20 Reasons Why You Rock: Die Hard
The Bruce Willis of today gets a lot of grief online and on social media and rightfully so. His action movie career is like one of those “how it started, how it’s going” memes.
Today I am going to choose to focus on how Bruce Willis’ action movie career started and not think about the endless line of DTV action movies featuring Bruce barely doing anything that seem to come out on a weekly basis. I am going to go back to 1988 and the movie that proved that the Moonlighting guy could be an action hero and a movie that absolutely rocks…
#1. Director John McTiernan proved he was not a “one action hit wonder” when he helmed 1988’s Die Hard, just a year after the release of the 1987 action classic, Predator. Die Hard cemented McTiernan’s legacy as one of the greatest action directors of all-time.
#2. Nakatomi Plaza has to go down as one of the most iconic locations in the history of cinema and I can’t imagine living in Los Angeles and seeing the Fox Plaza building every day and not thinking about John McClane being the fly in the ointment for Hans Gruber’s “perfect crime”.
#3. John McClane is not the only tough McClane in Die Hard, Holly Gennaro McClane (Bonnie Bedelia), John’s estranged wife, proves to be one tough cookie. Holly takes charge when her boss is murdered by Hans Gruber and does her best to be strong for her fellow employees looking to her for guidance and hope… she also throws a pretty solid punch, but more on that later.
#4. The villains in Die Hard are not limited to Hans Gruber and his crew of money hungry extremists… there’s also the Nakatomi Corporation’s own Harry Ellis (Hart Bochner). The pompous Ellis has a high opinion of himself and his negotiating skills… which is why he’s hitting on the still married Holly and thinks he can reason with a man like Hans Gruber.
#5. From the unsung hero category comes limousine driver Argyle (De’voreaux White, Action Jackson). Even though it is only his first day as a limo driver, Argyle deserves the employee of the month award for going the extra mile for John McClane and taking a genuine interest in John’s marital woes. Argyle even gets in on the action before it is all said and done and is Johnny On The Spot when John and Bonnie need to get home to their kids to celebrate Christmas.
#6. Argyle provides some Christmas music playing the Run DMC classic, “Christmas in Hollis” on the way from the airport to Nakatomi Plaza. There would be more Christmas music to come including Vaughn Monroe’s rendition of “Let It Snow” during the end credits. The inclusions of these holiday hits back up those who rightfully believe that Die Hard is indeed a Christmas movie.
#7. The box office success of Die Hard spawned many a “Die Hard Clone” in the decades that have followed, but the movie didn’t just create the “Die Hard Scenario” it also created a villainous job opening that has been filled in many a “Die Hard Clone” movie… the evil tech guy! In the case of Die Hard that tech guy is Theo (played by Clarence Gilyard Jr. of Walker, Texas Ranger fame). Theo may not have been a lethal mercenary like the rest of Hans Gruber’s crew, but he played the brains to the others’ brawn and was an essential piece to the Gruber’s master plan.
#8. I have already mentioned Hans Gruber multiple times, but now it is time to give props to the man behind the character, the late Alan Rickman, who brought an evil elegance to the character and made himself the gold standard that all other action movie diabolical masterminds should be judged against.
#9. Gruber’s henchmen deserve some praise for playing their part, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t single out one of the greatest action movie henchmen of all-time, Mr. Al Leong. Leong plays Uli in Die Hard and while there have been plenty of action movies who have turned to Al Leong’s henchmen skills, Die Hard is the only one that features Al eating candy bars.
#10. If your movie is R rated, you may as well find a reason to throw in some boobs and Die Hard does just that with some Christmas party hanky panky!
#11. Half way through this list and I haven’t even paid tribute to the man of the hour, John McClane. Bruce Willis was perfectly cast here as the tough, street smart New York Cop who finds himself in an extraordinary situation. In some ways John McClane is the ultimate underdog, but at the same time you believe McClane has a chance to overcome the odds (or at least the guts to die trying).
#12. John McClane may be completely on his own on the outside, but he has a friendly voice on the other end of the radio, Sgt. Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson, Remo Williams). Sgt. Powell responded to a call at Nakatomi Plaza and got way more than he expected. Al and John form quite a friendship over the course of the movie and for that alone Sgt. Al Powell deserves to be on this list. But truth be told, I’d have put Al on the list just for being a fellow Hostess fanatic.
#13. Another great example of all the villains in Die Hard not being in the Hans Gruber crew, is the fame chasing reporter, Richard “Don’t Call Me Dick” Thornburg played by William “Don’t Call Me Assholton” Atherton. The Thornburg character was firmly in Atherton’s wheelhouse who had already achieved epic asshole status in Ghostbusters.
#14. Can anyone who has ever seen Die Hard not add a little something extra anytime they hear the famous Roy Rogers quote “Yippie Ki Yay”? That little something extra being Mr. Falcon of course…
#15. In addition to Christmas Music, Die Hard also features the tune I most associate with the film, Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”.
#16. While I wouldn’t classify them as villains there is a trio of law enforcement bureaucrats who certainly do John McClane no favors but do add to the familiar face count in Die Hard… first Sgt. Al Powell’s boss Dwayne T. Robinson (played by Paul Gleason) and “The FBI Guys” Big Johnson and Little Johnson, played by Robert Davi and Grand L. Bush respectively.
#17. The first face to face encounter between Hans Gruber (posing as a terrified employee of the Nakatomi Corporation) and John McClane is one of the most memorable scenes in the entire movie and filled with plenty of tension. But their last would be even more memorable…
#18. Four Words: The Hans Gruber Fall
#19. During one of the conversations between Al and John, we learn why Al has spent the last few years of his police career behind a desk It is a sad story and I can imagine it is one of the worst case scenarios for anyone in law enforcement, but that sad story makes it all the sweeter when Al has his moment of redemption at the end of the movie.
#20. And speaking of the end of the movie, I think we all wish we were in Holly’s shoes when she punches Dick Thornburg right in the face! Just one more high point for Die Hard to end on.
