Die Hard With A Retrospective - Page 2

He plays a similar villain in Robin Hood, except that it's more of a campy caricature. If you haven't seen the film you haven't missed much.

Yeah, he was about the only redeeming element in ROBIN HOOD. I'm surprised you haven't seen it, Molt. Michael Wincott has a decent-sized part.

This, along with the dialogue and how down to earth it is, is why I like Vengeance so much. The movie manages to pack a lot of detail and characterization into them. And incidentally, I consider the city of New York to be another supporting character in the flick.

Exactly. I especially like Larry Bryggman (?) as McClane's police chief, charged with the task of keeping the citywide chaos under control. I never hear anyone mention his performance, and I've never seen the actor in anything else, but he's seriously engaging and likeable. Why so overlooked? Incidentally, he's pretty much exactly Commissioner Gordon from the Batman comics, only in DIE HARD movie instead.

This should maybe be saved for the inevitable DIE HARD 3 RETROSPECTIVE thread.

Some more favorite lines of mine:

"He wasn't lying about Marco, he's down on the street. The other man was Heinrich, (a few beats and a closeup) and his bag is missing.

"But..he had the detonators."

I have to continue the love being thrown at these two deaths, easily the best two in the film.

One of my favorite uses of "fuck" is when McClane starts pushing the charges into the C4, has a few left over, glances down and mutters "FUCK IT!". The way McClane uses his surroundings in this sequence (breaking the axe out, grabbing the chair, throwing the monitor on the chair and wrapping it with the extension cord) is fantastic, as is Kamen's score.

I'm also a big fan of the line "You should have heard your brother squeal when I broke his FUCKING NECK!"

Throw me in the love Die Hard 2 camp, even though it's my least favorite thus far. Although that film is much more consistent than Vengeance, which fizzles out at the end.

Finally, a great 30 second cartoon recap of the first film...with bunnies.

Listen to McTiernan's commentary track some time. McT knew what he was doing back in the day. Predator, Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October. That's 3 great films in a row. Were it not for Cameron, McT would be more hearalded than he is.

"There shooting at the lights"

I just watched this last night for the first time in awhile, so I was pleased as punch to see this article tonight. One of the things that makes this movie so great, as everyone has pointed out, is the terrorists. Does any other action movie have such sympathetic villains? I think Gruber is at least as likeable as McClain, and each of the lesser terrorists has their own personality, even if they don't really have any lines. My personal favorite is Al Leong, and yeah, I have to echo the praise for his awesomely bloody demise. The gunshots in this movie have a real sense of impact and power that I think will be missing from the PG-13 "Live Free." Now I can't wait to rewatch "Die Harder." I don't think I've ever seen it not edited for TV, and I can barely remember it.

"Oops! No bullets! What, you think I'm fucking stupid, Hans?"

I love how McClain sort of expands on "Yppie-ki-yay, motherfucker" with "Geronimo, motherfucker," when he pushes the C4 down the elevator shaft.

May be odd to point out this particular moment in such an unabashedly macho film, but one thing that never fails to get me is when McClane finally meets Powell when he gets out of the building. I'll admit, it gets a little dusty in Chez Banks, with John Scott's beautiful music swirling.

(Edit to delete redundant quote.)

I always thought it was funny that "Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker" became McClane's signature line. It's kind of a throw-away for him; it's Alan Rickman that makes it so badass.

Al shooting Karl always makes me feel great and say, all of these years and this movie is still incredible.

A total throwaway but maybe my favorite comedic moment:

Hans is strolling through the hostage crowd, looking for Takagi. He's rehashing Takagi's CV and looking intently at various middle aged Asian faces when he gets to Ellis, who looks at him, smiles sheepishly and shakes his head as if to say, "Hey man, not me! We're cool!" That fucking kills me.

Great article and I enjoyed all the references to your favorite lines.

I found this online yesterday... an alternate ending to Die Hard With a Vengeance. I wasn't sure if it was on the DVD, as I bought the 3-pak a while back, but have yet to watch the movies recently.

I should probably do a retrospective myself.

If this had actually made the cut, I would've fallen asleep and then laughed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJLvgsKved8

Loved this. I can't wait to read the other two (especially the one on "With a Vengeance", which I think is a gem).

