History Trivia / TheHuntForRedOctober

* {{Defictionalization}}: In 2024 the Navy announced that they had built an actual prototype caterpillar submarine drive, which will undergo sea trials on the USS ''Montana'' (SSN-794).

* PlayingAgainstType: Creator/TimCurry is known for [[Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow flamboyant]] or [[Film/HomeAlone2 comedic roles]]. He's also noted for his tendency to chew the scene, especially when playing [[Film/Legend1985 Lords of Darkness]], [[{{Literature/It}} Monster clowns]] or any BigBad that he's often called to portray. The soft spoken, subdued Dr. Petrov is not your typical Tim Curry role.

** Creator/ScottGlenn (Mancuso) took an overnight cruise aboard ''USS Salt Lake City'' where he was treated as though he was the commanding officer, and the experience would influence his portrayal of Mancuso, basing it on the Salt Lake City's commanding officer, Thomas B. Fargo. According to director John [=McTiernan=] he came back completely different, very soft-spoken and calm, with a manner he described as being similar to a college president.

** The Navy was fully onboard for the movie because they were hoping ''The Hunt for Red October'' would do for the submarine service what ''Film/TopGun'' had done for Naval aviation. In a way it worked, the crew of the ''real'' [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Dallas_%28SSN-700%29 USS Dallas]] adopted the films tagline, "The Hunt is On" as the boat's unofficial motto.

** Creator/ScottGlenn (Mancuso) took an overnight cruise aboard ''USS Salt Lake City'' where he was treated as though he was the commanding officer, and the experience would influence his portrayal of Mancuso on the Salt Lake City's commanding officer, Thomas B. Fargo. According to director John [=McTiernan=] he came back completely different, very soft-spoken and calm, with a manner he described as being similar to a college president.

* AllStarCast: What else do you call this combination? Creator/SeanConnery, Creator/AlecBaldwin, Creator/SamNeill, Creator/TimCurry, Creator/StellanSkarsgard, Creator/JamesEarlJones, Creator/ScottGlenn, Creator/CourtneyBVance, even Creator/GatesMcFadden ([[DeletedScene briefly]]) ...

* ActorSharedBackground: Creator/SeanConnery and Creator/ScottGlenn both served in the navy before becoming actors. Connery served in the Royal Navy, Glenn served in the United States Marine Corps, which is part of the US Department of the Navy.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: A whole lot of details of the Typhoon-class missile submarine, such as the fact that Real-Life Typhoons don't have a missile room, falls under this. Other details tend to fall under the CriticalResearchFailure heading.

** Creator/ScottGlenn (Mancuso) took an overnight cruise aboard ''USS Salt Lake City'' where he was treated as though he was the commanding officer. According to director John [=McTiernan=] he came back completely different, very soft-spoken and calm, with a manner he described as being similar to a college president.

* TheOtherMarty: Creator/KlausMariaBrandauer was originally cast as Marko Ramius, and participated in the production process to the point of getting costumes fitted and attending several rehearsals. And then he was in a car accident and broke both of his legs. It was at Brandauer's suggestion that Creator/SeanConnery was cast to replace him. Had Brandauer been able to finish the film, it would have had a very, very different feel to it than the actual finished product.[[note]]Ironically, Brandauer and Connery would end up appearing together in ''Film/TheRussiaHouse'', which came out later that year[[/note]]

* TheOtherMarty: Acclaimed Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer was originally cast as Marko Ramius, and participated in the production process to the point of getting costumes fitted and attending several rehearsals. And then he was in a car accident and broke both of his legs. It was at Brandauer's suggestion that Creator/SeanConnery was cast to replace him. Had Brandauer been able to finish the film, it would have had a very, very different feel to it than the actual finished product.[[note]]Ironically, Brandauer and Connery would end up appearing together in ''Film/TheRussiaHouse'', which came out later that year[[/note]]

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Like the novel, the film became an inevitable one as a result of its heavy focus on the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, which was technically still occurring at the time. Although the situation had rapidly deescalated between the novel's publication in 1984 and the film's release in 1990 (with the Soviet Union already being a hair's length away from total collapse), the idea of [[MakeTheBearAngryAgain rogue generals being eager to reignite the flames]] was still an open possibility.

** Creator/KlausMariaBrandauer was first cast as Marko Ramius.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: It's naturally become quite amusing to see how much Clancy gushes over then-cutting edge computing technology in 1984, to say nothing of its prominent focus on the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, which at the time had been seeing the highest levels of hostility since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

** Scott Glenn (Mancuso) took an overnight cruise aboard ''USS Salt Lake City'' where he was treated as though he was the commanding officer. According to director John [=McTiernan=] he came back completely different, very soft-spoken and calm, with a manner he described as being similar to a college president.

** Scott Glenn (Mancuso) also spent a month aboard ''USS Salt Lake City'' where he was treated as though he was the commanding officer. According to director John [=McTiernan=] he came back completely different, very soft-spoken and calm, with a manner he described as being similar to a college president.

* TechnologyMarchesOn. Inverted. The crew of the Red October is shown to be using flat-screen and touchscreen displays (note the absence of valves and keyboards) that are more than 30-years more advanced than almost all of what was possible when the film was made, and some of which is barely possible today (2021).
** A whole lot of details of the Typhoon-class missile submarine, such as the fact that Real-Life Typhoons don't have a missile room, falls under this. Other details tend to fall under the CriticalResearchFailure heading.

** In the script, the opening crawl was originally supposed to set the film in 1991 rather than 1984, mentioning the forced retirement of UsefulNotes/MikhailGorbachev and the Soviet Defense Minister taking power, leading to renewed Western fears of Soviet aggression in the Cold War. Had this crawl been kept, it would have been an eerie prediction of the August coup that attempted to oust Gorbachev from power, prior to the collapse of UsefulNotes/TheSovietUnion in December 1991.

** In the script, the opening crawl was originally supposed to set the film in 1991 rather than 1984, mentioning the forced retirement of Mikhail Gorbachev and the Soviet Defense Minister taking power, leading to renewed Western fears of Soviet aggression in the Cold War. Had this crawl been kept, it would have been an eerie prediction of the August coup that attempted to oust Gorbachev from power, prior to the collapse of the USSR in December 1991.

** Creator/KevinCostner turned down the role of Jack Ryan in order to make ''Film/DancesWithWolves''. He would later co-star in ''Film/JackRyanShadowRecruit''. Creator/HarrisonFord turned down the role, because he felt the script focused more on Ramius than Ryan, [[TheOtherDarrin but he would take the role]] for the sequels ''Film/PatriotGames'' and ''Film/ClearAndPresentDanger''. Other candidates included Creator/JeffBridges, Creator/RichardGere, Creator/MelGibson, Creator/MichaelKeaton, Creator/ValKilmer, Creator/ChristopherLambert, Creator/StephenLang, Creator/BillPaxton, Creator/RonPerlman, Creator/KurtRussell, Creator/SylvesterStallone, Creator/PatrickSwayze, Creator/JohnTravolta and Creator/BruceWillis.