Die Hard (1988)

An NYPD officer tries to save his wife and several others taken hostage by German terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

Director:

John McTiernan

Writers:

Roderick Thorp (novel), Jeb Stuart (screenplay)

Stars:

Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia

Top Rated Movies #125 | Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 8 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bruce Willis	...	John McClane
Bonnie Bedelia	...	Holly Gennaro McClane
Reginald VelJohnson	...	Sgt. Al Powell
Paul Gleason	...	Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T. Robinson
William Atherton	...	Richard Thornburg
Hart Bochner	...	Harry Ellis
James Shigeta	...	Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi
Alan Rickman	...	Hans Gruber
Alexander Godunov	...	Karl
Bruno Doyon	...	Franco
De'voreaux White	...	Argyle
Andreas Wisniewski	...	Tony
Clarence Gilyard Jr.	...	Theo
Joey Plewa	...	Alexander
Lorenzo Caccialanza	...	Marco

Storyline

NYPD cop John McClane goes on a Christmas vacation to visit his wife Holly in Los Angeles where she works for the Nakatomi Corporation. While they are at the Nakatomi headquarters for a Christmas party, a group of robbers led by Hans Gruber take control of the building and hold everyone hostage, with the exception of John, while they plan to perform a lucrative heist. Unable to escape and with no immediate police response, John is forced to take matters into his own hands.

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Plot Keywords:

one against many | hostage | los angeles california | christmas | christmas eve | 

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Taglines:

40 Stories. Twelve Terrorists. One Cop.

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English German Italian Japanese

Release Date:

20 July 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Die Hard

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles International Airport - 1 World Way, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$28,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$601,851, 17 July 1988

Gross USA:

$83,519,093

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$141,482,154

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Gordon Company, Silver Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

132 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) Dolby Stereo (35 mm prints) (4 channels)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Included among the American Film Institute's 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.

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Goofs

When reporter Richard Thornburg is listening to his police scanner, he hears Officer Powell screaming for backup. At this point the red lights on the front of the scanner are continually blinking from left to right. However, on this particular model scanner the lights would cease blinking, and remain solid on a single channel as long as it was active.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Businessman: You don't like flying, do you?
John McClane: What gives you that idea?
Businessman: You wanna know the secret to surviving air travel? After you get where you're going, take off your shoes and your socks then walk around on the rug bare foot and make fists with your toes.
John McClane: Fists with your toes?
Businessman: I know, I know, it sounds crazy. Trust me, I've been doing it for nine years. Yes sir, better than a shower and a hot cup of coffee.
John McClane: Okay.
[the businessman sees John's gun]
John McClane: It's okay, I'm a cop. Trust me, I've been ...

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Crazy Credits

In the widescreen version, the 20th Century Fox logo is stretched.

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Alternate Versions

In the German dub of the movie, the German terrorists were given English names, for example Hans Gruber became "Jack Gruber", Karl became Charlie, Heinrich became Henry etc. In the scene where McClane writes down the names Hans and Karl on his forearm, we hear him say. "I'm gonna call you Hans and Karl, just like the 2 evil giants in the fairy tale." Later on, he still refers to them as Jack and Charlie.

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Connections

Referenced in CTV National News: Episode dated 6 September 2018 (2018)

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Soundtracks

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
(uncredited)
Written by Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne
Hummed by Reginald VelJohnson

User Reviews

A perfect action film

Bruce Willis is stirring up trouble for the bad guys in "Die Hard." In the first of three awesome films, he stars as Lt. John McClane, a New York police officer, who has been invited to the wrong Christmas party.

This is an action film for future actors and directors to watch and use as a model because it is what an action film should be. I have seen many action films in my life, but this ranks at the top as it has all the right components. Action packed sequences, explosions, special effects and most of all superb performances with excellent dialogue.

"Die Hard" is a movie I will not soon forget because the story is so well crafted. Though there are no twists or curves thrown at the audience, the audience can be assured they will be treated to two hours of non-stop action from beginning to end.

"Die Hard" did not only produce great action and explosions but future stars as well. I am talking about Clarence Gilyard Jr. who starred in Walker, Texas Ranger and Reginald VelJohnson who starred in the series "Family Matters." These two actors were pivotal to this film in their respective roles.

Two other names to keep in mind while thinking of key performers are Bonnie Bedelia and Alan Rickman. I was blown away when I saw the impact they had on this film. It is as if they came in and said 'Okay boys, watch out I'm taking over." They certainly did that; however, nobody could have done better than the impact performer himself Bruce Willis.

On a scale of 1-10; "Die Hard" is given a 100 by yours truly. My only regret would be that the movie ended. I wish there was more to see in this film. I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE "DIE HARD" AGAIN.