The Hunt for Red October Quotations

The Hunt for Red October is a 1990 film about the USSR's best submarine captain in their newest sub who violates orders and heads for the USA. Is he trying to defect, or to start a war?

Directed by John McTiernan. Written by Larry Ferguson, based on Tom Clancy's 1984 novel.

Invisible. Silent. Stolen.taglines

Capt. Marko Ramius

Once more, we play our dangerous game, a game of chess against our old adversary - The American Navy. For forty years, your fathers before you and your older brothers played this game and played it well. But today the game is different. We have the advantage.

We will pass through the American patrols, past their sonar nets, and lay off their largest city, and listen to their rock and roll... while we conduct missile drills.

It reminds me of the heady days of Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin when the world trembled at the sound of our rockets. Now they will tremble again - at the sound of our silence. The order is: engage the silent drive.

...the only sound they will hear is our laughter, while we sail to Havana, where the sun is warm, and so is the...comradeship.

[Today is] a great day, comrades! We sail into history!

When he reached the New World, Cortez burned his ships. As a result, his men were well motivated.

I miss the peace of fishing like when I was a boy. Forty years I've been at sea. A war at sea. A war with no battles, no monuments... only casualties. I widowed her the day I married her. My wife died while I was at sea, you know.

Give me a ping, Vasily. One ping only, please.

Anatoli, you're afraid of our fleet. Well, you should be. Personally, I'd give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?

Jack Ryan

Well, Sir, I was just thinking that perhaps there's another possibility we might consider. Ramius might be trying to defect.

[imitating the Admiral] "The average Rooskie, son, don't take a dump without a plan." Wait a minute. We don't have to figure out how to get the crew off the sub. He's already done that, he would have had to. All we gotta do is figure out what he's gonna do. So how's he gonna get the crew off the sub? They have to want to get off. How do you get a crew to want to get off a submarine? How do you get a crew to want to get off a nuclear sub...

I'm not an agent, I just write books for the CIA!

[to himself] Next time, Jack, write a damn memo.

[Sarcastic-imitating Ramius] "Ryan, some things in here don't react well to bullets." Yeah, like me. I don't react well to bullets.

Capt. Bart Mancuso

Central Intelligence Agency... Now, there's a contradiction in terms.

My Morse is so rusty, I could be sending him dimensions on playmate of the month.

The hard part about playing chicken is knowin' when to flinch.

Dr. Jeffrey Pelt

[to the Soviet Ambassador] It would be well for your government to consider that having your ships and ours, your aircraft and ours, in such proximity... is inherently DANGEROUS. Wars have begun that way, Mr. Ambassador.

[to Ryan] Listen, 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. But it also means I keep my options open.

[to Ryan] I'll give you three days to prove your theory correct. After that... we'll have to hunt down Ramius and destroy him. Will you do it?

Others

Ambassador Lysenko: It seems that the initial reports that one of our submarines was missing were not completely accurate. The submarine in question... is commanded by Captain Marko Ramius. Apparently he's suffered a kind of mental or nervous break down. Just before he sailed, he posted a letter to Admiral Yuri Padorin, in which he announced his intention to, to fire his missiles on the United States.

Watson: Y'know, I seen me a mermaid once. I even seen me a shark eat an octopus. But I ain't never seen no phantom Russian submarine.

Capt. 2nd Rank Vasily Borodin: [as he's dying] I would have liked to have seen Montana...

Sonarman 2nd Class Ronald Jones: Conn, Sonar! Crazy Ivan!!!

Admiral Josh Painter: [after running up to the USS Enterprise flight deck to survey an F-14 crash scene] This business will get out of control! It will get out of control and we'll be lucky to live through it!

Captain Tupolev: We're going to kill a friend, Yevgeni. We're going to kill Ramius.

Andrei Bonovia: [to Captain Tupolev] You arrogant ass! You've killed us!

Admiral Josh Painter: Russians don't take a dump without a plan. And senior captains don't start something this dangerous without having thought the matter through.

Admiral James Greer: I told you to speak your mind Jack, but Jesus!

Admiral James Greer: That torpedo didn't self-destruct, you heard it hit the hull and I... was never here.

Skip Tyler: When I was twelve, I helped my Daddy build a bomb shelter in our basement, because some damn fool parked a dozen warheads ninety miles off the coast of Florida. This thing could park a coupla' hundred warheads in New York harbor and no-one would know anything about it until it was all over.

Dialogue

Flight Attendant: The flight will go much faster if you do try to get some sleep.

Ryan: I don't sleep on planes. Turbulence.

Flight Attendant: Pardon?

