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Die Hard
Die Hard
This article is about the 1988 action lm. For the lm side as hostages except for McClane who manages to slip
series it initiated, see Die Hard (lm series). For other away.
uses, see Die Hard (disambiguation).
Gruber singles out Nakatomi executive Joseph Takagi
claiming he intends to teach the Corporation a lesson for
Die Hard is a 1988 American action lm directed by John its greed. Away from the hostages, Gruber interrogates
McTiernan and written by Steven E. de Souza and Jeb Takagi for the code to the buildings vault. Gruber admits
Stuart, based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by that they are using terrorism as a distraction while they atRoderick Thorp. Die Hard follows o-duty New York tempt to steal $640 million in bearer bonds in the vault.
City Police Department ocer John McClane (Bruce Takagi refuses to cooperate and is executed by Gruber as
Willis) as he takes on a group of highly organized crim- McClane secretly observes. McClane accidentally gives
inals led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), who perform himself away and is pursued by Tony. McClane manages
a heist in a Los Angeles skyscraper under the guise of a to kill Tony, taking his weapon and radio, which he uses
terrorist attack using hostages, including McClanes wife to contact the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), to keep the police at bay.
Sgt. Al Powell is sent to investigate, while Gruber sends
Die Hard is based on Nothing Lasts Forever, the sequel to Heinrich and Marco to stop McClane but both of them
Thorps 1966 novel The Detective, which itself had been ended up getting killed by McClane. Powell, having been
adapted into a 1968 lm of the same name starring Frank greeted by Eddie, who poses as a receptionist, nds nothSinatra. Fox was contractually obliged to oer Sinatra ing strange about the building. He attempts to leave, but
the lead role in Die Hard, but he turned it down and the McClane drops Marcos corpse onto Powells car, alertlm was instead pitched as a sequel to the 1985 action ing the LAPD who surround the building. McClane takes
lm Commando starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. When Heinrichs bag containing C-4 explosives and detonators.
Schwarzenegger also turned it down, the lm was pitched
to, and rejected by, a host of the eras action stars before
Willis was chosen. The studio did not have faith in Willis
action star appeal, as at the time he was known for his
comedic role on television.
A SWAT team assaults the building, but the attack is anticipated, and James and Alexander massacre the SWAT
team with rockets. McClane uses the C-4 to blow up the
building oor occupied by James and Alexander, killing
them both. Hollys coworker Harry Ellis attempts to mediate between Hans and McClane for the return of the
detonators. McClane refuses to return them, causing
Gruber to execute Ellis. While checking the explosives
attached to the roof, Gruber is confronted by McClane.
Gruber passes himself o as an escaped hostage and is
given a gun by McClane. Gruber attempts to shoot McClane but nds that the gun is unloaded. Before McClane
can act, Karl, Franco, and Fritz arrive. McClane kills
Fritz and Franco, but is forced to ee, leaving the detonators behind.
FBI agents arrive and take command of the police situation outside, ordering the buildings power be shut o.
The power loss disables the vaults nal lock as Gruber
had anticipated. Gruber demands that a helicopter arrive on the roof for transporthis intention is to detonate
the explosives on the roof to kill the hostages and to fake
the deaths of his men and himself. Karl nds McClane
and the two ght. Meanwhile Gruber views a news report by Richard Thornburg that features McClanes children, causing Gruber to realize that McClane is Hollys
husband. The terrorists order the hostages to the roof,
but Gruber takes Holly with him to use against McClane.
McClane seemingly kills Karl and heads to the roof. He
Plot
On Christmas Eve, New York City Police Detective Lieutenant John McClane arrives in Los Angeles to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly. McClane is driven
to the Nakatomi Plaza building for a company Christmas
party by Argyle. While McClane changes clothes, the
party is disrupted by the arrival of Hans Gruber and his
heavily armed group: Karl, Franco, Tony, Theo, Alexander, Marco, Kristo, Eddie, Uli, Heinrich, Fritz, and
James. The group seize the tower and secure those in1
PRODUCTION
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber, a German mastermind and the leader of the terrorists
Cast
3 Production
Die Hard is based on Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel
Nothing Lasts Forever, a sequel to his 1966 novel The
Detective which had itself been turned into a 1968 lm
of the same name starring Frank Sinatra. That lm was a
box oce success, and when Thorp wrote the sequel, the
studio was contractually obliged to oer Sinatra the lead
role despite being 73 years old at the time. Sinatra turned
down the role. The story was then changed to have no
connection to The Detective and instead pursued as a sequel to the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring action
lm Commando, but Schwarzenegger was not interested
in reprising his role. The script was oered to a variety of
Ford,
Bruce Willis in 2010 (left) and Alan Rickman in 2011 action stars including Sylvester Stallone, Harrison
[6]
and
Don
Johnson,
all
of
whom
turned
it
down.
