Kim Taylor-Foster - Why We Love Die Hard

The latest Bond offering, The Living Daylights, hit number one for two weeks at the start of August, breaking a Bond box office record for three-day opening weekend receipts in the process. Buddy cop action-comedy Stakeout, starring Emilio Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss, would stake its claim for box office boss for five weeks after that, snagging a Top 10 position in the years biggest earners. Producer Joel Silver, meanwhile, had been toasting the success of another buddy cop actioner with comedy overtones, Lethal Weapon, earlier in the year. It, too, finished among the years top ten highest-grossing films. Three Men and a Baby was another of the years massive successes, a buddy comedy of a different sort that leaned into action with a surprisingly threatening subplot revolving around drugs.

When executives at 20th Century Fox were looking for a movie to fill their summer blockbuster-shaped hole the following year, Die Hard seemed the perfect plug. More action-heavy than other buddy cop movies, Die Hard paired the gut-punching blend of eye-popping stunts (John McClane leaping from a roof with nothing but a firehose tied around his waist) and insane violence (that close-up of the bad guys knees being shot to pieces) that audiences adored from the money-spinning Rambo franchise with the sparky dialogue of Beverly Hills Cop, injected a dose of satire, and wrapped it all up with a new kind of action hero. It was pitched as Rambo in an office building, but, of course, it would become a different beast from First Blood, the first film of the Sylvester Stallone franchise, and way more than its sequels. At the time of its release, First Blood had been criticized for a plot lacking credibility despite it being presented as a gritty action drama about the psychological effects of war and societys uncomfortable relationship with the fallout. Variety described the plot as a mess. And its follow-ups would earn labels such as silly or dumb, with First Blood Part II even collecting a clutch of Razzies.

So, if Die Hard isnt a typical dumb actioner, what is it? Well, its a family drama, a Christmas movie, a satirical buddy cop comedy, and an action thriller all in one. The movie follows reluctant hero and off-duty New York cop John McClane as he is embroiled in the terrorist-style plot of a gang attempting to rob a fortune in bearer bonds from a Japanese-owned Los Angelesbased company. All while he is simply trying to make up with his estranged wife. His efforts to procure effective outside help are met with little success and he is forced to tackle the twelve-strong gang practically single-handedly. Without shoes.

Die Hard was warmly embraced by audienceswho gave it an average A+ CinemaScore ratingand critics liked much about it, too. Dave Kehr praised John McTiernans direction, calling Jackson De Govias set design ingenious, and Roger Ebert singled out the films stunts and visual effects. How, then, did this film come to be?