Posted on 07/12/2018 7:12:04 AM PDT by Bigtigermike
All of this is mundane stuff. Its also a prime example of why Die Hard remains the greatest American action movie since it was released 30 years ago this week.
Consider everything that the director, John McTiernan, and his screenwriters, Jeb Stuart and Steven E de Souza, set up in this brief little scene. Though Bruce Willis plays McClane as the modern American cowboy, Roy Rogers with an attitude, the film-makers choose to emphasize his vulnerability first. His fear of flying gets us primed for the bumps and bruises he will sustain all night long, when a phalanx of terrorists take over a Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza.
McClanes most important quality isnt his toughness, but his flesh-and-blood humanity, which is what most of the films sequels get wrong. The advice he gets from his seatmate gives him a reason to be barefoot during the entire ordeal, including a sequence where henchmen deliberately shoot out the glass to shred his flat soles. The gun establishes him as one of New Yorks finest, and the ring suggests a commitment to his marriage that his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), we soon learn, doesnt share.
(Excerpt) Read more at amp.theguardian.com ...
My wife had never seen Die Hard.
Fathom Events is running it in the theater later this year. She will finally, I guess.
Elliott Marston: An experimental weapon with experimental ammunition.
Matthew Quigley: You could call it that.
Elliott Marston: Let's experiment.
RIP
It was written by the same author of the Frank Sinatra film adaptation “The Detective”. They actually wrote “Die Hard” as a sequel for Sinatra. He would have been way too old, so we had to wait for Willis. Well worth it.
Have never seen a single one of the series, ever...................
It would probably go down like this
Quigley Down Under
"No more table, now your gonna DIE! Next time you have a chance to shoot somebody don't hesitate!" BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM, BLAM ...thud ... "Thanks for the advice.!
*Trivia Note: Bruce Willis became permanently partially deaf in his left ear as a direct result of filming this one scene because the prop department had used "hot loads" in the blanks (what you hear on film is the actual sound of the weapon) and the extremely loud noise in the confined space from rapidly firing the weapon next to his left ear resulted in permanent hearing loss.
"Whose driving the car, Steve Wonder?"
"Welcome to the PARTY PAL!"
"You asked for miracles Theo; I give you the F B I!"
"Come out to the coast, we'll have a few laughs!... Now I know what a TV Dinner feels like."
"I'm not a COMMON thief Mrs. McClain, I'm an EXCEPTIONAL thief; and since I'm moving up to kidnapping you should show a little respect!"
"Yippie Kayay..."
Great movie, so many great lines
I’ve always read that Die Hard was originally supposed to be Commando II for Schwarzenegger.
Maybe that's why Dwayne The Rock's Skyscraper is opening tomorrow - Towering Inferno meets Die Hard. Psyched (even in light of his recent poli-comments).
I always liked:
Holly: "I have a request."
Hans: "What idiot put you in charge?"
Holly: "You did."
Moonlighting made Willis famous. I think I remember him on Johnny Carson saying he was originally rejected in Hollywood because he reminded one producer of a cross between Cary Grant and Fred Flintstone.
Very hilarious and very accurate.
Consider everything that the director, John McTiernan, and his screenwriters, Jeb Stuart and Steven E de Souza, set up in this brief little scene. Though Bruce Willis plays McClane as the modern American cowboy, Roy Rogers with an attitude, the film-makers choose to emphasize his vulnerability first. His fear of flying gets us primed for the bumps and bruises he will sustain all night long, when a phalanx of terrorists take over a Christmas party at Nakatomi Plaza.
I know because I watched them all a couple of weeks ago.
The movie has so many iconic scenes. For instance: Comedy Central’s ads for the upcoming Bruce Willis roast (July 29th) use a derivative of the “HVAC duct” scene as a teaser.
I was in the Navy at Nuc Power School in Orlando when this movie came out. Went to go see it with some other squids at a Saturday Matinee. It was the most exciting film I had ever scene at the time. What a memory!
I always got a kick out of knowing the building they used for Nakatomi Plaza was located here in Southern California, in Century City.
I think of the movie every time I drive by the area.
http://diehard.wikia.com/wiki/Nakatomi_Plaza
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Plaza_(Los_Angeles)
“...he reminded one producer of a cross between Cary Grant and Fred Flintstone.”
YES. Hilarious & accurate. I hadn’t heard that before. Thanks for the laugh of the day!
We Americans like our heroes rough hewn. Tough, smart ass, hard drinking, full of dirty tricks. We also want them to hold moral absolutes and be self depreciating. McLane fits the mold.
I guy I was in Peace Corps training with (we both were ‘deselected’), played the 7-11 clerk in the opening scene where the cop gets his snacks.
Rickman stole any movie he had a juicy part in
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