This is one of those movies, like Temple of Doom, that I hadn't seen since I was young, then caught again on DVD, and it was like watching the film for the first time. What amazed me, after seeing so many Die Hard rip-offs in the intervening years is how well Die Hard stood up. It was, and is, better than all of them. Fantastic movie.
Very close to the perfect film(for it's genre), which we all know is unobtainable. Die Hard comes pretty fucking close though(I still think Karl was dead as fuck before the end, for instance).

Everyone has gone through their favorite lines and such, but one of my favorite little touches is the hard-ass SWAT team running up to the building, and getting pricked by the rose bushes along the way.

*edit- Forgot to mention, great review Rush! (damn my Connery)

They had shots of that SWAT scene in the bloopers reel, really funny.

Die Hard really did redefine the action movie, I look at it as as a suspense movie using an action movie structure but it's still a great movie that's still held up after all these years. "I'm gonna fuckin' kill ya, I'm gonna fuckin' cook ya then I'm gonna eat ya' still such a badass piece of dialogue delivered greatly by Willis, that fight was absolutely brutal, you really don't see fight scenes like that today, Willis looked like he really had gone through hell by the end. I still remember joking with a poster on CHUD ages ago about how Holly McClane's blouse would gradually start showing more and more cleavage as the film went on.

"After all your posturing, all your little speeches, you're nothing but a common thief" "On the contrary, I'm an exceptional thief and seeing as I've graduated to kidnapping I think you should show me a little more respect"

I like the idea of the two most influential action movies being set at christmas, they really should do this more.

I look forward to reading the rest of your analysis on the DH series, Russ, I have a soft spot for DH2.

I think Lethal Weapon, First Blood, Batman Returns, Long Kiss Goodnight, etc. are set close to Christmas.

Must be the Dean Martin songs in DH, there's just something familiar about watching Lethal Weapon and Die Hard, even Die Hard 2, or maybe I just miss the snow.

I liked Bryggman as McClane's boss too. All I know about the guy is that he played a doctor on a soap opera for like 30 years or something. Aside from him though the other supporting cops in the film don't bring much to the table and the scenes involving them later in the film drag things out a bit.

For some reason, one of the most memorable things about Die Hard is the score, and I will forever associate jingle bells with Kamen's choice.

"They're for the wife."
"Yeah - right"
"She's pregnant."
"Yeah - right."
"Bag It."
"Big Time."

Pitch fucking perfect.

Also that Latin guitar riff that he uses. That Latin guitar riff fits in perfect with every score that he used it in.

I'd throw Predator & Robocop in there as well.

Nice write-up, Russ. As far as "blatantly stolen [from] Devin's 10 Days of 13 format", if it ain't broke...

Love the "Non-PG13" parts!

This should be the title of the fifth film.

A really nice read.
A couple of notes: The poster at the top of the article says "12 terrorists", and I remember a lot of other promotional material saying that too. But I remember counting thirteen on one of those dozens of times I watched the film in the 90s. In the book, as Karl comes downstairs, he actually opens fire and Powell actually saves Joe/McClane's life by pulling Robinson into the line of fire. Then he blows Karl's brains out. The watch thing is also in the book, but I think the ending works beautifully even with the changes. Would have been much too much of a downer to work in a Hollywod action movie.

Amen. Lean and muscular, the score is one of the few truly innovative film scores of the past 20 years.

Pardon my name dropping here, but I had the great fortune of talking with Kamen a few times before he passed away, and he was always warm and gracious, even to a blabbering fanboy.

I've got the chance to pick up THE ULTIMATE DIE HARD COLLECTION used (the one released in October 2003). I'd prefer the special editions of each movie, but more important is the best transfer. Anyone know if the newest box set (the one just released) has a better transfer than the older set? Many thanks.

You're spoiling us, fox!

i'm not the only one who genuinely loves the third one, am i?

Can't get enough of that final brawl between McClane and Karl, particularly these two sterling bits of biffo:

* McClane gets in three tight body blows, followed by a hard-as-fuck haymaker. The foley work on the punches is amazing - they sound like gunshots.

