"You don't like flying, do you?" "What gives you that idea?" "You want to know the secret... to surviving air travel?" "After you get where you're going, take off your shoes and socks." "Then walk around, making fists with your toes." "Fists with your toes?" "It sounds crazy, but I've been doing it for nine years." "Better than a shower and a cup of coffee." "Okay." "It's okay." "I'm a cop." "Trust me." "I've been doing this for 11 years." "On behalf of the captain and crew, we'd like to welcome you to Los Ángeles." "Have a very Merry Christmas." "Flight 227 to Tucson now boarding at gate 14." "Ah." "How do you do?" "Ladies and gentlemen." "Ladies and gentlemen!" "I want to congratulate each and every one of you... for making this one of the greatest years... in the history of the Nakatomi Corporation." "On behalf of the chief executive officer," "Mr. Ozu, and the board of directors, we wish you a Merry Christmas... and a Happy New Year!" "Merry Christmas!" "Happy New Year!" "Hey, Holly, what about dinner tonight, huh?" "Harry, it's Christmas Eve." "Families, stockings... chestnuts..." "Rudolph and Frosty." "Any of these things ring a bell?" "Actually, I was thinking more... of mulled wine, a nice aged brie, and a roaring fireplace." "You know what I'm saying?" "Ginny, it's 5:40." "Go join the party." "Have some champagne." "You're making me feel like Ebenezer Scrooge." "Can the baby handle a little sip?" "That baby's ready to tend bar." "Last chance." "Bye." "McClane residence." "Lucy McClane speaking." "Hello, Lucy McClane." "This is your mother speaking." "Mommy!" "When are you coming home?" "Pretty soon." "Pretty soon." "You'll be in bed when I get there, though." "Let me talk to Paulina." "And no snooping around the house, looking for presents." "Is Daddy coming home with you?" "Well, we'll see what..." "Santa and Mommy can do, okay?" "Put Paulina on." "Bye, honey." "Paulina!" "Hola, Mrs. Holly." "Um, did Mr. McClane call?" "No, Mrs. Holly." "No teléfono." "Well, he probably just didn't have time... before his flight." "Um, make up the spare bedroom... just in case." "Si, Mrs. Holly." "I do that already." "What would I do without you, Paulina?" "Oh!" "California." "Hey, I'm John McClane." "Argyle." "I'm your limo driver." "Nice bear." "Okay..." "Argyle." "What do we do now?" "You tell me." "It's my first time driving a limo." "This is my first time riding in one." "Relax." "We got everything in this mug, man." "Look at this..." "CD, CB, TV, telephone, full bar, VHS." "If your friend's hot to trot," "I know a few mama bears." "Or is he married?" "He's married." "Okay." "Oh, sorry about that." "It's the girl's day off." "I didn't know you were gonna sit up front." "So, uh, your lady live out here?" "About the past six months." "Meaning you still live in New York?" "You always ask this many questions, Argyle?" "Sorry, man." "I used to drive a cab." "People would expect a little chitchat." "So you divorced?" "Just drive the car, man." "Come on." "You divorced?" "You separated?" "She beat you up?" "She had a good job." "It turned into a great career." "That meant she had to move here." "You're very fast, Argyle." "So why didn't you come?" "Well?" "What's up?" "Because I'm a New York cop." "I got a six-month backlog of New York scumbags." "I can't just pick up and go that easy." "You thought she wouldn't make it out here, so why bother to pack, right?" "Like I said, you're very fast, Argyle." "You mind if we hear some tunes?" "Hey, that will work." "Don't you got any Christmas music?" "This is Christmas music." "#It was December 24th on Hollis Ave." "After dark #" "# When I seen a man chillin' with his dog in the park #" "#I approached them very slowly #" "# With my heart full of fear looked at his dog #" "# Oh, my God, a ill reindeer #" "#But then I was illin' 'cause the man had a beard #" "#And a bag full of goodies 12:00 hit, man #" "#So I turned my head a second #" "#And the man was gone #" "#But he must have dropped his wallet #" "#Smack dead on the lawn #" "#I picked the wallet up, and then I took a pause #" "# Took out the license and it cold said "Santa Claus"#" "#A million dollars in it cold hundreds of G's ##" "So your lady sees you, the music comes up, and you live happily ever after, right?" "I can live with that." "If it doesn't work out, you got a place to stay?" "I'll find a place." "Tell you what." "I'll wait in the parking garage." "You score, you call on the car phone." "You strike out, I'll get you a hotel." "You're all right, Argyle." "Just remember that when you sign for the tip." "Hi." "Good evening." "I'm here to see Holly McClane." "Just type it in there." "Cute toy." "If you have to take a leak, it finds your zipper." "Christ." "30th floor." "The party." "They're the only ones left in the building." "Take the express elevator... until you hear the noise." "Thanks." "Champagne, sir?" "Yeah, thanks." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Hey, Merry Christmas!" "Jesus." "Fuckin' California." "Why don't I talk to him right now?" "Why don't I talk to him right now?" "Hi." "I'm looking for..." "Holly Gennero." "Yeah." "You must be John McClane." "Joe Takagi." "How was your ride in?" "I have you to thank?" "Seemed the least we could do." "Quite a place you have here." "It will be." "Several floors are under construction." "Holly went to fax some documents." "In the meanwhile, her office is right back here." "Ellis." "I was just making a call." "I want you to meet John McClane," "Holly's husband..." "Holly's policeman." "Ellis is in charge of international development." "Heard a heck of a lot about you." "Missed some." "Can I get you anything?" "Food?" "Cake?" "Some watered-down champagne?" "No, thank you." "I'm fine." "You throw quite a party." "I didn't realize... they celebrated Christmas in Japan." "Pearl Harbor didn't work out, so we got you with tape decks." "Actually, it's sort of a double celebration." "Holly helped us close a big deal today." "I'll be out in a couple of minutes." "John." "Have you met everyone?" "We've been sticking him with spears." "Of course, he has." "She was made for the business." "Tough as nails." "I was hoping... you made that flight." "Show him the watch." "Later." "Go on." "Show him." "What, are you embarrassed?" "A token of appreciation for her hard work." "It's a Rolex." "I'm sure I'll see it later." "Is there a place where I could wash up?" "Sure." "Ellis gets very depressed... this time of year." "He thought he was God's greatest gift." "Yeah." "I know the type." "Think he's got his eye on you." "That's okay..." "I have my eye... on his private bathroom." "Where you staying?" "Things happened so fast," "I didn't get a chance to ask you." "Cappy Roberts retired out here." "He told me I could bunk with him." "Cappy retired, huh?" "Where's he live?" "Ramona." "Pomona." "Huh?" "Pomona." "Pomona." "Yeah." "You'll be in the car half the time." "Why don't we make it easy?" "I have a spare bedroom." "It's not huge or anything, but... the kids would love to have you at the house." "They would, huh?" "I would, too." "Ooh!" "Sorry." "I missed you." "I guess you didn't miss my name, though, huh?" "Except maybe when you're signing checks?" "Since when are you "Ms. Gennero"?" "This is a Japanese company." " They figure a married woman's got..." " You are a married woman." " You're married to me." " Are we going to have this conversation again?" " We never finished this conversation in July." " I had an opportunity..." " I had to take it." " Right, no matter what the consequences." " No matter what it did to our marriage." " It didn't do anything... except change your idea of what our marriage should be." " You don't have a clue what my idea of our marriage should be." " I know exactly... what your idea of our marriage should be." "Ms. Gennero, I..." "Excuse me." "Hi." "Um, Mr. Takagi is looking for you." "He wants you to say something to the troops." "Speech time." "Be back in a few minutes." "That was great, John." "Good job." "Very mature." "So Kareem rebounds, right?" "Feeds Worthy on the break, over to A.C., to Magic, then back to Worthy, right?" "Boom!" "Two points!" "We're in." "# La da da da da da daaa!" "#" "# Da da daaa!" "##" "Ha ha ha!" "Links... rechts... und wieder links." "Son of a bitch." "Fists with your toes." "Yeah, Argyle?" "How's it going up there?" "All right." "Where are you?" "What's the word with you and your lady?" "Uh, the vote's not in yet." "Nein!" "Nein!" "Nein!" "Argyle?" "Mac, you there?" "Hello?" "#Somebody... ##" "You know the number." "Use it." "Stay calm." "Everything's going to be fine." "Everything's going to be fine." "Shit!" "Think." "Think." "Ladies and gentlemen." "Ladies and gentlemen." "Due to the Nakatomi Corporation's... legacy of greed around the globe, they're about to be taught a lesson... in the real use of power." "You will be witnesses." "Now..." "Where is Mr. Takagi?" "Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi," " Born Kyoto, 1937." " Don't move." "Family emigrated to San Pedro, California, 1939." "Interned at Manzanar, 1942 to 1943." "Scholarship student, University of California, 1955." "Law degree, Stanford, 1962." "MBA, Harvard, 1970." "President, Nakatomi Trading." "Vice chairman, Nakatomi Investment Group." "Enough." "And father of five." "I am Takagi." "How do you do?" "It's a pleasure to meet you." "Okay, 32, construction, 33, computers." "#Do de do do do #" "# Do do do do do do do de do do ##" "Nice suit." "John Phillips, London." "I have two myself." "Rumor has it Arafat buys his there." "On the left." "On the left." "# Ba da da da #" "# Ba da da ##" ""And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer."" "Benefits of a classical education." "Oh, that's beautiful." "I always enjoyed to make models... when I was a boy." "The exactness, the attention to every conceivable detail." "It's beautiful." "Is this what this is all about?" "Our project in Indonesia?" "Contrary to what you people may think, we're going to develop that region, not exploit it." "I believe you." "I read the article in Forbes." "Mr. Takagi," "I could talk about industrialization and men's fashions all day, but I'm afraid work must intrude, and my associate here has some questions for you." "Sort of fill-in-the-blanks questions, actually." "I don't have that code!" "You broke in here to access our computer?" "Any information you could get, when they wake up in Tokio, they'll change it." "You won't be able to blackmail our executives, threaten our pro..." "Sit... down!" "Mr. Takagi, I'm really not interested... in your computer." "But I need the code key... because I am interested in the $640 million... in negotiable bearer bonds... that you have locked in your vault." "And the computer controls the vault." "You want money?" "What kind of terrorists are you?" "Who said we were terrorists?" "The bonds represent at most ten days'... operating capital for your parent organization." "The code, please." "It's useless to you." "There are seven vault safeguards, and the code key's only one of them." "You'll never get it open." "Then there's no reason not to tell us." "I told you." "It's not over yet." "It's a very nice suit..." "Mr. Takagi." "It would be a shame to ruin it." "I'm going to count to three." "There will not be a four." "Give me... the code." "One..." "Two..." " Three." " I don't know it." "I'm telling you!" "Get on the jet to Tokio and ask the chairman." "I'm telling you." "You're just gonna have to kill me." "Okay." "We'll do it the hard way." "Tony, see if you can dispose of that." "Karl, better check on Heinrich's work." "Nothing." "See to Heinrich." "Now... you can break the code?" "You didn't bring me along... for my charming personality." "Argyle, tell me you heard the shots." "You're callin' the police right now." "Of course I'm coming by later." "Have I ever lied to you?" "My boss?" "Thinks I'm on my way to Vegas." "Uli, get up on the pipes." "Marco, you go through here." "I'll throw you the cord." "Hans, we're on the roof." "Here." "Thirty minutes to break the code," "Two hours, two and a half hours for the five mechanicals... at the minimum." "The seventh lock, however, is out of my hands." "I'm sorry..." "The seventh lock..." "the electromagnetic seal." "You do understand... the circuits cannot be cut locally." "Trust me." "Why the fuck didn't you stop him, John?" "'Cause then you'd be dead, too, asshole!" "Think, goddamn it!" "Think!" "We've got a fire alarm." "Call 911." "Give them the guard's name and the building code number, and cancel the alarm." "Then disable the system." "On what floor did the alarm go off?" "Now, shall we go?" "Nein." "Oh, baby, come to Papa." "Come on." "Come on, baby." "Come to Papa." "I'll kiss your fuckin'dalmatian." "You stupid motherfuckers!" "No!" "Turn the fuckin' truck around!" "The fire has been called off, my friend." "No one is coming to help you." "You might as well come out and join the others." "I promise I won't hurt you." "Drop it, dickhead." "It's the police." "You won't hurt me." "Yeah?" "Why not?" "Because you're a policeman." "There are rules for policemen." "Yeah." "That's what my captain keeps telling me." "Aah!" "You bet your ass I wish to proceed." "Nine million terrorists in the world, and I got to kill one with feet smaller than my sister." "I wanted this to be professional, efficient, and cooperative." "Not a lot to ask." "Alas, Mr. Takagi did not see it that way, so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life." "We can go any way you want it." "You can walk out or be carried out, but have no illusions..." "we are in charge." "So... decide now, each of you," "And please remember... we have left nothing to chance." "Get them back!" ""Now I have a machine gun." "Ho-ho-ho. "" "A security guard we missed?" "They're usually just growing fat on a pension." "This is something else." "We have to do something, Hans." "Yes, we do." "Tell Karl his brother is dead." "Tell him to come down." "Karl..." "komm sofort." "Franco, you and Fritz take the body upstairs and out of sight." "I don't want the hostages to think too much." "Aah!" "I want blood!" "But let Heinrich plant the detonators." "The police will waste hours trying to negotiate." "Then you can tear the building apart." "But until then, do not alter the plan." "And if he alters it?" "What do you think?" "Something's wrong." "Cops?" "John." "John..." "Aw, Christ!" "He can fuck this whole thing up!" "What does he think he's doing?" "His job." "Bullshit." "His job's 3,000 miles away." "Without him, we might be able to get out of here." "Tell that to Takagi." "Mayday." "Mayday, Anyone copying channel nine." "Terrorists have seized the Nakatomi Building... and are holding 30 hostages." "Unknown number of terrorists..." "Six or more armed with automatic weapons." "Where's the best place to transmit?" " Somebody answer me, goddamn it!" " The roof!" "Go!" "Go!" "It'sthesame address as that fire signal." "I'll handle it." "Attention, whoever you are, this channel is reserved for emergencies." "No shit, lady!" "I'm not ordering a pizza!" "No one kills him but me." "They have killed one hostage." "They are fortifying their positions... while you're jerking me off on the radio!" "Sir, I've already told you." "This is a reserved channel." "If this is an emergency call, dial 911." "Otherwise, I'll report this as an FCC violation." "Fine!" "Come and arrest me, just send the police now!" "Ow!" "See if there's a black-and-white to do a drive-by." "Thought you guys just ate doughnuts." "They're for my wife." "Yeah." "She's pregnant." "Yeah." "Bag it." "Big time." "Thanks." "Dispatch to 8-Lincoln-30." "Over." "This is 8-Lincoln-30." "Come on in." "Over." "Investigate a Code 2... at Nakatomi Plaza, Century City." "8" " Lincoln-30 to dispatch." "I'm on my way." "8" " Lincoln-30 to dispatch." "I'm on my way." "Giris." "Shit!" "Where the fuck?" "Oh, my God." "He's in the elevator shaft." "Perfect." "The elevators are locked off." "Just shut him in and come back down." "Oh, fuck." "Karl, the police are probably... on their way already." "Christ." "I can stall them but not if they hear gunshots." "If you lock him in, he'll be neutralized..." "Come out to the coast!" "We'll get together, have a few laughs." "Now I know what a TV dinner feels like." "Such!" "Karl, komm!" "Die polizei!" "Die polizei!" "Well, it's about time." "No signs of disturbance, dispatch." "Possible crank call." "Check the area and confirm." "Who's driving this car?" "Stevie Wonder?" "I see a guard inside." "I'm going in for a closer look." "Use caution." "Eddie?" "I had a feelin' you'd be callin'." "Evenin', Officer." "What can I do for you?" "Heh heh heh!" "We had that false alarm, you know." "That computer sent you out... on another wild-goose chase." "They been chasing bugs... since they installed this system." "Notre Dame on top of USC..." "Ah, shit!" "I got 50 bucks bet on them assholes." "Come on, come on." "Where's the fucking cavalry?" "Ah!" "Bah!" "... was good for 52 yards." "Mind if I look around?" "Help yourself." "Seven seconds left in this period." "Seven to nothing, Notre Dame." "Freeze, Motherfucker!" "Don't shoot!" "Drop it!" "Okay!" "Don't shoot!" "Drop it!" "Ah!" "Ah, the hell with this!" "Ah!" "Ah!" "You are dog now!" "No more table!" "Where are you going, pal?" "Next time you have a chance... to kill someone, don't hesitate." "Thanks for the advice." "Sorry to waste your time." "No problem." "Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas." "# Oh, the weather outside is frightful #" "# Dum de dum delightful #" "For the love... 8" " Lincoln-30 to dispatch." "Go ahead." "That's a wild-goose chase... here at Nakatomi Plaza." "Everything here's okay." "Over." "# But nobody has no place to go #" "# Let it snow, let it snow ##" "Goddamn it!" "Jesus H. Christ!" "Welcome to the party, pal!" "Goddamn it!" "# Turn up the heat #" "#It's getting ready to pop ##" "Police under automatic rifle fire at Nakatomi!" "I need back-up assistance now!" "Now, Goddamn it!" "Now!" "Monica, I can get us a table." "Wolfgang and I are very close friends." "I interviewed him, for God's sake." "... Nakatomi." "Repeat." "Officer needs assistance at..." "I'm at Nakatomi Plaza." "They're turning my car into Swiss cheese!" "I need back-up assistance now!" "Now, Goddamn it!" "Now!" "Never thought I'd love to hear that sound." "All of you relax." "This is a matter of inconvenient timing." "Police action was inevitable... and, as it happens, necessary." "Let them fumble about outside, and stay calm." "This is simply the beginning." "I thought I told all of you I want radio silence." "I didn't get that message, Hans." "You should have put it on the bulletin board." "Since I waxed Tony and Marco and his friend," "I figured you and Karl and Franco might be lonely." "How does he know so much..." "That's very kind of you." "I assume you are our mysterious party crasher." "You are most troublesome for a security guard." "Eeeh!" "Sorry, Hans." "Wrong guess." "Want to go for DoubleJeopardy, where the scores can really change?" "Mm, these are very bad for you." "Who are you, then?" "The fly in the ointment, Hans." "The monkey in the wrench, the pain in the ass." "Whoa!" "Don't use the radio." "See if he's lying about Marco." "Find out who's missing." "Mr. Mystery Guest, are you still there?" "Yeah, I'm still here, unless you want to open the front door for me." "I'm afraid not, but you have me at a loss." "You know my name, but who are you?" "Just another American... who saw too many movies as a child?" "Another orphan of a bankrupt culture... who thinks he's John Wayne, Rambo," "Marshal Dillon?" "I was always partial to Roy Rogers, actually." "I liked those sequined shirts." "Do you think you have a chance, Mr. Cowboy?" "Yippee-kai-yay, motherfucker." "I can get the jump on everybody... with a remote." "Harvey, keep your pants on." "Sam, I'm begging you." "Simon's already out with the remote." "I'm not sitting on this!" "I am going out there!" "You don't give me a truck," "I'll steal a truck." "Give us a break, Thornburg." "Eat it, Harvey!" "Four, three, two... one." "Harvey, we're on the air." "Good evening." "This is Harvey Johnson." "And I'm Gail Wallens, and this is Nightline News at 10:00." "Our top stories on this Christmas eve..." "Take truck number five." "Get out of here." "He wasn't lying about Marco." "He's down on the street." "The other man was Heinrich, and his bag is missing." "He had the detonator." "Theo." "Theo." "Yo!" "We may have some problems." "How's your schedule?" "Three down." "Four to go." "Then don't waste time talking to me." "This is sergeant Al Powell of the L.A.P.D." "If the person who radioed can hear me, acknowledge this transmission." "I say again..." "If the person who radioed can hear me, acknowledge this transmission!" "I read you." "You the guy in the car?" "What's left of him." "Can you identify yourself?" "Not now." "Maybe later." "This is a party line." "The neighbor's got itchy trigger fingers." "You got 30 hostages on the 30th floor." " The leader's name is Hans." " We have to find him and shut him up." " He's telling them everything!" " Let him." "I'm waiting for the FBI." "Until then, he can waste as much time as he likes, but we must find the bag, Fritz." "We must have the detonators." "Theygot missiles, automatic weapons, and enough explosives to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger." "They're down to nine now." "These guys are mostly European, judging by their clothing labels and... cigarettes." "They're well-financed and very slick." "How do you know that?" "I've seen enough phony I.D. S... to recognize that the ones they got must have cost a fortune." "Add all that up," "I don't know what the fuck it means, but you got some bad-ass perpetrators here to stay." "I hear you, partner." "L.A.'s finest are on it." "Light 'em if you got 'em." "Way ahead of you, partner." "So, what do I call you?" "Call me..." "Roy." "If you think of anything else, don't you be shy, okay?" "In the meantime, let us do our job." "They're all yours, Al." "All right, who's talking to him?" "I am, sir." "Sergeant Powell." "Al Powell." "Dwayne Robinson, Powell." "What's the deal here?" "What do these pricks want?" "Well, we don't exactly know." "We haven't heard from them." "Who have you been talking to?" "We don't know." "He won't give us his name." "He appears to be the one who phoned." "He's killed one terrorist, and he claims two others." "Claims?" "Powell, has it occurred to you... he could be one of the terrorists... or some nutcase in there?" "No." "In fact, I think he's a cop..." "Maybe not L.A.P.D., but he's a badge." "Why?" "A hunch, things he said, like being able to spot a phony I.D." "Jesus Christ, Powell." "He could be a fucking bartender for all we know!" "TV's here." "Oh, shit." "I have a request." "What idiot put you in charge?" "You did... when you murdered my boss." "Now everybody's looking to me." "Personally, I'd pass on the job." "I don't enjoy being this close to you." "Go on." "We have a pregnant woman." "Relax." "She's not due for a couple weeks, but sitting on that rock isn't doing her back any good." "So, I would like permission to move her to one of the offices where there's a sofa." "I'll have a sofa brought out." "Good enough?" "Good enough." "Unless you like it messy, start bringing us in groups to the bathroom." "Yes." "You're right." "It will be done." "Was there something else?" "No, thank you." "Mr. Takagi chose his people well, Mrs..." "Gennero." "Miss Gennero." "We interrupt this program for a special bulletin." "This is Richard Thornburg live from Century City." "Tonight, Los Ángeles has joined... the sad and worldwide fraternity of cities... whose only membership requirement... is to suffer the anguish of international terrorism." "Approximately two hours ago, an unidentified group of men... seized control of the Nakatomi Building, sealing off all entrances and exits." "All telephone lines have been cut, and the only communication now possible... has been through the use of CB communicators, the group apparently brought with them." "According to official sources, the perpetrators of this building siege..." "Unit Five, hold your position." "We got Charlie Unit in position... by the parking structure." "Let me ask you something." "Does this stairway go up to the escalator?" "Yeah." "Tell them to go ahead." "What's going on?" "What's it look like?" "We're going in." "Going in?" "Man, that's crazy!" "There could be over 30 hostages!" "We don't know shit, Powell." "How come