DC Film Society: Adam's Rib December 2018

Modern Classics: Die Hard

Die Hard, 1988 – directed by John McTiernan. Screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, based on the novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. Produced by Charles Gordon, Lawrence Gordon, Beau Marks and Joel Silver. Key Cast: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, James Shigeta, Hart Bochner, Alexander Godunov, De'voreaux White, Clarence Gilyard Jr., Robert Davi, and Grand L. Bush.

Thirty years ago last summer, I walked into a run-down theater in suburban Baltimore that has hopefully long since closed. I knew I was seeing an action movie called Die Hard and that it starred Bruce Willis, of whom I had become a fan from his TV role on “Moonlighting.” That was about it. The movie had almost no pre-release buzz and expectations were low. I walked out of that theater in a daze of adrenaline. The movie grabbed hold of me in a way few movies have before or since. On my way home I knew two things and had one question. I knew I had seen one of the best action films ever made and that Willis had made the jump to from TV star to movie star (back when there was a difference between the two). My question was who was the actor who brilliantly played Hans Gruber and why hadn’t I heard of him before?

What I could not have known that summer day in 1988 was how Die Hard would have such an impact for the next 30 years. In the 90s, Hollywood repeatedly rehashed the concept by producing “Die Hard on a boat” also known as Under Siege; “Die Hard on a plane,” Passenger 57; “Die Hard on the President’s plane” Air Force One; “Die Hard on a bus,” Speed; and “Die Hard on a train,” Under Siege 2. Fast forward to this year, with Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper borrowing concepts and imagery from Die Hard. Over the past couple of years Die Hard, to many people, has become a Christmas movie of all things. The film opened in July and has the DNA of a summer blockbuster. Yes, it’s set on Christmas Eve, but it’s hardly filled with holiday cheer. Still, the AFI Silver Theater and other DC area theaters played the film this December, as did theaters across the nation. Fox Studios, never inclined to turn down a marketing opportunity, released a new Die Hard trailer keeping with the Christmas theme. It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story, and ... Die Hard? OK, I guess.

Why has Die Hard stayed so relevant for so long? A couple of weeks ago I went back to the film for some answers. The first shot of Willis as John McClane is his knuckles gripping an airplane seat. He’s scared, in this case of flying. As it becomes clear that McClane flew to LA from New York to try reconciling with his wife, director John McTiernan frames him in a way that makes clear he doesn’t belong. The brief time McClane interacts with his wife’s corporate colleagues makes him even more uncomfortable. We as the audience immediately identify with McClane. After all, we don’t know any of these people either.

When the “terrorists” attack, McClane grabs his gun and runs. He’s not even trying to be a hero at first. As McClane is later described in Die Hard 2, he’s “The wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.” He’s in over his head and panicking. McClane doesn’t know what to do initially and second guesses himself. Think about other 1980s action films. The Terminator and Rambo were indestructible. You never identify with either of them. Same goes for most of the other parts Schwarzenegger and Stallone played. Ironically they both turned down John McClane. So did Harrison Ford. His Indiana Jones is more vulnerable, but still seeks out adventure. John McClane didn’t seek out any of this. Now we relate to him even more.

While Willis was far from the first choice for John McClane (half of Hollywood’s male movie stars said no), he was the perfect match for the character. Having played so many action movies since, it’s tough to remember that this was Willis’s first. He had only starred in two prior films, neither of them a major success, and was best known for TV. He played a private eye on “Moonlighting” but not a particularly good one. Nothing that suggested an action hero. Willis not only brought vulnerability to McClane, but also an everyman, blue-collar quality. We naturally pull for him and take joy as he rises to the challenge.

Of course for a film to really cook, it must have a worthy villain, and here Die Hard truly shines. McTiernan shows the group of bad guys coming to the Nakatomi building, but clearly frames Hans Gruber as the man in charge. In just his first few minutes, Gruber confronts the Nakatomi employees, slowly reading the curriculum vitae of their Director, Mr. Takagi, until Takagi gives himself up. Gruber chats with Takagi about suits and later casually shoots Takagi in the face. All of this I remembered from previous viewings, but what I forgot was Gruber early on admiring a detailed model of the planned Nakatomi Plaza. Gruber remarks how he built models as a child, and notes the planning and precision needed to put them together. With just those couple of lines, we get a window into Gruber’s mind. The same planning and precision he used for models as a kid he’s using for the attack and robbery now. Gruber has left nothing to chance. He has coldly and efficiently charted out every single detail of his team’s work.

Just as with Willis and John McClane, the filmmakers found the perfect man for Gruber with the great Alan Rickman. This was Rickman’s film debut, after he was discovered plating Valmont in a stage production of “Dangerous Liaisons.” Can you imagine any other actor playing Hans Gruber? I can’t. What would Gruber be without Rickman’s understated confidence? Without Rickman’s deep, velvety but malevolent voice. Rickman once noted that Die Hard had “wit and style” and he deserves some of the credit for that. His droll quality made Gruber’s dry wit come alive. Think of the scene where Gruber reads a list of terrorists he wants freed. His henchman looks at him quizzically and Gruber responds, “I read about them in Time Magazine.” The henchman asks him if the U.S. government will really free these men and Gruber simply replies, “Who cares?” Rickman’s air of mild amusement makes these scenes work. Almost every time he has a chance to overact, he underplays the scene instead. That makes the rare times he does play big have that much more impact.