* Possibly the finest headbutt in the history of cinema.

I don't love it like the first, but it's close.

WITH A VENGENCE will look immeasurably better to the skeptics when compared to LIVE FREE.

Vengeance is #2 on my list.


"What about the man?"

-"FUCK THE MAN!"

Looking forward to monday...

John McClane kills the motherfucking T-1000!!!! With a Beretta M92F, no less!

Thank you! I've read about this a dozen times and finally saw it thanks to your link. Well-acted, but not right for the character of McClaine(even though it's not much better than the ending they used in WITH A VENGENCE).

And I'm proudly one of the few people who loves WITH A VENGENCE. Take DIE HARD and add some LETHAL WEAPON buddy-cop and you've got gold IMO.

I'll wait for the designated thread, but there are several great exchanges between McClaine and Zeus, like during the 4-gallon jug puzzle..

Zeus: "Say it. Say it. You were gonna call me a nigger, weren't you?"

I've read another ending for the film had McClaine somehow slipping the suitcase bomb into Simon's getaway helicopter, in which Simon replies, "Does anyone have a 4-gallon jug?" just before blowing up.

Ive watched With a Vengence more than the other 2 combined. I love that movie.

The Jackson/Willis banter in that movie puts it above the first one for me.

So I am sure someone here can answer this?

Why does Die Hard always look like it was shot on what looks like a Stretched UP widescreen. Its the only move I can recall that looks like its shot Longways (Like everyone looks a little stretched from top to bottom) alwasy has looked like this to me on TV and DVD.

I like all 3 Die Hard films especially the second.

All this coverage on Die Hard and what do you know
Die Hard is on TV on monday night.

Not by a long shot.

I was actually kind of dissapointed with it when I first saw it in theaters, but over the past 12 years it has grown on me considerably.

Seconded. The third film has a very different pulse than the other two, particularly because Holly's been almost entirely written out, and the ensemble of New York cops get their own "bomb in a school" subplot.

I found it a little jarring at first because they'd jettisoned several of the story elements (it wasn't Christmas Eve, McClane wasn't one man against many, the confines of the "arena" were expanded considerably) that I'd thought were a given. But after a glut of "Die Hard" knockoffs between '90 and '95, now I think the filmmakers were smart to try something different. It's since become the "Die Hard" sequel I revisit more than "Die Harder," although I still have a soft spot for part two.

I've noticed that "Die Harder" has been getting a lot of flak on the boards and maybe unjustly so. Dennis Franz is simply brilliant in it as Capt. Carmine Lorenzo:

"You are in my little pond right now. And I am the big fish that runs it."

And Bill Sadler's Colonel Stuart crashes an airplane that's almost out of fuel, yet it explodes magnificently! Face, Gruber!

DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE wasn't a DIE HARD movie in the first place. The script initially was called SIMON SAYS and had the whole cat-and-mouse element intact. Fox wanted another DIE HARD and they retooled the script to write in McClane and the Gruber relationship.

I wonder if the excellent alternate ending to the movie was in the original script.

Does anyone know if "Live Free" was based on a novel like the other three?

Wasn't the first Die Hard originally written to be Commando 2?

Hensleigh said he wrote that ending right before the start of principal photography.

Gotcha. I want to give his DHWAV commentary another listen, I remember it being pretty informative.

Thanks, Russ.

I'm really looking forward to seeing DIE HARDER and WITH A VENGEANCE in their original ratios. Never seen DH2 that way, and only saw WAV that way the first time in the theater.

I love how he keeps track on how many terrorists he is up against and writes down their names on his arm. Untill that movie the heroes had been nothing but superhuman musclemen but McClane really used his wits.

That's how I understood it, too. I think Arnold didn't want to do a sequel, so they made it a stand alone film. And then the same thing happened for Under Siege.

Yeah, McTiernan was set to direct COMMANDO 2 which Arnold declined to do. Then Arnold was offered it again as DIE HARD, without any connection to COMMANDO, and turned it down again. Or so the legend goes.

It's definitely for the best. Would have been hard to explain how Rae Dawn Chong went from stewardess to corporate exec so quickly.