there were no ransom demands?" "Where's their list of demands?" "All we know is somebody shot your car." "It's probably the same son of a bitch... you've been talking to on that radio." "Excuse me, sir." "What about the body that fell out the window?" "Probably some stockbroker..." "Got depressed." "Let's go." "Hit your lights." "Let's go." "Lights on!" "Powell?" "You still with me, babe?" "What's going on?" "Yo, Al." "I'm kind of busy." "I'll talk to you later." "Al, what's wrong?" "We'll talk later." "If you are what I think you are, you'll know when to listen, shut up, and when to pray." "Jesus Christ!" "You're coming in." "I told you what kind of people they are." "Let's load them up." "Blue go." "They'll be coming." "Everyone get ready." "Theo, you are the eyes now." "Rivers, begin your reconnoiter." "Shit!" "Hey, come on, man." "Let's go." "Ow!" "Jesus!" "All right, spread out." "Shut up." "Let's go." "You macho assholes." "No!" "No!" "Ahem... all right." "Listen up, guys." "'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except... the four assholes coming in the rear... in standard cover formation." "We're all set." "We're ready." "Kick ass." "Go." "Right." "Let's do it." "They're shooting at them." "It's panic fire." "They can't see." "They're shooting at the lights." "They're going after the lights." "Pull them back." "It's not happening." "Mike, burn it." "Don't be impatient." "Just wound them." "They're sitting ducks without lights." "They're almost in." "Send in the car." "Send in the car." "Send in the car." "Jesus Christ!" "Rivers, Rodriguez, report." "Whoa!" "Wait a minute." "What have we here, gentlemen?" "The police have themselves an RV." "Southeast corner." "Oh, Jesus Christ." "Get back!" "Get the fuck back!" "Get over there!" "Schnell!" "Schnell!" "Mach schnell!" "Weiter!" "Weiter!" "Weiter!" "Mach schnell!" "Mach schnell!" "Weiter!" "Mach los!" "Mach los!" "I see him!" "Oh, my God!" "The quarterback is toast!" "Hang on, Rivers." "That's an order." "Hit it again." "Hans, you motherfucker!" "You made your point!" "Let them pull back!" "Thank you, Mr. Cowboy." "I'll take it under advisement." "Hit it again!" "Thank you, Mr. Cowboy." "I'll take it under advisement." "Hit it again!" "Fire." "Fuck me." "Get them out of the car." " Aah!" " Aah!" "Fuck it." "Mach schnell!" "Mach los!" "Let's see you take this under advisement, jerkweed." "Geronimo, motherfucker." "Shit!" "They're using artillery on us!" "You idiot, it's not the police." "It's him." "Holy shit." "My God." "Tell me you got that." "I got it." "I got it." "Eat your heart out, Channel Five." "We've had an update on the takeover of the Nakatomi Building..." "Sources say the terrorist leader, "Hans,"" "may be this man..." "Hans Gruber, a member of the radical West German Volksfrei movement." "Strangely, the Volksfrei leadership... issued a communique an hour ago... stating Gruber had been expelled from that organization..." "Al?" "Al?" "Do you copy?" "Are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "What was that?" "Remember that plastic explosive I told you about?" "There you go." "Is the building on fire?" "No, but it's going to need a paint job." "Our spotter said you got two that time." "Is that him?" "Yes, sir." "I don't know who you think you are, but you just destroyed a building." "We do not want your help." "Is that clear?" "I've got 100 people down here, and they're covered with glass." "Who gives a shit about glass?" "Who the fuck is this?" "This is deputy chief of police, Dwayne T. Robinson, and I am in charge of this situation." "Oh, you're in charge?" "I got bad news for you, Dwayne." "It doesn't look like you're in charge of jack shit." " Listen to me, you little asshole..." " Asshole?" "I'm not the one who just got buttfucked on national TV, Dwayne!" "Listen to me, jerkoff, quit being part of the fucking problem... and put the other guy back on!" "Hey, Roy, how are you feeling?" "Pretty fucking unappreciated, Al." "Hey, look." "I love you." "So do a lot of the other guys." "You hang in there." "You hear me?" "You hang in there." "Yeah, thanks, partner." "What are you doing?" "I'm tired of waiting to see... who gets us killed first..." "them or your husband." "What are you going to do?" "Hey, babe, I negotiate million-dollar deals for breakfast." "I think I can handle this "Euro-trash."" "Hey, sprechen sie, talk?" "If you'd listened to me, he'd be neutralized." "I don't want neutral." "I want dead." "Hope I'm not interrupting." "What does he want?" "It's not what I want." "It's what I can give you." "Oy, let's be straight, okay?" "It's obvious you're not some dumb schmuck up here... to snatch a few purses, am I right?" "Very perceptive." "I watch 60 Minutes." "I say to myself, "these guys are professional," ""they're motivated, they're happening, i.e., they want something," huh?" "I couldn't care less about your politics." "Maybe you're pissed off at the camel jockeys, maybe it's the Hebes, Northern Ireland..." "It's none of my business." "I figure you're here to negotiate." "Am I right?" "You're amazing." "You figured this all out already?" "Hey, business is business." "You use a gun." "I use a fountain pen." "What's the difference?" "Let's put it in my terms." "You're here on a hostile takeover." "You grab us for some greenmail, but you didn't expect some poison pill running around." "Am I right?" "Hans, bubby, I'm your white knight." "I must have missed 60 Minutes." "What are you saying?" "The guy upstairs is fucking things up, huh?" "I can give him to you." "Oh, God..." "Uhh..." "Roy?" "Roy, you all right?" "Just trying to fire down a 1,000-year-old Twinkie." "What do they put in these things anyway?" "Sugar, enriched flour, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, polysorbate 60... and yellow dye number five..." "Just everything a growing boy needs." "How many kids you got, Al?" "My wife is working on our first." "How about you, cowboy?" "You got any kids?" "Yeah... two." "Hope I can see 'em swingin' on a jungle gym with AIJr." "Someday." "Well, now, that's a date, but you bring the ice cream." "Touching, cowboy." "Touching." "Or should I call you..." "Mr. McClane.?" "Mr. Officer John McClane... of the New York Police Department?" " Get on the phone to Harry in New York." "Come on, baby." "Move.!" " Got it." "Better get a hold of somebody at dispatch." "Sister Theresa called me Mr. McClane in the third grade, my friends call me John, and you're neither, shithead." "I have someone who wants to talk to you..." "A very special friend... who was with you at the party tonight." "Hey, John boy." "Ellis?" "Yeah." "Now, listen, John." "They're giving me a few minutes... to try to talk some sense into you." "I know you think you're doin' your job, but you're just draggin' this thing out." "No one gets out of here until these guys can talk... to the L.A. Police, and that just ain't gonna happen... till you stop messing up the works, capisci?" "Ellis, what have you told them?" "I told them we were old friends, and you were my guest." "You shouldn't be doing this." "Tell me about it." "All right, John, listen." "They want you to tell them where the detonators are." "They know people are listening." "They want the detonators, or they're going to kill me." "John, didn't you hear me?" "Yeah, I hear you." "John, get with the program." "Tell these guys... where the detonators are... so no one else gets hurt!" "I'm putting my life on the line, pal!" "Ellis, listen to me carefully." "John..." "Shut up, Ellis!" "Just shut your mouth!" "Put Hans back on!" "Hans, this shithead doesn't know you, but I do..." "Good." "Then you'll give us what we want." "You're not part of this equation." "What am I, a method actor?" "Put away the gun." "This is radio, not television." "Hans, he's not my friend!" "I don't know him!" "Jesus, Ellis!" "They'll kill you!" "Tell them you don't know me!" "How can you say that after all these years?" "John?" "John?" "Do you hear that?" "Talk to me!" "Where are my detonators?" "Where are they, or shall I shoot another one?" "Sooner or later," "I'll get to someone you care about." "Go fuck yourself, Hans." "Did you hear that?" "He just let the guy die, man." "Man, can't you see what's happening?" "Can't you read between the lines?" "He did everything he could... to save him." "If he gave up, they'd both be dead!" "No." "They'd be talking to us." "You tell your partner to stay out of this." "If he doesn't," "I'm going to nail his ass." "The man is hurting." "He is alone, tired, and he hasn't seen diddly-squat... from anybody here!" "You think he'll give a damn... about what you do if he makes it?" "Wake up and smell what you shoveling." "Anytime you want to go home, you consider yourself dismissed." "No, sir." "You couldn't drag me away." "Attention, police." "Attention, police." "Attention, police." "This is Sergeant Al Powell..." "This is deputy chief Dwayne Robinson." "Who is this?" "This is Hans Gruber." "I assume you realize the futility of direct action." "We have no wish for further loss of life." "Well, what is it you do wish for?" "I have comrades around the world... languishing in prison." "The American State Department... enjoys rattling its saber for itself." "Now it can rattle it for me." "The following are to be released from their captors..." "The seven members of the New Provo Front, in Canada, the five imprisoned leaders of Liberté du Quebec, in Sri Lanka, the nine members of the Asian Dawn." "What the fuck?" "I read about them in Time magazine." "When these revolutionary brothers and sisters are free, the hostages will be taken to the roof... and will accompany us in helicopters... to the Los Ángeles International Airport... where they'll be given further instructions." "You have two hours to comply." "Wait a minute, Mr. Gruber." "This is crazy." "I don't have the authority." "Two hours is not enough." "Hello?" "Hello!" "Did you get all that?" "We got to make some calls." "Do you think they'll try?" "Who cares?" "Theo, are we on schedule?" "One more." "Then it's up to you." "This one will take a miracle." "It's Christmas, Theo." "It's the time of miracles, so be of good cheer." "Call me when you hit the last lock." "Hunt that little shit down and get those detonators." "Fritz is checking the explosives." "I'll check the explosives." "Hey, Powell, you out there?" "I'm here, John." "I'm here." "Believe me, there was nothing I could do." "It's gonna be both our asses... if you're wrong." "I hear you." "Did you catch that bullshit Hans was running?" "It doesn't make sense, man." "I'm just a desk jockey... who was on my way home when you rang." "The way you drove," "I figured you for the street." "In my youth." "In my youth." "... Author of Hostage Terrorist, Terrorist Hostage..." "A Study in Duality." "What can we expect in the next few hours?" "The hostages are probably experiencing... the early stages of the Helsinki Syndrome." "As in Helsinki, Sweden." "Finland." "Basically, it's when the hostages... and the terrorists... go through a sort of psychological transference... and a projection of dependency." "A strange sort of trust and bond develops." "We've had situations where the hostages... embraced their captors after release... and even corresponded with them in prison." "No, no, darling." "Asian Dawn." "Dawn." "D" " A-W-N." "Sir?" "Yeah?" "The FBI is here." "The FBI is here now?" "Yes, sir." "Right over there." "Hold this." "Want a breath mint?" "Hey, how you doing, man?" "I'm Agent Johnson." "This is Special Agent Johnson." "Oh, how you doing?" "No relation." "I'm, uh..." "I'm Dwayne Robinson, L.A.P.D." "I'm in charge here." "Not anymore." "Hi there." "How you doing?" "Ooh..." "Please, God." "You're one of them, aren't you?" "You're one of them." "No!" "Don't kill me!" "No, please." "Don't kill me, please!" "No!" "Relax." "I'm not going to hurt you." "I won't hurt you!" "Oh, God." "What the fuck are you doing up here?" "What were you looking for?" "I managed to get out of there." "I was trying to get up on the roof... and see if I could signal for help." "Why don't you come and help?" "Hold it." "Hold it." "Forget the roof." "Forget the roof." "They got people all over it." "You want to stay alive, you stay with me." "The best we can figure it, we've got maybe 30 or 35 hostages up there, probably on the 30th floor, and maybe seven or eight terrorists up there." "Sounds like an A-7 scenario." "We'll handle it from here." "When we commandeer your men, we'll let you know." "Aren't you... forgetting something?" "Such as?" "What about John McClane?" "He's the reason... we have any information." "He's also the reason... you're only facing seven terrorists." "He's inside?" "Who is he?" "He might be a cop." "We're checking." "One of yours?" "No way." "You smoke?" "Yeah." "Thanks." "You don't work for Nakatomi." "And if you're not one of them..." "I'm a cop from New York." "New York?" "Yeah." "Got invited to the Christmas party by mistake." "Who knew?" "Well, it's better than being caught with your pants down, huh?" "I'm John McClane." "You're, uh..." "Clay." "Bill Clay." "Know how to use a handgun, Bill?" "I spent a weekend at a combat ranch..." "The guns that shoot red paint." "Probably seems kind of stupid to you." "Nope." "Time for the real thing, Bill." "All you got to do is pull the trigger." "Put down the gun... and give me my detonators." "Well, well, well..." "Hans." "Put it down now." "That's pretty tricky with that accent." "You ought to be on fucking TV." "What do you want with the detonators, Hans?" "I already used all the explosives... or did I?" "I'm going to count to three." "Yeah." "Like you did with Takagi?" "Oops." "No bullets." " What do you think..." "I'm fucking stupid, Hans?" "You we're saying?" "Karl." "Shoot the glass!" "Jesus Christ!" "Smile, Karl." "We're back in business." "... is the last resort of diplomacy, couldn't we just as well say... that terrorism has an equal claim... on being that, too?" "You got something." "Tell me you got something." "Just McClane's name, badge number, employment record, vital statistics, and his family's home address, right here in L.A." "Woo!" "Go to work." "You got it." "God!" "That man looks... really pissed." "He's still alive." "What?" "Only John can drive somebody that crazy." "Hans, you better heat up that miracle." "We broke through on number six." "The electromagnetic came down like a fucking anvil." "See what our friends outside are doing, and I'll be right up." "Hey, John." "John McClane, you still with us?" "Yeah." "All things being equal," "I'd rather be in Philadelphia." "Chalk up two more bad guys." "Well, the boys down here... will be glad to hear that." "We got a pool going on you." "What kind of odds am I getting?" " You don't want to know." " Put me down for 20." "I'm good for it." "Hey, pal, you got flat feet?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "Something had to get you off the street." "You don't think jockeying papers... is a noble effort?" "No." "I had an accident." "The way you drive, I can see why." "You run over your captain's foot?" "I shot a kid." "He was 13 years old." "Oh, it was dark." "I couldn't see him." "Oh, it was dark." "He had a ray gun that looked real enough." "When you're a rookie, they can teach you... everything about being a cop, except how to live with a mistake." "Anyway, I just couldn't bring myself... to draw my gun on anybody again." "Sorry, man." "Hey, man, how could you know?" "I feel like shit anyway." "Well, then, this won't matter." "The L.A.P.D. is not... calling the shots down here anymore." "The feds?" "You got it." "All right." "Those are the city engineers." "They're going into the street circuits." "Those guys in the suits, I don't know who they are." "That's the FBI." "They're ordering the others... to cut the building's power." "Regular as clockwork." "Or a time lock." "Precisely." "The circuits that cannot be cut... are cut automatically... in response to a terrorist incident." "You asked for miracles." "I give you the FBI." "It's going to go!" "Yes!" "Merry Christmas." "Those bastards are probably pissing in their pants." "The mayor will have my ass." "Woo!" "What will we do now?" "Arrest them for not paying their electric bill?" "We've shut them down." "We let them sweat, then give them helicopters." "Right up the ass." "This is Agent Johnson." "No, the other one." "I want air support ready in five minutes." "Damn right." "Fully armed." "We're on the way." "Yeah!" "I wish to talk to the FBI." "This is Special Agent Johnson." "The State Department has arranged... for the return of your comrades." "Helicopters are en route as you requested." "We'll be ready." "When he realizes what hit him, he'll be dead." "When they touch down, we'll blow the roof." "By the time they figure out... what went wrong, we'll be sitting on a beach... earning 20%." "Ah!" "Jeez!" "Powell?" "Yo, Powell, you got a minute?" "I'm here, John." "I'm starting to get a bad feeling up here." "I want you to do something for me." "Um..." "I want you to find my wife." "Don't ask me how." "I want you to tell her something." "I want you to tell her that..." "Um..." "Mmm..." "Tell her it took me a while to figure out... what a jerk I'd been, but, um... that... that when things started to pan out for her," "I should have been more supportive, and, uh..." "I just should have been behind her more." "Oh, shit." "Tell her that, um... that she's the best thing that ever happened... to a bum like me." "She's heard me say "I love you"" "a thousand times." "She never heard me say "I'm sorry."" "I want you to tell her that, Al." "I want you to tell her... that John said that he was sorry." "Okay?" "You got that, man?" "Yeah, I got it, John, but you can tell her that yourself." "Just watch your ass and make it out." "You hear me?" "I guess that's up to the man upstairs." "John?" "John?" "What the fuck... were you doing upstairs, Hans?" "John?" "Al, listen." "Just lay off for a while." "I got to go check on something." "One minute, that's all I'm asking..." "One minute to speak to them." "All right." "Get back." "Get back." "All right, look, look, look." " Let me in right now, or I call the I.N. S. ¿Comprende?" "This is the last time these kids will have... to speak to their parents." " All right?" " Mm." "All right." "Come on." "What were you doing, Hans?" "What were you doing?" "Jesus, Mary, Mother of God." "It's a double-cross!" "The roof is wired to..." "John?" "John!" "John, come in!" "Did you get that?" "Something about a double-cross." "Tell me about it." "We are both professionals." "This is personal." "Ah..." "Aagh!" "Aah!" "They're coming!" "They're coming!" "The choppers are coming." "Okay," "Time to gather your flock, Miss Gennero." "Your mom and dad are very important people." "They're very brave people." "Is there something you'd like to say to them?" "Come home." "Mrs. McClane." "How nice to make your acquaintance." "Everyone to the roof!" "Lock them there." "Come right back." "Ah!" "You should have heard your brother squeal... when I broke his fucking neck!" "What do you figure the breakage?" "We take out the terrorists, lose 20, 25% of the hostages... tops." "I can live with that." "Get this thing on the deck." "They're expecting transports, not gun ships." "Move it!" "Come on!" "Move!" "Move it!" "Go!" "Move!" "Theo." "A little bonus for us." "Please, sit down." "Sit down!" "A policeman's wife might come in handy." "McClane, I have some news for you." "McClane." "Ah!" "Aah!" "Come on!" "Move!" "Come on!" "Yaah!" "Motherfucker!" "I'll kill you!" "Armed." "The truck?" "The truck." "After all your posturing, all your little speeches, you're nothing but a common thief." "I am an exceptional thief, Mrs. McClane, and since I'm moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite." "Yaah!" "Oh!" "Going to kill you!" "I'm going to fucking cook you!" "Going to fucking eat you!" "I don't like this, Sarge." "Yaa-hah!" "Just like fucking Saigon," "Hey, slick?" "I was in junior high, dickhead." "Where's Holly?" "Where's Holly Gennero?" "Holly Gennero?" "Where's Holly?" "Where's Holly?" "Where is she?" "They took her!" "Where?" "The vault!" "Where is the vault?" "The 30th floor!" "They took her!" "Get downstairs!" "The whole fucking roof is wired to blow!" "Get down!" "Get the fuck downstairs!" "They made us, Bureau." "You got a terrorist shooting at hostages." "Break left!" "Nail that sucker!" "I'm on your side, you assholes!" "Swing around again!" "I'll bag this little bastard." "What the fuck..." "Oh, John, what the fuck are you doing?" "How the fuck did you get into this shit?" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "There's something wrong!" "They're coming back down!" "Blow the roof." "Karl's up there!" "Blow the roof!" "I promise I will never even think... about going up in a tall building again." "Oh, God, please don't let me die!" "Yaah!" "Oh!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Holy Christ!" "We're going to need... some more FBI guys, I guess." "Aah!" "Aah!" "Jesus fucking Christ!" "Fuck!" "What the fuck is going on?" "What are you going to do?" "Sit here while the building falls?" "Shit!" "Oh!" "All right!" "Uli." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Hang on, baby." "Hang on, honey." "Oh, God." "Oh!" "Allez!" "Allez vite!" "J'y vais!" "J'y vais!" "Hans!" "Jesus." "Hi, honey." "So that's what this is all about?" "A fucking robbery?" "Put down the gun." "Why'd you have to nuke the whole building, Hans?" "Well, when you steal $600, you can disappear." "When you steal 600 million, they'll find you... unless they think you're already dead." "Put down the gun." "Uh." "Nein." "This is mine." "You got me." "Still the cowboy, Mr. McClane." "Americans, all alike." "This time, John Wayne doesn't walk off into the sunset... with Grace Kelly." "That was Gary Cooper, asshole." "Enough jokes." "You'd have made... a good cowboy yourself, Hans." "Oh, yeah." "What was it you said to me before?" "Yippee-kai-yay, motherfucker." "Holly!" "Happy trails, Hans." "Aah!" "Holly." "Aah!" "I hope that's not a hostage." "Water hook-up companies 93, 96..." "Must have burned down the whole building." "Over here." "It's a better angle." "Let's give them..." "Keep it going, now." "Keep it going." "Come on." "We're going to miss it!" "Okay." "Hand me my notes!" "Come on, folks." "What was it like in there?" "How did they treat you?" "Al, this is my wife Holly." "Holly Gennero." "Holly McClane." "Hello, Holly." "You got yourself a good man." "You take good care of him." "McClane!" "McClane, I want a debriefing!" "You got some things... to answer for, mister..." "Ellis' murder, for one thing, property damage, interfering with police business." "All right!" "Two of you go inside..." " and see if there's anybody else!" " Yes, sir..." "This one's with me." "Mr. McClane." "Mr. McClane!" "After this incredible ordeal, what are your feelings?" "Well, well, well." "Merry Christmas, Argyle." "Merry Christmas." "Did you get that?" "Let me through." "If this is their idea of Christmas," "I got to be here for New Year's." "# Oh, the weather outside is frightful #" "#But the fire is so delightful #" "#And since we've no place to go #" "#Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow #" "#Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow #" "#It doesn't show signs of stopping #" "#And I brought some corn for popping #" "# The lights are turned way down low #" "#Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow #" "# When we finally kiss good night #" "#How I hate goin'out in the storm #" "#But if you really hold me tight #" "#All the way home, I'll be warm #" "# The fire is slowly dying #" "#And, my dear, we're still good-byeing #" "#But as long as you love me so #" "#Let it snow #" "#Let it snow #" "#Let it snow ##" "You don't like flying, do you?" "What gives you that idea?" "You want to know the secret... to surviving air travel?" "After you get where you're going, take off your shoes and socks." "Then walk around, making fists with your toes." "Fists with your toes?" "[Laughs]" "It sounds crazy, but I've been doing it for nine years." "Better than a shower and a cup of coffee." "[Laughs]" "Okay." "It's okay." "I'm a cop." "Trust me." "I've been doing this for 11 years." "On behalf of the captain and crew, we'd like to welcome you to Los Angeles." "Have a very Merry Christmas." "Flight 227 to Tucson now boarding at gate 14." "Ah." "[Speaking Japanese]" "How do you do?" "Ladies and gentlemen." "Ladies and gentlemen!" "I want to congratulate each and every one of you... for making this one of the greatest years... in the history of the Nakatomi Corporation." "[Applause]" "On behalf of the chief executive officer," "Mr. Ozu, and the board of directors, we wish you a Merry Christmas... and a Happy New Year!" "[Crowd] Merry Christmas!" "Happy New Year!" "Hey, Holly, what about dinner tonight, huh?" "Harry, it's Christmas Eve." "Families, stockings... chestnuts..." "Rudolph and Frosty." "Any of these things ring a bell?" "Actually, I was thinking more... of mulled wine, a nice aged brie, and a roaring fireplace." "You know what I'm saying?" "Ginny, it's 5:40." "Go join the party." "Have some champagne." "You're making me feel like Ebenezer Scrooge." "Can the baby handle a little sip?" "That baby's ready to tend bar." "Last chance." "Bye." "McClane residence." "Lucy McClane speaking." "Hello, Lucy McClane." "This is your mother speaking." "Mommy!" "When are you coming home?" "Pretty soon." "Pretty soon." "You'll be in bed when I get there, though." "Let me talk to Paulina." "And no snooping around the house, looking for presents." "Is Daddy coming home with you?" "Well, we'll see what..." "Santa and Mommy can do, okay?" "Put Paulina on." "Bye, honey." "Paulina!" "Hola, Mrs. Holly." "Um, did Mr. McClane call?" "No, Mrs. Holly." "No telefono." "Well, he probably just didn't have time... before his flight." "Um, make up the spare bedroom... just in case." "Si, Mrs. Holly." "I do that already." "What would I do without you, Paulina?" "Oh!" "California." "Hey, I'm John McClane." "Argyle." "I'm your limo driver." "Nice bear." "Okay..." "Argyle." "What do we do now?" "You tell me." "It's my first time driving a limo." "This is my first time riding in one." "Relax." "We got everything in this mug, man." "Look at this..." "CD, CB, TV, telephone, full bar, VHS." "[Laughs]" "If your friend's hot to trot," "I know a few mama bears." "Or is he married?" "He's married." "Okay." "Oh, sorry about that." "It's the girl's day off." "I didn't know you were gonna sit up front." "So, uh, your lady live out here?" "About the past six months." "Meaning you still live in New York?" "You always ask this many questions, Argyle?" "Sorry, man." "I used to drive a cab." "People would expect a little chitchat." "So you divorced?" "Just drive the car, man." "Come on." "You divorced?" "You separated?" "She beat you up?" "[Laughing]" "She had a good job." "It turned into a great career." "That meant she had to move here." "You're very fast, Argyle." "So why didn't you come?" "Well?" "What's up?" "Because I'm a New York cop." "I got a six-month backlog of New York scumbags." "I can't just pick up and go that easy." "You thought she wouldn't make it out here, so why bother to pack, right?" "Like I said, you're very fast, Argyle." "You mind if we hear some tunes?" "## [Funky RB Intro]" "Hey, that will work." "Don't you got any Christmas music?" "This is Christmas music." "#It was December 24th on Hollis Ave." "After dark #" "# When I seen a man chillin' with his dog in the park #" "#I approached them very slowly #" "# With my heart full of fear looked at his dog #" "# Oh, my God, a ill reindeer #" "#But then I was illin' 'cause the man had a beard #" "#And a bag full of goodies 12:00 hit, man #" "#So I turned my head a second #" "#And the man was gone #" "#But he must have dropped his wallet #" "#Smack dead on the lawn #" "#I picked the wallet up, and then I took a pause #" "# Took out the license and it cold said "Santa Claus"#" "#A million dollars in it cold hundreds of G's ##" "So your lady sees you, the music comes up, and you live happily ever after, right?" "I can live with that." "If it doesn't work out, you got a place to stay?" "I'll find a place." "Tell you what." "I'll wait in the parking garage." "You score, you call on the car phone." "You strike out, I'll get you a hotel." "You're all right, Argyle." "Just remember that when you sign for the tip." "Hi." "Good evening." "I'm here to see Holly McClane." "Just type it in there." "Cute toy." "If you have to take a leak, it finds your zipper." "Christ." "30th floor." "The party." "They're the only ones left in the building." "Take the express elevator... until you hear the noise." "Thanks." "[Whistles "Jingle Bells"]" "[Crowd Noise]" "Champagne, sir?" "Yeah, thanks." "Oh, I'm sorry." "Hey, Merry Christmas!" "Jesus." "Fuckin' California." "Why don't I talk to him right now?" "Why don't I talk to him right now?" "Hi." "I'm looking for..." "Holly Gennero." "Yeah." "You must be John McClane." "Joe Takagi." "How was your ride in?" "I have you to thank?" "Seemed the least we could do." "Quite a place you have here." "It will be." "Several floors are under construction." "Holly went to fax some documents." "In the meanwhile, her office is right back here." " [Sniff]" " Ellis." "[Sniff] I was just making a call." "I want you to meet John McClane," "Holly's husband..." "Holly's policeman." "Ellis is in charge of international development." "Heard a heck of a lot about you." "Missed some." "[Sniff]" "Can I get you anything?" "Food?" "Cake?" "Some watered-down champagne?" "No, thank you." "I'm fine." "You throw quite a party." "I didn't realize... they celebrated Christmas in Japan." "Pearl Harbor didn't work out, so we got you with tape decks." "Actually, it's sort of a double celebration." "Holly helped us close a big deal today." "I'll be out in a couple of minutes." "John." "Have you met everyone?" "We've been sticking him with spears." "Of course, he has." "She was made for the business." "Tough as nails." "I was hoping... you made that flight." "Show him the watch." "Later." "Go on." "Show him." "What, are you embarrassed?" "A token of appreciation for her hard work." "It's a Rolex." "I'm sure I'll see it later." "Is there a place where I could wash up?" "Sure." "Ellis gets very depressed... this time of year." "He thought he was God's greatest gift." "Yeah." "I know the type." "Think he's got his eye on you." "That's okay..." "I have my eye... on his private bathroom." "Where you staying?" "Things happened so fast," "I didn't get a chance to ask you." "Cappy Roberts retired out here." "He told me I could bunk with him." "Cappy retired, huh?" "Where's he live?" "Ramona." "[Laughs] Pomona." "Huh?" "Pomona." "Pomona." "Yeah." "[Laughs]" "You'll be in the car half the time." "Why don't we make it easy?" "I have a spare bedroom." "It's not huge or anything, but... the kids would love to have you at the house." "They would, huh?" "I would, too." "[Laughing]" "Ooh!" "Sorry." "I missed you." "I guess you didn't miss my name, though, huh?" "Except maybe when you're signing checks?" "Since when are you "Ms. Gennero"?" "This is a Japanese company." " They figure a married woman's got..." " You are a married woman." " You're married to me." " Are we going to have this conversation again?" " We never finished this conversation in July." " I had an opportunity..." " I had to take it." " Right, no matter what the consequences." " No matter what it did to our marriage." " It didn't do anything... except change your idea of what our marriage should be." " You don't have a clue what my idea of our marriage should be." " I know exactly... what your idea of our marriage should be." "Ms. Gennero, I..." "Excuse me." "Hi." "Um, Mr. Takagi is looking for you." "He wants you to say something to the troops." "Speech time." "Be back in a few minutes." "That was great, John." "Good job." "Very mature." "So Kareem rebounds, right?" "Feeds Worthy on the break, over to A.C., to Magic, then back to Worthy, right?" "Boom!" "Two points!" "We're in." "## [Humming]" "# La da da da da da daaa!" "#" "# Da da daaa!" "##" "Ha ha ha!" "[Buzz]" "Links... rechts... und wieder links." "Son of a bitch." "[Laughs]" "Fists with your toes." "Yeah, Argyle?" "How's it going up there?" "All right." "Where are you?" "What's the word with you and your lady?" "Uh, the vote's not in yet." "[Speaking German]" "Nein!" "Nein!" "Nein!" "[Speaking German]" "Argyle?" "Mac, you there?" "Hello?" "#Somebody... ##" "You know the number." "Use it." "[Automatic Gunfire]" "[Screaming]" "[Gunshots]" "[Gunshots]" "[Screaming]" "[Gunshots]" "[Gunshots]" "[Woman Screaming]" "[Screaming, Crying]" "[Speaking German]" "[Gunfire Continues]" "[Speaking German]" " [Women Screaming] - [Gunfire Continues]" "Stay calm." "Everything's going to be fine." "Everything's going to be fine." "Shit!" "Think." "Think." "[Screaming Continues]" "Ladies and gentlemen." "Ladies and gentlemen." "Due to the Nakatomi Corporation's... legacy of greed around the globe, they're about to be taught a lesson... in the real use of power." "You will be witnesses." "Now..." "Where is Mr. Takagi?" "Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi," " Born Kyoto, 1937." " [Whispers] Don't move." "Family emigrated to San Pedro, California, 1939." "Interned at Manzanar, 1942 to 1943." "Scholarship student, University of California, 1955." "Law degree, Stanford, 1962." "MBA, Harvard, 1970." "President, Nakatomi Trading." "Vice chairman, Nakatomi Investment Group." "Enough." "And father of five." "I am Takagi." "How do you do?" "It's a pleasure to meet you." "[Groans, Cries]" "Okay, 32, construction, 33, computers." "##[Humming Beethoven's "Ode toJoy"]" "##[Humming Beethoven's "Ode toJoy"]" "#Do de do do do #" "# Do do do do do do do de do do ##" "Nice suit." "John Phillips, London." "I have two myself." "Rumor has it Arafat buys his there." "[Speaking German]" "On the left." "On the left." "[Speaking Italian]" "# Ba da da da #" "# Ba da da ##" ""And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer."" "[Chuckling]" "Benefits of a classical education." "Oh, that's beautiful." "I always enjoyed to make models... when I was a boy." "The exactness, the attention to every conceivable detail." "It's beautiful." "Is this what this is all about?" "Our project in Indonesia?" "Contrary to what you people may think, we're going to develop that region, not exploit it." "I believe you." "I read the article in Forbes." "Mr. Takagi," "I could talk about industrialization and men's fashions all day, but I'm afraid work must intrude, and my associate here has some questions for you." "Sort of fill-in-the-blanks questions, actually." "[Beeping]" "I don't have that code!" "You broke in here to access our computer?" "Any information you could get, when they wake up in Tokyo, they'll change it." "You won't be able to blackmail our executives, threaten our pro..." "Sit... down!" "Mr. Takagi, I'm really not interested... in your computer." "But I need the code key... because I am interested in the $640 million... in negotiable bearer bonds... that you have locked in your vault." "And the computer controls the vault." "You want money?" "What kind of terrorists are you?" "[Chuckling]" "Who said we were terrorists?" "The bonds represent at most ten days'... operating capital for your parent organization." "The code, please." "It's useless to you." "There are seven vault safeguards, and the code key's only one of them." "You'll never get it open." "Then there's no reason not to tell us." "I told you." "It's not over yet." "It's a very nice suit..." "Mr. Takagi." "It would be a shame to ruin it." "I'm going to count to three." "There will not be a four." "Give me... the code." "One..." "Two..." " Three." " I don't know it." "I'm telling you!" "Get on the jet to Tokyo and ask the chairman." "I'm telling you." "You're just gonna have to kill me." "Okay." "We'll do it the hard way." "Tony, see if you can dispose of that." "Karl, better check on Heinrich's work." "[Grunting]" "Nothing." "See to Heinrich." "Now... you can break the code?" "You didn't bring me along... for my charming personality." "Argyle, tell me you heard the shots." "You're callin' the police right now." "##[Loud Music]" "Of course I'm coming by later." "Have I ever lied to you?" "My boss?" "Thinks I'm on my way to Vegas." "Uli, get up on the pipes." "Marco, you go through here." "I'll throw you the cord." "Hans, we're on the roof." "Here." "Thirty minutes to break the code," "Two hours, two and a half hours for the five mechanicals... at the minimum." "The seventh lock, however, is out of my hands." "I'm sorry..." "The seventh lock..." "the electromagnetic seal." "You do understand... the circuits cannot be cut locally." "Trust me." "Why the fuck didn't you stop him, John?" "'Cause then you'd be dead, too, asshole!" "Think, goddamn it!" "Think!" "[Beeping]" "We've got a fire alarm." "Call 911." "Give them the guard's name and the building code number, and cancel the alarm." "Then disable the system." "On what floor did the alarm go off?" "Now, shall we go?" "Nein." "[Sirens]" "Oh, baby, come to Papa." "Come on." "[Laughing]" "Come on, baby." "Come to Papa." "I'll kiss your fuckin'dalmatian." "You stupid motherfuckers!" "No!" "Turn the fuckin' truck around!" "The fire has been called off, my friend." "No one is coming to help you." "You might as well come out and join the others." "I promise I won't hurt you." "[Whirring]" "Drop it, dickhead." "It's the police." "You won't hurt me." "Yeah?" "Why not?" "Because you're a policeman." "There are rules for policemen." "Yeah." "That's what my captain keeps telling me." "Aah!" "You bet your ass I wish to proceed." "Nine million terrorists in the world, and I got to kill one with feet smaller than my sister." "I wanted this to be professional, efficient, and cooperative." "Not a lot to ask." "Alas, Mr. Takagi did not see it that way, so he won't be joining us for the rest of his life." "We can go any way you want it." "You can walk out or be carried out, but have no illusions..." "we are in charge." " So... decide now, each of you, - [Elevator Bell Dings]" "And please remember... we have left nothing to chance." " [Speaking German] - [Screaming Continues]" "Get them back!" "[Speaking German]" ""Now I have a machine gun." "Ho-ho-ho. "" "A security guard we missed?" "They're usually just growing fat on a pension." "This is something else." "[Speaking German]" "We have to do something, Hans." "Yes, we do." "Tell Karl his brother is dead." "Tell him to come down." "Karl..." "komm sofort." "Franco, you and Fritz take the body upstairs and out of sight." "I don't want the hostages to think too much." "[Speaking German]" "Aah!" "I want blood!" "But let Heinrich plant the detonators." "The police will waste hours trying to negotiate." "Then you can tear the building apart." "But until then, do not alter the plan." "And if he alters it?" "[Ellis] What do you think?" "Something's wrong." "Cops?" "John." "John..." "Aw, Christ!" "He can fuck this whole thing up!" "What does he think he's doing?" "His job." "Bullshit." "His job's 3,000 miles away." "Without him, we might be able to get out of here." "Tell that to Takagi." "Mayday." "Mayday, Anyone copying channel nine." "Terrorists have seized the Nakatomi Building... and are holding 30 hostages." "Unknown number of terrorists..." "Six or more armed with automatic weapons." "Where's the best place to transmit?" " Somebody answer me, goddamn it!" " The roof!" "Go!" "Go!" "[Woman] It's the same address as that fire signal." "I'll handle it." "Attention, whoever you are, this channel is reserved for emergencies." "[John] No shit, lady!" "I'm not ordering a pizza!" "No one kills him but me." "They have killed one hostage." "They are fortifying their positions... while you're jerking me off on the radio!" "Sir, I've already told you." "This is a reserved channel." "If this is an emergency call, dial 911." "Otherwise, I'll report this as an FCC violation." "Fine!" "Come and arrest me, just send the police now!" "Ow!" "[Yells]" "See if there's a black-and-white to do a drive-by." "## [Humming]" "Thought you guys just ate doughnuts." "They're for my wife." "Yeah." "She's pregnant." "Yeah." "Bag it." "Big time." "[Chuckling]" "Thanks." "[Woman] Dispatch to 8-Lincoln-30." "Over." "This is 8-Lincoln-30." "Come on in." "Over." "Investigate a Code 2... at Nakatomi Plaza, Century City." "8-Lincoln-30 to dispatch." "I'm on my way." "8-Lincoln-30 to dispatch." "I'm on my way." "Girls." "[Speaking German]" "Shit!" "Where the fuck?" "[Crash]" "Oh, my God." "[Speaking German]" "He's in the elevator shaft." "[Speaking German]" "Perfect." "The elevators are locked off." "Just shut him in and come back down." "Oh, fuck." "Karl, the police are probably... on their way already." "Christ." "I can stall them but not if they hear gunshots." "If you lock him in, he'll be neutralized..." "Come out to the coast!" "We'll get together, have a few laughs." "Now I know what a TV dinner feels like." "Such!" "[Rattling]" "Karl, komm!" "Die polizei!" "Die polizei!" "Well, it's about time." "No signs of disturbance, dispatch." "Possible crank call." "Check the area and confirm." "Who's driving this car?" "Stevie Wonder?" "I see a guard inside." "I'm going in for a closer look." "Use caution." "Eddie?" "I had a feelin' you'd be callin'." "Evenin', Officer." "What can I do for you?" "[Speaking German]" "Heh heh heh!" "We had that false alarm, you know." "That computer sent you out... on another wild-goose chase." "They been chasing bugs... since they installed this system." "Notre Dame on top of USC..." "Ah, shit!" "I got 50 bucks bet on them assholes." "Come on, come on." "Where's the fucking cavalry?" "Ah!" "[Speaking German]" "Bah!" "... was good for 52 yards." "Mind if I look around?" "Help yourself." "Seven seconds left in this period." "Seven to nothing, Notre Dame." "Freeze, Motherfucker!" "Don't shoot!" "Drop it!" "Okay!" "Don't shoot!" "Drop it!" "Ah!" "Ah, the hell with this!" "Ah!" "Ah!" "You are dog now!" "No more table!" "Where are you going, pal?" "Next time you have a chance... to kill someone, don't hesitate." "Thanks for the advice." "Sorry to waste your time." "No problem." "Merry Christmas." "Merry Christmas." "# Oh, the weather outside is frightful #" "# Dum de dum delightful #" "For the love... 8-Lincoln-30 to dispatch." "[Woman] Go ahead." "That's a wild-goose chase... here at Nakatomi Plaza." "Everything here's okay." "Over." "# But nobody has no place to go #" "# Let it snow, let it snow ##" "Goddamn it!" "Jesus H. Christ!" "Welcome to the party, pal!" "Goddamn it!" "# Turn up the heat #" "#It's getting ready to pop ##" "Police under automatic rifle fire at Nakatomi!" "I need back-up assistance now!" "Now, Goddamn it!" "Now!" "Monica, I can get us a table." "Wolfgang and I are very close friends." "I interviewed him, for God's sake." "... Nakatomi." "Repeat." "Officer needs assistance at..." "I'm at Nakatomi Plaza." "They're turning my car into Swiss cheese!" "I need back-up assistance now!" "Now, Goddamn it!" "Now!" "Never thought I'd love to hear that sound." "All of you relax." "This is a matter of inconvenient timing." "Police action was inevitable... and, as it happens, necessary." "Let them fumble about outside, and stay calm." "This is simply the beginning." "[Static]" "I thought I told all of you I want radio silence." "I didn't get that message, Hans." "You should have put it on the bulletin board." "Since I waxed Tony and Marco and his friend," "I figured you and Karl and Franco might be lonely." "How does he know so much..." "That's very kind of you." "I assume you are our mysterious party crasher." "You are most troublesome for a security guard." "Eeeh!" "Sorry, Hans." "Wrong guess." "Want to go for DoubleJeopardy, where the scores can really change?" "Mm, these are very bad for you." "Who are you, then?" "The fly in the ointment, Hans." "The monkey in the wrench, the pain in the ass." "Whoa!" "Don't use the radio." "See if he's lying about Marco." "Find out who's missing." "Mr. Mystery Guest, are you still there?" "Yeah, I'm still here, unless you want to open the front door for me." "I'm afraid not, but you have me at a loss." "You know my name, but who are you?" "Just another American... who saw too many movies as a child?" "Another orphan of a bankrupt culture... who thinks he's John Wayne, Rambo," "Marshal Dillon?" "I was always partial to Roy Rogers, actually." "I liked those sequined shirts." "Do you think you have a chance, Mr. Cowboy?" "Yippee-kai-yay, motherfucker." "I can get the jump on everybody... with a remote." "Harvey, keep your pants on." "Sam, I'm begging you." "Simon's already out with the remote." "I'm not sitting on this!" "I am going out there!" "You don't give me a truck," "I'll steal a truck." "Give us a break, Thornburg." "Eat it, Harvey!" "Four, three, two... one." "Harvey, we're on the air." "Good evening." "This is Harvey Johnson." "And I'm Gail Wallens, and this is Nightline News at 10:00." "Our top stories on this Christmas eve..." "Take truck number five." "Get out of here." "He wasn't lying about Marco." "He's down on the street." "The other man was Heinrich, and his bag is missing." "He had the detonator." "Theo." "Theo." "Yo!" "We may have some problems." "How's your schedule?" "Three down." "Four to go." "Then don't waste time talking to me." "This is sergeant Al Powell of the L.A.P.D." "If the person who radioed can hear me, acknowledge this transmission." "I say again..." "If the person who radioed can hear me, acknowledge this transmission!" "I read you." "You the guy in the car?" "What's left of him." "Can you identify yourself?" "Not now." "Maybe later." "This is a party line." "The neighbor's got itchy trigger fingers." "You got 30 hostages on the 30th floor." " The leader's name is Hans." " We have to find him and shut him up." " He's telling them everything!" " Let him." "I'm waiting for the FBI." "Until then, he can waste as much time as he likes, but we must find the bag, Fritz." "We must have the detonators." "[John] They got missiles, automatic weapons, and enough explosives to orbit Arnold Schwarzenegger." "They're down to nine now." "These guys are mostly European, judging by their clothing labels and... cigarettes." "They're well-financed and very slick." "How do you know that?" "I've seen enough phony I.D. S... to recognize that the ones they got must have cost a fortune." "Add all that up," "I don't know what the fuck it means, but you got some bad-ass perpetrators here to stay." "I hear you, partner." "L.A.'s finest are on it." "Light 'em if you got 'em." "Way ahead of you, partner." "So, what do I call you?" "Call me..." "Roy." "If you think of anything else, don't you be shy, okay?" "In the meantime, let us do our job." "They're all yours, Al." "All right, who's talking to him?" "I am, sir." "Sergeant Powell." "Al Powell." "Dwayne Robinson, Powell." "What's the deal here?" "What do these pricks want?" "Well, we don't exactly know." "We haven't heard from them." "Who have you been talking to?" "We don't know." "He won't give us his name." "He appears to be the one who phoned." "He's killed one terrorist, and he claims two others." "Claims?" "Powell, has it occurred to you... he could be one of the terrorists... or some nutcase in there?" "No." "In fact, I think he's a cop..." "Maybe not L.A.P.D., but he's a badge." "Why?" "A hunch, things he said, like being able to spot a phony I.D." "Jesus Christ, Powell." "He could be a fucking bartender for all we know!" "TV's here." "Oh, shit." "[Horn Honks]" "[Music Playing]" "I have a request." "What idiot put you in charge?" "You did... when you murdered my boss." "Now everybody's looking to me." "Personally, I'd pass on the job." "I don't enjoy being this close to you." "Go on." "We have a pregnant woman." "Relax." "She's not due for a couple weeks, but sitting on that rock isn't doing her back any good." "So, I would like permission to move her to one of the offices where there's a sofa." "I'll have a sofa brought out." "Good enough?" "Good enough." "Unless you like it messy, start bringing us in groups to the bathroom." "Yes." "You're right." "It will be done." "Was there something else?" "No, thank you." "Mr. Takagi chose his people well, Mrs..." "Gennero." "Miss Gennero." "[Television] We interrupt this program for a special bulletin." "This is Richard Thornburg live from Century City." "Tonight, Los Angeles has joined... the sad and worldwide fraternity of cities... whose only membership requirement... is to suffer the anguish of international terrorism." "Approximately two hours ago, an unidentified group of men... seized control of the Nakatomi Building, sealing off all entrances and exits." "All telephone lines have been cut, and the only communication now possible... has been through the use of CB communicators, the group apparently brought with them." "According to official sources, the perpetrators of this building