Podcast 41: Christmas Special – Die Hard

December 23, 2021 Jon S Movies, Podcasting 01:33:41 0 Comments
Die Hard Christmas

The 3 Guys Podcast

Recorded on 12/16/2021

In this podcast episode we review the Christmas Classic Die Hard (Released 1988) starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov and Bonnie Bedelia. WARNING: There will be SPOILERS

Die Hard Christmas Book

For This podcast we read from the Die Hard Christmas book.  You can pick up your own copy via the link below:

A Die Hard Christmas: The Illustrated Holiday Classic

Notes From The Show

  • Quick Synopsis

  • Released: July 15, 1988

    Directed By: John McTiernan

    Screenplay By:   Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza

    Based On The Book: Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp

    Produced By: Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver

    Stars:   Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, Bonnie Bedelia

    Plot:  An NYPD officer tries to save his wife and several others taken hostage by German terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

    How did this movie do
    Budget: $35 Million
    Box office: $142 Million

  • Christmas Movie

    • 20th Century Fox, the production company behind the Die Hard franchise formally admitted that Die Hard was a Christmas movie after stating that, “it’s the greatest Christmas story ever told”, in a new trailer to mark the 30th anniversary of the film’s release. Thus ending much debate over the years.

    • Reasons it IS a Christmas movie:

      • Die Hard is a heartfelt movie about coming home for the holidays.

      • It takes place during a holiday office party

      • It uses Christmas music

      • McClaine’s wife is named Holly

      • Lots of presents are referenced (twinkies, watch, etc)

      • The Santa body with “Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho is a reference to Santa Claus

      • The falling bonds were like snow fall

      • The movie emphasizes selflessness over greed…and the bad guys get punished for being naughty.

    • Other Xmas movies not released in December: Gremlins (1984), Black Christmas (1974), Carol (2015), Bad Santa (2003), Batman Returns (1992), Trading Places (1983), Krampus (2015)

  • Action Formula

  • After the release of Die Hard, movie studio executives were keen to copy the Die Hard formula of one man trapped in an enclosed location fighting off against terrorists. These include Under Siege (1992) (Die Hard on a Battleship), Sudden Death (1995) (Die Hard at a hockey stadium), Air Force One (1997), Passenger 57 (1992) & Con Air (1997) (Die Hard on various types of Planes), Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) & Derailed (2002) (Die Hard on trains). These films were all the rage in the 1990s, ironically the Die Hard sequels themselves would move away from having John McClane fighting terrorists in enclosed spaces with each subsequent film upping the stakes such as fighting terrorists in an airport and surrounding area in Die Hard 2 (1990), saving the whole of New York in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) and the whole of the USA in Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

  • Casting

    • Bruce Willis received a then-unheard of $5 million fee, which was approved by Fox President Rupert Murdoch.

    • In the spring of 1987, producer Joel Silver and director John McTiernan attended a performance of the play “Dangerous Liaisons,” in which Alan Rickman played the evil Vicomte de Valmont. Immediately, Silver and McTiernan realized they had found Hans Gruber.

    • Alan Rickman nearly passed up the role of Hans Gruber, which ended up being his first film role. He had only arrived in Hollywood two days earlier and was appalled by the idea of his first role being the villain in an action film. To a degree, Rickman was right to be concerned considering his performance as Hans Gruber was so hailed that the actor had to struggle being typecast as a player of villains for much of his career.

    • After seeing the movie Heart Like a Wheel (1983), Bruce Willis loved Bonnie Bedelia’s performance in that film, he personally recommended her to play his estranged wife.

    • Bruce Willis took the role of John McClane after it had been turned down by Robert De Niro. Willis had just been turned down to play the Charles Grodin role opposite De Niro in Midnight Run (1988). Coincidentally, both films opened the same weekend.

    • George Takei wanted to play Takagi, and John McTiernan really wanted to cast him, but Takei’s agent got things mixed up. Takei was not happy.

    • Sam Neill turned down the role of Hans Gruber.

