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Quotes

Admiral Josh Painter: This business will get out of control. It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it.

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Mistakes

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. See more...

Trivia

The US submarine used by Paramount Studios, during the filming, accidentally sunk a tugboat when getting into position to film a scene. One of the submarine's radio antennas snagged the tow cable between the tug and a barge and this pulled the tugboat underwater. One person died. See more...

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The Hunt for Red October (1990) - 33 corrections

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

Genres: Action, Adventure, Thriller

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

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As Ryan embarks to shoot it out with the KGB agent down amid Red October's ballistic missile tubes, Ramius warns Ryan to be careful what he shoots at, because the nukes don't "react well to bullets". Of course it's wise to be careful with guns, but you could unload an assault rifle on the tubes and the nukes inside wouldn't care. The tubes are tough enough to stand up to launching their rockets. A stray bullet would be nothing. [Ramius actually says: "Most things in here don't react well to bullets". He wasn't specifically referring to the missiles. There are many things on board a nuclear sub that could be damaged by gunfire.]
Edit Corrected by Grumpy Scot
In the scene where Ramius and Borodin are discussing what their intentions are when they each America, Jones yells out "Crazy Ivan", though Ramius does not give the order to perform a "Crazy Ivan" at any point in that scene, or the previous scenes. [Nope. Borodin says that he's ordered a 'routine clearing of the baffles'. Red October performs a Crazy Ivan to accomplish this.]
Edit Corrected by Grumpy Scot
In the scene where the US is going to drop a torpedo on the Red October, when the helicopter lifts off from the deck, the torpedo is mounted on the starboard side. After the drop order, it drops from the port side of the chopper. [It is possible that the helicopter held two torpedos, one on left and one on right. The right side of the chopper was not visible during its take-off and early flight scenes. Examining the screen shots of the chopper just before and during torpedo drop - even in slo-mo & stop-action, I could not determine with certainty whether or not the chopper carried a similar torpedo on its right side. but the possibility exists that it carried two torpedos, and dropped only its left one.]
Edit
In the scene where the chief, Jonesy and Beaumont are training, the chief refers to Jonesy as a seaman. In the navy, a seaman is E-3. When the XO takes Jonesy to see the captain about the noise he washed through the computer, Jonesy is wearing a shirt that has a bird and 2 chevrons on it. That means Jonesy is a second class petty officer (that is an E-5). [The Chief is telling Seaman Beaumont a story about Jonesy's past in effort to indicate that Jonesy was not always so "know it all" and was once in Seaman Beaumont's shoes. His statement "Seaman Jones here." was clear navy jargon to tell Beaumont of when the story occured, not what Jones' current rank is.]
Edit
In both the opening in Alec Baldwin's house and on the sub at Scott Glen's station, you can see an edition of Jane's date 1977-1978. Since this takes place in 1984, is this really the most recent edition of this important reference/information text? The sub commander might have an old favorite, but also a CIA employee would be referencing a 7 year old text? [This is not a mistake. Lots of people hang on to old or outdated editions of books or reference material.]
Edit Corrected by BocaDavie
As the rafts are casting off from the deck of Red October, during a close-up of one of the rafts, a crew member reaches out to the camera in an effort to steady himself. [The sailor reaches out for SOMETHING, but since we never see the camera we don't know what.]
Edit Corrected by MovieGuy
At the beginning of the film Jack says goodnight to his daughter and then leaves for the airport to catch the flight to Washington. He arrives at Heathrow in the dark. A flight to Washington From Heathrow takes 6-7 hours, and Washington is 5 hours BEHIND London. If Jack leaves at, lets say, 10PM London time, he would arrive at midnight US time. But in the film he's met upon arrival and gets straight into a car at the airport and drives to the CIA offices for his meeting with Greer. The problem is it's daylight when we see the car driving to Langley which is a relatively short drive from Washington and the Airport(s) - where did the night go? [In this scene Ryan comments that his daughter should be in bed indicating it's well past her bed time so it's entirely possible he is leaving his house at 4am London time. Drive time to the airport and waiting at the airport for a flight that leaves at 6am would be realistic and would put him in Washington at 8am.]
Edit
Towards the end, after the cook shoots at Sean Connery and Sam Neill blocks it, they open his jacket to look at the wound. His jacket is perfectly intact and his shirt only has a red stain - there is no visible hole. [When the first officer is shot, there is a visible hole in the jacket. Unfortunately the shot of the wound is a black-on-black shot making the damage to the jacket very very hard to see.]
Edit
When Ryan is being lowered from the helicopter to the Dallas, it is a raging rain storm, yet the helicopter does not have its windshield wipers on. [The sky is overcast, that is true. But having recently watched this scene, there is nothing to suggest a raging storm. The sea is relatively calm and there's no sign of precipitation - just spray kicked up by the helicopter. We do see an electrical spark as the sub crew is trying to snag Ryan, but as Capt. Mancuso warned, this is due to static electricity generated by the helicopter's rotor blades.]
Edit
Just as Red October turns to port after engaging the caterpillar, the camera pans from Red October's stern to the Dallas, which is visible. In the next shot, Jones (the sonar operator) says Red October was some 4,000 yards dead ahead. From the previous shot of the two subs, they are less than 4,000 yards (or some 3.6 km) apart. The large distance would lead to zero visibility. [It's a movie convention to show visibility under water as much better than it actually is. A segment of shots showing nothing but black (or maybe some hull) would not be particularly exciting. Furthermore, showing the subs as they're supposed to be positioned is almost necessary to make the audience understand their relative positions and orientations, appreciate and see the action and achieve a dramatic effect.]
Edit Time