siege..." "[Man On Radio] Unit Five, hold your position." "We got Charlie Unit in position... by the parking structure." "Let me ask you something." "Does this stairway go up to the escalator?" "Yeah." "Tell them to go ahead." "What's going on?" "What's it look like?" "We're going in." "Going in?" "Man, that's crazy!" "There could be over 30 hostages!" "We don't know shit, Powell." "How come there were no ransom demands?" "Where's their list of demands?" "All we know is somebody shot your car." "It's probably the same son of a bitch... you've been talking to on that radio." "Excuse me, sir." "What about the body that fell out the window?" "Probably some stockbroker..." "Got depressed." "Let's go." "Hit your lights." "Let's go." "[Man Shouts] Lights on!" "Powell?" "You still with me, babe?" "What's going on?" "Yo, Al." "I'm kind of busy." "I'll talk to you later." "Al, what's wrong?" "We'll talk later." "If you are what I think you are, you'll know when to listen, shut up, and when to pray." "Jesus Christ!" "You're coming in." "I told you what kind of people they are." "Let's load them up." "Blue go." "They'll be coming." "Everyone get ready." "Theo, you are the eyes now." "Rivers, begin your reconnoiter." "Shit!" "Hey, come on, man." "Let's go." "Ow!" "Jesus!" "[Tires Squealing]" "All right, spread out." "## [Humming]" "Shut up." "Let's go." "You macho assholes." "No!" "No!" "Ahem... all right." "Listen up, guys." "'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except... the four assholes coming in the rear... in standard cover formation." "We're all set." "We're ready." "Kick ass." "Go." "Right." "Let's do it." "They're shooting at them." "It's panic fire." "They can't see." "They're shooting at the lights." "They're going after the lights." "Pull them back." "It's not happening." "Mike, burn it." "Don't be impatient." "Just wound them." "They're sitting ducks without lights." "They're almost in." "Send in the car." "Send in the car." "Send in the car." "Jesus Christ!" "Rivers, Rodriguez, report." "Whoa!" "Wait a minute." "What have we here, gentlemen?" "The police have themselves an RV." "Southeast corner." "[Speaking German]" "Oh, Jesus Christ." "[Elevator Whirrs]" "Get back!" "Get the fuck back!" "Get over there!" "Schnell!" "Schnell!" "Mach schnell!" "Weiter!" "Weiter!" "Weiter!" "Mach schnell!" "Mach schnell!" "Weiter!" "Mach los!" "Mach los!" "I see him!" "[Speaking German]" "Oh, my God!" "The quarterback is toast!" "Hang on, Rivers." "That's an order." "Hit it again." "Hans, you motherfucker!" "You made your point!" "Let them pull back!" "Thank you, Mr. Cowboy." "I'll take it under advisement." "Hit it again!" "Thank you, Mr. Cowboy." "I'll take it under advisement." "Hit it again!" "Fire." "Fuck me." "Get them out of the car." " Aah!" " Aah!" "Fuck it." "[Speaking German]" "Mach schnell!" "Mach los!" "Let's see you take this under advisement, jerkweed." "Geronimo, motherfucker." "Shit!" "They're using artillery on us!" "You idiot, it's not the police." "It's him." "Holy shit." "My God." "Tell me you got that." "I got it." "I got it." "Eat your heart out, Channel Five." "We've had an update on the takeover of the Nakatomi Building..." "Sources say the terrorist leader, "Hans,"" "may be this man..." "Hans Gruber, a member of the radical West German Volksfrei movement." "Strangely, the Volksfrei leadership... issued a communique an hour ago... stating Gruber had been expelled from that organization..." "[John] Al?" "Al?" "Do you copy?" "Are you all right?" "Yeah, I'm fine." "[Coughing]" "What was that?" "Remember that plastic explosive I told you about?" "There you go." "Is the building on fire?" "No, but it's going to need a paint job." "Our spotter said you got two that time." "Is that him?" "Yes, sir." "I don't know who you think you are, but you just destroyed a building." "We do not want your help." "Is that clear?" "I've got 100 people down here, and they're covered with glass." "Who gives a shit about glass?" "Who the fuck is this?" "This is deputy chief of police, Dwayne T. Robinson, and I am in charge of this situation." "Oh, you're in charge?" "I got bad news for you, Dwayne." "It doesn't look like you're in charge of jack shit." " Listen to me, you little asshole..." " Asshole?" "I'm not the one who just got buttfucked on national TV, Dwayne!" "Listen to me, jerkoff, quit being part of the fucking problem... and put the other guy back on!" "Hey, Roy, how are you feeling?" "Pretty fucking unappreciated, Al." "Hey, look." "I love you." "So do a lot of the other guys." "You hang in there." "You hear me?" "You hang in there." "Yeah, thanks, partner." "What are you doing?" "I'm tired of waiting to see... who gets us killed first..." "them or your husband." "What are you going to do?" "Hey, babe, I negotiate million-dollar deals for breakfast." "I think I can handle this "Euro-trash."" "Hey, sprechen sie, talk?" "If you'd listened to me, he'd be neutralized." " I don't want neutral." "I want dead." " [Knocking]" "Hope I'm not interrupting." "What does he want?" "It's not what I want." "It's what I can give you." "Oy, let's be straight, okay?" "It's obvious you're not some dumb schmuck up here... to snatch a few purses, am I right?" "Very perceptive." "I watch 60 Minutes." "I say to myself, "these guys are professional," ""they're motivated, they're happening, i.e., they want something," huh?" "I couldn't care less about your politics." "Maybe you're pissed off at the camel jockeys, maybe it's the Hebes, Northern Ireland..." "It's none of my business." "I figure you're here to negotiate." "Am I right?" "You're amazing." "You figured this all out already?" "Hey, business is business." "You use a gun." "I use a fountain pen." "What's the difference?" "Let's put it in my terms." "You're here on a hostile takeover." "You grab us for some greenmail, but you didn't expect some poison pill running around." "Am I right?" "Hans, bubby, I'm your white knight." "I must have missed 60 Minutes." "What are you saying?" "The guy upstairs is fucking things up, huh?" "I can give him to you." "[John] Oh, God..." "Uhh..." "Roy?" "Roy, you all right?" "Just trying to fire down a 1,000-year-old Twinkie." "What do they put in these things anyway?" "Sugar, enriched flour, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, polysorbate 60... and yellow dye number five..." "Just everything a growing boy needs." "How many kids you got, Al?" "My wife is working on our first." "How about you, cowboy?" "You got any kids?" "Yeah... two." "Hope I can see 'em swingin' on a jungle gym with AIJr." "Someday." "[Chuckling]" "Well, now, that's a date, but you bring the ice cream." "[Hans] Touching, cowboy." "Touching." "Or should I call you..." "Mr. McClane.?" "Mr. Officer John McClane... of the New York Police Department?" " Get on the phone to Harry in New York." "Come on, baby." "Move.!" " Got it." "Better get a hold of somebody at dispatch." "Sister Theresa called me Mr. McClane in the third grade, my friends call me John, and you're neither, shithead." "I have someone who wants to talk to you..." "A very special friend... who was with you at the party tonight." "Hey, John boy." "Ellis?" "Yeah." "Now, listen, John." "They're giving me a few minutes... to try to talk some sense into you." "I know you think you're doin' your job, but you're just draggin' this thing out." "No one gets out of here until these guys can talk... to the L.A. Police, and that just ain't gonna happen... till you stop messing up the works, capisci?" "Ellis, what have you told them?" "I told them we were old friends, and you were my guest." "You shouldn't be doing this." "Tell me about it." "All right, John, listen." "They want you to tell them where the detonators are." "They know people are listening." "They want the detonators, or they're going to kill me." "John, didn't you hear me?" "Yeah, I hear you." "John, get with the program." "Tell these guys... where the detonators are... so no one else gets hurt!" "I'm putting my life on the line, pal!" "[John] Ellis, listen to me carefully." "John..." "Shut up, Ellis!" "Just shut your mouth!" "Put Hans back on!" "Hans, this shithead doesn't know you, but I do..." "Good." "Then you'll give us what we want." "You're not part of this equation." "What am I, a method actor?" "[Ellis] Put away the gun." "This is radio, not television." "Hans, he's not my friend!" "I don't know him!" "Jesus, Ellis!" "They'll kill you!" "Tell them you don't know me!" "How can you say that after all these years?" "John?" "John?" "[Laughs]" "[Gunshot]" "[Screaming]" "Do you hear that?" "Talk to me!" "Where are my detonators?" "Where are they, or shall I shoot another one?" "Sooner or later," "I'll get to someone you care about." "Go fuck yourself, Hans." "Did you hear that?" "He just let the guy die, man." "Man, can't you see what's happening?" "Can't you read between the lines?" "He did everything he could... to save him." "If he gave up, they'd both be dead!" "No." "They'd be talking to us." "You tell your partner to stay out of this." "If he doesn't," "I'm going to nail his ass." "The man is hurting." "He is alone, tired, and he hasn't seen diddly-squat... from anybody here!" "You think he'll give a damn... about what you do if he makes it?" "Wake up and smell what you shoveling." "Anytime you want to go home, you consider yourself dismissed." "No, sir." "You couldn't drag me away." "[Hans] Attention, police." "[Hans] Attention, police." "Attention, police." "This is Sergeant Al Powell..." "This is deputy chief Dwayne Robinson." "Who is this?" "This is Hans Gruber." "I assume you realize the futility of direct action." "We have no wish for further loss of life." "Well, what is it you do wish for?" "I have comrades around the world... languishing in prison." "The American State Department... enjoys rattling its saber for itself." "Now it can rattle it for me." "The following are to be released from their captors..." "The seven members of the New Provo Front, in Canada, the five imprisoned leaders of Liberté du Quebec, in Sri Lanka, the nine members of the Asian Dawn." "What the fuck?" "I read about them in Time magazine." "When these revolutionary brothers and sisters are free, the hostages will be taken to the roof... and will accompany us in helicopters... to the Los Angeles International Airport... where they'll be given further instructions." "You have two hours to comply." "Wait a minute, Mr. Gruber." "This is crazy." "I don't have the authority." "Two hours is not enough." "Hello?" "Hello!" "Did you get all that?" "We got to make some calls." "Do you think they'll try?" "Who cares?" "Theo, are we on schedule?" "One more." "Then it's up to you." "This one will take a miracle." "It's Christmas, Theo." "It's the time of miracles, so be of good cheer." "Call me when you hit the last lock." "Hunt that little shit down and get those detonators." "Fritz is checking the explosives." "I'll check the explosives." "Hey, Powell, you out there?" "I'm here, John." "I'm here." "Believe me, there was nothing I could do." "It's gonna be both our asses... if you're wrong." "I hear you." "Did you catch that bullshit Hans was running?" "It doesn't make sense, man." "I'm just a desk jockey... who was on my way home when you rang." "The way you drove," "I figured you for the street." "In my youth." "In my youth." "... Author of Hostage Terrorist, Terrorist Hostage..." "A Study in Duality." "What can we expect in the next few hours?" "The hostages are probably experiencing... the early stages of the Helsinki Syndrome." "As in Helsinki, Sweden." "Finland." "Basically, it's when the hostages... and the terrorists... go through a sort of psychological transference... and a projection of dependency." "A strange sort of trust and bond develops." "We've had situations where the hostages... embraced their captors after release... and even corresponded with them in prison." "No, no, darling." "Asian Dawn." "Dawn." "D-A-W-N." "Sir?" "Yeah?" "The FBI is here." "The FBI is here now?" "Yes, sir." "Right over there." "Hold this." "Want a breath mint?" "Hey, how you doing, man?" "I'm Agent Johnson." "This is Special Agent Johnson." "Oh, how you doing?" "No relation." "I'm, uh..." "I'm Dwayne Robinson, L.A.P.D." "I'm in charge here." "Not anymore." "Hi there." "How you doing?" "Ooh..." "Please, God." "You're one of them, aren't you?" "You're one of them." "No!" "Don't kill me!" "No, please." "Don't kill me, please!" "No!" "Relax." "I'm not going to hurt you." "I won't hurt you!" "Oh, God." "What the fuck are you doing up here?" "What were you looking for?" "I managed to get out of there." "I was trying to get up on the roof... and see if I could signal for help." "Why don't you come and help?" "Hold it." "Hold it." "Forget the roof." "Forget the roof." "They got people all over it." "You want to stay alive, you stay with me." "The best we can figure it, we've got maybe 30 or 35 hostages up there, probably on the 30th floor, and maybe seven or eight terrorists up there." "Sounds like an A-7 scenario." "We'll handle it from here." "When we commandeer your men, we'll let you know." "Aren't you... forgetting something?" "Such as?" "What about John McClane?" "He's the reason... we have any information." "He's also the reason... you're only facing seven terrorists." "He's inside?" "Who is he?" "He might be a cop." "We're checking." "One of yours?" "No way." "You smoke?" "Yeah." "[Chuckles]" "Thanks." "You don't work for Nakatomi." "And if you're not one of them..." "I'm a cop from New York." "New York?" "Yeah." "Got invited to the Christmas party by mistake." "Who knew?" "[Chuckles]" "[Chuckling Continues]" "Well, it's better than being caught with your pants down, huh?" "I'm John McClane." "You're, uh..." "Clay." "Bill Clay." "Know how to use a handgun, Bill?" "I spent a weekend at a combat ranch..." "The guns that shoot red paint." "Probably seems kind of stupid to you." "Nope." "Time for the real thing, Bill." "All you got to do is pull the trigger." "[Speaking German]" "[Click]" "Put down the gun... and give me my detonators." "Well, well, well..." "Hans." "Put it down now." "That's pretty tricky with that accent." "You ought to be on fucking TV." "What do you want with the detonators, Hans?" "I already used all the explosives... or did I?" "I'm going to count to three." "Yeah." "Like you did with Takagi?" "[Click]" "Oops." "[Click Click]" "No bullets." " What do you think..." "I'm fucking stupid, Hans?" " [Elevator Bell Dings]" "You we're saying?" "[Yells]" "[Speaking German]" "Karl." "[Speaking German]" "Shoot the glass!" "Jesus Christ!" "Smile, Karl." "We're back in business." "... is the last resort of diplomacy, couldn't we just as well say... that terrorism has an equal claim... on being that, too?" "You got something." "Tell me you got something." "Just McClane's name, badge number, employment record, vital statistics, and his family's home address, right here in L.A." "Woo!" "Go to work." "You got it." "God!" "That man looks... really pissed." "He's still alive." "What?" "Only John can drive somebody that crazy." "Hans, you better heat up that miracle." "We broke through on number six." "The electromagnetic came down like a fucking anvil." "See what our friends outside are doing, and I'll be right up." "Hey, John." "John McClane, you still with us?" "Yeah." "All things being equal," "I'd rather be in Philadelphia." "Chalk up two more bad guys." "Well, the boys down here... will be glad to hear that." "We got a pool going on you." "What kind of odds am I getting?" " You don't want to know." " Put me down for 20." "I'm good for it." "[John] Hey, pal, you got flat feet?" "What the hell are you talking about?" "Something had to get you off the street." "You don't think jockeying papers... is a noble effort?" "No." "I had an accident." "The way you drive, I can see why." "You run over your captain's foot?" "I shot a kid." "He was 13 years old." "Oh, it was dark." "I couldn't see him." "Oh, it was dark." "He had a ray gun that looked real enough." "When you're a rookie, they can teach you... everything about being a cop, except how to live with a mistake." "Anyway, I just couldn't bring myself... to draw my gun on anybody again." "Sorry, man." "Hey, man, how could you know?" "I feel like shit anyway." "Well, then, this won't matter." "The L.A.P.D. is not... calling the shots down here anymore." "The feds?" "You got it." "All right." "Those are the city engineers." "They're going into the street circuits." "Those guys in the suits, I don't know who they are." "That's the FBI." "They're ordering the others... to cut the building's power." "Regular as clockwork." "Or a time lock." "Precisely." "The circuits that cannot be cut... are cut automatically... in response to a terrorist incident." "You asked for miracles." "I give you the FBI." "It's going to go!" "[Lock Releases]" "Yes!" "[Buzzing]" "Merry Christmas." "Those bastards are probably pissing in their pants." "The mayor will have my ass." "Woo!" "What will we do now?" "Arrest them for not paying their electric bill?" "We've shut them down." "We let them sweat, then give them helicopters." "Right up the ass." "This is Agent Johnson." "No, the other one." "I want air support ready in five minutes." "Damn right." "Fully armed." "We're on the way." "Yeah!" "I wish to talk to the FBI." "This is Special Agent Johnson." "The State Department has arranged... for the return of your comrades." "Helicopters are en route as you requested." "We'll be ready." "When he realizes what hit him, he'll be dead." "When they touch down, we'll blow the roof." "By the time they figure out... what went wrong, we'll be sitting on a beach... earning 20%." "Ah!" "Jeez!" "Powell?" "Yo, Powell, you got a minute?" "I'm here, John." "I'm starting to get a bad feeling up here." "I want you to do something for me." "Um..." "I want you to find my wife." "Don't ask me how." "I want you to tell her something." "I want you to tell her that..." "Um..." "Mmm..." "Tell her it took me a while to figure out... what a jerk I'd been, but, um... that... that when things started to pan out for her," "I should have been more supportive, and, uh..." "I just should have been behind her more." "Oh, shit." "Tell her that, um... that she's the best thing that ever happened... to a bum like me." "She's heard me say "I love you"" "a thousand times." "She never heard me say "I'm sorry."" "I want you to tell her that, Al." "I want you to tell her... that John said that he was sorry." "Okay?" "You got that, man?" "Yeah, I got it, John, but you can tell her that yourself." "Just watch your ass and make it out." "You hear me?" "I guess that's up to the man upstairs." "[Al] John?" "John?" "What the fuck... were you doing upstairs, Hans?" "John?" "Al, listen." "Just lay off for a while." "I got to go check on something." "One minute, that's all I'm asking..." "One minute to speak to them." "All right." "Get back." "Get back." "All right, look, look, look." " Let me in right now, or I call the I.N. S. ¿Comprende?" "This is the last time these kids will have... to speak to their parents." " All right?" " Mm." "All right." "Come on." "What were you doing, Hans?" "What were you doing?" "[Beeping]" "Jesus, Mary, Mother of God." "It's a double-cross!" "The roof is wired to..." "[Al] John?" "John!" "John, come in!" "Did you get that?" "Something about a double-cross." "Tell me about it." "We are both professionals." "This is personal." "Ah..." "Aagh!" "Aah!" "They're coming!" "They're coming!" "The choppers are coming." "Okay," "Time to gather your flock, Miss Gennero." "[Man On Television] Your mom and dad are very important people." "They're very brave people." "Is there something you'd like to say to them?" "Come home." "Mrs. McClane." "How nice to make your acquaintance." "[Screaming]" "Everyone to the roof!" "Lock them there." "Come right back." "Ah!" "You should have heard your brother squeal... when I broke his fucking neck!" "What do you figure the breakage?" "We take out the terrorists, lose 20, 25% of the hostages... tops." "I can live with that." "Get this thing on the deck." "They're expecting transports, not gun ships." "Move it!" "Come on!" "Move!" "Move it!" "Go!" "Move!" "Theo." "A little bonus for us." "Please, sit down." "Sit down!" "A policeman's wife might come in handy." "McClane, I have some news for you." "McClane." "Ah!" "Aah!" "Come on!" "Move!" "Come on!" "Yaah!" "Motherfucker!" "I'll kill you!" "Armed." "The truck?" "The truck." "After all your posturing, all your little speeches, you're nothing but a common thief." "I am an exceptional thief, Mrs. McClane, and since I'm moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite." "Yaah!" "Oh!" "Going to kill you!" "I'm going to fucking cook you!" "Going to fucking eat you!" "I don't like this, Sarge." "Yaa-hah!" "Just like fucking Saigon," "Hey, slick?" "I was in junior high, dickhead." "Where's Holly?" "Where's Holly Gennero?" "Holly Gennero?" "Where's Holly?" "Where's Holly?" "Where is she?" "They took her!" "Where?" "The vault!" "Where is the vault?" "The 30th floor!" "They took her!" "Get downstairs!" "The whole fucking roof is wired to blow!" "Get down!" "Get the fuck downstairs!" "They made us, Bureau." "You got a terrorist shooting at hostages." "Break left!" "Nail that sucker!" "I'm on your side, you assholes!" "Swing around again!" "I'll bag this little bastard." "What the fuck..." "Oh, John, what the fuck are you doing?" "How the fuck did you get into this shit?" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "There's something wrong!" "They're coming back down!" "Blow the roof." "Karl's up there!" "Blow the roof!" "I promise I will never even think... about going up in a tall building again." "Oh, God, please don't let me die!" "Yaah!" "Oh!" "Aah!" "Aah!" "[Speaking German]" "Holy Christ!" "We're going to need... some more FBI guys, I guess." "Aah!" "Aah!" "[Ding]" "Jesus fucking Christ!" "Fuck!" "[Bang]" "[Engine Starts]" "What the fuck is going on?" "[Holly] What are you going to do?" "Sit here while the building falls?" "[Hans Speaking German]" "[Slap]" "Shit!" "Oh!" "All right!" "Uli." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Hang on, baby." "Hang on, honey." "Oh, God." "[Tires Squeal]" "Oh!" "Allez!" "Allez vite!" "J'y vais!" "J'y vais!" "Hans!" "Jesus." "Hi, honey." "So that's what this is all about?" "A fucking robbery?" "Put down the gun." "Why'd you have to nuke the whole building, Hans?" "Well, when you steal $600, you can disappear." "When you steal 600 million, they'll find you... unless they think you're already dead." "Put down the gun." "Uh." "[Hans] Nein." "This is mine." "You got me." "Still the cowboy, Mr. McClane." "Americans, all alike." "This time, John Wayne doesn't walk off into the sunset... with Grace Kelly." "That was Gary Cooper, asshole." "Enough jokes." "You'd have made... a good cowboy yourself, Hans." "Oh, yeah." "What was it you said to me before?" "Yippee-kai-yay, motherfucker." "[Laughing]" "Holly!" "Happy trails, Hans." "Aah!" "Holly." "Aah!" "I hope that's not a hostage." "[Siren]" "[Man On Radio] Water hook-up companies 93, 96..." "Must have burned down the whole building." "Over here." "It's a better angle." "Let's give them..." "[Horn Honks]" "Keep it going, now." "Keep it going." "Come on." "We're going to miss it!" "Okay." "Hand me my notes!" "Come on, folks." "What was it like in there?" "How did they treat you?" "[Chuckles, Laughs]" "Al, this is my wife Holly." "Holly Gennero." "Holly McClane." "Hello, Holly." "You got yourself a good man." "You take good care of him." "McClane!" "McClane, I want a debriefing!" "You got some things... to answer for, mister..." "Ellis' murder, for one thing, property damage, interfering with police business." "[Man Screaming]" "All right!" "Two of you go inside..." " and see if there's anybody else!" " Yes, sir..." "This one's with me." "[Horn Honks]" "Mr. McClane." "Mr. McClane!" "After this incredible ordeal, what are your feelings?" "[Laughter]" "Well, well, well." "Merry Christmas, Argyle." "Merry Christmas." "Did you get that?" "Let me through." "If this is their idea of Christmas," "I got to be here for New Year's." "# Oh, the weather outside is frightful #" "#But the fire is so delightful #" "#And since we've no place to go #" "#Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow #" "#Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow #" "#It doesn't show signs of stopping #" "#And I brought some corn for popping #" "# The lights are turned way down low #" "#Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow #" "# When we finally kiss good night #" "#How I hate goin'out in the storm #" "#But if you really hold me tight #" "#All the way home, I'll be warm #" "# The fire is slowly dying #" "#And, my dear, we're still good-byeing #" "#But as long as you love me so #" "#Let it snow #" "#Let it snow #" "#Let it snow ##" "##[Singing Beethoven's "Ode ToJoy"In German]" "Released in July, 1988..." "Die Hard was the third feature from directorJohn Mc Tiernan." "His first film was Nomads..." "His first film was Nomads... an independent thriller released in early 1986." "Nomads starred Pierce Brosnan, Lesley-Anne Down and Adam Ant." "Mc Tiernan and Brosnan would reunite... for the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair." "When he was president of 20th Century Fox, producer Lawrence Gordon saw Nomads... which he thought was "scary and well-shot."" "As a producer, he hired Mc Tiernan to direct Predator." "Predator was Mc Tiernan's first studio film and a hit... when it was released in the summer of 1987." "It was produced by Gordon andJoel Silver." "It also marked Mc Tiernan's first collaboration... with Die Hard Special Effects Coordinator Al DiSarro and EditorJohn F. Link." "EditorJohn F. Link:" "When I first went to work with him... his secretary gave me a tape of his first film." "I ran it and said, "You've got to be kidding!" I couldn't understand it!" "DiSarro joined the Predator production toward the end of his tenure... as Special Effects Coordinator on the television series The A-Team." "It was his first feature in that role." "Special Effects Coordinator Al DiSarro:" "I worked with McTiernan very closely." "As a TV man stepping into the world of features..." "I was surprised when the film was such a big hit!" "Before Die Hard, Steven E. De Souza had worked on... 48 HRS." "And Commando for Lawrence Gordon andJoel Silver." "Screenwriter Steven E. De Souza:" "48 HRS. was my first feature for them... and my first feature, period." "I showed I could handle suspense and adventure and still make it funny." "Roderick Thorp published Nothing Lasts Forever in 1979... as the sequel to The Detective, his 1966 best-seller." "Thorp has confessed that the idea began as a dream he had... in which he saw a man being chased through a building by men with guns." "He dreamt this on a night in 1975, the night he saw The Towering Inferno." "According to Thorp, when producer Lawrence Gordon looked at the cover..." "According to Thorp, when producer Lawrence Gordon looked at the cover... and saw the burning building and helicopter... he said, "I don't need to read it." "Buy it."" "The film version of The Detective starred Frank Sinatra... who later played a cop in The First Deadly Sin." "In that movie, Bruce Willis was an extra who passes Sinatra." "De Souza:" "Basically, Bruce walked past the guy... who had previously played the role he would eventually play!" "Producer Lawrence Gordon:" "Fox originally passed on Die Hard... in novel form." "I convinced Fox's president at the time, Leonard Goldberg... that they had made a mistake." "Later, it was Barry Diller's decision to pay Bruce $5 million." "That was quite a large sum in those days." "But it was an important project for Fox;" "they needed a summer film." "Production DesignerJackson DeGovia:" "The design of the movie is "hopped-up"... like a [James] Bond film, but without the gadgets." "The Nakatomi sets have, as Joel Silver likes to say, "exaggerated realism."" "Bonnie Bedelia was nominated for an Academy Award... for her performance as race-car driver Shirley "Cha Cha"Muldowney... in the 1983 film Heart Like A Wheel." "As a child in Manhattan, she began her theatrical career... with ballet lessons when she was four years old." "At the age of ten, she chose to pursue acting instead of ballet." "In 1967, she was cast opposite Louis Gossett, Jr... in the two-character Broadway play My Sweet Charlie." "Her performance earned her the Theatre World Award." "Director Andre Gregory invited her to Los Angeles... to join Gossett, Martin Sheen and others... in the city's first classical repertory company." "In her second year in L.A., John Frankenheimer cast her... in her first film, The Gypsy Moths... costarring Gene Hackman, Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr." "The Nakatomi Building is Fox Plaza, now a landmark of the Los Angeles skyline." "It stands on a corner... of the 20th Century Fox studio lot in Century City." "Production DesignerJackson DeGovia... transformed Fox Plaza's unoccupied 33rd and 34th floors... into sections of the Nakatomi Building." "But the 30th floor was too large to construct inside the real tower." "Instead, the 30th floor was built inside Stage 15 on the Fox lot." "The set stood three stories high." "Surrounding the set was a cyclorama displaying a view of Los Angeles... seen from the 34th floor of Fox Plaza... created by scenic artist Ed Strang and his son Ron." "The backing could be lit from behind in a variety of ways... to mark the passage of time." "It was painted with certain parts out of focus... just as the human eye would see the scene." "DeGovia:" "What these people did was amazing." "To do this kind of large-scale work, you must have talent equal to the task." "De Souza:" "McTiernan and I hit it off very well." "John began as a writer, and therefore you could have a conversation... about structure or dialogue that was very concrete... whereas sometimes, when you have talented directors... who are essentially shooters, the conversation can be very fuzzy:" ""We need a feeling of dread" or "I see ominous."" "Because Die Hard is about the taking and retaking of a skyscraper... it is about the control of space." "Mc Tiernan begins establishing the audience's sense of space... in the opening credits before McClane ever enters the building." "The main title sequence is slowly paced." "The credits appear almost without regard for the action they obscure." "There is little or no music." "The sequence feels natural." "Open." "Spacious." "This feeling of spaciousness exists to be closed down... when McClane enters the building... and when the terrorists seize it." "De Souza:" "I sometimes wondered if the strategy of the picture... which was in many ways to make it a throwback... to an earlier kind of picture, was going to work." "Maybe the audience would be too impatient." "There were periods where we all wondered... if it took too long to get started." ""Maybe we should murder someone in the opening scene."" "In this film, which is remembered as this thrill-a-minute action picture... there's about 20 minutes before anything violent or explosive happens." "But I think an atmosphere is built, and you really identify... with Bruce's character as a real guy with real problems." "I think that's half of it... because if you don't care about somebody in the film... if you don't identify with somebody... you watch everything very dispassionately." "In his review, Village Voice film critic David Edelstein wrote..." ""The people who made this movie... must have always wanted to demolish a skyscraper... especially one of those high-tech, glass-and-bronze monstrosities... an arrogant skyscraper, like the Trump Tower. "" "Mc Tiernan, DeGovia and Director of PhotographyJan De Bont... reflect the building's architecture inside the building... through the art direction, compositions and cinematography." "The building features pronounced triangular formations... which run the height of the building..." "some 35 floors." "Similarly, DeGovia includes triangles in many of his sets." "Some will be subtle... like the steps separating Hans from his hostages on the 30th floor... and the zigzagging angles of the boardroom table... while some will be more stark... like the security guard's lobby terminal and the Nakatomi logo itself." "The triangle motif is also part of the composition of the frames... and of the photography itself." "Inside the building, Mc Tiernan and De Bont stage the actors... in triangular formations..." "most notably, the terrorists." "The camera movements themselves can suggest a triangle... when Mc Tiernan and De Bont combine pans (left and right camera movements)... and tilts (up and down camera movements)." "In these shots, the camera starts on one point... moves to a second, and moves again to a third." "This helps define where the elements in a scene are in relation to each other." "What's more, for filmmakers... as painters and theater directors have often shown... triangles can be forceful elements of an image." "DeGovia:" "The reason you see these archetypes in Die Hard... is that we had very little time." "I was brought in eight weeks before principal photography was to start... which isn't much." "We were going with our gut." "McClane is pushed to the left in a long shot." "He is small against his surroundings." "The environment is more powerful than he is." "Mc Tiernan often frames Willis near the left margin of the frame." "It deprives him of power, as the right third of the frame... is often considered the more powerful side." "Director Fred Zinnemann used this technique... when framing Gary Cooper in High Noon." "This is one of several connections between High Noon and Die Hard." "The security console is a good example of the movie's use... of dramatic corners and triangles in its compositions and camera movements." "Construction Coordinator Bruce Gfeller's name... is worked into the movie several times." "This is one." "The console is a stark triangle in the composition... and also balances it." "It takes up the right side of the frame as McClane takes up the left." "Silver, then an owner of two Frank Lloyd Wright estates... wanted the Nakatomi sets to bear the architect's influence." "DeGovia knew that Frank Lloyd Wright and thejapanese... complement each other on several levels." "DeGovia:" "Both have a passion for organic materials... so I designed the sets to include wood, stone and concrete... and traditional metals such as copper, bronze and brass." "At the time, there was a certain arrogance... associated with Japanese corporate culture... and there is a certain arrogance associated with Wright." "Wright knew he was the greatest architect of the century... and thejapanese knew they were a top industrial nation in the world." "The arrogance of the Nakatomi Corporation takes form... in one of DeGovia's set pieces for the 30th floor:" "A replica of Wright's Fallingwater, a man-made, indoor waterfall." "DeGovia:" "The arrogance of the Nakatomi Corporation... is that they bought this supreme cultural icon." "But DeGovia is also quick to point out... a surprising philanthropic flip side... to Nakatomi's appropriation of Fallingwater." "DeGovia:" "Putting it on display within a corporate high-rise made the piece... more accessible to more people that would ever see it otherwise." "A rack focus is when the camera changes focus... between objects in the foreground and in the background." "Mc Tiernan often uses it to show what his characters are noticing... instead ofjust cutting to a point-of-view shot." "Sometimes Mc Tiernan also uses over-the-shoulder shots... to show the audience something the character notices." "Joe Takagi is played byjames Shigeta, a native of Hawaii." "He began his career in show business... as a singer in nightclubs and supper clubs... in Hawaii, the mainland and the Far East." "Shigeta came to Hollywood to costar in The Chevy Show with Shirley MacLaine." "He has appeared in such films as Samuel Fuller's The Crimson Kimono... and Paradise, Hawaiian Style with Elvis Presley." "He was also the first Asian... to star in Tennessee Williams' Period of Adjustment." "This is the first time we have heard any score since the main title." "It segues into the terrorists'theme music:" "Beethoven's Ninth Symphony." "This scene is a subtle illustration of film's ability... to say in images what is not articulated by the dialogue." "Holly and McClane are separated by an open doorway:" "They are in different spaces physically, and also emotionally." "McClane is now framed by the doorway." "He is confined in space..." "and not for the last time, either." "Also, as elements of a composition... doorways imply crossroads or transitions." "How McClane decides to answer Holly could alter... the course of the relationship..." "and the story." "Mc Tiernan often uses framing devices... like doorways, machines and the Fallingwater replica... to confine McClane's image." "McClane is also often restricted to the back of the frame... while doors, desks, railings and other objects occupy the foreground." "These are all methods Mc Tiernan uses... to deny McClane control over his surroundings... to confine him visually, just as the story does literally." "Screenwriter Steven E. De Souza:" "This was a familial situation... unlike the usual situation in Hollywood." "I'd done many movies with these people, and I was on the set a great deal." "This argument is the result of an improvisation..." "I ran with Bruce and Bonnie Bedelia." "It led to a very authentic domestic scene." "This you get when you have collaboration... and don't put walls up between all the contributors." "Prior to his roles in Witness, The Money Pit and Die Hard..." "Alexander Godunov was famous for his work on the ballet stage... and for his 1979 defection to the U.S. From the Soviet Union." "Actor Alexander Godunov:" "When I was a child..." "I used to play with toy pistols... but shooting blanks out of a real gun... makes you think of the tremendous power one can have... and how easy it is for one person to kill another." "After training during preproduction with the gun... and even when we started shooting..." "I couldn't get the sense of power out of my mind... but, then again, that's what my character is all about." "What really got to me was that our producer [Joel Silver]... came up to me after a couple of days of working and said..." ""You look like a professional now."" "It was strange because I was comfortable with the gun... and it made me uncomfortable knowing that." "Film EditorJohn F. Link:" "The pace of the film was created byJohn... but the tension was created by Michael Kamen's score." "The minute they drive into the garage, when the music starts... that sets it all up." "That creates the tension:" "Not the editing so much as the music." "The editing hopefully helps... but even if it was the best-edited sequence in the world... if you run it silent, you've got nothing." "Hans takes control of the camera and the theme music... just as he is about to take control of the building." "The "Ode toJoy"... from the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony... is the most developed theme in the score." "Kamen gives it an ominous slant... as he attaches it to the terrorists..." "specifically, Hans Gruber." "Kamen:" "We have to give credit where credit is due:" "To Beethoven and John McTiernan." "McTiernan insisted on using Beethoven's Ninth, despite my objections." "I thought it was sacrilege to use Beethoven in this action movie." "I told McTiernan, "I'll make mincemeat out of Wagner and Strauss for you... but why Beethoven?"" "McTiernan explained because Beethoven's Ninth was the theme used... to underscore the ultra-violence in Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange." "Kamen, a Kubrick fan, then agreed." "Kamen:" "As we found out in Lethal Weapon, all the Die Hards and others... the success of a movie depends on the foulness of the bad guy." "And in this case, we had a spectacular bad guy!" "Our bad guys were the lineal descendants... of the bad guys in Clockwork." "Here, the absence of music creates suspense." "Kamen is one of the few composers who understands the power of silence... and uses it as an active part of a sound track." "Three triangles:" "The camera move, the terrorists... and the security console." "John Mc Tiernan is a naval history buff." "This is how sailors often descend a staircase on a submarine." "Costume Designer Marylin Vance-Straker dresses Willis in layers." "As the story progresses, he loses clothing... which marks the passage of time." "It also exaggerates the contrast between McClane and his surroundings:" "He is stripped-down, while Nakatomi is opulent, refined." "According to De Souza, the filmmakers cast Willis as McClane... after they had been turned down by Arnold Schwarzenegger..." "Sylvester Stallone, Richard Gere and Burt Reynolds." "Actor Bruce Willis:" "John McClane is an ordinary guy... who is thrown into extraordinary circumstances." "He's not some supercop... some indestructible, unemotional, unfeeling guy." "Production DesignerJackson DeGovia:" "What sets McClane apart... is that he suffers." "De Souza:" "On paper, these things may have seemed like very thin ice... for an actor wanting to play heroic roles... but these are actually the things that made him so real and so heroic." "De Souza:" "Karl's brother is the "dog heavy."" "That's an old Hollywood term that refers... to the third villain from the top." "It goes back to Westerns:" "The main villain kills the sheriff... the second villain kills the deputy... and the third villain does something generically mean, like kick a dog." "When Mc Tiernan cuts to a new location, he often starts in close... and then gives us a wider view of the action." "Many directors start with an establishing shot... and then cut in closer." "Mc Tiernan's approach gives the beginning of such sequences... a greater energy." "McClane... who is so often pushed to one side of the screen... crosses the frame at select dramatic moments like this one." "Photographically, the 30th floor is dense with the shadows of venetian blinds." "The shadows cramp the frame, making the 30th floor feel more enclosed." "One ofJan De Bont's greatest shots:" "McClane is squeezed... trapped..." "in a narrow space... while the shadows exaggerate the angle and McClane's line of sight." "In 1988, Mc Tiernan told Variety reporter Todd McCarthy..." ""The sheer grit of Bruce's acting... along withJan De Bont's film noir lighting... makeJohn McClane a memorable character... not unlike Bogart in The African Queen."" "De Souza:" "When my son saw Bruce Willis run... he grabbed my arm and said, "Dad!" "The hero's chickenshit!"" "The biggest problem was the trouble Lloyd, Larry and Joel were having..." "The biggest problem was the trouble Lloyd, Larry and Joel were having... casting the picture." "That due to our own sterling work in previous years... making big, explosive action movies." "We had raised the bar so high... that McClane seemed to be a little passive and a little weak." "It seems ludicrous, but the hero of the movie... spends the entire first act trying to get help." "That is the antithesis of all the movies that are Rambo-esque." "Rambo is the guy who grabs the microphone and says..." ""I'M COMI NG TO GET YOU." "I'M YOURWORST NIGHTMARE."" "We had created this impossible level of behavior for heroes in movies... and Bruce Willis' performance was a welcome antidote to that." "He's like a realistic guy." "He was a throwback to the kind of parts... that would be played by Paul Newman as the hero of the movie:" "Not a superhuman guy, but a real guy who could be hurt, who was scared." "In the spring of 1987, Joel Silver andjohn Mc Tiernan... attended a performance of the play Les Liaisons Dangereuses." "The play starred Alan Rickman... whose performance as Vicomte de Valmont... would earn him a Tony Award nomination." "Immediately, Mc Tiernan and Silver knew they had found Hans Gruber." "Rickman:" "It was such a weird process." "I'd just finished doing a play on Broadway... and two weeks later I was in Los Angeles... and two days after that, I was offered the part." "And I sort of wasn't allowed to say no." "People said to me, "Alan, you don't realize:" "This doesn't happen."" "And I suppose my innocence was my greatest advantage." "All I know as an actor is to try to tell the story." "So I immediately started talking to everyone involved about story." "Actress Bonnie Bedelia:" "This is Alan's first film... but the man is a wonderful actor with marvelous training... so the question he most frequently asked was "Why?"" "Alan made us all stop and think about "why."" "It's very easy to make these films by the numbers." "I think Alan kept the truth in the film." "De Souza:" "If there is something in here... that's a reflection of the American mood at that time... it is that thejapanese have bought this American company." "This was at the height of American paranoia about foreign ownership... and losing our landmarks like Radio City Music Hall to thejapanese." "And it's very funny, because the group... with the greatest foreign ownership of American property and enterprise... remains what it's been for centuries:" "The Dutch." "But we don't sit around worrying about those insidious, sneaky Dutch!" "We don't worry about the "chocolate peril."" "The 33rd floor is a maze of computers, cubicles and glass partitions." "It is lit with a cool, blue hue." "DeGovia's design gives each area its own identity... which opens up our sense of space." "The 30th floor (the party floor):" "Multilevel construction..." "The 30th floor (the party floor):" "Multilevel construction... the grandeur of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater... and by the vault room..." "a separate set, and DeGovia's favorite." "Here the villain is humming his own theme music!" "Mc Tiernan not only shows what a character sees... but emphasizes the activity of seeing." "He uses point-of-view, over-the-shoulder and close-up shots... as well as a moving camera and the rack focus." "Mc Tiernan shows his characters actively noticing and thinking... which is more involving for the audience." "Die Hard is a unique "cop movie"... because these small touches make the cop seem like an authentic detective... not just a good guy with a gun." "The boardroom on the 34th floor:" "Rich, reflective browns... and a pronounced feeling of depth." "In the book, the terrorists are retaliating... against America's corporate imperialism." "Their plan is to redistribute wealth pilfered from the people of Chile." "In 1988, Mc Tiernan told Variety..." ""I liked the idea of imagining what would happen... when one of those Baader-Meinhoff types got tired... of fighting his and other people's political battles... and decided to show them what a real criminal is. "" "Mc Tiernan had also said, "Terrorists have skills... far beyond [those of] Regular criminals." "What could someone with that kind of access... to tools, to weapons, to disciplined organizations... [do] if they decided to go for the money instead of the headlines?"" "The film's Gruber is as diabolical as his literary counterpart... but more debonair:" "He is a fiend, but not a fanatic." "Rickman:" "I don't know if you read the same comic books as I did growing up... but every German always said "Achtung" and "Donnerblitzen"... and "Schnell, schnell!"