    • Richard Gere, Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Charles Bronson, Don Johnson, Richard Dean Anderson, Burt Reynolds, and Michael Madsen were considered, but declined the role of John McClane. John Travolta was considered for the role of John McClane. But 20th Century Fox wouldn’t allow it, because Travolta was considered a “has been” at that time. However, Travolta would co-star with Bruce Willis in Look Who’s Talking (1989), Look Who’s Talking Too (1990) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Michael Madsen was considered for the role of John McClane. Charles Bronson was considered for the role of John McClane but he was under contract with The Cannon Group, Inc. at the time. Al Pacino was considered for the role of John McClane, but turned it down. Nick Nolte was the first one to turn down the lead.

    • Linda Hamilton, Geena Davis, Debra Winger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Carrie Fisher and Kelly McGillis were considered for the role of Holly Gennaro-McClane.

    • Kirstie Alley was considered for the role of Holly Gennaro-McClane. But the producer of Cheers (1982), James Burroughs, wouldn’t let her take the role. The following year Alley and Bruce Willis (John McClane) would later star in Look Who’s Talking (1989).

  • Trivia

    • The costume department had 17 undershirts in various stages of degradation on hand for Bruce Willis.

    • The scene where Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman meet up was unrehearsed to create a greater feeling of spontaneity between the two actors.

    • Hart Bochner’s line “Hans… Bubby!” was ad-libbed. Alan Rickman’s quizzical reaction was genuine.

    • In 2007, Bruce Willis donated John McClane’s undershirt to the Smithsonian Museum.

    • The scene where McClane falls down a shaft was a mistake by the stuntman, who was supposed to grab the first vent, as it originally was planned. He slipped and continued to fall, but the shot was used anyway; it was edited together with one where McClane grabs the next vent down as he falls.

    • Much of the script was improvised due to the constant screenplay tweaks that were being made during filming.

    • When John McClane runs through the glass shards in his ‘bare’ feet after Hans has his men shoot out the glass partitions in the computer room, Bruce Willis is wearing special ‘rubber’ shoes designed to look like his own bare feet. One can see this if looking closely as his feet appear quite unnaturally large in some of these crucial ‘barefoot’ scenes.

    • On Alan Rickman’s first day of shooting, he filmed the scene where Hans Gruber first runs into John McClane. He made a jump off a ledge about 3-feet high. He injured himself when he landed and damaged some cartilage in his knee. He was told by his doctor not to put any weight on that leg, and he had to use crutches for a week. For the rest of the scene where Hans Gruber is standing and talking to John McClane, Alan Rickman is standing on one leg for the entire time and has a leg brace on under his pants.

    • Jeb Stuart was having difficulty writing the screenplay until he had a near-death experience while driving at night in Los Angeles after a fight with his wife. He was driving behind a truck carrying refrigerators, and one of the fridge boxes fell out of the truck. Luckily for him, the box was empty. He realized that if he had died, he wouldn’t have been able to apologize to his wife. This inspired him to give clear motivations to John McClane and Holly’s characters: they wanted to reunite with each other after having a fight.

    • In the original script, as in the original novel, the action took place over three days. But John McTiernan was inspired to have it take place over a single night by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

    • John McTiernan did not want the villains to be terrorists, considering them too mean. He chose to avoid the terrorists’ politics in favor of making them thieves in pursuit of monetary gain, believing it would make the film more suitable for summer entertainment.

    • While making this film, cinematographer Jan de Bont got trapped in a lift. This later gave him the inspiration for the opening scene of Speed (1994) which he directed.

    • Clint Eastwood originally owned the rights to the novel “Nothing Lasts Forever” on which the film is based, and planned to star in the film around the early 1980s.

    • Bruce Willis admitted he still gets squeamish whenever he sees the part where his character pulls glass shards out of his foot.

    • The movie’s iconic line: “Yippie-Ki-Yay, Motherfucker!” almost came out differently. According to various interviews and commentaries, John McTiernan thought the line should be “Yippie-TY-Yay”. Bruce Willis argued that it was “Yippie-KI-Yay”. Apparently, they tried both versions to see which one sounded better and the now famous “Yippie-Ki-Yay” won.

    • In the edited for TV version John McClains famous line was changed to “Yippie Ki Yay Melon Farmer”.

    • Due to the tourist interest in the Fox Plaza building in Los Angeles, people are now forbidden from taking photos directly outside the building.

    • John McTiernan turned the script down several times. He felt it was a nasty piece of work. When he was finally persuaded to take on the assignment, he was able to lighten some of the film’s darker edges.