So the cool villain has everything planned perfectly, with a team and tools at his disposal, while our stressed, isolated, hero has to improvise and can rely only on himself. The film sets this contrast in circumstances and character and then builds off it. Another of the film’s earlier memorable moments comes when McClane takes the corpse of one of Gruber’s men and sends it down the elevator with a Santa hat and the message “Now I have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho!” But it’s more than just McClane taunting Gruber and giving the audience a laugh. McClane uses this to get a reaction while eavesdropping so he can learn more about Gruber and his plan. While Gruber has the upper hand early, it later keeps shifting between him and McClane, which is a major part of the fun.

The best example of this is the famous scene where McClane encounters Gruber, who pretends to be an escaped hostage. McClane is armed and Gruber isn’t. Advantage McClane. McClane gives a gun to Gruber who turns it on him. Advantage Gruber. But then Gruber’s gun doesn’t have any bullets. Advantage McClane, but a short-lived one as Gruber’s men come off the elevator. Advantage back to Gruber. Supposedly the filmmakers inserted this scene at the last minute when they overheard Rickman doing an American accent. If that’s true it’s one of those happy accidents that can take a film to the next level.

The Die Hard wit and style that Rickman spoke of also comes through in how it plays with preconceptions, both of the characters and of the audience. Gruber knows how law enforcement and the culture viewed terrorists at that time and uses it to his benefit. By demanding freedom for other terrorists that he doesn’t care about, he plays into government assumptions and buys himself time to focus on his real goal. When the FBI cuts the power to the building, they think, and some in the audience might briefly believe, that it will stop Gruber’s team cold. Instead, it’s the last part of Gruber’s plan to open the Nakatomi vault, leading to his immortal line “You asked for a miracle. I give you the F ... B ... I.”

While Die Hard is clearly an action movie, McTiernan uses the action scenes wisely. They start off shorter and more sporadic and gradually become more frequent and more intense. In this pre-CGI time, the practical effects give the action a visceral, authentic feel. The editing is quick, but not too quick so you always know who is doing what and where the characters are in relation to each other. Most importantly, the action flows from the story. There’s never a fight or an explosion solely because there needs to be one to keep the audience interested.

McTiernan also uses visual metaphors, some small and some large, to illustrate larger themes in the film and deepen our emotional connection. When the police are raiding the building one of them cuts himself on a bush, an early foreshadowing that the raid will not be ending well. McClane’s putting himself through vents, elevator shafts and other dangerous spaces shows the lengths he is pushing himself to beat the odds and save his wife. Of course then there’s McClane’s bare feet. In yet another clever scene Gruber tells his men to shoot the glass, knowing that the broken glass will hobble McClane. Thankfully the film takes the time for a tender scene where McClane is picking the glass shards out of his bloody feet. The physical pain represents McClane’s emotional pain as he realizes there’s a good chance he won’t make it out alive to see his family again. Willis’s raw performance makes McClane’s anguish feel real and heartfelt. We have traveled this long journey with McClane and understand him by now.

While so many action movie endings come off as perfunctory or tacked on, the Die Hard final confrontation is both clever and visually striking. After McClane outwits and shoots Gruber out the window, McTiernan uses slow motion for the only time. That gives us the chance to focus on Gruber’s face as he holds onto Holly and raises his gun. McTiernan reportedly told Rickman that the stunt team would let him go on the count of three while telling the team to let him go at one and a half. So the stunned look Gruber has as he starts to fall was Rickman reacting, not acting.

Much as Die Hard was a singular achievement, it inevitably spawned sequels. The first two sequels, as you would expect, did not have the same spark or freshness as the original, but they still had enough of the McClane character, decent stories, and enough fun to keep me interested. Unfortunately, the last two films in the franchise completely lost any sense of what made Die Hard special. They morphed McClane into a superhero stripped of any emotional core. The stories grew sloppy, and the action scenes became soulless CGI spectacles. They made me think of the fake sequel in “Mad About You,” Die Hard 4: Die Already!

None of that diminishes the intelligence, heart or enjoyment of the first Die Hard. It remains the gold standard for action films. The fact that we are even having the debate about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie shows its staying power. So, is it a Christmas movie after all? One of the screenwriters, Steven de Souza, said yes. Bruce Willis said no. After writing about it, maybe I need to weigh in. But I’m not going with either de Souza or Willis. If believing it’s a Christmas movie would help someone enjoy it more, great. But you don’t need Christmas to enjoy it immensely. For my answer to this question I will quote the late, great Hans Gruber: Who cares?

Adam Spector
December 23, 2018