The Hunt for Red October

It’s the end of the second World War and things are looking up! The Nazis have been defeated and their leaders are on trial for unspeakable war crimes, China is recovering from the brutal Japanese invasion while the Japanese are entering a period of national introspection and revitalization, and the long conflict has made the world powers of America, the U.K., and the Soviet Union into fast friends. I foresee a long, sunny period of cultural exchange, peaceable de-militarization, and . . . oh. Oh, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. are discovering that sad fact of all brief but fiery romances: that relationships built on shared traumatic experiences are rarely built to go the distance. The breakup is messy to say the least, with Europe broken up and divided between them and both sides preparing to spend the next few decades trying to act like they’re too cool to notice the other while obsessively stalking their every move and trying to respond in the way most likely to hurt their former ally. We call this international feud the Cold War, and it was a pretty miserable affair, but it did give rise to the genre of the Cold War thriller: stories of espionage, intrigue, and political maneuvering. One of the most fondly remembered pieces of this now-defunct style is The Hunt for Red October, a 1990 movie directed by John McTiernan based on the Tom Clancy book of the same name. Red October is a tense, tightly plotted, slow-burning dance of submarines, sabotage, and sweat, and seeing as Russia has decided it’s tired of not being a global pariah anymore, Magellans at the Movies figured it was time to revisit this mainstay of their childhoods. Let’s dive, dive, dive into the episode!