Plot
CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.

Release Year: 1994

Rating: 6.8/10 (37,021 voted)

Critic's Score: 74/100

Director: Phillip Noyce

Stars: Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer

Storyline
Jack Ryan is back and this time the bad guys are in his own government. When Admiral James Greer becomes sick with cancer, Ryan is appointed acting CIA Deputy Director of Intelligence. Almost before he can draw a breath in his new position, one of the president's closest friends and his family are murdered in their sleep by what appears to by drug cartels. Ryan is called in to investigate, but unknown to him the CIA has already sent a secret field operative to lead an illegal paramilitary force in Colombia against cartels. Things get even more complicated when his team is set up and he loses and agent in the field and a friend of his wife's, who was the murdered agent's secretary is murdered that same day. Ryan must then risk not only his career, but his life to expose the truth behind the mystery.

Writers: Tom Clancy, Donald Stewart

Cast:
Harrison Ford - Jack Ryan
Willem Dafoe - John Clark
Anne Archer - Cathy Muller Ryan
Joaquim de Almeida - Col. Felix Cortez
Henry Czerny - Robert Ritter
Harris Yulin - James Cutter
Donald Moffat - President Bennett
Miguel Sandoval - Ernesto Escobedo
Benjamin Bratt - Captain Ramirez
Raymond Cruz - Domingo Chavez
Dean Jones - Judge Moore
Thora Birch - Sally Ryan
Ann Magnuson - Moira Wolfson
Hope Lange - Senator Mayo
Tom Tammi - FBI Director Emile Jacobs

Taglines: The war of drugs would lead him to the war of power.

Release Date: 3 August 1994

Filming Locations: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, USA

Box Office Details

Budget: $45,000,000 (estimated)

Gross: $207,500,000 (Worldwide)

Runtime: 141 min

Trivia:
In the movie, CIA computer whiz Petey (Greg Germann) cracks the password of the boat victim by manually guessing combinations of birthday numbers of the victim's family. This is a relic of 1994, when the internet was fledgling and most people didn't have email or anything that required a password on their personal computers. By 2000, email and other online accounts had blossomed, and more people were aware that simple passwords weren't a good idea. In 2010 meanwhile, most websites have requirements on "password entropy" and reject outright such simple passwords as too easy to crack. On a side note, as a member of the CIA, Ritter probably had a "cryptocard" or other device that told him what his password was when he logged in, and changed every hour or every minute.

Goofs:
Factual errors: In the beginning of the movie a person on the bridge of the Coast Guard cutter announces that the contact's course is "250 true". A contact's bearing can be described in true or relative angles, but the course is never described in relative terms. Neither in the Navy nor the Coast Guard would you ever hear the word "true" when describing a contact's course.

Quotes:
Admiral Greer: [speaking to Jack Ryan] You want to know about politics in Washington? Four words. Watch your back, Jack.

Great Clancy novel brought to life.

Rating: 10/10

I have to say that ALL of the Clancy novels that were made into films, with the exception of "The Sum of All Fears" were brought to life as great films. Harrison Ford reprises his role as Dr. Jack Ryan, who is forced in this film to step into the shoes of Admiral Greer, who is dying. While there is a lot of each characters personal lives carefully inserted into the film, it NEVER ceases to be clever and interesting. It's much better to watch than any senseless action picture with Bruce Willis or your wimpy little Ben Affleckish character. The film is perfectly balanced so that there is not a single boring scene in the picture. The wheels are constantly turning to make sure something dramatic is happening to really draw you further into the picture. I recommend this movie as well as it's two predecessors, "The Hunt for Red October", and "Patriot Games". Both of which are equally brilliant.

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