Directed by: John McTiernan
Starring: Alec Baldwin, Sean Connery, Sam Neill, Tim Curry, James Earl Jones, Scott Glenn, Jeffrey Jones, Courtney B. Vance, Richard Jordan, Joss Ackland, Peter Firth
Character mistake: As the helicopter crewman sees the Dallas surfacing, he says something along the lines of, "Sub at three o'clock". The next shot is from inside the helicopter and shows the sub and a part of the starboard landing gear retracting pod. This shot puts the Dallas closer to one o'clock. (01:24:00)
Character mistake: Characters refer to the Dallas and the Red October as "ships," but anyone stationed aboard a submarine would know to call it a "boat."
Factual error: When the USS Dallas submerges to attack the Red October, they rig for battle stations as well as rig for red. On a submarine, rig for red is only for periscope depth operations at night, to allow control room watchstanders eyes to adjust to the darkness topside. No other area on the boat rigs for red. Throughout the movie the lights darken along with battle stations. No naval ship would reduce visibility on purpose in a heightened state. (01:31:00)
Jeffrey Pelt: Mr. Ryan, I'm a politician. Which means I'm a cheat and a liar and when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops.
Trivia: The bear that Jack Ryan brings home to his daughter is the exact same bear Bruce Willis brings to his son in Die Hard (both films were directed by John McTiernan). (02:06:00)
Question: When talking to Ramius via Morse code, why does Jack tell Ramius to turn south to the Laurentian Abyssal?
Answer: The trench is too deep to recover anything from the bottom of the trench. They were going to fake destroying the Red October, so they need some way to explain the lack of evidence of its destruction (because the remains were on the bottom of this deep trench).
Bruce Minnick