Posted on 12/21/2016 11:51:47 AM PST by Sybeck1
McClane just arrived from New York to spend Christmas with his estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in Los Angeles. As he waits for her office Christmas party to break up, terrorists take over the building. The late Alan Rickman is superb as the terrorist leader Hans Gruber.
Billed as 40 Stories Of Sheer Adventure, the film does not disappoint. There’s plenty of action, along with humor and warm, fuzzy moments too.
No, Trading Places is best Christmas movie!!!
Hardly in the top 20.
Number 2 best, the scumbag in Magnum Force, I forget who the actor was but the scene when Eastwood stabbed him in the leg was outstanding.
I think that was the scorpio killer in the original Dirty Harry.
Agreed - its a Christmas Period piece :)
Agreed - its a Christmas Period piece :)
You are probably right, as I get older things have a tendency to meld together.
Die Hard trivia:
The Nakatomi tower is actually the headquarters of 20th Century Fox. The company charged itself rent for the use of the then-unfinished building.
There are two references to the Japanese naval attack on Pearl Harbor on he 7th December 1941. The first occurs when John McClane questions whether the Japanese celebrate Christmas. Takagi replies “We’re flexible, Pearl Harbor didn’t work out so we got you with tape decks”. The second is the breaking of the code key for the vault. The password “Akagi” (Red Castle in English) is the name of one of the Japanese aircraft carriers which carried out the strike on Pearl Harbor.
Hans Gruber was also the name of an adversary in Our Man Flint (1966) with James Coburn.
For the shot where Hans Gruber falls from the top of the building, Alan Rickman was actually falling from a 21-foot high model. He was holding on to a stunt man and falling on to an air bag. To get the right reaction, the stunt man dropped Rickman on the count of two, not three.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/trivia?ref_=tt_ql_2
Now THAT’S a Christmas Sweater.
Great list!
I concur about Alistair (who can dislike a movie that has a cameo of John Steed?).
Alan Rickman was a graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and a classically trained actor. He was a fine bad guy because he was fine in all his roles. He died of cancer this year. RIP to a great actor.
Clarence Gilyard is a really nice guy, but I hated his guts in Die Hard.
“Oh, my God, the quarterback is toast!”
Far from the best but far from the worse.
Probably the most technically perfect action movie ever made. Which of course makes it the best at everything it is, including being a Christmas movie.
My favorite Christmas movie is “Donovan’s Reef.”
As a side note I think he did manage to get a soap opera gig, but not sure about that.
The 1951 version of Christmas Carol with Alistair Sims is the BEST version there is. It’s a Christmas Eve tradition to watch it at our house.
Gruber and his gang are not terrorists, but extraordinary thieves.
I’ll see your “Christmas in Hollis” and raise you Vaughn Monroe singing “Let it Snow” at the end as the bonds rain down from the Nakatomi Plaza. ;o)
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