Die Hard

This article is about the 1988 action film. For other uses, see die hard.

Die Hard
Directed by	John McTiernan
Written by	Novel: Roderick Thorp Screenplay: Jeb Stuart Steven E. de Souza
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon Joel Silver Charles Gordon Beau Marks
Starring	Bruce Willis Alan Rickman Bonnie Bedelia Alexander Godunov Reginald VelJohnson Paul Gleason
Cinematography	Jan de Bont
Edited by	John F. Link Frank J. Urioste
Music by	Michael Kamen Chris Boardman (uncredited)
Production company	Silver Pictures
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	July 15, 1988
Running time	131 minutes
Country	Template:FilmUS
Languages	English German
Budget	$30,000,000 (est.)
Box office	Domestic: $83,008,852 Worldwide: $138,708,852

Die Hard (Template:Fy) is the first action film in the Die Hard film series. The film was produced by Lawrence and Charles Gordon, along with Joel Silver.

It was written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, stars Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Alan Rickman, Paul Gleason, Alexander Godunov, Reginald VelJohnson and William Atherton, and was directed by John McTiernan. A critical and commercial success, Die Hard propelled Willis' film career and established Rickman as a popular portrayer of villains in American film. The film was originally penned with actor Justin Holzedl in mind, but due to scheduling conflicts, the studio settled on Bruce Willis. The film also started the Die Hard series.

The movie is based on a 1979 novel by Roderick Thorp titled Nothing Lasts Forever, itself a sequel to the book The Detective, which was previously made into a 1968 movie starring Frank Sinatra.

Plot

Fox Plaza in Los Angeles, portrayed in the film as "Nakatomi Plaza"

On Christmas Eve 1987, John McClane, a detective with the New York City Police Department, arrives in Los Angeles on to try to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly Gennero. McClane is driven to the Nakatomi Plaza building at Holly's company's expense by a limo driver named Argyle. McClane is welcomed to their Christmas party and takes a moment to refresh himself from the flight in a bathroom. The party is disrupted by the arrival of a dozen terrorists led by Hans Gruber, a former German Military officer who quickly secure the party goers as hostages. McClane quietly slips into the ventilation system before he is discovered trying to learn more. He discovers that Gruber is simply trying to steal $640 million in bearer bonds from the Nakatomi vault. When the Nakatomi president Joseph Takagi refuses to reveal the passcodes to the vault, Gruber kills him, and then orders Theo, his technical man, to begin breaking through all but the final electromagnetic lock on the vault, promising that he will handle the last lock.

McClane quietly moves through the building, killing terrorists that he encounters, and learns more of their motives while acquiring a two-way radio, C4 explosives and detonators off the body of one terrorist he kills. McClane manages to use the radio to attract the attention of LAPD Sergeant Al Powell and uses a terrorist corpse dropped onto his patrol car to convince him that something is amiss. McClane uses the pseudonym "Roy Rogers" to avoid revealing his identity to the terrorists while explaining the situation to Powell as the police and SWAT team arrive. McClane and Powell are unable to prevent the SWAT team from entering an ambush set by the terrorists, but McClane manages to minimize the damage by sending some C4 explosive down the elevator shaft to wipe out the terrorists firing on the SWAT team. McClane refuses to reveal himself when Gruber threatens and proceeds to kill Harry Ellis, one of Holly's coworkers who tried to negotiate a deal for his release by selling out McClane's identity to Gruber. The Federal Bureau of Investigation arrive, and order power to the Plaza shut down. Gruber reveals this was his plan all along as the final electromagnetic lock on the vault is disengaged, and Theo begins to collect the bonds.

Gruber makes to lure the FBI into another trap by giving them a list of demands including a helicopter to transport his men and the hostages from the roof of the Plaza to Los Angeles International Airport. McClane investigates the roof and finds it rigged with C4, but also encounters Gruber. McClane is forced to drop the detonators, and makes his way to warn off the approaching FBI in a helicopter. As Gruber orders the hostages to the roof, he learns from a television report by Richard Thornburg of Holly Gennero's relationship with John McClane, and personally takes her hostage. McClane is unable to wave off the FBI but manages to kill the terrorists forcing the hostages to the roof, and tells the hostages to flee inside just before the roof is detonated. McClane meets Gruber, still holding Holly close, and his last terrorist, and manages to shoot both. The other terrorist is killed but Gruber, injured, stumbled backwards through a pane of glass and nearly drags Holly with him. McClane grabs Holly and holds her as her watchband breaks, causing Gruber to fall to his death. Meanwhile, as Theo attempts to flee the scene, Argyle rams his car and knocks Theo out.

