Die Hard was released on 20 July 1988.
It’s a remarkable film. But the terrible franchise it spawned is clear even in this film.
What makes the film great is that John McClane is just a regular cop. All he’s trying to do for the first half of the film is get the attention of the local police. They will deal with the issue. It is only when they fail so spectacularly that he becomes the “die hard” badass we now love.
Die Hard 2 maintains some of that “I don’t want to be here” energy from the first film. There is even a bit of this left in Die Hard with a Vengeance. But this is only because he is badly hungover. But the mask is fully offer in the fourth film, Live Free or Die Hard: John McClane is a superhero. He is the Badass. Do not blame him for being a total dick! Finally, A Good Day to Die Hard is explicitly racist but most American film-goers can’t see it.
I’ve said before that the only point of having franchises is to make films with characters we love. But John McClane isn’t a character. Laurie Anderson talked about his kind of character in “Big Science,” where she said, “I think we should put some mountains here. Otherwise, what are all the characters going to fall off of?” His character is whatever is necessary for the plot.
Another problem with the later films is that they make no effort to create good villains. Alan Rickman provided a horrific yet enjoyable villain. None of the other films feature even a memorable villain, much less a good one.
But coming up with new stories is hard. Coming up with new characters is hard. Coming up with new ideas is hard! We only pay Hollywood producers millions of dollars. We must allow the slow drip of ever more tedious films based on existing intellectual property. Anything else would be cruel!
The producers of Die Hard made an amazing amount of money. This explains why, after almost 40 years, the owners still have the film locked down. You won’t find it even on small streaming sites. But it is currently streaming on Amazon Prime if you are keen to watch it. Alternatively, you could watch Theatre of Blood, which stars Diana Rigg who was born on this day. It is available on Plex and Darkroom.
Die Hard poster via Wikiedpia licensed under Fair Use.
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What John McTiernan did — in Hunt For Red October, too — was make explicitly clear in the action scenes what was GOING ON. When Willis has to walk on broken glass, you’re aware why, and you’re aware he’s barefoot. The story might be ridiculous, but the action scenes are straightforward and clear. Most action films are kinda jumbled in the action scenes. (And McTiernan’s after-“October” movies were jumbled, too, including his Die Hard sequel.) They’re still too jumbled today. I wish action filmmakers looked at movies like this and “Jaws” and learned that all the fancy effects/fight punches don’t mean much if you’re not exactly sure what’s going on.
God, Alan Rickman was a total joy. I dunno what fucking accent he’s doing here, but it’s hilarious. “Ho-ho-ho” would be about how Bruce Willis is a psychopath in any other context — he’s leaving messages about who he’s gleefully murdered — but the way Rickman finds the body and says “ho-ho-ho” is absolutely gold.
Rickman makes the movie. Willis is fine. He’s kind of a throwback to the days of, “I’m not an actor; I’m a star!” There ain’t much there. I think Last Man Standing would be a classic if he hadn’t starred in it. He’s horrible — surrounded by an excellent cast that maintain the reality of the story with Willis walking through the film as if to say, “You know I’m a big star!”
McTiernan is a great action director. I don’t recall him ever caring too much characters. But that could just be that he was never allowed to do anything else. It’s not just actors who are type-cast. Hell, I’ve been type-cast. And it’s pretty silly since the things people think I’m great at, I’m only slightly better at than most other things. So I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. I should probably check out The Thomas Crown Affair.
I will get that! I remember liking Brosnan in it a lot. But that was so long ago I don’t remember the movie.