“Die Hard”, the film that made Bruce Willis a legend

Every day while the turkey is cooking, the only thing playing on my TV is a Christmas carol. The rest of the 131 minutes, there are bullets. It’s probably an obsessive fan tradition, but on December 24, while the channels show “Miracle on 34th Street” or “My poor little angel”, some friends and I watch “Die Hard”, starring Bruce Willis. Yes, our movie Christmas favorite. And these are the reasons why it is a classic not only for the end of the year parties, but also for the action genre.

1. Because it happens at Christmas

What happens in the Nakatomi building occurs at the Christmas party of the company led by Mr. Takagi who is the victim of an elaborate robbery. On Christmas Eve of that year, a group of 12 alleged terrorists take the attendees hostage and unleash hell in that place.

2. Because he has a macabre humor

One of the first action scenes of the film is tremendous. John McClane, the New York cop played by Bruce Willis, happens to be in the Los Angeles building. He has gone to visit his wife to arrange her marriage. And he manages to escape the kidnapping almost by a miracle. His introduction to the bulk of the terrorists occurs when he kills one of them and places his body in an elevator. He puts a Santa Claus hat on him and a polo shirt with a legendary caption: “Now I have a machine gun, ho, ho, ho.”

3. By John McClane

McClane is an atypical protagonist for these Christmas movies where everything is about virtuous beings trying to save the holidays. In fact, the protagonist has a broken marriage and in later films we discover that he not only has problems with his children, but also with authority and with alcohol. On top of that, he is afraid, all the time.

4. By Bruce Willis

The protagonist of the film could be Arnold Schwarzenegger, when the film was conceived as a sequel to “Commando”. They could also be Sylvester Stallone, Burt Reynolds, Nike Nolte, Robert De Niro, Charles Bronson, Richard Gere, Don Johnson, Tom Berenger, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and even Richard Dean Anderson (at that time known as MacGyver). Happily it fell on Bruce Willis, an actor with almost no past who was able to create the tough guy almost at will.

5. For the villain

No more ambitious businessmen or bitter old people who hate parties. Alan Rickman had barely participated in two films and was not, even remotely, the enigmatic Severus Snape that he would play in Harry Potter. His character in “Die Hard” is that of Hans Gruber, a thief with superior intelligence, manipulative ability and, even better: he has everything completely calculated.

6. For feelings

Come on, just because it’s an action film doesn’t mean that the good John McClane doesn’t make us feel something: he tries to save his wife for more than two hours of the movie. And he even has faith, at the moment when Sergeant Powell tells him that he better pray. And of course, nothing like the hug at the end of the movie between John and Holly.

7. By name

Well, there is no film called “Die Hard”, but worse are its translations: in Spain it is called “Die Hard”, in Italy it was called “Trappola di cristallo”, while in France, “Piège de cristal ” (“Crystal Trap” in both cases). In Germany the name of the film is Stirb langsam (“Die Slowly”). The name of the film in Serbia and Hungary is also inexplicable: “Die with Courage” and “Give courage to your life”, respectively.

8. For the aftermath

While the fifth installment in the saga (“A Good Day to Die”) is a blot on a less-than-impeccable record, each of the sequels appropriately handles all of the action movie clichés: the good, the bad, the motives. . They even handle similar structures. Although only the second one also happens on Christmas Eve, you can always enjoy the sequels if there is time left.

9. By the phrase

It doesn’t matter that it has nothing to do with Christmas, but hearing John McClane say “Yippie Ki-Yay, motherfucker” is priceless. How is that? The scene where this iconic line is said goes like this: McClane and Gruber talking on a walkie talkie. The terrorist tells the hero that he is surely one of those Americans who thinks he is John Wayne and the New York policeman responds that his favorite cowboy is Roy Rogers. The bell rings announcing that the terrorists are coming to hunt him down and Willis says goodbye saying the phrase. According to “urban dictionary”, the first part is an expression of joy popular among 19th century cowboys in the US that Roy Rogers sings in one of his films. The second, we reserve the right to translate it.

10. Because if this is how Christmas happens, I don’t miss the New Year