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The Cold War may be on defrost, but that hasn't prevented audiences from warming up to The Hunt for Red October. The film sold more than $17 million worth of tickets on its debut weekend, the highest total for any movie opening outside the summer or Thanksgiving seasons. Red October, based on the 1984 best-seller by Tom Clancy, stars Sean Connery as a disenchanted Soviet naval officer who is determined to defect-and who is planning to take the Soviets' ''typhoon-class'' nuclear submarine with him. To find out whether people still get a chill from this kind of thriller, we ventured into submarine-making territory- Warwick, R.I. Subs are constructed at the Electric Boat division of General Dynamics at Quonset Point, a couple miles down the road. They are completed at the Electric Boat operation in Groton, in neighboring Connecticut. Moviegoers we interviewed at the Showcase Cinemas in Warwick gave Red October straight A's. Here, quoted clockwise from far right, they tell us why.

ANGELO MACERA, distribution manager ''It was very suspenseful, without a lot of bodies flying. It was intriguing and kept you at the edge of your seat. As for the Cold War, I don't believe it's over.''

MARC MACERA, STUDENT ''When people got killed, a lot of guts didn't come out. I do like guts, but not in this movie. The Cold War? Well, when they had the war, everyone knew (the Soviets) were bad guys so now they still make good bad guys.''

DANIEL SMITH, auto body technician ''There's an awful lot that goes on that people don't know about, and I think this movie might shed a bit of light. I'm not saying that this specific thing could have happened, but something very similar could have.''

STEVE BUTLER, salesman and former Air Force sergeant ''I found it to be a very good suspense thriller. For as long as it was (two hours, 15 minutes), I didn't notice it. The thawing of the Cold War didn't affect it at all.''

ARON DEYO, student ''It was very suspenseful, especially in the last 10 minutes. It makes the Cold War even more real.''

MAUREEN SULLIVAN, teacher ''I thought it was realistic fiction. It was very suspenseful, kept us riveted to the screen, and our favorite actor, Sean Connery, was in it. This is a very timely movie, and I'm not sure it doesn't have some bearing on today's politics.''

DENISE SCARBEL, clerical worker ''It makes you realize what could happen. I don't think the Cold War events made it less thrilling.''


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Posted Mar 23, 1990 | Published in issue #6 Mar 23, 1990 | Order Article Reprints