8. The Hunt for Red October
This 1990 thriller based Tom Clancy’s novel of the same name, set in 1984, had Connery playing Soviet submarine captain Marko Ramius, commanding a new vessel called “Red October,” which featured a caterpillar drive, making it undetectable to radar. The cast also included Alec Baldwin, Sam Neill, James Earl Jones and a very young Stellan Skarsgård, who would later star in the Academy Award winning 1997 drama Good Will Hunting. Connery played a vicious Russian captain to a tee and the film won rave reviews, which was undoubtedly because of Connery’s stellar portrayal.