8. Die Hard (1988)
Genre:
Action-Adventure
Director:
John McTiernan
Writers:
Jeb Stuart (screenplay); Roderick Thorp (book)
Stars:
Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
Awards:
4 Oscar nominations—Sound, Film Editing, Sound Effects, Visual Effects
Metacritic score: 70
IMDB Ranking: #122
Die Hard is not only one of the greatest action movies ever made, it is the archetype for the modern action movie—an everyman kind-of-a-guy who has special skills (cop, former military, retired spy, etc.) who is placed against his will into a survival situation in which he has to stop a genius-level villain with an incredibly complex and nefarious plan in order to save himself as well as a host of others (wife, kids, compatriots, innocents, etc.). If this sounds like the basic plot to every action movie you've seen for the past 30 years, then now you know where it all started.
What many young people don't know about this movie is how unlikely its success was. Although Bruce Willis is best known today as an action hero, the only work he was known for when Die Hard premiered was the ABC comedy series Moonlighting. Many critics, before the movie opened, scoffed at the idea of a lightweight comic actor like Willis holding down a big-budget action picture.
Furthermore, most of the other actors are relative unknowns. William Atherton (Richard Thornburg) was the EPA jerk in Ghostbusters; Bonnie Bedelia (Holly Gennero McClane) had been in a few things; Alexander Godunov (Karl) was famous as a ballet dancer but had just started in the movies; chief baddie Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber) was virtually unknown to American audiences. Probably the two most famous faces were Paul Gleason (Deputy Chief Robinson), the principal in The Breakfast Club, and Family Matters star Reginald Veljohnson (Sgt. Al Powell). In 1988, no one would have cleared out their weekend schedule to see any of these actors on the big screen.
It's a testimony to the overall quality of this movie that made it such a monster hit, made movie stars of Willis and Rickman, and cemented itself in American pop culture consciousness. The plot is simple: New York policeman John McClane (Willis) flies to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his estranged wife (Bedelia) and their two young children. A limo sent by her company, the Japanese Nakatomi Corporation, brings him to her office, high in the Nakatomi skyscraper, which is still under final construction in the top few floors.
During the party, a group of (apparent) terrorists take over the building and herd everyone into the common area of the main office floor. They fail to catch McClane, however, and he slips into a stairway, barefoot and armed with only his service revolver. The rest of the movie involves McClane matching wits (and mostly winning) against Hans and his cohorts, who are revealed to be not terrorists but rather ambitious thieves using police and FBI playbooks against terrorism to bring their plan to fruition.
Furthermore, most of the other actors are relative unknowns. William Atherton (Richard Thornburg) was the EPA jerk in Ghostbusters; Bonnie Bedelia (Holly Gennero McClane) had been in a few things; Alexander Godunov (Karl) was famous as a ballet dancer but had just started in the movies; chief baddie Alan Rickman (Hans Gruber) was virtually unknown to American audiences. Probably the two most famous faces were Paul Gleason (Deputy Chief Robinson), the principal in The Breakfast Club, and Family Matters star Reginald Veljohnson (Sgt. Al Powell). In 1988, no one would have cleared out their weekend schedule to see any of these actors on the big screen.
It's a testimony to the overall quality of this movie that made it such a monster hit, made movie stars of Willis and Rickman, and cemented itself in American pop culture consciousness. The plot is simple: New York policeman John McClane (Willis) flies to Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his estranged wife (Bedelia) and their two young children. A limo sent by her company, the Japanese Nakatomi Corporation, brings him to her office, high in the Nakatomi skyscraper, which is still under final construction in the top few floors.
During the party, a group of (apparent) terrorists take over the building and herd everyone into the common area of the main office floor. They fail to catch McClane, however, and he slips into a stairway, barefoot and armed with only his service revolver. The rest of the movie involves McClane matching wits (and mostly winning) against Hans and his cohorts, who are revealed to be not terrorists but rather ambitious thieves using police and FBI playbooks against terrorism to bring their plan to fruition.
I first saw this movie on the gigantic main screen of the famous Esquire Theater in St. Louis, and it was a dramatic and thrilling experience, as intense as Aliens but significantly more fun. Three things stood out to me then, and they still stand as the main reasons why this movie is so great:
3) William Atherton's television reporter Richard Thornburgh may be the asshole of the film, but in real-life, he's a kick-ass reporter. He's the first on the scene, he's the first to interview McClane's family, and although he is the object of the audience's scorn and derision (people in the theater cheered when Holly punched him in the nose at the end), he does what a good journalist should (and would do) to get the story. Atherton does a stellar job again, proving he's the absolute best '80s actor at playing an unlikable asshole.
2) John McClane is not a superhero. Yeah, he's brave, and he has the skills that a good cop would be expected to have, but this movie is not afraid to show him as human. He takes his shoes off in his wife's office to relieve tension because he's afraid to fly. He gets battered, bruised, bloody, and broken at every step along the way. He's often afraid even as he's trying to survive, and when he's not sure that he'll make it out alive, he asks Powell to apologize to his wife on his behalf. We relate to John McClane because he seems like someone we know in real life. That's amazing writing there.
1) Alan Rickman is just the fucking shizz, man. He's so amazing in this movie. I had no idea who he was before Die Hard, but he's still my favorite thing about the film. If it weren't for McClane, you could almost root for Hans to win. He's always cool, always collected, always projecting the image of being control even when he isn't. He's stylish, slick, and his performance is strong enough to counterpoint Willis's heroism in a way that even as he falls to his death, you get a sense that you're going to miss him anyway.
The last word: Yeah, it's a Christmas movie. Get over it. Yippee-kiy-yay...
3) William Atherton's television reporter Richard Thornburgh may be the asshole of the film, but in real-life, he's a kick-ass reporter. He's the first on the scene, he's the first to interview McClane's family, and although he is the object of the audience's scorn and derision (people in the theater cheered when Holly punched him in the nose at the end), he does what a good journalist should (and would do) to get the story. Atherton does a stellar job again, proving he's the absolute best '80s actor at playing an unlikable asshole.
2) John McClane is not a superhero. Yeah, he's brave, and he has the skills that a good cop would be expected to have, but this movie is not afraid to show him as human. He takes his shoes off in his wife's office to relieve tension because he's afraid to fly. He gets battered, bruised, bloody, and broken at every step along the way. He's often afraid even as he's trying to survive, and when he's not sure that he'll make it out alive, he asks Powell to apologize to his wife on his behalf. We relate to John McClane because he seems like someone we know in real life. That's amazing writing there.
1) Alan Rickman is just the fucking shizz, man. He's so amazing in this movie. I had no idea who he was before Die Hard, but he's still my favorite thing about the film. If it weren't for McClane, you could almost root for Hans to win. He's always cool, always collected, always projecting the image of being control even when he isn't. He's stylish, slick, and his performance is strong enough to counterpoint Willis's heroism in a way that even as he falls to his death, you get a sense that you're going to miss him anyway.
The last word: Yeah, it's a Christmas movie. Get over it. Yippee-kiy-yay...
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