History YMMV / TheHuntForRedOctober

*** This is partially justified: The novel goes into considerable detail on Ramius' life and the events that lead up to his decision to defect. His wife dying from a botched surgery by a drunk surgeon was just one of several unjust events he had been witness to or experienced. Ultimately, Ramius blamed the State for his wife's death. The final straw came at her funeral. The state had robbed him of being unable to pray for her soul at her funeral and the comfort--or even just the illusion--that he may be reunited with her in the afterlife.

*** This is partially justified: The novel goes into considerable detail on Ramius' life and the events that lead up to his decision to defect. The Surgeon worked for a clinic that only served the Party Elite and not the military. Ultimately, Ramius blamed the State for his wife's death. The final straw, after a lifetime of other events, was being unable to pray for her soul at her funeral and robbed of the comfort--or even just the illusion--that he may be reunited with her in the afterlife.

*** This is partially justified: The novel goes into considerable detail on Ramius' life and the events that lead up to his decision to defect. The Surgeon worked for a clinic that only served the party elite. Ramius blamed the State for his wife's death. The final straw after a life time of other events was being unable to pray for her soul at her funeral and the comfort--or even just the illusion--that he may be reunited with her in the afterlife.

*** This is partially justified: The novel goes into considerable detail on Ramius' life and the events that lead up to his decision to defect. Notably, the surgeon worked for the Fourth Department clinic, which only serves the Party Elite and not the military. Also, the surgeon being drunk was just one of several errors and acts of incompetence by others that led to her death. Ultimately, Ramius blamed the State for his wife's death. The final straw was being unable to pray for her soul at her funeral and the comfort--or even just the illusion--that he may be reunited with her in the afterlife.

*** Partially acknowledged in-universe: while the ''Ethan Allen'' provided some debris and a SONAR signature from the explosion, the main part of the deception involved a depth gauge removed from ''Red October'' and dumped in the debris field, bearing its pennant number and other identifying marks.

*** Partially acknowledged in-universe: while the ''Ethan Allen'' provided some debris and a SONAR signature from the explosion, the main part of the deception involved a depth gauge removed from the Red October and dumped in the debris field, bearing its pennant number and other identifying mars.

** Also, the missiles are all-too-obviously animated. Which just goes to show that even Creator/IndustrialLightAndMagic can have an off day.

** The novel's scheme of blowing up the USS ''Ethan Allen'' to confuse the Russians into believing that the Red October had sunk is ridiculous because the ''Ethan Allen'' class of missile submarine displaced in the range of 6000 tons, a full 1000 tons less than a ''Los Angeles''-class sub like the ''Dallas'' and a ''fifth'' of ''Red October's'' whopping 30,000+ ton mass. Unless the Soviets were brain-dead they'd notice there was far too little debris for such a large submarine. And further, a submarine reactor wouldn't cause an ''explosion'', it'd cause a ''meltdown'' - even Chernobyl simply melted down instead of blowing up. Even real-life submarine disasters involving missile/torpedo explosions, such as the ''Kursk'' tragedy, leave the hull in one or more large, very recognizable sections instead of reducing it to scrap metal.

** It can be funny to see Creator/StellanSkarsgard and Creator/TimCurry act together here as Curry had just starred as Pennywise in ''Film/It1990'' and Skarsgard's son [[Creator/BillSkarsgard Bill]], who would later play Pennywise in ''Film/It2017'', was just born. Even funnier is that, in the film and book, Pennywise comes out of hiding every twenty-seven years and Bill Skarsgard played the role exactly twenty-seven years later.

* OneSceneWonder: Rear Admiral Painter (played by actor and Tennessee senator Fred Thompson) has a small, but very memorable role in the film.