McClane and Holly are escorted out of the building and meet Powell in person. Karl, a major terrorist who seeks revenge on McClane for killing his brother earlier, approaches them and is about to kill McClane before Powell shoots him, which is the first time he'd drawn his gun since a traumatic child shooting several years ago. When Thornburg and his crew arrive to get the exclusive story, Holly punches him in the face. McClane and Holly are driven off by Argyle.

Cast

Actor	Role
Bruce Willis	Detective John McClane
Alan Rickman	Hans Gruber
Bonnie Bedelia	Holly Gennero McClane
Reginald VelJohnson	Sgt. Al Powell
Alexander Godunov	Karl
Paul Gleason	Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson
William Atherton	Richard Thornburg
De'voreaux White	Argyle
James Shigeta	Joseph Yoshinobo "Joe" Takagi
Dennis Hayden	Eddie
Clarence Gilyard Jr.	Theo
Bruno Doyon	Franco
Hart Bochner	Harry Ellis
Taylor Fry	Lucy McClane
Hans Buhringer	Fritz
Gerard Bonn	Kristoff
Gary Roberts	Heinrich
Al Leong	Uli
Lorenzo Caccialanza	Marco
Joey Plewa	Alexander
Wilhelm von Homburg	James
Andreas Wisniewski	Tony
Robert Davi	Special Agent Johnson
Grand L. Bush	Agent Johnson
David Patrick Kelly	S.W.A.T. Team Member
Carmine Zozzora	Rivers

Production

Fox Plaza in Los Angeles was used for exterior shots of the Nakatomi building. Die Hard follows its source material — Roderick Thorp's novel Nothing Lasts Forever — closely, much of the film's memorable scenes, characters, and dialogue taken directly from the novel. Nothing Lasts Forever, a sequel to Thorp's earlier novel The Detective, was written with the intention of being adapted into a film sequel to the film adaptation of The Detective, which starred Frank Sinatra. When Sinatra turned down the offer to star in the sequel, the story was altered to be a stand-alone film with no connections to The Detective. Other changes included the older hero of the novel becoming younger, the hero's daughter becoming his wife, and the American Klaxon Oil Corporation becoming the Japanese Nakatomi Corporation. The novel's tone is darker and more serious than the film's, and the politically-motivated fighters of the novel became thieves pretending to be terrorists in the film. Director John McTiernan states on the DVD commentary that the change from a tale of political terrorism to a heist movie was made because he wanted to bring "joy" to the story, rather than having the villains be overly ponderous.

In the German dub, the names and backgrounds of the German-born terrorists were changed into English forms (mostly into their British equivalents, though two were turned Italian): Hans became Jack, Karl became Charlie, Heinrich turned into Henry (in the scene where John is writing down the names of the terrorists, a voiceover in the German version says "I'm gonna call you Hans and Karl, just like the two evil giants in the fairy tale" while referring to them as Jack and Charlie later). The new background depicts them as some internationally organized terrorists having gone freelance and for profit rather than ideals. This was because German terrorism (especially by the Red Army Faction) was still considered a sensitive issue by the German government in the 1980s.

According to commentary from the movie's DVD release, Alan Rickman's surprise when Gruber is dropped from the building is genuine: the director chose to release Rickman a full second before he expected it in order to get genuine surprise, a move which angered Rickman. The text commentary track also reveals that the shooting script did not originally feature the meeting between McClane and Gruber pretending to be a hostage; it was only written in when it was discovered that Rickman could do an American accent.