... and that's all they ever said." "So I'm grateful to have more words than that." "Mc Tiernan told Variety, "Originally, he'd been more downscale... a bit more typically an airline-hijacker type." "We fashioned Hans differently once we had Bruce Willis. "" "Supervising Sound Editor Stephen Flick:" "This is where Hans gives you his fatal flaw." "His fatal flaw is that he views this as a child's game... to be played with opponents." "He's too complex." "In his final scene where he quotes "Yippy-kai-yay"... he's not addressing the business at hand." "He's playing a game, as opposed to living the life." "De Souza:" "If you want to get technical..." "John McClane is really the antagonist of the movie." "The protagonist of the movie is Hans Gruber." "People mix up hero, villain, protagonist, antagonist." "This is where most screenplays go wrong." "The hero isn't always the protagonist." "The villain isn't always the antagonist." "The protagonist is the person who starts the ball rolling... so the protagonist of Die Hard is Hans Gruber... when he decides to rob this building." "You write a movie like this by asking..." ""What does the protagonist want?" "What does he have to do to get to it?" "What does the antagonist do to thwart him?"" "This film works so well because everybody working on it... knew the difference between protagonist and hero... and because we always go back to the protagonist to see what he does... to offset the countermove by the antagonist, who is the hero!" "I know it's confusing, and maybe that's why so many people fumble it." "And that's why a lot of action movies just meander... from a car chase to a scene of interrogating a witness." "Police, firemen, doctors are all essentially trapped... into being the antagonist of any kind of drama." "The fireman can't just say, "Let's put out a fire!"" "The fire has to start." "Once you realize that the hero in these movies... is usually making the second chess move... you realize your obligation to give serious credence... to the plans of the criminal." "Hans wields a Heckler  Koch P7M 13 pistol." "Rickman:" "When you play a part like Hans... you have to look at how much is working for you... and that you don't have to do." "It's a very important moment when he says..." ""I'm going to count to three." "There will not be a four."" "It isn't done with muscle." "It's not yelled." "It's civilized." "It's even polite." "That was an incredible discovery, that this man is incredibly polite... except when he's really riled, or when his intelligence is insulted." "When you have all that working for you, you don't have to play it." "It's happening." "It means you can just concentrate on the particulars:" "A little thought passing through his brain, or a small smile." "And they become powerful." "Composer Michael Kamen on how Takagi's murder fell prey to the editors:" "Kamen:" "You have to remember Joel Silver's sense of humor... his sardonic wit and his penchant for violence." "According to Kamen, Takagi's death was originally longer... and the censors were appalled." "Kamen:" "The sequence was cut down... but what they wound up with was even more horrendous!" "McClane carries a Baretta 92... a sidearm that has been adopted by many urban police departments... and which replaced the.45 automatic in the U.S. Army." "De Souza:" "Almost all of the terrorists look like fashion models... in contrast to Bruce." "Bruce is all-American." "He spends most of the movie in a wife-beater." "Even when he dresses up, it's a suit from J.C. Penney." "The visual, social and geopolitical contrasts... between this American Everyman... and these snotty foreigners was deliberate." "So one of the first big changes was..." ""Hey, what if they're not really terrorists?"" "I made the legitimate demands of the terrorists in the book into a cover story." "This solved one of the big problems of the screenplay... which was that so much time passes and so little happens." "If they're terrorists, what are they doing with all this time?" "In the book, there doesn't seem to be a lot of stalls in the compressed time... because you're in the hero's head, in his thoughts... thinking back to experiences he's had... a previous case that might help him now." "When you can't get into the hero's thoughts..." "When you can't get into the hero's thoughts... you start to notice, "Gee, why aren't they doing anything?"" "But by giving them a false agenda... we realized that the political demand is an excuse... to have the police get tied up with the State Department and the FBI... and that burns time... giving the terrorists time... to break into this complete fabrication of my imagination:" "A fiber-optically controlled safe that what?" "Has a wire running under the ocean to Tokyo!" "Of all the set pieces, the vault is the most elegantly imposing... because it is the only truly curved surface in the movie." "Almost everything else has corners and triangles." "The vault room is Production Designer Jackson DeGovia's favorite set." "DeGovia:" "Everything in the film revolves around what happens here... and the way [the set] came together was film collaboration at its best." "Special Effects Coordinator Al DiSarro:" "Physical effects and mechanical effects have always been done on the fly." "Here's a great one about improvising." "The building was brand-new, with high-tech sprinkler heads... but McTiernan wanted the old-fashioned kind with the lead insert." "At 2:30 in the morning, DiSarro duped Security... and raided the Fox Plumbing Department... to find the sprinkler head Mc Tiernan wanted." "DiSarro:" "The floor was six inches deep in fittings that I pulled out of boxes." "But I found the one." "I brought it to the set, plumbed it up, got water to it, and made it work!" "With a single cut, Mc Tiernan intensifies the pace." "In the space of an edit... the terrorists are ready to counter McClane's countermove." "De Souza:" "McTiernan walked the building with me... once we realized we'd be using this actual building that Fox owns." "And only in the world of Hollywood could Fox charge itself rent!" "You wonder how they keep books in Hollywood... and this was really an amazing lesson." "Fox made this picture in its own building... and charged us as if we were a firm of orthodontists... who wanted to rent three finished floors." "We paid the going rate!" "The building was under construction at the time... and there were several unfinished floors that play themselves." "The 32nd floor is dominated by a color scheme of white and steel gray." "DeGovia:" "We erected those metal studs... to make what was already there more dramatic." "Stunt Coordinator Charlie Picerni:" "John wanted a very visual fight." "So we put all those metal things up... and when Bruce got on that guy's back and spun them around..." "I put them in a position where all that stuff was going to fly." "When the blond guy gets Bruce against the wall, that was plaster... and I had the stunt guy take his head right through that wall." "To be a good stunt coordinator, you have to know what the camera sees." "A lot of guys don't see it that way... but the camera is one of the most important things... for a stuntman or stunt coordinator to know." "That's what makes you a motion picture stuntman... as opposed to a circus stuntman, or an Evel Knievel-type stuntman." "There's a difference." "As a kid, I worked with the older, rough-and-tumble guys... who just came in, did a friggin' stunt... went through a wall, and had a beer afterwards." "And then they started using cardboard boxes and mattresses for high falls... and it was still pretty safe." "Then we came up with the air bag for doing high falls." "Then decelerators and Descenders." "So I went through a whole period of changes." "But let's not get carried away by the word "stunt."" "A lot of people think being a "stuntman"... is the most dangerous thing in the world:" "That every day a stuntman goes out to work, his life is in jeopardy." "That's bullshit." "75% of a stuntman's work is just knowing the camera... knowing how to take a bullet hit or do a little fight." "75% is made in overtime and in hanging around; 25% is stunts." "For guys who do specialized stunts, maybe it's more than 25%." "There are stunts in that 25% category- where you turn a car over, do a big high fall, do a fire burn... those are over and above motion picture stunts." "But you have to know the camera to be a good motion picture stuntman." "As a stunt coordinator, and as the director I am now... you have to know how to make that illusion, and to make it safe... so you can do it as many times as you want." "There are times where you have a tough stunt... that you want to do once and once only." "But they're not all like that." "For the most part, most stunts should be able to be done... one, two, three, four, or five times." "You must be as physical as you can, but have control." "In the book, the hero is barefoot not because the shoes don't fit... but because he can't stomach the idea of wearing a dead man's shoes." "Alan Rickman:" "John was very good at allowing you to have ideas." "Like when I was talking to the hostages... there was a buffet table there." "I said, "I think I should just sit down and eat a chicken sandwich." "It's there." "I'm hungry. "" "Yes, Hans is about to kill people, but he doesn't think about that." "That requires no thought." "What requires thought is..." ""Will I have the chicken or the shrimp?"" "John laughed and said, "Sure."" "That's the actor's job:" "Every moment should be filled with something that is true." "De Souza:" "This was an ad lib byJoel Silver." "Film EditorJohn F. Link:" "We worked seven days a week." "John would come in every Saturday and Sunday, run footage with us... and say, "Yes." "No." "This is great."" "According to Link, Mc Tiernan was not satisfied... with this sequence as originally cut." "They spent six hours together recutting it." "Link:" "I'll never forget this." "After six hours, John put his head down on the KEM [flatbed editing machine]... and said, "It doesn't work."" "I said, "Of course it doesn't." "It's not what you shot!"" "He was trying to manipulate dialogue... but if you don't have the footage, you can't manipulate a scene like that." "What's in the movie is what works." "My biggest mistake was..." "I cut the film but had not made a duplicate negative of it." "So now I'm sitting there with all this film all over me, saying..." ""How the hell am I going to put it back together again?"" "DiSarro:" "We rigged a safety platform and a deck on top... and a way for Bruce to maneuver... and a camera crew on an opposing elevator." "These are high-speed elevators between the 1 st and 32nd floors." "This was not a set." "Mc Tiernan told Variety that he didn't worry... about Willis or Rickman doing some of their own stunts... because excellent precautions had been taken." "Mc Tiernan said, "Most of my nightmares... were not to do with anyone getting hurt in a stunt." "I was more concerned that a stupid accident might happen... that a crew member might fall off the building. "" "Supervising Sound Editor Stephen Flick:" "The sound had a point of view... which was, as Joel called it, "exaggerated realism."" "I thought Alan Murray's sound in Lethal Weapon was magnificent." "It was dangerous and interesting without being overly baroque." "That's the way I want my movies to sound." "We were working on a new genre... this American realism in the cop drama... and I wanted to work there too... because Die Hard wasn't a surreal piece." "Godunov:" "I'm still learning how to act honestly." "Some of the process of acting is the same as in ballet:" ""Who is this guy?" "Whom does he love or hate?"" "But the physicality you apply to ballet is toned down drastically for film... where a turn of your eye will make the scene." "I can't always use my ballet training for things that are physical." "For example, when I'm carrying a gun and jumping through a window... it's not like I'm jumping on the stage and carrying flowers... film is a bit more real." "Flick:" "I touched practically all the sound effects in the picture." "I developed this technique:" "I'd cut an important sequence... then hand it off to another editor, Richard Shorr." "He'd recut it, hand it back to me, and I'd recut it again." "By passing it through a different set of hands and a point of view..." "Richard and I would work in tandem, improving upon each other's work." "Nothing was sacrosanct." "Because, ultimately, it's not the director's film... it's not the composer's film, it's not the producer's film." "It's itself." "And editing is the process of helping the picture find and become itself." "Film EditorJohn F. Link:" "And every picture finds its place." "Flick:" "So my focus was entirely on realism... with the exception of the roof." "While editing background sound for the Nakatomi rooftop..." "Flick wanted to use the sounds of nighttime traffic... but decided against using it from that area of Los Angeles." "Flick:" "It just sounded like a nasty traffic wash." "So we used a little bit of New York traffic... that has more echo and interesting character." "Karl is armed with a Walther PPK (immortalized byjames Bond films)... and a Steyr AUG assault rifle." "At the time, the Steyr was the newest of its kind... and in use by the Australian Army." "The terrorists are armed with HPMP59-millimeter submachine guns." "The HPMP5 has been adopted by the FBI and the Secret Service." "Flick:" "We had recorded a whole new gun library for Robocop... that we used in Die Hard." "It was really nice that we'd gone out to Texas... and recorded a Steyr and other guns, and used them consistently." "What marked our work for much of the '80s... was the fact that we did as much original work as possible... and relied on libraries as little as possible... so it was all fresh to the ears." "The advent of Dolby... and the fact that we made a living cutting sound effects... meant we would go out and record... entire libraries of sound for each picture." "That takes a lot more time... than cutting sounds out of preexisting libraries." "But you've got to remember... that most of the libraries in town had been around since the '50s." "They had been recorded with older technology... and were more or less minimalistic." "To create the special effects the gunplay called for... and to ground them in a sense of reality..." "Al DiSarro worked with weapons specialist Mike Papac." "Papac had previously run the weapons arsenal at Universal for seven years." "Papac had previously run the weapons arsenal at Universal for seven years." "With a month left before shooting was to start..." "Papac arrived on the set with an armory in tow." "Around the same time, stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni... brought a man named Bobby Bass on board." "DiSarro:" "Bass was a true-to-life commando... one who trains people how to fight... and teaches the technical aspects of being a terrorist too." "Bass and Picerni, with Papac providing the weaponry... put the actors through a training course:" "DiSarro:" "How to move with that weapon, how to crawl with that weapon... how to load that weapon, how to be stealthy." "And I remember this very vividly because it sounded like... there was a war going on on that stage every day!" "Mike Papac designed loads for those guns... that were regular shells minus the bullet:" "The lead piece that penetrates the body and kills." "They were blanks." "But in the world of blanks... there are loads that are not so loud and loads that are deafening." "You can probably figure out which they used." "DiSarro and Papac satisfied Joel Silver's demand... for "exaggerated realism" even in the muzzle flashes." "DiSarro: [Papac] and I machined plugs with a particular size hole... which then fit into the gun barrels... and restricted the airflow through them." "This made the muzzle flashes even bigger, more dramatic." "The terrorists completely capture this frame... horizontally and vertically." "A three-point camera move that imparts information... (the use of the gun to jam the fan)... and creates drama directly (McClane's exertion)... and indirectly (the stress on the machine)." "As McClane journeys through the building's core... the framing devices become more menacing... and the action becomes more desperate." "Picerni:" "Die Hard was the first big feature I coordinated." "I remember the first meeting I had with John McTiernan." "Instead of just talking about action, I talked about characters." "When you coordinate a show, you have to get into the story." "You can't just do a stunt for the sake of doing a stunt." "You have to get into each character and what they would do." "Kamen:" "The bendy guitar note... when Willis sees the nude picture of the girl... that was fun." "DeGovia:" "When I first read the script, I saw a jungle maze." "It reminded me of the book High-rise byJ.G. Ballard... in which a modern building becomes a tribal battleground." "In Die Hard, it is a space of staircases and jungles." "There are entire sequences where McClane moves through the building... not touching the floor, like a predator in a jungle." "The building has a surprising three-dimensionality." "You generally don't think of vertical space in offices... but in Die Hard, you conceive the building as not just the floors... but the walls and ceilings as well." "DeGovia cites another influence:" "The 1966 film The Naked Prey... starring, produced and directed by Cornel Wilde." "In it, Wilde is pursued through the jungle by African natives." "OnJune 16, 1966, the New York Times published... film critic Robert Alden's review of The Naked Prey." "He wrote, "Put a man in the jungle, and he becomes a beast." "Or, put another way, it is not the beast that makes the jungle... but rather the jungle that makes the beast. "" "DeGovia:" "I wanted to make a building... where that kind of action could take place." "When the building is a jungle, people revert to utter realism... which is savagery." "De Souza:" "One of the reasons the picture had this urgency... was that you really felt that the combatants were making it up." "You really felt the combatants were inventing everything... as they encountered each new environment or each new level:" "Their weaponry, their field of combat, their strategy." "Some people say the movie is successful... because there are multiple levels, and you have to gather different things." "It's the "Die Hard as video game" theory." "De Souza:" "You'll notice how hard I work... to get people to lose their guns in all my pictures." "Because anybody can shoot a gun." "We've all seen the movie... where the hitherto helpless heroine picks up a gun." "Think about High Noon." "If Grace Kelly can pick up a gun... maybe the hero of the action movie should work a little harder." "So you always want to have the hero outnumbered and disarmed." "Lawrence Gordon:" "We all felt Bruce was John McClane." "He's one of the few actors who has the physicality and the humor... who can carry a gun and tell a joke." "Actor Bruce Willis:" "When your life is on the line... you could die at any moment, a very strange sense of humor comes out." "The research I did... talking to the various officers and detectives who helped us on this... helped me find that black humor." "Film critic David Edelstein of the Village Voice noted..." ""The action is shot from below, at a slight tilt... as if the cameraman didn't have room to stand up. "" "Flick:" "Later on, the pictures Joel and others made were just about the tools." ""I got this gun and it cocks this way... and I can fire it and make big holes in people."" "All they are about is the fascination with objects of destruction... just like American car fetishes, because there's an absence of plot." "In Die Hard there was no absence of plot." "The story was good, solid, well-told, well-acted." "You want to support a picture like that with exciting action sequences... and crisp sound effects that tell the story... without stepping in front of the actors." "The sound effects should never be more important... than the actors or the action itself." "That's the key to most of my work:" "Never ever violate the screen or the story." "We were working in an exaggerated reality, but not a cartoon style." "Die Hard had meaning and jeopardy and reality." "The sound had to be real and tactile." "So when you heard the sound effects... you also felt them and understood what they were doing through your ears." "All the sound effects were edited, cut and recorded... with characteristics so you could tell the quality of the surfaces." "It wasn't bland." "It all had a point of view." "Frank Urioste andjohn Link sometimes cut abruptly... in the middle of a character's motion." "When cutting to or from McClane..." "When cutting to or from McClane... they add a sense of desperation to the scene." "They make McClane look more like an animal in the jungle... than a well-trained police officer." "The motion is created on the set... but the effect is created in the editing room." "Originally there was a shot just preceding this one... of dirt falling from the vent... to justify McClane's shirt's abrupt change of color." "You can see the shot on disc 2 as part of The Vault supplement." "Die Hard is intense not only because it takes place in one location... but also because it takes place in one night." "The filmmakers mark the passage of time... through the deterioration of McClane's clothes... not to mention his body." "Stunt Coordinator Charlie Picerni:" "Through the years... some people have said John doesn't communicate... but with me he was fantastic." "John's a shooter." "John's a moviemaker." "He knew how to set the pace of the movie." "He knew what he wanted... and he communicated with me exceptionally well." "Film EditorJohn F. Link:" "McTiernan was very involved... and very, very supportive." "And Joel was always supportive of his directors and his crew." "Frank [Urioste] was originally the only editor hired for Die Hard." "As his coeditor John Link explains..." "Link:" "Frank was getting a tremendous amount of footage in... but the sequences could not be cut." "Bruce was also doing Moonlighting and could only shoot at certain times." "So they had to shoot all of his material... and then later on go back and shoot the footage of the other actors." "So when I came on, Frank would start cutting that stuff... and I would cut whatever they threw at me... and we'd run everything together and talk about everything." "Die Hard was not the first time Link and Urioste "collaborated."" "Link:" "Frank and I worked together as apprentices at NBC... if you can believe that." "We were schlepping kinescope recordings... back and forth from the lab at CFI for processing... bring 'em back at 6:00 in the morning." "They'd go out on The Today Show, The Home Show, whatever... before the coaxial cable came in." "When writing the screenplay, De Souza was told to rewrite... with an eye toward lowering the budget." "De Souza:" "The picture was wildly over budget." "And now it would be more over budget... because Bruce was going to get this huge price for a rising actor... which was in the news." "The picture was going to be shot mostly at night... forcing a lot of overtime... because Bruce had to do Moonlighting in the daytime." "And because we got our star so late... there would be a rushed postproduction." "Even if the picture was on budget when we started... it was over budget five minutes into the movie." "I had worked my way up the food chain... from television story editor to producer... and I had been responsible for budgets when I would do TV series." "So I had some inkling of how to save a little money." "I would shave a little thing out, eliminate some night scenes." "I probably brought that budget down by $1,400, even $1,500!" "Fortunately, I had a background in television." "In Philadelphia, I had directed community affairs shows... car dealership commercials and early-morning evangelist shows... in addition to Bowling for Dollars." "There's a whole subculture of local television... which is funny unto itself." "I hadn't been in Hollywood one week when an agent called and said..." ""You have a meeting this afternoon at Universal Studios."" "I went over there and they said, "You start Monday."" "But you must remember that if you skip this amazing week..." "I had four years where I was barely making a living in Philadelphia." "The last year, I was on food stamps." "I believe that kind of struggle and learning is what gave me... the confidence to be not an overnight success... but a six-day success." "In his review, film critic David Edelstein wrote..." ""The sets are full of sleek, sharp edges, blue-lit and lethal... and the actions sequences aren't expansive... the space contracts... with McClane firing from under tables and through glass... and bringing [people] Crashing down into the frame. "" "Picerni:" "I'm not a Hollywood stuntman." "I'm from New York." "I'm from the street." "A lot of what I know and what I put in the business..." "I learned from just living in New York City." "It's like an actor." "An actor is at his best... by observing everything in life that he can put into his character... everything he can relate to." "When I do a stunt, I relate back to what I did." "I'm not saying I was a mobster or a maniac... but I've been around." "When I did Lethal Weapon 2..." "Mel Gibson finds his girlfriend dead in the water, and he's outraged." "What does he do?" "He puts the guy's head in a car door and slams the door on him." "I choreographed that fight violent, violent." "I choreographed that fight violent, violent." "Because that's what it is: crazy." "I did that to a guy in New York one time." "That's the kind of stuff we did." "When you're growing up in New York like that... you get involved in stuff." "And I use it." "De Souza:" "If you're doing textbook analysis, this is the end of Act I." "He's accomplished what he wanted to do:" "He got help." "Flick:" "There's only one point of view:" "What is the story you're trying to tell?" "The job of the sound editor is to prepare the film for a sound mix." "The job of