** It can be funny to see Stellan Skarsgard and Creator/TimCurry act together here as Curry had just starred as Pennywise in ''Film/It1990'' and Skarsgard's son [[Creator/BillSkarsgard Bill]], who would later play Pennywise in ''Film/It2017'', was just born. Even funnier is that, in the film and book, Pennywise comes out of hiding every twenty-seven years and Bill Skarsgard played the role exactly twenty-seven years later.

** It can be funny to see Stellan Skarsgard and Tim Curry act together here as Curry had just starred as Pennywise in ''Film/It1990'' and Skarsgard's son Bill, who would later play Pennywise in ''Film/It2017'', was just born. Even funnier is that, in the film and book, Pennywise comes out of hiding every twenty-seven years and Bill Skarsgard played the role exactly twenty-seven years later.

** Again from the novel - a major Russian naval base would have more than one surgeon on duty, and given the rivalry between the military and the Communist party, a drunk surgeon using his party connections to attempt to get away from a court-martial offense would have created one ''hell'' of an uproar and would be brought to justice really quickly. If Ramius had lost his wife to a drunk surgeon who was the son of a party official in the real USSR, he would have had justice served pretty quickly and be backed up by his superiors all the way to the highest ranks.

* {{Narm}}: To some native Russian speakers, Creator/SeanConnery speaking Russian in his trademark Scottish accent is ''hilarious''. It's kind of justified in that Connery's character is Lithuanian, so Russian wouldn't be his native language to begin with. Then again, he really ought to to have a more Baltic-sounding accent. Also, Creator/AlecBaldwin's American accent when speaking Russian is so thick as to be unintelligible.

* {{Narm}}: To some native Russian speakers, Creator/SeanConnery speaking Russian in his trademark Scottish accent is ''hilarious''. Also, Creator/AlecBaldwin's American accent when speaking Russian is so thick as to be unintelligible.

* Critical Research Failure: The novel has a whole bunch of critical research failures regarding the internal layout of the Typhoon class missile submarine that, while understandable, also betrays a serious case of ArtMajorPhysics (a submarine with a pressure hull that flattened would have an ''enormously'' compromised diving depth), which also extends to the properties of the impellers used in the Caterpillar Drive[[note]]nowhere nearly as exotic as depicted; British Trafalgar-class submarines new in 1984 beginning from HMS ''Torbay'' onwards used Jet Pumps, which are a form of impeller and needed no special laws of hydrodynamics[[/note]] and the ultra-high-pressure reactor plant used in the Alfa-class submarines [[note]]all made up, and water wouldn't function as a working fluid in such conditions - incidentally, Clancy dismisses a liquid metal reactor when that's what the real Alfa(Lyra/Project 705) class had![[/note]]. The movie averts this with the Caterpillar Drive being turned into a magnetohydrodynamic propulsion system, which is more plausible and which have actually been built, but which are severely speed-restricted and wouldn't be worth using even on a missile submarine.

** The Soviet [[ThePoliticalOfficer political officer]] who is named ''[[UsefulNotes/VladimirPutin Putin]]''.
*** Who bears a striking resemblance to ol' Vlad
** [[spoiler: [[{{Retirony}} Borodin's last words, "I would like to have seen Montana."]]]] A few movies later, [[Film/JurassicPark he did.]]
*** And 28 years later, he still wanted to have [[Film/PeterRabbit a rabbit]] cooked.

* CommonKnowledge: "Sean Connery plays a Russian sub commander". Except Ramius is Lithuanian, which is a key plot point in his defection.

* FirstInstallmentWins: Widely regarded as the best novel -and film- of the Ryan-verse, if not Clancy's best (in contest with his second published novel, ''Literature/RedStormRising'')

* {{Narm}}: To some native Russian speakers, Sean Connery speaking Russian in his trademark Scottish accent is ''hilarious''. Also, Alec Baldwin's American accent when speaking Russian is so thick as to be unintelligible.

* 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 (2016).

* OneSceneOnder: Rear Admiral Painter (played by actor and Tennessee senator Fred Thompson) has a small, but very memorable role in the film.