Movies Like The Hunt for Red October (1990)

The Hunt for Red October is a 1990 action, adventure, thriller film from John McTiernan with a MovieMagicScore of 7.4/10. Here are 20 similar films, ranked by real viewer ratings — starting with Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.

Action Adventure Thriller

Patriot Games

1992

When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets Jack and his family as revenge.

6.7

MagicScore

Clear and Present Danger

1994

Agent Jack Ryan becomes acting Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA when Admiral Greer is diagnosed with cancer. When an American businessman, and friend of the president, is murdered on his yacht, Ryan starts discovering links between the man and drug dealers. As former CIA agent John Clark is sent to Colombia to kill drug cartel kingpins in retaliation, Ryan must fight through multiple cover-ups to figure out what happened and who's responsible.

6.6

MagicScore

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

2014

Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash the U.S. economy with a terrorist attack.

6.1

MagicScore

The Sum of All Fears

2002

When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.

6.4

MagicScore

The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!

1966

When a Soviet submarine gets stuck on a sandbar off the coast of a New England island, its commander orders his second-in-command, Lieutenant Rozanov, to get them moving again before there is an international incident. Rozanov seeks assistance from the island locals, including the police chief and a vacationing television writer, while trying to allay their fears of a Communist invasion by claiming he and his crew are Norwegian sailors.

6.4

MagicScore

Crimson Tide

1995

After the Cold War, a breakaway Russian republic with nuclear warheads becomes a possible worldwide threat. U.S. submarine Capt. Frank Ramsey signs on a relatively green but highly recommended Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hunter to the USS Alabama, which may be the only ship able to stop a possible Armageddon. When Ramsey insists that the Alabama must act aggressively, Hunter, fearing they will start rather than stop a disaster, leads a potential mutiny to stop him.

7.2

MagicScore

Down Periscope

1996

Maverick Navy Lieutenant Commander Tom Dodge will never be a textbook officer, but he's a brilliant seaman who's always wanted to command a nuclear submarine — he's been given one last chance to clean up his record. Unfortunately, Admiral Graham, his nemesis, would rather sink the fleet than give Dodge his own boat. So, Graham stacks the deck against him and assigns Dodge to the Stingray, a diesel-powered WW2 submarine that can barely keep afloat. To make matters worse, Dodge's crew is a collection of maladjusted, mistake-prone misfits. Then, he's tagged the "enemy" in a crucial war game, and ordered to take on the U.S. Navy's best.

6.4

MagicScore

K-19: The Widowmaker

2002

When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.

6.5

MagicScore

The Lives of Others

2006

In 1984 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler begins spying on a famous playwright and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, and faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria.

8.0

MagicScore

#10

Tetris

2023

In 1988, American video game salesman Henk Rogers discovers the video game Tetris. When he sets out to bring the game to the world, he enters a dangerous web of lies and corruption behind the Iron Curtain.

7.7

MagicScore

#11

Breach

2007

Eric O'Neill, a low-level surveillance expert with the FBI, believes he is accomplishing his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent, with his unexpected promotion and assignment to clerk for Robert Hanssen, a renowned senior agent with 25 years in the FBI. However, he soon learns the reason for his promotion is to gain Hanssen's trust and find proof that he is a traitor to the country. Determined to draw the suspected double-agent out of deep cover, O'Neill finds himself in a lethal game of spy vs. spy, where nothing is as it seems.

6.6

MagicScore

#12

Ice Station Zebra

1968

A top-secret Soviet spy satellite -- using stolen Western technology -- malfunctions and then goes into a descent that lands it near an isolated Arctic research encampment called Ice Station Zebra, belonging to the British, which starts sending out distress signals before falling silent. The atomic submarine Tigerfish, commanded by Cmdr. James Ferraday (Rock Hudson), is dispatched to save them.

6.3

MagicScore

#13

Page Eight

2011

Johnny is a long-serving MI5 officer. His boss dies suddenly, leaving behind an inexplicable file which threatens the stability of the organisation.