Die Hard's title has been changed for different market releases:

• In Thailand, Big Building Fight.
• In Spain, La Jungla de Cristal (The Glass Jungle).
• In Latin America and Romania, Duro de Matar and Greu de ucis, respectively (Hard to Kill).
• In Russia, Крепкий Орешек (A Hard Nut to Crack, literally "Hard Nutlet").
• In Poland, Szklana Pułapka (The Glass Trap).
• In Portugal, Assalto ao Arranha-Céus (Skyscraper Assault).
• In Greece, Πολύ σκληρός για να πεθάνει (Too tough to die).
• In Norway, Operasjon Skyskraper, ("Operation Skyscraper"). It was later changed to its original name.
• In France and in Italy, Piège de Cristal and Trappola di Cristallo, respectively (The Crystal Trap).
• In Yugoslavia, Umri Muški (Die like a Man).
• In Finland, Vain kuolleen ruumiini yli (Only over my dead body).
• In Germany, Stirb langsam (Die Slowly).
• In Hungary, Drágán add az életed (Give your life expensive).
• In Estonia, Visa Hing (Sturdy Soul).
• In Israel, מת לחיות (Dying to Live).
• In the Czech Republic, Smrtonosná Past (Lethal Trap).
• In Taiwan, "終極警探" (Ultimate Detective)
• In Hong Kong and mainland China, "虎胆龙威" (Tiger's bravery and Dragon's might).

Music

Beethoven's 9th Symphony is featured prominently in Kamen's score throughout the film, in many guises and variations. Thematic variations on "Singin' in the Rain" are also featured as the theme for the character Theo. Basing his score around thematic variations on well-known pieces is a conceit that Kamen would repeat in Die Hard 2 (which featured Jean Sibelius's Finlandia) and Die Hard With A Vengeance (which featured variations on the Civil War marching tune, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"). Due to the film's Christmas setting, the score also features sleigh bells in some cues. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 is playing during the reception at the party at the start of the film.

Near the beginning of the film, limousine driver Argyle plays the rap song Christmas In Hollis, performed by Run-D.M.C. and first released in 1987.

The final 4 minutes were tracked with music from two other Twentieth Century Fox features - these were 'temp tracks' which the studio ultimately decided to leave in the picture. The poignant music heard when McClane and Powell see each other for the first time is from John Scott's score for Man On Fire (1987). When Karl appears with his rifle, a cut from the 1986 sci-fi action movie Aliens composed by James Horner is heard. This music can be found on the Aliens soundtrack as the first few minutes of the cue "Resolution and Hyperspace".

In an odd coincidence, similarly to Aliens, the score by Michael Kamen was heavily edited, with music samples looped over and over and cues added to scenes where they didn't belong. The most notable example is the "brass blast" heard when John shoots Marco from under a table and later when Hans Gruber falls to his death.

The score as heard in the film was released by Varese Sarabande in February 2002, but was limited to 3000 copies.

Reception

When Die Hard was released, it was considered one of the best action films of its era (the film currently holds a 94% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes). This is probably in part due to the fact that there are few artificial plot points in the story. The film features Willis as a sympathetic hero with typical human weaknesses, unlike the overpowered heroes exemplified by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. It is noted for including humor as a complement to the action and dramatic elements of the story. It is said to have reinvented the action genre and set the stage for '90s action/thriller movies such as Under Siege, Sudden Death, Cliffhanger, Passenger 57 and Speed. "Die Hard on a _____" became a common way to describe the plot of many of the action films that came in its wake. For example, 1994's Speed was called "Die Hard on a bus", 1996's The Rock was dubbed "Die Hard on an island".

It was highly acclaimed by critics and spawned three popular sequels: Die Hard 2 (1990), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) and Live Free or Die Hard (2007), all featuring Willis as McClane. Die Hard was listed at #39 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills list of the most thrilling American movies of all time in 2001. In 2003, Hans Gruber was listed at #46 on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains special. However, Roger Ebert gave it a less than flattering review, giving it a mere 2 stars and criticizing the stupidity of the characters and the satirical view the film takes on authority figures.

Die Hard had a budget of $28 million. Released in 1,276 theaters, it grossed $7.1 million in its opening weekend. The film earned $83 million domestically and $138.7 million worldwide. The movie was nominated for Best Sound Effects Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Sound and Best Visual Effects. John McClane's infamous line "Yippee ki yay, motherfucker" was voted as #96 of "The 100 Greatest Movie Lines" by Premiere magazine in 2007. In the June 22 2007 issue of Entertainment Weekly, it was named the best action movie of all time.

Legacy

The success of Die Hard led to the production of three sequels spanning over 20 years. These titles include Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990), Die Hard With a Vengeance (1995) and Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

See also

Films Considered the Greatest Ever

External links

• Die Hard at IMDb
• Die Hard at AllMovie
• Die Hard at Rotten Tomatoes
• Script
• Movies Influenced By Die Hard