In the scene when Ryan first meets the captain on the aircraft carrier, he explains that the uniform was Greer's idea, and the captain answers, "You work for Jim Greer?" After Ryan leaves, they discuss Ryan's ring, and the captain says, "Greer told me." He seems surprised Ryan works for Greer, but was briefed about the mission by Greer. [The discussion about the ring takes place several hours later. The captain was briefed by Greer while Ryan was sleeping.]
Edit
In the scene where Ramius orders the use of the caterpillar drive, it shows the rear of the Red October to have one huge propeller. Later in the movie, they are being tracked by a torpedo in which they narrowly escape by making a sharp turn to the starboard just before crashing into an undersea rock formation. While making this turn Ramius orders right full rudder, reverse starboard engine, and it again shows the rear of the Red October, but this time there are two smaller propellers, not the one huge one shown earlier. [When Ramius orders the activation of the caterpillar drive, they switch to a close-up shot of the port side propeller coming to a stop and the port side aft caterpillar door opening. There are always two propellers, the shot in question is too tight to see the starboard propeller.]
Edit Corrected by BocaDavie
When the Political Officer reads the orders, they're supposed to test the silent drive and return home "on or about the 16th of this month..." shortly afterwards, Jack Ryan is briefing Jeffrey Pelt, and asks "isn't it the 23rd?" [He doesn't say "the 16th of THIS month". He says "the 16th of THE month".]
Edit
When the DSRV docks to the Red October, the crew let the October know they are docked by hitting the hatch with a hammer. However, the hammer used is a normal wood and steel hammer, the kind you could buy in any hardware store. Hammers, indeed, all tools on board submarines, are coated with a thin layer of plastic so as to minimize the amount of sound they make if they get banged around. [Not true. I had a friend stationed on the very DSRV used in the movie, and I have been in it myself. Since this type of vehicle is used for rescue the hammer is not coated. They want to make noise.]
Edit Corrected by papajim
In the scene where Ryan releases himself from the helicopter, the CO of the Dallas promptly sounds off, "Man overboard port side", then proceeds two levels down where he sees two personnel dragging in a very wet Ryan. Two levels down on a 688 class submarine is significantly below the waterline and there is no access overboard at that point. [True IF he'd gone down two decks of the hull, but he started out at the top of the conning tower, which is at least two decks tall. He's simply gone from the top of tower to the base of it. (And before we get into class-specific details of what is where on the real sub type it is stated to be, this is a fictional variant of such a sub in a Hollywood movie, not a replica in an historical re-enactment, and the film's makers are allowed artistic license in the design of their fake sub (short of having screen doors, of course).]
Edit Corrected by John W Rosa
Jack dictates messages for the captain to send to Ramius. He writes down a message asking Ramius if he wants to defect and to meet them at...then searches for a map. He finds the name Laurentian Abyssal and rushes back to the captain - without writing it down - and the captain sends the written message. Laurentian Abyssal is not mentioned verbally and Ramius abruptly ends the dialogue. [As Ryan is running back to Captain Mancuso with his final message, you can see him jot down a few last letters or numbers on his notepad. This is most likely coordinates, as the name "Laurentian Abyssal" would not necessarily mean anything to the Russians. Coordinates would also take a lot shorter time to write down and send. Which also explains why Ramius "abruptly ends the dialogue" - he had gotten all the information he needed and no further communication was necessary.]
Edit Corrected by Twotall
Wire guided torpedoes you can steer and provide input to as long as the wire doesn't break. Air dropped, ship fired, and ASROC's don't give you the option. [That's interesting, but this entry doesn't tell us which of the multiple torpedoes fired in the film was wire guided, and what the mistake is.]
Edit Corrected by Twotall
When the DSRV disengages from the Dallas, the pilot floods the skirt and then reports that they have a 'soft seal', meaning they are still lined up with the Dallas's hatch but it's not watertight. When they dock with the Red October, he again reports a 'soft seal', and then the other guy goes to immediately open the hatch. Shouldn't they do a 'hard seal' or whatever they call it to seat the DSRV firmly against the Red October first and keep the water from rushing in when the hatch opens? [Hard seal refers to having interconnecting docking ports together. Soft seal means that one ship has made the connection witout a corresponding lock from the other vessel. Since the DSRV has a universal port that just goes around hatches it only ever has a soft seal on the Red October's hatch.]
Edit
When Jack Ryan is dropped to the Dallas there is no DSRV on it. Then it is there at the climax of the film. Given the time constraints it should not have been possible to get the DSRV to the Dallas. [The DSRV is located in Patuxent, Maryland when first seen. It is stated it can be anywhere in the world within 24 hours.meaning they can move it over 12,000 miles in 24 hours. Getting it from Maryland to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland (less than 1500 miles) would take less than 3 hours. The time between Ryan telling Ramius where to go via morse code and the arrival of Dallas at the same location was over 20 hours- plenty of time to get the DSRV to the Dallas.]
Edit Corrected by John W Rosa
It is stated early in the movie that the Caterpillar drive, a magneto-hydrodynamic propulsion system, has no moving parts and simply uses magnets to squirt water out the back silently. Yet when Jonesy is investigating the disappearance of the Red October he plays a recording of the caterpillar drive at 10X speed and we hear banging of metal parts and pistons. The movement of these parts causes him to say "now that's gotta be manmade." [Actually, Jonesy never says that he suspects it due to the nature of the sound; it only sounded like banging pistons because the speed of the sound had been increased so much in the playback (anything, natural or artificial, would sound like that if played back at sufficiently high speed). When played back at that high speed, he could easily tell that the slow sound was perfectly rhythmic, repeating at precise intervals. There is probably nothing natural in the ocean that could make a sound at that perfect frequency. This is made more clear in the book, but it was the perfect repetitiveness that tipped Jonesy off to its artificial nature.]
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