the mix is to create a seamless dramatic experience where the hypnosis... or whatever the experience is, is never broken, where the audience is never... jarred out of it, unless you choose to create a contrast where the audience is jarred." "So everything you do is to provide the mix with the elements... that are necessary to tell that story, and sometimes that's not everything." "In the early days, I used to go in and cut everything because it was all there... and I wanted to hear it all, but it was too much." "In later years, I've been more spare and more direct:" "Less assault and more simplicity." "48 HRS., Die Hard and Robocop are one peak of my maturity as a designer." "The Nakatomi sign includes the names... of Set Designers E.C. Chen and Roland Hill, Gaffer Ed Ayer... of Set Designers E.C. Chen and Roland Hill, Gaffer Ed Ayer..." "Construction Foreman Steve Callas, Bruce Gfeller and Al DiSarro." "Flick:" "Die Hard was cut like a checkerboard:" "Flick:" "Die Hard was cut like a checkerboard:" "There were lots of short scenes and lots and lots of edits... as well as ideas." "Mc Tiernan cuts to a high overhead angle." "It's a sudden clue that the stakes are changing... that Hans'expectations are being upended." "Hitchcock did the same thing:" "Hitchcock did the same thing:" "He would often cut to a high overhead angle as his clue to the audience... that the story was about to take a new direction." "This is the scene where Die Hard's homage to Westerns crystallizes." "Alan Rickman:" "What I think has made it a classic of its kind... is the fact that there's a definite yin and yang between them." "It's an interesting device that they mostly only talk over a radio." "I'd had a meeting with Bruce and John McTiernan and Joel, I think... and I said, "I think it would be good... if they had a really healthy respect for each other throughout the film... and perhaps they could even make each other laugh." "So you're constantly pulling the rug out from under people's preconceptions... about how one of these stories might play."" "Because then it gave me something to do." "Otherwise you're just making noises." "De Souza:" "If there's me in any of these superheroic pictures... and I hope there's not too much..." "it's here." "I identified strongly with Bruce." "We grew up 40 miles apart." "We grew up with the same haunts and neighborhoods... and restaurants in Philadelphia." "And we watched the same kiddie shows." "So him talking about Roy Rogers and cowboy shows... that was just me talking about my own childhood." "I was a fan of Roy Rogers." "And I thought it would be sweet in a way... because I was going for the contrast... between the snotty, Euro-trash villain and this All-American kind of guy." "So he accuses him of being a cowboy... which was currently en vogue among critics of Hollywood... how these Rambo movies were corrupting the American psyche." "And, of course, it's going on now again politically." "So I gave that snotty movie-critic dialogue to Alan Rickman... to insult Bruce Willis." "Rickman:" "It is cowboys and Indians... which means none of the characters needs to be overly complex." "You're not going to go into their murky depths... but you do want to know about their wit... their strengths and weaknesses, their vulnerable points." "So it's a crisper frame of reference." "The film needs to be kept bright, alive and uncomplicated." "Its issues are always very clear." "So the director, writer and cinematographer... can be as inventive as possible... without some actor with his head in his navel saying..." ""But this is really important."" "You have to be faster than that in a film like this." "In this scene, we meet Gail Wallens, a TV news anchor." "De Souza:" "There's a little joke Joel and I had." "We used "Gail Wallens" again in Ricochet." "The other running gag I've done with Larry and Joel... is our standard, stock, third-world country: "Valverde."" "It's in all the movies!" "In Die Hard 2... there's a news report at the beginning of the picture where they mention it." "The Noriega-type character... who was being brought to this country for drug smuggling... had taken over Valverde after General Aries..." "Aries was Dan Hedaya's character in Commando." "So there's a consistent global policy in these movies!" "Mc Tiernan creates a sense of urgency by cutting in the middle of camera moves." "McTiernan:" "In a way, it's a buddy film." "The difficult part of it is that in this particular buddy film... the buddies don't meet until the final scene." "Having contacted the police and disposed of some terrorists along the way..." "McClane leads the camera, asserting some control over it." "The audience feels relief, some confidence... until the music drops out and McClane stops." "But the camera keeps moving." "It started out under McClane's control... but now it stalks him and closes down our sense of space." "Special Effects Coordinator Al DiSarro:" "The way McTiernan orchestrated the drama... of Bruce running through this building with these terrorists was brilliant." "As Willis dealt with them one after another... it became physically tiring for the audience." "When he leans up against this wall, lights a cigarette... and takes that first puff... it seemed like 200 people in the audience took their first breath." "Actor Paul Gleason:" "I'm starting to make a career... out of playing nasty roles." "An actor can have a lot more fun with these roles... and when they don't involve any real violence... you can bring a certain amount of humor to them." "Dwayne Robinson's driver is stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni." "De Souza:" "In Act I, McClane is trying to get help." "In Act II, the authorities are in charge... which is pretty much the worst thing that can happen." "Die Hard is often cited for its claustrophobia... but the interiors of the building feel much deeper than the exteriors." "The exteriors are shot with an extremely shallow depth of field... which means the division between foreground and background... is very stark." "Usually, only one or two characters are in focus... while the rest of the frame is wildly out of focus." "The flashing police lights then add... just a little bit of mayhem to the image." "By comparison, the interiors are more spacious." "They are also shot with a shallow depth of field... but not as shallow as the exteriors." "This gives Mc Tiernan the best of both worlds:" "Inside the building, he can use shallow focus... while still giving us... a more continuous sense of space than the one we have outside." "De Souza:" "There's a very, very deep, deep film analysis publication... called Jump Cut, and they did this geopolitical analysis of Die Hard... which just goes off on such tangents." "The article, written by Maurice Yacowar, was titled..." ""Die Hard:" "The White Man's Mythic Invincibility. "" "Yacowar writes that Die Hard has a..." ""deeper appeal in its political assumptions, which speak... to the sexist who craves to have his obsolete delusions reaffirmed. "" ""McClane adopts the nom de guerre Roy... (as in 'Rogers'but also..." "vis-à-vis women... as in 'king'). "" ""Consistent with the film's demeaning of woman [sic]... are the passing bits of gratuitous sexism. "" "De Souza:" "My son called me from college recently." "He said, "Dad, let me read to you from my textbook!"" "It was a textbook tearing me a new asshole... about the hidden antifeminist agenda in Die Hard." "So I've gone from writing movies about heroes... to being the villain in the textbooks." "Actress Bonnie Bedelia:" "She's the leader of the hostages... through most of the movie." "When you have fifty people, and you're the one they're looking to... that might force you to become a little stronger... and a little bit less a bundle of raw nerve tissue." "Rickman:" "One of things I liked about the film was the fact... that Bonnie Bedelia's character is an intelligent, strong woman." "And there aren't any weak black characters." "All of them are brainy and important to the story." "And back in 1988, that was pretty rare." "De Souza:" "The media is something I added to the movie... because this would not happen in a vacuum." "This was just the beginning of the era... where helicopters would show car chases on the street... and the media would show up." "I said, "This scenario would become an absolute media event."" "And the media makes it seem more real." "It's also a great way to lay in information... the audience needs to know." "Using the media can also add suspense... and it can be a great way to build tension, to misdirect people." "You can use media reports that may or may not be correct." "You can use media reports that may or may not be correct." "I use it as much as possible." "If you look at how many of my pictures I do that in... it's something that's part of my oeuvre." "Supervising Sound Editor Stephen Flick:" "I had a difference of opinion with Joel over the turning on of the spotlights." "I thought the sound should be chunkier." "With his score, composer Michael Kamen quotes "Singin'in the Rain."" "He quotes it throughout the SWATteam's assault... and when the terrorists destroy the armored car." "Kamen:" "I told McTiernan that if he was going to use Beethoven... he also had to license "Singin' in the Rain"... which was the other theme from A Clockwork Orange." "I had great fun winding "Singin' in the Rain" around the Beethoven." "Sometimes my sense of humor, my sense of film... my sense of the absurd comes out." "In your work, you should be like a child playing with trains." "I do take my business seriously, but this is a business of entertaining." "You'd be mad to take it too seriously." "When I get up in front of the orchestra, I try to have fun." "Flick:" "I had hardly any collaboration with John and the producers." "John's not very talkative." "His focus was music." "Michael wrote a dominant score." "By and large, there's hardly any atmospheric sound in Die Hard... or long sound envelopes that would get in the way of any score." "Clarity of the sound story, whether it's musical or not... is the most important thing." "I feel I have some very complex sound sequences... that the composer needs to hear... so he doesn't write something that obliterates it, creates mud." "Most of the sound effects in Die Hard... are individual sound events with short durations... as opposed to long sound events with long durations... like a twister or a windstorm." "Because the picture required these short-duration events... the sounds I cut were percussive." "So there wasn't really any issue of conflicting... with soft, legato or melodic elements of the score." "When you have a picture that has constant but dramatic sounds... like surf or wind or a car chase... or a rocket going off, like in Apollo 13... dense, dense, dense sequences of sound effects... then you have to spend a lot of time interacting with the composer." "Because if they write a score for a launch sequence... that has lots of cello, bass, tubas and low-frequency instruments... you won't have what's known as "power in the rocket."" "Most composers are fairly astute about that." "Special Effects Coordinator Al DiSarro's biggest challenge... was working inside Fox Plaza, which was then a brand-new building." "DiSarro:" "It wasn't occupied by many tenants, but ones of high stature." "And for a building that had to look like it was being destroyed in stages... we couldn't leave a mark on one piece of imported marble from Spain." "Mc Tiernan told reporter Todd McCarthy a state of"guerilla war"existed... between Fox's film side and real estate division." "McTiernan:" "They made us fly tons of marble in from Spain... to sit in a warehouse in case we stained some of the marble stairs." "The movie executives consistently came to our rescue." "Leonard Goldberg backed us up constantly." "It's just that you can't go to Barry Diller... every time there's a chip on the steps." "Picerni:" "I drove that tank." "I had a narrow slot to look through, and I had to take the tank... down the street, across the island and up the stairs." "DiSarro:" "The steps were imported from Spain." "The handrails were made from stainless steel." "We replaced the handrails with our own." "Picerni:" "I had barely any room on either side of the railing... and I didn't want to give the responsibility to a stunt guy... so I said, "I'll do it myself."" "DiSarro:" "For the terrorists, we built a missile." "We put it on a solid-fuel rocket engine and fired it down a piano wire." "The wire was treated with acid so it wouldn't shine." "The wire ran three stories." "Picerni:" "DiSarro was great." "Certain effects men are mechanical, certain ones are explosive." "Like stuntmen." "Some are good at high falls, some are good with car work." "Al is good with mechanics and explosives." "He had a lot of guys on this show who went out on their own... and believe me, those guys learned from Al." "Al taught a lot of guys." "When the RVexplodes, what we see is a gasoline explosion." "DiSarro:" "We rigged an explosive beneath the tank." "We used black powder bombs to detonate it." "And we did it several times." "A tank's a tank." "It won't be too affected by a fireball." "DiSarro:" "Between Predator and 98 episodes of The A-Team..." "I've had a tremendous amount of experience... with gasoline explosions around stuntmen." "I'll never say I've had enough experience, but I was very comfortable." "Here the action takes a subtle turn." "As De Souza has said, McClane is a reactive character." "Mostly, he takes action when he's been cornered, chased, or shot at." "Having brought in the police, he was then happy to sit on the sidelines." "But now, with fellow officers in danger and his anger mounting... he does not merely react but attacks." "For the upcoming third-floor explosion..." "DiSarro:" "John, Joel, Richard Edlund and I had meetings about this." "Our original feelings were that I was going to blow all the windows." "We did a lot of research... in the engineering department of that building... and found out that any real structural damage that could have happened... would have been..." "I don't think the word monumental is big enough." "Instead, Mc Tiernan instructed DiSarro to devise a way... to fill a full-focus, wide shot of the third-floor windows... with a bright flash of light." "Once filmed, this would then be combined... with a shot of a miniature Fox Plaza exploding... which Richard Edlund would produce." "DiSarro:" "We contacted the flashbulb division of Sylvania... the lightbulb company." "They made bulbs for us that had a two-second burn to them... which is a long-lasting flash." "We built 4x4 pieces of plywood and mounted all the housings for the bulbs... and tied them to a firing system." "DiSarro choreographed the flashes... and also blew out individual windows on the third floor... for tighter shots that would be cut together with the wider one." "DiSarro:" "Then John asked me to come up with a way... to cover the whole front of that building with smoke." "We devised a trough system, like a rain gutter... that we built to tie into the base of the building." "We filled that gutter up... with a pyrotechnic composition that we came up with... and detonated it." "Die Hard is often held up... as a prime example ofJoel Silver's oft-cited "whammy theory."" "De Souza:" "I want to correct that right now." "It's not "whammy." It's "Wham-O."" "It's become "whammy" thanks to Renny Harlin's Finnish accent." "John Gregory Dunne wrote a book about the movie business called Monster... and he went into great detail about working on a movie with Harlin... and the demand for "whammies."" "But, unfortunately, Renny Harlin pronounced "Wham-O's" as "whammies"... which I guess is the way you pronounce it in Finland." "Joel Silver has disseminated the Wham-O chart all over Hollywood." "It's even showing up in movies like Driving Miss Daisy." "ButJoel would admit that it does predate him... that it was a term they used... at American International Pictures in the '50s... where Larry Gordon worked as a young man." "So it's a very old Hollywood term like "haircut"... which is Hollywood-ese for "rip-off."" "It means give something a little haircut... a little trim no one will notice." "Die Hard has had many haircuts." "There's a misconception that the Wham-O chart means... something has to blow up every ten minutes." "It's an old idea that once in every reel... movies used to be measured in reels and they're still put out that way... something should happen that makes the audience drop its popcorn." "Sometimes it's an explosion... but sometimes it could be, "Harold, he's not your child."" "There are all kinds of things that can stagger the audience." "DiSarro:" "The waterfall was designed with Hogshair, or a rain matte." "It looks like grass, only it's a very fine plastic." "The water runs over the rocks." "We painted the Hogshair onto the rocks, to dampen the sound." "Triangular camera motion from Ellis to Karl to Karl's gun." "Harry Ellis is a holdover from Thorp's novel." "He is the one character who calls to mind one of Thorp's inspirations:" "The 1970s disaster movie." "Production designerJackson DeGovia:" "The disaster movie is about comeuppance... but here, Nakatomi isn't the bad guy." "Die Hard is a turf war." "As McClane loses control of this scene, he loses control of the space." "The scene starts easily." "The space is well-lit." "We can easily make out McClane, the drafting table and some clutter." "The space is becoming more abstract." "The angle becomes tighter, more dizzying." "McClane is nearly lost in darkness." "Light gleams only on separate body parts, but not the face." "That is, until McClane steps forward and asks the pivotal question of the scene:" ""Ellis, what have you told them?"" "The further Ellis'life slips away from McClane's control... the more abstract the unfinished floor becomes." "The camera pushes in on McClane's face... and eliminates what sense of space we have left." "We are nearly lost, almost unable to make out where we are." "Alan Rickman:" "My main job was just... to stay alive to everything that was happening... because I'd never experienced it before... and to try not to get unfocused." "Because it seemed terribly important..." "Because it seemed terribly important... that what he had was a sense of stillness." "And a sense of humor." "Both of those come from a kind of confidence." "So it was about hanging on to that... while so much mayhem was going on around." "I've never heard that much noise while you're trying to work." "As soon as anybody says "cut," a hundred people start running around." "You have to be your own monitor of how to concentrate and when." "The problem you have on those movies is getting the director's attention." "When you're the director, you'll have one pause... and 15 people are coming up to you with 25 questions each... and they're all important." "John was very good at making space for that in the mornings... before we'd start shooting." "There was time to look at the scene..." "There was time to look at the scene... and see what its possibilities were and try them." "As Al reaffirms their bond, McClane rises, leading the camera." "A heroic low angle." "McClane is now asserting control over his space." "The scene ends on a note of confidence and calm." "In The Films of the Eighties:" "A Social History... film scholar William J. Palmer discusses... the role of the media in Die Hard:" "He writes, "The real comedy of the film... lies in its send-up of the news media's ineptitude in covering... and complicity in abetting acts of terrorism..." "[Die Hard] focuses closely (and comically, satirically)... upon the fact that terrorism and the media willingly sustain... a necessary symbiotic relationship. "" "De Souza:" "The way I wrote it..." "Dwayne Robinson was just a guy who was in over his head." "In the performance, he drifts from "in over his head" to "incompetent."" "I thought it was a little too comical, though it did get a laugh." ""Want a breath mint?" Was one ofJoel Silver's ad libs." "The "Johnson/Johnson" gag was Jeb Stuart's." "I built up the FBI characters and made them more cold and chilly." "Robert Davi (the olderJohnson) Is a terrific actor." "As Johnson, he's cold and efficient, but without any malice..." "Grand L. Bush, the youngerJohnson... played his character warmer and more charming." "He's become part of theJoel Silver repertory." "According to De Souza, production began with a liability... which bothered him but not the other filmmakers:" "McClane and Hans did not meet until the final showdown." "De Souza:" "I was telling them, "Bruce has got to meet Alan Rickman." "They've got to meet and fall in hate." "There has to be a backstory."" "They said, "If they met... one of them would kill the other, and the movie would end."" "One day on the set, Alan Rickman was kidding around, doing voices." "He's a very gifted mimic." "Somebody said, "Do you do American?"" "He said, "I don't do American, but I do, like, California, you know"... and then did several American regional accents, a real tour de force." "I jumped up and said, "That's it!" "That's it!" "You can meet Bruce!"" "I don't think he had any idea what I was talking about... since he'd been working with Bruce for a couple of weeks." "I grabbed Joel, Larry and John and brought them over." "I said, "Look, if he can do an American accent, he can meet Bruce." "All he has to do is do this accent... and Bruce doesn't know he's the guy with the German accent on the radio."" "Then John, who likes to plan meticulously... and does not like last-minute changes, started to brood." "He said, "It'll never work because he's seen Gruber kill Takagi." "We're shooting that tomorrow." "I'm not gonna inflict pink and yellow and blue pages on the actors."" "And I said, "Let me just try it."" "So I went off to the nearest typewriter... which was a real pain in the ass... because I'd long since switched to computers." "I spent an hour and a half on this three-page scene... and I took it to the set... and showed it toJohn and the producers, and they liked it." "They said, "What about tomorrow's work?"" "I said, "Bruce is hiding." "He's lurking." "There's got to be a way that Bruce can see the guy's getting killed... and not see the triggerman, not see his face."" "We walked over to the set where they were going to film tomorrow's scene." "John said, "If we just move this table, like, six feet, I'll put Bruce here." "It's perfect."" "Alan Rickman:" "The way I remember it..." "I had a costume fitting before we started shooting." "There was a long line of terrorist gear for me to wear." "I said, "I'm going to be surrounded by people 6'6" tall and wide... and I'm going to look stupid." "And anyway, he never seems to get his hands dirty... so why would he wear terrorist gear?" "And if he wore a suit... couldn't we then have a scene where Bruce and I meet... because he wouldn't know whether I was a hostage or not?"" "I went back home to England for two weeks." "And when I came back, I walked onto the set, and Joel said, "Read these."" "He handed me these two pages." "It was the scene where Bruce and I meet." "SoJoel had a think about it." "I was reminded of how high the stakes were in that scene." "It was my very first shot of the movie." "Joel Silver came over to me that day and said..." ""So how's your American accent?"" "I don't think he had heard it before." "I think if I hadn't been able to produce an American accent..." "I'd have gotten fired on the first day!" "De Souza:" "If you look under Bill Clay, you see my name." "You see "Steve De Souza" for a microsecond." "It's my cameo." "You also see De Bont, DeGovia, DiSarro, Gfeller..." "Larry Gordon and Charles Gordon, among others." "De Souza:" "The one thing that's left out of the story... is how the hell did Bruce figure out that he was a bad guy?" "Was he psychic or something?" "As you put a movie together, and as you start picking up the pace... you drop a couple of frames here, a couple of frames there." "Originally, there was a shot where the terrorists synchronize their watches... as they're getting off their truck." "And you saw they all had the same watch." "We established that in one down shot... but as John cut the movie, he didn't want to stop for that down shot." "De Souza:" "After McClane gives Hans the gun, the camera gets woozy, seasick." "That's John anticipating the psychological state of the viewer." "This sequence is presented in a series of Dutch angles." "A Dutch angle is when the camera is