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Captain Ramius: You're afraid of our fleet. Well, you should be. Personally, I'd give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?

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The Alfa-class submarine Konovaljov commanded by Captain Tupolev is named after Soviet Admiral Arkadij Konovaljov. In March 1945, he sunk the German luxury liner Goya in the Baltic Sea on its way to Kiel, killing 6220 East Prussian refugees out of 6385. See more...

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The Hunt for Red October (1990) - 26 mistakes

Directed by John McTiernan, starring Alec Baldwin, Courtney B. Vance, James Earl Jones, Jeffrey Jones, Joss Ackland, Peter Firth, Richard Jordan, Sam Neill, Scott Glenn, Sean Connery, Tim Curry (add more)

Genres: Action, Adventure, Thriller

The Hunt for Red October book mistakes

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Factual error: Aboard the aircraft carrier, there is a closed-circuit TV that shows the operations on the flight deck. At one point, a gull-gray F-14 Tomcat, in obvious distress, comes in for a landing. The camera cuts away from the TV to Ryan's face, and the cuts back to the TV. All of a sudden, the plane crashing is no longer an F-14, but an old Korean War-era fighter, colored the dark blue the Navy stopped using in the 1950s. The director probably chose to insert a piece of stock footage rather than build a model F-14 to crash for an otherwise unimportant scene.

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Continuity: When Ramius is shot, he drops to the floor holding his wound with his left hand. He is still using his left hand when Ryan asks "What happens if he makes it to that ignition circuitry". The angle then changes, and Ramius is holding his wound with his right hand as he answers "He can incinerate the ship". New angle change, and Ramius is once again using his left hand on the wound.

Edit Submitted by Twotall Time
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Revealing: None of the exterior storm scenes where rain is present have any visible impact on the actors. No water or mist on face, binoculars, hat brims, etc. The special effect that creates the rain does not correlate to the either actor appearance or background reality - sun reflections, clouds, etc.

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Visible crew/equipment: When Jones the Sonar operator detects the Red October for the final time via his headphones, he is talking to someone next to him. The whole time he is doing this, a microphone boom is constantly bobbing into view from above his head.

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Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where Ryan is being flown out to the Dallas, the door crew member looks out and says, "Yo, got a sub about 2 miles out." If you look closely in his goggles, you can see the reflection of the crew.

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Factual error: In some stateroom scenes in the October the bulkheads have numerous little lockers installed because storage space on a submarine is at a premium. The latches on the lockers are of a unique design created only by USA Navy ship and submarine construction shipyards.

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Revealing: In the scene where Jack Ryan is brought aboard the U.S.S. Dallas after releasing himself from the helicopter, two crewmen drag him inside. The crewman on the left side of the passage backs into a metal valve, but the valve moves down and left, then snaps back in place as if mounted to a rubber pipe.

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Continuity: In the October officer mess scene where the Doctor is ushered out to get the radiation figures, there is a cook in cook's hat with his back towards the camera standing at a bench top behind Ramius. Borodin shuts the door after the doctor is outside and the officers all sit to speak with Ramius, but the cook vanishes without leaving the wardroom.

Edit Submitted by lawyernorfolkisland
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Audio problem: When the members of the Dallas crew arrive on the Red October, Ramius asks Ryan "You speak Russian?" He asks the question in Russian, but his mouth is very visibly asking the question in English.

Edit Submitted by Cubs Fan
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Revealing: Near the end of the movie when the Russian attack sub gets hit with the errant torpedo, the shot from the "Ruben James" shows the explosion from the surface. In the middle of the large wave generated is the puff of black smoke and a pyrotechnic flash which triggered the explosion.

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Continuity: During the final battle, Borodin announces "20 seconds to impact". Ramius and Ryan discuss a book Ryan has written for the full 20 seconds, then Borodin updates, saying "10 seconds to impact" despite the torpedo and the sub both remaining on their same courses at the same speeds.

Edit Submitted by johnrosa Time
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Deliberate "mistake": The torpedo hitting the water dropped by the Russian Bear Foxtrot, and the one dropped by the Americans are the same piece of footage.

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Factual error: The Hunt for Red October takes place sometime in late 1984. The Oliver Hazard Perry Class Frigate Reuben James (FFG-57) on which Adm. Greer and Skip Tyler were on board in the latter half of the film, was not commissioned until March 22, 1986

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Visible crew/equipment: When the Red October sub has surfaced to let the crew get off because of the supposed nuclear leak, there is a brief shot where you can clearly see the camera and its filming crew in their tennis shoes on the deck. Use of slow motion is suggested. (As per the rules of this site: Use of slo motion IS acceptable when camera or crew are visible.)

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Factual error: In the opening scene of the movie, the Red October is being escorted out of the Russian harbour by a United States Coast Guard Cutter and U.S. Navy sea tugs.

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Revealing: In the scene where they are dropping Ryan from the helicopter to the submarine, you can see that they used the same actor for both the pilot and the co-pilot of the helicopter. You can see the mirror image on the helmet of the pilot in one of the shots. It appears they just changed the voice actor only.

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Other: Even though Ryan was warned earlier that the water was so cold that you could survive in it for only four minutes, he doesn't even shiver while drinking coffee in his wet clothes inside the Dallas. This after plunging deep underwater from his fall from the helicopter and then waiting to be rescued and brought aboard by the diver.

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Continuity: As the helicopter nears the Dallas sub, Ryan is in the right-side doorway at the rear of the opening. A spotter is on the same side of the craft, at the front of the opening. The spotter looks straight out the right side of the chopper and shouts for the pilots to turn left, as he has spotted the Dallas at three o'clock (which is where he is looking). But turning left moves away from the Dallas, not towards it.

Edit Submitted by johnrosa Time
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Continuity: The opening shots of Red October sub show water slapping against it. At the water line, the flat/vertical sides of the fake sub are visible - a very different look than the underwater model's tapered sides.

Edit Submitted by johnrosa Time
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Continuity: When Jack Ryan is being flown, via chopper, to meet up with the USS Dallas, the pilot expresses concern for the fuel situation. First we see this pilot in the right-side seat from a good distance behind his left side as he is talking. When he looks back at Ryan in close-up, the shot is backwards so that he seems to now be in the left seat, looking over his right shoulder (notice his name on the helmet is backwards). Then, after the sub is spotted, he speaks again, and is seen back on the right side, looking over his left shoulder at the left-side co-pilot.

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