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On the podcast this week, Steven and Sean are on the trail of a potential underwater madman. We\u2019re trying to avoid nuclear catastrophe in a tense race against time with the 1990 film from John McTiernan, The Hunt for Red October.

What a way to kick off the \u201890s, right? This is a suspenseful film about a Soviet Union submarine captain trying to defect because his country was responsible for the death of his wife. This is no easy task to accomplish, especially in 1984, when this story is set. International relations between the U.S. and the Soviets was strained, to say the least.

We\u2019ve got a defecting captain and a two warring sides who don\u2019t really know what the hell is going on with this man\u2019s sub. Is he going to attack the U.S.? Is he trying to screw over the Soviets by giving up all their closely held secrets?

Either way, Marko Ramius, played by peak-awesomeness Sean Connery, is in a tough position. This guy just wants to make it to safety alive, and he does it with such a calm, debonair attitude. \u201cOh, these subs are firing torpedoes at my sub? Ain\u2019t no thang, we\u2019ll just juke out these explosive life-enders and keep going on our merry way.\u201d

If I could learn how to keep as calm as he does under intense pressure, I\u2019d probably be able to do anything.

This is the first Jack Ryan movie, and it\u2019s amazing. It set the standard for films starring relatively unassuming office workers who find themselves trying to save the world. A young Alec Baldwin stars as Ryan, a stable counterpart to Ramius. The confidence these two men possess is needed in a film that\u2019s chock-full of other people who are just freaking the hell out all the time.

It all makes for a compelling and exciting film that holds up and will continue to be an excellent film. The technology we see here is certainly obsolete, but a superb film doesn\u2019t stop being great just because we have iPhones now. This one is top-notch and you\u2019d do yourself a favor to see it.

(Recorded on December 14, 2020)

Links to Stuff We Mentioned:

The Hunt for Red October - IMDb

The Hunt for Red October trailer - IMDb

Sean Connery - IMDb

Alec Baldwin - IMDb

Tom Clancy - Wikipedia

(What do you know, Clancy didn\u2019t have a military career. Dude apparently had truly terrible eyesight. Minus one podcast point for Sean who said he did.)

Jack Ryan (character) - Wikipedia

John Grisham - Wikipedia

Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark - IMDb

The resolution war: is cinema falling behind home entertainment on innovation? - Screen Daily

Big Game - IMDb

Jack Ryan (film series) - Wikipedia

John Krasinski\u2019s super muscly muscles - Train Mag

Emily Blunt - IMDb

The Office (U.S.) - IMDb

The Rock - IMDb

RED - IMDb