    • Bruce Willis suffered permanent hearing loss while ‘shooting’, no pun intended, a scene in the Nakatomi conference room. When McClane kills the terrorist, who said, “Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don’t hesitate” by firing his Beretta through the conference table and jesting after, “Thanks for the advice!”, he suffered severe damage to his left ear. The stunt weapons specialist engineered blanks to be extra loud and produce extreme muzzle flashes for dramatic effect. The close quarters under the table and the use of plexiglass to protect the actor from flying shell casings and wood splinters further increased the sound effect. In 2019, Willis said in and interview, “Due to an accident on the first Die Hard, I suffer two-thirds partial hearing loss in my left ear and have a tendency to say, ‘Whaaa?’ The actor has worn a hearing aid for years unbeknownst to most fans.

    • Bruce Willis and Demi Moore tied the knot at the Golden Nugget hotel in Las Vegas during this shoot, Moore, having recently broken her engagement to Emilio Estevez. Little Richard presided over the ceremony, and former Brat Pack member Ally Sheedy was a bridesmaid.

    • The helicopter flying around the building near the end of the film took six months of preparation and they only had two hours to film it. It took three runs and nine camera crews. Everyone within 500 feet of the line of flight had to be an employee.

    • Die Hard ends with the song, “let it snow”. The immeidate sequel takes place almost entirely in the snow.

    • For the shot where Hans Gruber falls from the top of the building, Alan Rickman was actually falling from a 21-foot high model. He was holding on to a stunt man and falling on to an air bag. To get the right reaction, the stunt man dropped Rickman on the count of two, not three.

    • Al Leong (Uli) improvised the scene where he’s eating a Crunch bar and a Mars Bar a few moments before the SWAT team shootout, as he felt the scene could use some comic relief.

    • During the scene where Hans Gruber is offered a cigarette by John McClane, he holds the cigarette as a European would. It was intended to be taken as a clue to his identity for John.

    • On-screen body count: 21. These include (in order) both Nakatomi security guards, Takagi, Tony, Heinrich, Marco, James and Alexander (both blown up at the same time), Ellis, Fritz, Franco, Uli, both Agents Johnson and the four other men on the chopper, Eddie, Hans and Karl.

    • The main differences between the book and the movie are that in the book, he is visiting his daughter and not his wife, and in the book it is an actual terrorist attack rather than an elaborately staged robbery. The love interest in the book is the flight attendant from the flight into LA, and his daughter dies at the end of the book. Additionally, Joe Leland (the character who became John McClane) is permanently crippled by the time the book is over.

      • The Roderick Thorp book “Nothing Lasts Forever,” which serves as the basis for this movie, was a sequel to the book and film The Detective (1968), with Frank Sinatra as Joe Leland. Surprisingly, few of the book’s details are changed. Originally, a much older Leland (changed to McClane) was visiting his daughter, Steffie Leland Gennaro, who worked for the Klaxxon oil company. Takagi was originally a VP of sales named Rivers. Harry Ellis, Al Powell, and Dwayne Robinson were essentially the same, but the FBI was not involved. Hans Gruber was originally Anton “Little Tony” Gruber, while Hans was the name of Karl’s brother. The purpose of the terrorist takeover was to allow the West German radical group to uncover an illegal arms shipment Klaxxon was making to a Chilean dictatorship. Finally, in the end scene (which was Christmas morning at 10 AM), Anton Gruber is shot by Leland and falls out the window, also catching a finger on Gennaro’s watch, but in this case he pulls her out the window to her death.

Released: July 15, 1988

Directed By: John McTiernan

Screenplay By:   Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de Souza

Based On The Book: Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp

Produced By: Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver

Stars:   Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, Bonnie Bedelia

Plot:  An NYPD officer tries to save his wife and several others taken hostage by German terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

How did this movie do
Budget: $35 Million
Box office: $142 Million

  • 20th Century Fox, the production company behind the Die Hard franchise formally admitted that Die Hard was a Christmas movie after stating that, “it’s the greatest Christmas story ever told”, in a new trailer to mark the 30th anniversary of the film’s release. Thus ending much debate over the years.

  • Reasons it IS a Christmas movie:

    • Die Hard is a heartfelt movie about coming home for the holidays.

