Montana in Pop Culture: "The Hunt For Red October"

Have you ever seen the classic 1990 geo-political action thriller "The Hunt For Red October?"  I'm sure you have.  But if you haven't, you should.  It's certainly the best Tom Clancy adaptation on film, capturing his tense plots and clever twists.  And it's also one of the best examples in the entire 100+ years of the cinema of a Scotsman making no effort whatsoever at doing a Russian accent. 

But "The Hunt For Red October" also has a Montana connection which you may not remember, unless you're an insufferable nerd like us.  

Sam Neill, best known for his role as Dr. Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (a movie beloved by Montanans, if not quite a Montana movie), is one of the major supporting characters in "Red October."  He plays Captain Borodin, who over the film becomes a trusty right hand to Sean Connery's Marco Ramius.

The titular Red October is a state-of-the-art nuclear sub and Connery is the maverick officer attempting to defect to the western powers, Alec Baldwin is the American intelligence agent who has figured out his plans, etc.  There are also bad guys who, of course, don't want the sub to defect. 

It all comes to a head in a shoot out, as these things tend to do.  And poor Captain Borodin is hit.  And as he expires, he tells his officer his one regret:

Earlier in the film, Sam Neill's character has revealed his secret wish to see Montana to Sean Connery.  Once they defect, his says, he wants to go to Montana, and start a rabbit farm.  But as he dies of a gunshot wound hundreds of feet under the sea, we the filmgoing audience understand that his dream will never see fruition.  And we also understand what a reasonable and even noble dream that is, to see Montana -- he may well have dreamed of moving to Malibu and getting some headshots, or of becoming a used car czar in Gary, Indiana.  But his dream, touchingly naive to those of us who really do live here, is to live and operate a rabbit ranch in Montana.  

But that's not his whole Montana dream.  It turns out he wants to be a pick-up truck driving polygamist.  

Watch his whole Montana dream described below.  And if you're watching it comfortably from the vantage of someplace in Montana, reflect on your luck: you've managed to live Captain Borodin's dream.  Congratulations.