(right). Willis and Rickman play John McClane and
Willis was paid $5 million to star in the lm, a gure virHans Gruber respectively.
tually unheard of at the time for an actor who had starred
3
did not like himself very much, but was doing the best he
could in a bad situation. In the original script, Die Hard
took place over three days, but McTiernan was inspired
to have it take place over a single night by Shakespeares
A Midsummer Nights Dream.[10]
5 MUSIC
4.1
Box oce
Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing (Don J. Bassman, Kevin F. Cleary, Richard Overton and Al Overton, Jr.) and Best Visual Eects (Richard Edlund, Al Di
Sarro, Brent Boates and Thaine Morris.)[22] Michael Kamen's score earned him a BMI TV/Film Music Award in
1989.[23]
Critics ratings
5
chased. The piece was actually unused score composed at number 12 on the same list.[39] In the June 22, 2007 isby James Horner for the 1986 science ction action lm sue of Entertainment Weekly it was named the best action
Aliens.[10]
lm of all time.[40] McClanes catchphrase Yippee-kiSimilarly to Aliens, the score by Michael Kamen was yay, motherfucker was voted as #96 of The 100 Greatheavily edited, with music samples looped over and over est Movie Lines by Premiere magazine in 2007. In 2010,
as The Greatand cues added to scenes. The most notable example Die Hard was voted by Empire magazine
[41]
est
Christmas
Film
of
All
Time.
In
2012,
IGN also
is the brass blast heard when John slams the chair at
listed
it
at
the
top
spot
on
their
list
of
the
Top
25
Action
the window as he confronts Marco then Heinrich appears
Movies.
where he murders him. and later when Hans Gruber falls
to his death.[25]
The score as heard in the lm was released by Varse
Sarabande in February 2002, but was limited to 3000
copies.[26] It was subsequently reissued by La-La Land
Records in November 2011, in a two-disc limited edition of 3500 copies.[27] In addition to the Kamen score,
this release also includes the Monroe and Beethoven end
credits pieces, Run-D.M.C.'s Christmas in Hollis, and
the John Scott track from Man on Fire.
Legacy
7 References
[1] DIE HARD. British Board of Film Classication. August 8, 1988. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013.
Retrieved July 7, 2013.
[2] Die Hard. Box Oce Mojo. Archived from the original
on July 7, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
[3] Die Hard is #1 according to Pajiba.com. Pajiba.com.
Retrieved November 2, 2011.
[4] Die Hard is the last mentioned on Complex.. Complex.com. Retrieved November 2, 2011.
[5] ""Die Hard tops magazine list of best action lms.
Reuters. 2007-06-15.
[6] Doty, Meriah (February 13, 2013). Actors who turned
down Die Hard". Yahoo! Movies. Yahoo!. Archived
from the original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
[7] Harmetz, Aljean (February 18, 1988). Bruce Willis Will
`Die Hard` For $5 Million. Chicago Tribune. Tribune
Company. Archived from the original on July 7, 2013.
Retrieved July 7, 2013.
[8] Gharemani, Tanya (June 23, 2013). A History of Iconic
Roles That Famous Actors Turned Down. Complex.
Complex Media. Archived from the original on July 7,
2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
[9] The 100 Greatest Movie Characters| 17. Hans Gruber
| Empire. www.empireonline.com (2006-12-05). Retrieved on 2011-01-14.
[10] Kirk, Jeremy (July 19, 2011). 31 Things We Learned
From the Die Hard Commentary Track. Film School
Rejects. Reject Media, LLC. Archived from the original
on July 7, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
[11] ""Die Hard Los Angeles Premiere - July 12, 1988. Getty
Images. Carlyle Group. July 12, 1988. Archived from the
original on July 7, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
[12] Die Hard. Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved
December 17, 2009.
[13] Die Hard (1988)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 7,
2013.
In 2006, Gruber was listed as the 17th greatest lm character by Empire magazine.[9] John McClane was placed [14] Die Hard. Metacritic. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
EXTERNAL LINKS
[15] Reynolds, Simon (December 19, 2011). Muppet Christmas Carol tops Digital Spy favourite Christmas lm poll.
Digital Spy (Hearst Magazines UK). Retrieved December
24, 2011.
20 Top Christmas
Film-
8 External links
Die Hard at the Internet Movie Database
Die Hard at Box Oce Mojo
Die Hard at Metacritic
Die Hard at Rotten Tomatoes
Empireon-
9.1
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