Sika’s 100 Greatest Movies of All Time! 14. Die Hard (1988)

14. Die Hard (Two Disc) [DVD] (1988)

Plot: New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) flies to Los Angeles on Christmas eve to spend the holidays with his family. He arrives at the Nakatomi corp. building for his wife’s (Bonnie Bedelia) office party.

International terrorists lead by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) take over the building and hold every one as hostage, but misses McClane. Now its up to him to alone face the terrorists and save his wife and the other hostages.

40 Stories of Sheer Adventure!(tagline)

Also Starring: Reginald VelJohnson, Paul Gleason, William Atherton, Hart Bochner, Robert Davi, De’voreaux White

Directed by: John McTiernan
Written by: Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza
Length: 131 min
Budget: $28,000,000
Gross Revenue: $137,400,000 (Worldwide)

My Favorite Movie Quote:
John McClane: Welcome to the party, pal.

Review: I dare you to find anyone who didn’t want to either be Bruce Willis or sleep with Bruce Willis in 1988. He looked good, was sexy and macho and he even was a talented singer. He was like Don Johnson from Miami Vice. But with acting talent.

I’ve already talked about Bruce Willis’ acting when he’s NOT doing his “Bruce Willis”-act in Twelve Monkeys, but in “Die Hard” there was no Terry Gilliam to tell Bruce Willis not to suck in his cheeks or do his blue eyed stare. Here John McTiernan treats us with the full Bruce Willis experience; the oneliners, the smirks, the facial expressions, the walk, the lock-jawed talk and the singing. It’s all there, packaged in a character who is such a dislikable, womanizing, grumpy, pissed off asshole you end up loving him in the end. Because he’s the hero.

And Alan Rickman is awesome too. (But no hero).

Nerdiest Movie Trivia: This movie was based on a book by Roderick Thorp entitled “Nothing Lasts Forever” – a sequel to another book entitled “The Detective”, which in 1968 was made into a film starring Frank Sinatra. Because of a clause in Sinatra’s contract for “The Detective” which gave him the right to reprise his role in a sequel, he was actually the first person offered the McClane role, even though he was 73 years old at the time. Also, coincidentally, Bruce Willis made his movie debut in The First Deadly Sin walking out of a bar as Sinatra walks into it.

PREVIOUS ON THE LIST: 15. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

CRITERIA FOR MAKING THIS LIST

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