    • It takes place during a holiday office party

    • It uses Christmas music

    • McClaine’s wife is named Holly

    • Lots of presents are referenced (twinkies, watch, etc)

    • The Santa body with “Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho is a reference to Santa Claus

    • The falling bonds were like snow fall

    • The movie emphasizes selflessness over greed…and the bad guys get punished for being naughty.

  • Other Xmas movies not released in December: Gremlins (1984), Black Christmas (1974), Carol (2015), Bad Santa (2003), Batman Returns (1992), Trading Places (1983), Krampus (2015)

After the release of Die Hard, movie studio executives were keen to copy the Die Hard formula of one man trapped in an enclosed location fighting off against terrorists. These include Under Siege (1992) (Die Hard on a Battleship), Sudden Death (1995) (Die Hard at a hockey stadium), Air Force One (1997), Passenger 57 (1992) & Con Air (1997) (Die Hard on various types of Planes), Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995) & Derailed (2002) (Die Hard on trains). These films were all the rage in the 1990s, ironically the Die Hard sequels themselves would move away from having John McClane fighting terrorists in enclosed spaces with each subsequent film upping the stakes such as fighting terrorists in an airport and surrounding area in Die Hard 2 (1990), saving the whole of New York in Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995) and the whole of the USA in Live Free or Die Hard (2007).

  • Bruce Willis received a then-unheard of $5 million fee, which was approved by Fox President Rupert Murdoch.

  • In the spring of 1987, producer Joel Silver and director John McTiernan attended a performance of the play “Dangerous Liaisons,” in which Alan Rickman played the evil Vicomte de Valmont. Immediately, Silver and McTiernan realized they had found Hans Gruber.

  • Alan Rickman nearly passed up the role of Hans Gruber, which ended up being his first film role. He had only arrived in Hollywood two days earlier and was appalled by the idea of his first role being the villain in an action film. To a degree, Rickman was right to be concerned considering his performance as Hans Gruber was so hailed that the actor had to struggle being typecast as a player of villains for much of his career.

  • After seeing the movie Heart Like a Wheel (1983), Bruce Willis loved Bonnie Bedelia’s performance in that film, he personally recommended her to play his estranged wife.

  • Bruce Willis took the role of John McClane after it had been turned down by Robert De Niro. Willis had just been turned down to play the Charles Grodin role opposite De Niro in Midnight Run (1988). Coincidentally, both films opened the same weekend.

  • George Takei wanted to play Takagi, and John McTiernan really wanted to cast him, but Takei’s agent got things mixed up. Takei was not happy.

  • Sam Neill turned down the role of Hans Gruber.

  • Richard Gere, Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Charles Bronson, Don Johnson, Richard Dean Anderson, Burt Reynolds, and Michael Madsen were considered, but declined the role of John McClane. John Travolta was considered for the role of John McClane. But 20th Century Fox wouldn’t allow it, because Travolta was considered a “has been” at that time. However, Travolta would co-star with Bruce Willis in Look Who’s Talking (1989), Look Who’s Talking Too (1990) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Michael Madsen was considered for the role of John McClane. Charles Bronson was considered for the role of John McClane but he was under contract with The Cannon Group, Inc. at the time. Al Pacino was considered for the role of John McClane, but turned it down. Nick Nolte was the first one to turn down the lead.

  • Linda Hamilton, Geena Davis, Debra Winger, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Carrie Fisher and Kelly McGillis were considered for the role of Holly Gennaro-McClane.

  • Kirstie Alley was considered for the role of Holly Gennaro-McClane. But the producer of Cheers (1982), James Burroughs, wouldn’t let her take the role. The following year Alley and Bruce Willis (John McClane) would later star in Look Who’s Talking (1989).
  • The costume department had 17 undershirts in various stages of degradation on hand for Bruce Willis.

  • The scene where Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman meet up was unrehearsed to create a greater feeling of spontaneity between the two actors.

  • Hart Bochner’s line “Hans… Bubby!” was ad-libbed. Alan Rickman’s quizzical reaction was genuine.

  • In 2007, Bruce Willis donated John McClane’s undershirt to the Smithsonian Museum.