Ryan: Solar radiation heats the earth's crust, warm air rises, cool air descends: turbulence. I don't like that.

Flight Attendant: Oh. Well, try to get some sleep anyway.

Seaman Jones: [teaching Beaumont] Hear it now?

Beaumont: [resigned] No.

Seaman Jones: Beaumont, at Caltech we used to do this in our sleep! You hear it now?

Beaumont: Wait a minute...

Seaman Jones: Uh oh...

Beaumont: Disparaged surface clutter...

Seaman Jones: Yeeeesssss?

Beaumont: I should go to SAPS?

Seaman Jones: Correct! Seaman Beaumont, Signal Algorithmic Processing System. Give it a week and you'll be teaching at Caltech. So, like Beethoven on the computer, you have labored to produce... a biologic.

Beaumont: A what?

Seaman Jones: A whale, Seaman Beaumont, a whale. A marine mammal that knows a hell of a lot more about sonar, than you do.

Capt. Vasili Borodin: I will live in Montana. And I will marry a round American woman and raise rabbits, and she will cook them for me. And I will have a pickup truck... maybe even a "recreational vehicle." And drive from state to state. Do they let you do that?

Captain Ramius: I suppose.

Capt. Vasili Borodin: No papers?

Captain Ramius: No papers, state to state.

Capt. Vasili Borodin: Well then, in winter I will live in... Arizona. Actually, I think I will need two wives.

Captain Ramius: Oh, at least.

Seaman Jones: Conn, sonar! Crazy Ivan!

Capt. Bart Mancuso: All stop! Quick quiet!

[the ships engines are shut down completely]

Beaumont: What's goin' on?

Seaman Jones: Russian captains sometime turn suddenly to see if anyone's behind them. We call it "Crazy Ivan." The only thing you can do is go dead. Shut everything down and make like a hole in the water.

Beaumont: So what's the catch?

Seaman Jones: The catch is, a boat this big doesn't exactly stop on a dime... and if we're too close, we'll drift right into the back of him.

Jack Ryan: Where are we going, anyway?

Admiral James Greer: Briefing for Jeffrey Pelt, the President's National Security Advisor. Most of the Joint Chiefs will be there, along with a few other people.

Jack Ryan: Who's giving the briefing?

Admiral James Greer: You are.

Jeffrey Pelt: You slammed the door on the General pretty hard, didn't you?

Jack Ryan: That was not my intention.

Jeffrey Pelt: Oh, yes, it was! He was patronizing you, and you stomped on him! And in my opinion, he deserved it!

Jeffrey Pelt: Okay, when do you leave?

Jack Ryan: [laughing] Wait a minute! The General was right. I am not field personnel, I am only an analyst.

Jeffrey Pelt: You're perfect. I can't ask any of these characters to go. One, they don't believe in it. Two, they'd never stake their reputation on a hunch. Whereas you...

Jack Ryan: ...are expendable.

Jeffrey Pelt: Something like that.

Jeffrey Pelt: Mr. Ambassador, you have nearly a hundred naval vessels operating in the North Atlantic right now. Your aircraft has dropped enough sonar buoys so that a man could walk from Greenland to Iceland to Scotland without getting his feet wet. Now, shall we dispense with the bull?

Ambassador Lysenko: You make your point as delicately as ever, Mr. Pelt.

[Jack is being ferried to the Enterprise disguised as a Navy officer - a storm batters at the airplane]

Radioman [shouting amiably over the engines] So you don't like flyin', huh? This is nothin'! You shoulda been with us five, six months back! Whoa, talk about puke! We ran into a hailstorm over the Sea of Japan! Everyone was retchin' his guts out! The pilot shot his lunch all over the windshield, and I barfed on the radio - knocked it right out! It wasn't that lightweight stuff, either, it was that chunky, industrial-weight puke! [proferring a candy bar] Wanna bite?

Jack Ryan: [through clenched teeth] Next time you get a bright idea, Jack, put it in a memo!

Helicopter Pilot: Fuel status says we turn back now.

Jack Ryan: Wait a minute. Fuel status? You have a reserve, don't you?

Helicopter Pilot: Yes, sir. I've got a ten minute reserve... but I'm not allowed to invade that except in time of war.

Jack Ryan: Listen, mister, if you don't get me on board that goddamn submarine, that just might be what you'll have! You got me? Now you have ten more minutes' worth of fuel, we stay here ten more minutes!

Captain Davenport: What's he going to do, sail into New York, pop the hatch, and say "Here I am"?

Jack Ryan: It might be just that simple, yes.

[Jack Ryan, in US Navy Commander uniform, exits after meeting the Admiral and Captain of the carrier]

Admiral Josh Painter: You think he's crazy?