6.6

MagicScore

#14

Seven Days in May

1964

A U.S. Marine Corps colonel alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.

7.3

MagicScore

#15

Steel Rain 2: Summit

2020

A futuristic film about a crisis near the brink of war after three leaders are kidnapped by a North Korean nuclear submarine in a coup d’état during a summit between the two Koreas and the United States.

7.0

MagicScore

#16

Octopus

2000

During the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, a Russian submarine strays into American waters. On board is a nuclear cargo destined for Castro. The Americans attack and destroy the sub. 38 years later US submarine Roosevelt is in the same waters. An unknown object attacks and disables the sub with devastating force and drags the vessel to the bottom of the ocean. What lies on the ocean bed beggars belief: dozens of wrecks, among them the sub destroyed 38 years ago. Whatever was on board has fed a creature of unbelievable size and strength! The only way out is the emergency submersible and a passing cruise ship. Above or below the water, there is no escape from the monster mutant octopus with a nuclear diet...

4.4

MagicScore

#17

Funeral in Berlin

1966

Colonel Stok, a Soviet intelligence officer responsible for security at the Berlin Wall, appears to want to defect but the evidence is contradictory. Stok wants the British to handle his defection and asks for one of their agents, Harry Palmer, to smuggle him out of East Germany.

6.4

MagicScore

#18

Despite the Falling Snow

2016

New York, 1961. Alexander Ivanov, a high-ranked Soviet bureaucrat, reluctantly defects to the West while is part of a diplomatic mission, feeling the grief of being unable to know the fate of his wife Katya, whom he has had to leave behind in Moscow. Only many years later, in 1991, he will finally find out the truth when his niece Lauren travels to Moscow to participate in a painting exhibition.

5.7

MagicScore

#19

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

2011

Ethan Hunt and his team are racing against time to track down a dangerous terrorist named Hendricks, who has gained access to Russian nuclear launch codes and is planning a strike on the United States. An attempt to stop him ends in an explosion causing severe destruction to the Kremlin and the IMF to be implicated in the bombing, forcing the President to disavow them. No longer being aided by the government, Ethan and his team chase Hendricks around the globe, although they might still be too late to stop a disaster.

7.1

MagicScore

#20

The Last Thing He Wanted

2020

At the turning point of the Iran-Contra affair, Elena McMahon, a fearless investigative journalist covering the 1984 US presidential campaign, puts herself in danger when she abandons her assigned task in order to fulfill the last wish of her ailing father, a mysterious man whose past activities she barely knows.

4.9

MagicScore

Frequently asked

What are the best movies like The Hunt for Red October?

The top films similar to The Hunt for Red October by MovieMagicScore are Patriot Games (6.7), Clear and Present Danger (6.6), Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (6.1). Each shares action/adventure/thriller themes and is ranked by real viewer ratings, not critics or studios.

Is The Hunt for Red October worth watching?

The Hunt for Red October holds a MovieMagicScore of 7.4/10 from 3,474 viewer ratings, putting it among the better-reviewed titles in its genre.

What kind of movie is The Hunt for Red October?

The Hunt for Red October (1990) is a action, adventure, thriller film directed by John McTiernan, starring Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn.

Where can I find more recommendations like The Hunt for Red October?

Browse the full ranked list above, or explore more action recommendations on MovieMagicScore, where every list is ordered by genuine viewer ratings.

Keep exploring

Movies like Patriot Games Movies like Clear and Present Danger Movies like Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Movies like The Sum of All Fears Movies like The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!Movies like Crimson Tide

About movies like The Hunt for Red October

This ranked list pairs The Hunt for Red October (1990), a action and adventure and thriller film from John McTiernan, with similar titles by genre, theme and cast overlap (fans of Sean Connery take note). Unlike critic-driven sites, every position here is ordered by MovieMagicScore — a rating built only from real viewers, with no studio marketing or paid placement. Scores update as more people rate, so the list stays current.

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