  • The scene where McClane falls down a shaft was a mistake by the stuntman, who was supposed to grab the first vent, as it originally was planned. He slipped and continued to fall, but the shot was used anyway; it was edited together with one where McClane grabs the next vent down as he falls.

  • Much of the script was improvised due to the constant screenplay tweaks that were being made during filming.

  • When John McClane runs through the glass shards in his ‘bare’ feet after Hans has his men shoot out the glass partitions in the computer room, Bruce Willis is wearing special ‘rubber’ shoes designed to look like his own bare feet. One can see this if looking closely as his feet appear quite unnaturally large in some of these crucial ‘barefoot’ scenes.

  • On Alan Rickman’s first day of shooting, he filmed the scene where Hans Gruber first runs into John McClane. He made a jump off a ledge about 3-feet high. He injured himself when he landed and damaged some cartilage in his knee. He was told by his doctor not to put any weight on that leg, and he had to use crutches for a week. For the rest of the scene where Hans Gruber is standing and talking to John McClane, Alan Rickman is standing on one leg for the entire time and has a leg brace on under his pants.

  • Jeb Stuart was having difficulty writing the screenplay until he had a near-death experience while driving at night in Los Angeles after a fight with his wife. He was driving behind a truck carrying refrigerators, and one of the fridge boxes fell out of the truck. Luckily for him, the box was empty. He realized that if he had died, he wouldn’t have been able to apologize to his wife. This inspired him to give clear motivations to John McClane and Holly’s characters: they wanted to reunite with each other after having a fight.

  • In the original script, as in the original novel, the action took place over three days. But John McTiernan was inspired to have it take place over a single night by Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

  • John McTiernan did not want the villains to be terrorists, considering them too mean. He chose to avoid the terrorists’ politics in favor of making them thieves in pursuit of monetary gain, believing it would make the film more suitable for summer entertainment.

  • While making this film, cinematographer Jan de Bont got trapped in a lift. This later gave him the inspiration for the opening scene of Speed (1994) which he directed.

  • Clint Eastwood originally owned the rights to the novel “Nothing Lasts Forever” on which the film is based, and planned to star in the film around the early 1980s.

  • Bruce Willis admitted he still gets squeamish whenever he sees the part where his character pulls glass shards out of his foot.

  • The movie’s iconic line: “Yippie-Ki-Yay, Motherfucker!” almost came out differently. According to various interviews and commentaries, John McTiernan thought the line should be “Yippie-TY-Yay”. Bruce Willis argued that it was “Yippie-KI-Yay”. Apparently, they tried both versions to see which one sounded better and the now famous “Yippie-Ki-Yay” won.

  • In the edited for TV version John McClains famous line was changed to “Yippie Ki Yay Melon Farmer”.

  • Due to the tourist interest in the Fox Plaza building in Los Angeles, people are now forbidden from taking photos directly outside the building.

  • John McTiernan turned the script down several times. He felt it was a nasty piece of work. When he was finally persuaded to take on the assignment, he was able to lighten some of the film’s darker edges.

  • Bruce Willis suffered permanent hearing loss while ‘shooting’, no pun intended, a scene in the Nakatomi conference room. When McClane kills the terrorist, who said, “Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don’t hesitate” by firing his Beretta through the conference table and jesting after, “Thanks for the advice!”, he suffered severe damage to his left ear. The stunt weapons specialist engineered blanks to be extra loud and produce extreme muzzle flashes for dramatic effect. The close quarters under the table and the use of plexiglass to protect the actor from flying shell casings and wood splinters further increased the sound effect. In 2019, Willis said in and interview, “Due to an accident on the first Die Hard, I suffer two-thirds partial hearing loss in my left ear and have a tendency to say, ‘Whaaa?’ The actor has worn a hearing aid for years unbeknownst to most fans.

  • Bruce Willis and Demi Moore tied the knot at the Golden Nugget hotel in Las Vegas during this shoot, Moore, having recently broken her engagement to Emilio Estevez. Little Richard presided over the ceremony, and former Brat Pack member Ally Sheedy was a bridesmaid.

  • The helicopter flying around the building near the end of the film took six months of preparation and they only had two hours to film it. It took three runs and nine camera crews. Everyone within 500 feet of the line of flight had to be an employee.