tilted... from the usual horizontal/vertical axes." "De Souza:" "It's a technique that can get tiring very quickly." "ButJohn always does it very judiciously... at moments when a character's psychological equilibrium... or the equilibrium of the situation is in disorder... if I may sink to a little film analysis myself." "Stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni:" "My youngest son, Steven... went headfirst into a plane of glass." "It was a tough stunt." "He got 11 stitches under his eye." "Joel Silver told DiSarro, "Aldo, this whole room is about glass." "I want to see it all gone!" "Flying in the air!"" "DiSarro contacted a glass company... and arranged for them to stay open after hours... producing a special glass for the Die Hard production." "DiSarro:" "It was over-tempered, baked a little longer... so we would get a nicer-looking effect for the camera." "We ran the gamut of glass for this movie." "Tempered glass... tempered glass that was baked and tempered harder than usual... breakaway glass, single-strength glass, safety glass." "We took glass and put clear laminate over it." "But mostly real stuff." "We probably went through $125,000-$130,000 in glass." "DiSarro ran different tests on the glass... to determine exactly how it would blow and where it would fall." "These tests benefited both the aesthetic of the film... and the safety of the cast and crew." "He remembers the gunfire and smashing glass as "pretty violent stuff."" "DiSarro:" "When you're there even as a crew member... knowing every little bit... about what's about to take place in the next 15 seconds... it can still be scary." "Triangular camera move." "Film editorJohn F. Link:" "As Joel said, "The movie works like a Swiss watch."" "There was no repositioning of scenes." "We couldn't move anything around." "And to think we only cut out maybe two minutes from the rough cut... that's something." "DiSarro:" "Here we used a self-contained, battery-operated... blood-pumping apparatus." "It had a little plunger that pushed the blood out." "Flick:" "We had made a sound of glass in McClane's feet... for the moment where he digs it out." "The producer thought it was so gruesome, we had to take it out." "McClane's bare feet are not only an excellent liability for the hero... they also make the primal aspects of Die Hard more explicit." "Link:" "This was another sequence Frank had cut beautifully... and thatJohn wanted to recut." "John wanted the performance different." "But he didn't shoot the performance he wanted." "He had given in to Willis' desire to do it his way." "So he was trying to manipulate it." "We tried, though." "Frank took one look at it, Joel took one look at it... and it went right back to what it was!" "What was there originally is what you see." "De Souza:" "We only wish all the guys in the LAPD... were like Reginald Veljohnson's character." "It undulates, vibrates, ripples, rides, quivers." "Photographers think in terms of shape, color and light." "Well, in art, there's an entire history... of talking about shape and color and light... but since the craft of sound effects is not very old... it's almost impossible for people to have a language about it." "Music may be older than language, but sound-effects editing... is really only as old as radio, or recorded medium." "Die Hard is important because it's part of a movement..." "Ben Burtt and Walter Murch started around The Conversation... to go out and record documentary sounds... that created a new reality for sound in motion pictures." "Once again, Michael Kamen's score incorporates bells... a gleeful flourish as the terrorists enter the vault... or, put another way, open their gifts." "Oddly, raiding the vault is one of the most triumphant moments in the movie." "It's here that we realize... we've been partly rooting for Hans and his men to pull off their heist." "The heist is a branch of the story that has little to do with McClane." "If Die Hard is a chess game, any progress Hans makes with the vault... does not depend on setting McClane back." "It's a clever trick of the story... that enables Hans to succeed but not to win... and that allows the audience to enjoy... both his victory here and his downfall later." "Because while the audience is rooting for both Hans and McClane... our empathy lies solely with McClane." "And after sharing the terrorists'joy here... the scene in which we next see McClane peaks our sympathy for him... bringing us fully back to his side." "The contrast is extreme." "According to De Souza, at the time Die Hard was being made... he was conscious of the film's Vietnam War subtext." "De Souza:" "In the movie you have a guerilla war... where a "plain Joe" foot soldier is betrayed... by a chain of command that considers him expendable." "It's there in the FBI's dialogue about acceptable losses." "The FBI's attitude is a throwback to the quote about Vietnam:" ""We have to destroy the village to save it."" "And, like in Vietnam, no matter how much equipment you have... a group of committed guerilla fighters... who in this case are pretending to be committed... can bring down the machine." "Can bring down the machine." "In these [action] pictures, the war has come home." "But, unlike in a Rambo way, where we're out in the jungle... here the war came home in an urban way." "According to producer Lawrence Gordon..." "Willis brought to the role a certain humanity, a "reality base."" "Gordon told the Hollywood Reporter..." ""He seems to be a man that you believe could lose. "" "De Souza:" "The greatest compliment I could get... is the one I received from many people, which is..." ""I was at the edge of my seat, and I really thought Bruce was gonna die."" "To me, that was the greatest:" "That I had been able to suspend... the unfortunately increasingly entrenched belief... that the lead character is invulnerable." "And when I was writing my draft..." "I was thinking about pictures with Paul Newman... where he could win but lose." "Or Frank Sinatra in Von Ryan's Express... where he could get everybody out but die himself." "Or Bridge on the River Kwai." "There are many, many examples of great pictures." "Detective Story, a terrific picture with Kirk Douglas... where he solves the case, resolves with his wife and dies... was also on my mind a lot too... because it was a picture about a cop who's estranged from his wife." "In that case, it wasn't because his wife wanted to work... but because she'd had an abortion, and he'd just found out." "Shocking material for the '50s." "And at the end, there's a hostage situation at the police station." "Gordon:" "Bruce has become John McClane." "We knew he would be good." "We didn't know he would be that good." "Bruce and John McTiernan made us look very smart." "During McClane's speech, Mc Tiernan has him pressed to the left of the frame... until he asks himself an important question:" ""What the fuck were you doing upstairs, Hans?"" "Now Mc Tiernan has him on the right side." "De Souza:" "McTiernan is incredibly astute in a psychological way." "Bruce is on the opposite side of the frame... because the character's mind-set has changed." "De Souza:" "You start to wonder what goes in the wake of these kinds of events." "In James Bond movies, whole city blocks are destroyed, and no one notices." "But this takes place in the real world, and media becomes part of the story." "It happens today." "It happened when Bush called that New York Times reporter an "asshole."" "Sound Editor Steven Flick:" "If you're talking about the atmospheres of the building... what you want to do is create and define space... from scene-to-scene cuts, and create contrast." "So when you make your foreign version... with all your American action but not your language... you have a real sense of where the characters are." "My films have a wonderful sense of place." "My focus was on realism, but in the steamy areas here... the sounds had more character, more cavernous and interactive qualities." "Stunt coordinator Charlie Picerni:" "I always involve the actors when I choreograph a fight... because an actor knows that character so well." "Sometimes they're better than stuntmen at doing their physical stuff... because they're into their character." "They get into it, and it looks real." "But you've got to control them." "Bruce is a good actor." "He can give you input." "And Alexander was a great guy to work with." "And Alexander was a great guy to work with." "He was very coordinated, he had good kicks and he could use his feet well." "A good part of the fight was done with both of them:" "The closeness, the headlock on the stairs." "You have to get into each character and what they would do." "You put yourself in that situation... and when you choreograph it, it becomes real." "Bruce's character was a cop, a tough guy." "Maybe he could box a little, street-fight a little." "He was more of a mauler." "Anything goes." "In a John Wayne-Hollywood movie fight... you're gonna get a guy from the back, turn him around and punch him." "I've never had a fight in my life where I spun the guy around." "You're going to punch him in the back of the head." "Stomp on him." "That's realism." "In a real movie, that's what I do." "Joel and John didn't change any of the choreography." "Almost every action movie of the 1980s... features an action sequence set inside an industrial landscape." "Enemies have squared off... in steel mills, refineries, chemical plants, etc." "In steel mills, refineries, chemical plants, etc." "These industrial landscapes are usually... marked metal, water and a restricted color palette." "Production DesignerJackson DeGovia:" "Designers like industrial settings." "They're massive, they're masculine and they light well." "They have sources of light, reflective surfaces, smoke... and lots of places to hide lights." "The "machine floor"under the roof is Die Hard's industrial setting." "We see steam, large machines, metal drums and pipes." "The space is largely gray... butJan De Bont punctuates it with diffused reds in the distance... and a yellowish glare from the building's emergency lighting." "In a good action sequence... the characters move in ways that are specialized... that reveal aspects of the character to the audience." "Alexander Godunov was a ballet dancer... so Karl moves with a grace not often seen in action-movie heavies." "McClane is scrappier, more resourceful." "He uses the room's three-dimensionality to his advantage." "If Die Hard is a turf war, the winner should be the one... who uses the space most effectively... and violently." "For much of the fight, Karl only uses the horizontal plane." "McClane uses both the horizontal and the vertical." "In Die Hard, the characters move in ways that are uniquely their own... and unique among action movies." "DeGovia:" "In another action movie..." "Karl would have fallen down the stairs, something of a cliché." "But here, he flies off in another spatial direction." "Like doorways, staircases are dramatic compositional elements." "They suggest motion, transition, activity." "Twelve cameras, stationed on three different streets... captured the helicopter flyby." "The helicopters flew 50 feet above the street at 75 mph... before climbing up to the building." "Picerni:" "My nephews flew the helicopters." "I was in one of them." "We clipped that fountain." "EditorJohn F. Link:" "The helicopter sequence was probably... the best-staged sequence of all time." "[Unit Production Manager/ Associate Producer] Beau Marks... choreographed everything." "And when I got the footage, I hate to use this term... but it was like cutting butter." "It was beautiful!" "According to De Souza, when McClane starts shooting... to frighten the hostages into going down the stairs... that's what we want." "We want them off the roof, so we want him to shoot." "But then we realize that if he shoots... the FBI will mistake him for a terrorist... which is what we don't want." "The audience is conflicted, and that conflict creates the tension." "This sequence builds to one of the movie's most memorable stunts:" "McClane's upcoming leap from the rooftop." "Picerni:" "John didn't know about the technology of stunts." "He wanted to shoot all this stuff blue screen." "I said, "We can do this."" "I remember standing on the roof of the Fox Plaza building... and I was so enthusiastic." "I jumped up onto the edge and said..." ""John, we could have him jump off right here!"" "And he said, "No!" "No!" "Get down from there!"" "DiSarro:" "Bruce Willis had an absolute passion for doing his own stunts." "When he's blown off the roof, you'll see that's Bruce Willis." "And you'll also see that the whole frame is filled with raging fire." "Jack DeGovia, a very crafty man... rigged the roof of a parking structure on the Fox lot... to look like the roof of the Nakatomi Plaza, or the Fox Plaza." "DiSarro and his crew walked along the roof of the parking structure... laying mortars, loading them and then adjusting their placement." "Then he stood on the edge of the roof, looking over." "DiSarro:" "I thought the jump through:" "How long will he be in the air?" "How long will his back be exposed?" "Will he be too far below the roof when the gasoline goes off?" "Before Willis leapt, he, Picerni and DiSarro... went over exactly what they wanted and exactly what Willis could expect." "Specifically, heat." "Willis'back was padded, and his exposed skin was gelled... to absorb as much of the explosion's heat as possible." "DiSarro:" "On his leap, I detonated the explosion." "He was going into an air bag because it was a high fall." "And all the way down, I could hear him yelling "Goddamn you, Aldoooooooo!"" "The wide shot was a stuntman on a decelerator... a wire rig which allows the stuntman himself to control his descent." "For the wider shot of the explosion, DiSarro set off a colossal fireball on the actual roof." "DiSarro:" "We mixed diesel fuel and high-octane jet fuel to get a different look." "DiSarro set mortars on 11/8-inch-thick plywood, closed all the roof!" "S access doors... and taped up any cracks to absorb concussion." "DiSarro:" "Concussion wants to rattle itself through the floors and blow windows out." "It would have taken out two or three floors, easy." "DiSarro:" "This was all done on a stage." "We had Bruce swinging on a pulley... that ran through the backing on the stage wall." "After he hit the window... we took safety glass out, put tempered glass in... and boom, he's through." "When the spool starts pulling him out... that was me standing on the floor, pulling Bruce." "He was fighting, but I weighed a little more than him." "Plus, I had put a little silicone under the pad he was on, so he was slipping." "Those are the cute things we do." "DeGovia's jungle metaphor for Die Hard becomes almost literal." "Stalking through Fallingwater, McClane is in the jungle at last." "The explosion was actually the FBI helicopter... crashing through the 30th floor." "DiSarro:" "We took an old helicopter fuselage... rigged it on a suspension cable and swung it like a pendulum." "We had a hydraulic winch pull it back to the stage wall... then used an aircraft cable cutter to release the helicopter into the set." "We blew the window pyrotechnically." "The building has been so badly abused... it's almost as if it is now consuming itself." "Film EditorJohn F. Link:" "With the action scenes..." "I have tremendous fun... because I can double up on every single cut." "I can take an explosion and cut it three, four different times... and make it... hopefully..." "extremely entertaining." "You can't do that with dialogue." "So the action is great fun." "You can't do that with dialogue." "So the action is great fun." "De Souza:" "With this brilliant diabolical plan of Hans Gruber's... we literally started the movie... without knowing how the terrorists were going to escape." "The obvious answer is a helicopter... but they blew up the helicopters they demanded." "Plus, if everything else they said is a lie... why would their demand for helicopters be true?" "We were deep into the movie and still didn't know what the escape plan was." "Finally, inspiration struck." "I don't know who it was, but it's my story, so I'll say it was me." "I said, "There'll be all this chaos when the building blows up." "What if they're escaping in a rescue vehicle?"" "What's great about it is that the minute you see them do it... you realize it would work." "You get it right away, with no dialogue." "Jack DeGovia is right to say that the only cheat in the movie... is that the ambulance fits inside that truck." "But I'd done that before." "When I produced Knight Rider." "I had said, "We'll make the office a truck, to keep the show on the road."" "They said, "The set wouldn't fit in the back of the truck."" "I said, "On the soundstage it will."" "So if you notice, when the car drives up to the truck, it's pretty tight... but inside there's plenty of elbowroom." "This scene is where Die Hard's homage to Westerns will be resolved." "It is straight out of High Noon and dozens of others like it... but with Mc Tiernan's style and precision." "Another triangular camera move, as Eddie steps closer to his machine gun." "Mc Tiernan has many small ways of defining spatial relationships... and of milking them for suspense." "Many action movies, from Dirty Harry to Robocop... take their cues from Westerns." "Thematically, the two genres are almost identical." "A hero appears, brings some rogues to justice, and saves the girl." "And often, the town or institution he serves is not worthy of his services." "He is set apart from the community by the very thing... that enables him to save it... or avenge it:" "His willingness to do what no one else will." "Especially if it is violent." "From Westerns, action movies of the '70s and '80s... inherited the tension between American individualism... and the ideal of community." "In the early '70s, as the popularity of Westerns dwindled... action movies became Westerns by other means." "The showdown here is a recreation of the showdown in High Noon." "What's more, McClane and Hans know it." "Film EditorJohn F. Link:" "It was Gunfight at the O.K. Corral." "That's the wayJohn designed it." "John said, "This is a shoot-out." "This is a cowboy coming into town, man."" "And with all the sparks, you couldn't hear dialogue." "We took it all out." "Looped every frame of it." "The irony comes from their playing out this traditional Western scenario... in an ultramodern corporate setting..." "and a Japanese one at that." "In an ultramodern corporate setting..." "and a Japanese one at that." "Picerni's older son, Chuck, doubled for Rickman." "The shot was a practical shot..." "meaning it was real." "Picerni:" "We were dropping Alan Rickman from a forklift... twenty-five feet above an air bag." "He was a little concerned, but he did it." "He had balls." "We had him on a quick-release harness." "I told him, "I'm going to count 'three, two, one, go'... and then release you."" "But I told my man that we were going to release him on 'one.'" "Alan was still anticipating the "Go!" When we released him." "His face went "Woaaaahhh!"" "And that's the takeJohn used." "It was the most exciting." "For the wider view of the fall..." "Picerni brought in Kenny Bates to drop 32 floors on a Descender." "Picerni:" "A Descender is like an elevator." "Picerni:" "A Descender is like an elevator." "There's a cable on your back... and an extension bar hooked up to a paddle braking system." "You fall a certain number of feet per second." "DiSarro:" "He fell 32 floors and stopped right off the ground." "Scary." "De Souza:" "I sat in on a panel discussion with Callie Khourie... the screenwriter of Thelma and Louise." "She said that this moment would have been stronger... if Holly had spoken first and McClane had spoken second." "De Souza:" "I know John McTiernan and his knowledge of film..." "De Souza:" "I know John McTiernan and his knowledge of film... and I would bet money that is an homage to Sam Fuller in The Big Red One." "In The Big Red One, there's a gunfight between American and Nazi forces... that spills over into an insane asylum." "As the fight progresses, there's one insane patient who... as bodies are falling all around him, slowly starts coming back to his senses." "This unknown French actor looks... sees the American flag on the guys' uniforms, sees the German uniforms... picks up a machine gun from a fallen guy and starts shooting Germans!" "And as he's doing it, he's shouting, "I'm sane!" "I'm sane!" "Thank God I'm sane!"" "To me, John did an homage to that, without dialogue... with this wonderful expression on Reginald Veljohnson's face... which says, "Hey, I killed, so I'm cured!"" "It's funny in an extremely dark way." "And it does have this connection to the other film." "Actor Reginald Veljohnson:" "[Al] has lost faith in the system... and the system has made him lose faith in himself." "McClane helps him get that faith back so he can be the kind of man he wants to be." "Alan Rickman:" "People get involved here, and that's the thing." "If people are patronized, if a film is geared towards a short attention span... then it has a short shelf life." "Films that involve the audience and obey the "once upon a time" principle... have a chance of lasting." "It's hard to fault it." "Every beat is there." "Every climax." "The rhythm has a crescendo, but all the way along this rising crescendo... there are these little grace notes all the way through." "It has great characters... and great payoffs for all the characters... and great payoffs for all the characters... right down to Bonnie punching the reporter." "She doesn't throw a girlie punch, either." "She doesn't slap him." "She decks him." "We're storytellers, and we forget that at our peril." "Here, there was an openness to the way the story developed." "Some serendipity invaded the film." "Film EditorJohn F. Link:" "I think the most important part of films... is the written word..." "If the written word from the screenwriter does a hell of a job... then you pass that off to a director... who can take the words off the page and make it work... and then give it to us guys where we can edit." "And then give it to us guys where we can edit." "But I think any film, it's the script." "If the script doesn't work, it doesn't work." "There's a lot of shows that don't have a fabric you really want." "And like I said before, Die Hard is, as Joel Silver said, "a Swiss watch."" "It works from the beginning to the end." "And it's a brilliant film." "Al DiSarro:" "One thing I've learned... in all my years as a special effects coordinator... is that you have to have the script, the story... great actors and a great director." "Not one entity ever makes the movie great." "Die Hard wasn't a movie about one big effect." "What made this movie special was... it had an abundance of carefully thought-out effects... that tied in tremendously to the acting and the story." "Sound Editor Stephen Flick:" "The key is... if you start with a great actor who has wonderful comic potential... a fabulous director, a great score... a fabulous director, a great score... and some really, really smart producers... you're going to end up with a successful movie... the kind that everybody hopes to spawn." "And Die Hard became a model." "De Souza:" "For a while, it seemed to be so easy to imitate this model:" "Bad guys take prisoners, good guy stops them." "It seems like it writes itself, and all you have to do... is have a different place that isn't like the Die Hard building." "But there were just so many imitations... and they got more and more feeble and they made less and less sense." "The epitome of it was this movie Sudden Death." "I must confess I haven't seen it." "But I know that it was the epitome of the problem... because I had the dumb luck of having a meeting... on the Monday morning after it opened." "I walked past an open door... as the film's producer was getting the numbers... and they weren't good." "And I remember him saying, "But those can't be the right numbers." "We had to do better than that." "We had more hostages in this movie than any other picture!" "A whole arena full of hostages!"" "That's when I realized that people were going into this... with the wrong things in their minds." "I was offered a project... where, if I did the production rewrite, I'd get to direct it." "This project was hiding its larceny the least, I guess." "It was the most honest." ""I think you'll like it," they said." ""It's Die Hard in a building.""