Imagine a movie made today about an international incident in the 1980s in which a Soviet captain goes AWOL with a nuclear submarine and takes it towards the U.S. with intentions that might be hostile. High-octane thrills, great production values, convincing special effects. Then imagine you could just pick any actor out of all of movie history to play the role of the Soviet cap. Who would you pick? Harrison Ford, you said? Yeah, but he already plays a Soviet sub cap in the movie “K-19,” also a good film. Pick again. Somebody with class, style and gobs of screen charisma, as well as acting chops. Yes, Sean Connery, none other than. “The Hunt for Red October” exceeds today’s demands for thrills, fast pace and cleverness, but with the best actor that you could possibly imagine for the leading role. Although now over 25 years old, the movie hasn’t aged a day. In fact, it plays even better than if it were made today, because the sets are real and not the CGI-generated stuff that you always know is fake. A solid piece of intelligent entertainment that satisfies on every level.

Extras:

• The movie is the first to bring novelist Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan character to the screen. And this is my favorite rendition of that character, presenting him not as the action-packed CIA agent portrayed later by Harrison Ford, but as a geeky CIA analyst played by Alec Baldwin.
• Unbelievably, this movie is inspired by an incident that actually happened. A Soviet captain actually did take over a Soviet ship, the navy frigate Storozhevoy in 1975. The facts are crazier than anything that occurred in the movie. Tom Clancy, an insurance salesman, read a thesis about this event years later in the U.S. Naval Academy archives, inspiring him to write the novel. But there’s another great film waiting to be made from the Storozhevoy mutiny, one closer to the facts. The incident was featured in Season 2, Episode 5 of the Smithsonian TV series, “The Real Story.” You can also look it up online and see for yourself.
• Nothing like a submarine movie to experience the full potential of your home theater system.