novels themselves. Clancy would wax enthusiastically for dozens of pages about the details of various weapons systems. He was a military tech geek!
I tried reading “Red October” when it came out, but the prose quickly defeated me and I never tried another Clancy novel. The movie was quite entertaining, though. The only other Ryan movie I saw had Harrison Ford as Ryan but I don’t remember which one it was. That’s an interesting tidbit about Baldwin, who I’ve always liked.
Michael, Harrison Ford starred as Jack Ryan in PATRIOT GAMES and CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER. Alec Baldwin can be snarky when he wants to.
Not a fan of either, I’m afraid.
Patti, Sean Connery is very convincing as a Russian nuclear submarine captain. Alec Baldwin, as a military analysis, generates plenty of suspense. This is one of the better end-of-the-Cold-War movies.
It’s been so long since I’ve seen it. The length of the novels threw me off, and I don’t remember getting any on audio. My favorite was the one with Harrison Ford, but I’ve enjoyed all I’ve seen.
Maggie, Tom Clancy’s novels swelled over the years. The last few approached 1000 pages!
Not a fan of the books, which I couldn’t read. This movie was OK and the two with Ford were entertaining for what they were (escapism). Haven’t read or seen any of the others. Jackie is watching the Amazon Prime series; I’m not.
Jeff, I watched a couple episodes of JACK RYAN on AMAZON PRIME Video with John Krasinski and wasn’t impressed. Friends tell me SEASON TWO is much better.
I’ve enjoyed most of the Jack Ryan films. I like Chris Pine but wasn’t overly impressed with that film.
We watched the first few episodes of the Amazon Prime series and liked Krasinski well enough, but felt like the show was doing what al streaming service shows seem to tend to do, which is push things towards a M for Mature rating. I don’t really need to be “entertained” by that.
Carl, I had the same feeling while watching the AMAZON PRIME Video version of Jack Ryan. The Chris Pine JACK RYAN movie was a dud for me.
I tried these once. I suspect Clancy books might be “men’s books.”
I don’t read the books. I don’t watch the movies.
Same here – but I also have to admit that I stopped reading/watching spy novels and movies generally a long time ago. I think Goldfinger was the last one …
Wolf, GOLDFINGER was a terrific movie when it burst on the scene in the 1960s. Loved John Berry’s music and Shirley Bassey singing the theme song.
Beth, I thought THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, PATRIOT GAMES, and CLEAR & PRESENT DANGER were entertaining movies in the military genre. The books, are hardcore military tech lovefests.
A friend of mine was Clancy’s home entertainment guru. He set up systems in both of Clancy’s Maryland residences, but was really surprised when Tom flew him to New York to set up one there.
Jeff, Tom Clancy’s novels rode the top of the Best Sellers Lists with regularity. I’m not surprised he flew your friend Tom to New York to set up his home entertainment guru. Clancy had the book royalties to affair it.