Captain Davenport: Certifiable. And no matter what his credentials, I don't care for him wearing the uniform.

Admiral Josh Painter: You see that ring on his finger? The Academy, Class of '72. A Marine.

Captain Davenport: You're kidding! How did you...

Admiral Josh Painter: Greer told me. Summer of his third year, he and his squad went down in a chopper accident in the Med. Bad - pilot, crew killed. That kid spent ten months in traction, another year learning to walk again. Did his fourth year from the hospital. Now it's up to you, Charlie, but you might consider cuttin' the kid a little slack.

Captain Davenport: They're pinging away with their active sonar like they're looking for something, but nobody's listening.

Jack Ryan: What do you mean?

Captain Davenport: Well, they're moving at almost forty knots. At that speed, they could run right over my daughter's stereo and not hear it.

Capt. Bart Mancuso: All back full.

Lt. Cmdr. Thompson: Say again?

Capt. Bart Mancuso: I said, all back full!

Lt. Cmdr. Thompson: Back full, aye sir. Engines back full.

[the Dallas reverses, churning the water]

Seaman Jones: Captain, we're cavitating, he can hear us!

Capt. Bart Mancuso: Conn, aye! All stop!

Crewmember: All stop, aye.

Capt. Bart Mancuso: All right, Ryan, we just unzipped our fly. Mr. Thompson! Open the outer doors, firing point procedures. Now if that bastard so much as twitches, I'm going to blow him right to Mars.

Capt. Bart Mancuso: [Ramius comments in Russian to Borodin that Mancuso is a "buckaroo". Ryan laughs] What's so funny?

Jack Ryan: Ah, the Captain seems to think you're some kind of... cowboy.

Captain Ramius: [in Russian] You speak Russian.

Jack Ryan: [in Russian] A little. It is wise to study the ways of ones adversary. Don't you think?

Captain Ramius: [in English] It is.

Bill Steiner: Hey I think someone just shot a torpedo at us!

Capt. Bart Mancuso: No shit, Buckwheat, now get the hell out of here!

[a torpedo is racing toward them]

Capt. Vasili Borodin: Torpedo impact, 20 seconds.

Captain Ramius: [to Ryan] What books?

Jack Ryan: Pardon me?

Captain Ramius: What books did you write?

Jack Ryan: I wrote a biography of, of Admiral Halsey, called "The Fighting Sailor", about, uh, naval combat tactics...

Captain Ramius: I know this book!

Capt. Vasili Borodin: Torpedo impact...

Captain Ramius: Your conclusions were all wrong, Ryan...

Capt. Vasili Borodin: ...10 seconds.

Captain Ramius: ...Halsey acted stupidly.

Captain Ramius: [during a shootout in the missile room] Hey, Ryan, be careful what you shoot at. Most things in here don't react too well to bullets.

Jack Ryan: Right.

[Moves closer to enemy, who fires several shots at him]

Jack Ryan: I have to be careful what I shoot at?

Ambassador Andrei Lysenko: There is another matter... one I'm reluctant to...

Dr. Jeffrey Pelt: Please.

Ambassador Andrei Lysenko: One of our submarines, an Alfa, was last reported in the area of the Grand Banks. We have not heard from her for some time.

Dr. Jeffrey Pelt: Andrei, you've lost another submarine?

Captain Ramius: There's one thing you haven't yet asked me: why?

Jack Ryan: Well, I thought you would tell me when you felt ready.

Captain Ramius: Well, there are those who believe that we should attack the United States first. Settle everything in one moment. Red October was built for that purpose.

Captain Ramius: "... and the sea will grant each man new hope, as sleep brings dreams of home." Christopher Columbus.

Jack Ryan: Welcome to the New World, Captain.

Cast

Sean Connery - Captain Marko Ramius
Alec Baldwin - Jack Ryan
Scott Glenn - Commander Bart Mancuso
Sam Neill - Captain 2nd Rank Vasily Borodin
James Earl Jones - Admiral James Greer
Joss Ackland - Ambassador Andrei Lysenko
Richard Jordan - Dr. Jeffrey Pelt
Peter Firth - Political Officer Ivan Yurevich Putin - Red October
Tim Curry - Dr. Petrov
Courtney B. Vance - Sonarman 2nd Class Ronald Jones
Stellan Skarsgård - Captain Tupolev
Jeffrey Jones - Oliver Wendell 'Skip' Tyler
Timothy Carhart - Bill Steiner
Larry Ferguson - Chief of the Boat Watson - USS Dallas
Fred Thompson - Rear Admiral Joshua Painter - USS Enterprise

Quoternity