  • Die Hard ends with the song, “let it snow”. The immeidate sequel takes place almost entirely in the snow.

  • For the shot where Hans Gruber falls from the top of the building, Alan Rickman was actually falling from a 21-foot high model. He was holding on to a stunt man and falling on to an air bag. To get the right reaction, the stunt man dropped Rickman on the count of two, not three.

  • Al Leong (Uli) improvised the scene where he’s eating a Crunch bar and a Mars Bar a few moments before the SWAT team shootout, as he felt the scene could use some comic relief.

  • During the scene where Hans Gruber is offered a cigarette by John McClane, he holds the cigarette as a European would. It was intended to be taken as a clue to his identity for John.

  • On-screen body count: 21. These include (in order) both Nakatomi security guards, Takagi, Tony, Heinrich, Marco, James and Alexander (both blown up at the same time), Ellis, Fritz, Franco, Uli, both Agents Johnson and the four other men on the chopper, Eddie, Hans and Karl.

  • The main differences between the book and the movie are that in the book, he is visiting his daughter and not his wife, and in the book it is an actual terrorist attack rather than an elaborately staged robbery. The love interest in the book is the flight attendant from the flight into LA, and his daughter dies at the end of the book. Additionally, Joe Leland (the character who became John McClane) is permanently crippled by the time the book is over.

    • The Roderick Thorp book “Nothing Lasts Forever,” which serves as the basis for this movie, was a sequel to the book and film The Detective (1968), with Frank Sinatra as Joe Leland. Surprisingly, few of the book’s details are changed. Originally, a much older Leland (changed to McClane) was visiting his daughter, Steffie Leland Gennaro, who worked for the Klaxxon oil company. Takagi was originally a VP of sales named Rivers. Harry Ellis, Al Powell, and Dwayne Robinson were essentially the same, but the FBI was not involved. Hans Gruber was originally Anton “Little Tony” Gruber, while Hans was the name of Karl’s brother. The purpose of the terrorist takeover was to allow the West German radical group to uncover an illegal arms shipment Klaxxon was making to a Chilean dictatorship. Finally, in the end scene (which was Christmas morning at 10 AM), Anton Gruber is shot by Leland and falls out the window, also catching a finger on Gennaro’s watch, but in this case he pulls her out the window to her death.

The 3 Guys Rating

4.8/5

About The Movie From IMDB

Die Hard Action, Thriller | July 20, 1988 (United States) 8.2
Director: John McTiernanWriter: Roderick Thorp, Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de SouzaStars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie BedeliaSummary: NYPD cop John McClane goes on a Christmas vacation to visit his wife Holly in Los Angeles where she works for the Nakatomi Corporation. While they are at the Nakatomi headquarters for a Christmas party, a group of robbers led by Hans Gruber take control of the building and hold everyone hostage, with the exception of John, while they plan to perform a lucrative heist. Unable to escape and with no immediate police response, John is forced to take matters into his own hands. —Sam

Photos


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Videos


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Cast

Bruce Willis
...
John McClane
Alan Rickman
...
Hans Gruber
Bonnie Bedelia
...
Holly Gennaro McClane
Reginald VelJohnson
...
Sgt. Al Powell
Paul Gleason
...
Dwayne T. Robinson
De'voreaux White
...
Argyle
William Atherton
...
Thornburg
Hart Bochner
...
Ellis
James Shigeta
...
Takagi
Alexander Godunov
...
Karl
Bruno Doyon
...
Franco
Andreas Wisniewski
...
Tony
Clarence Gilyard Jr.
...
Theo
Joey Plewa
...
Alexander
Lorenzo Caccialanza
...
Marco
Gérard Bonn
...
Kristoff
Dennis Hayden
...
Eddie
Al Leong
...
Uli

See full cast >>
Countries: United StatesLanguages: English, German, Italian, JapaneseBudget: $28,000,000 (estimated)
Source: imdb.com
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8.2
Die Hard Action, Thriller | July 20, 1988 (United States)
Director: John McTiernanWriter: Roderick Thorp, Jeb Stuart, Steven E. de SouzaStars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia
Summary: An NYPD officer tries to save his wife and several others taken hostage by German terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Countries: United StatesLanguages: English, German, Italian, Japanese
Source: imdb.comDisclaimer: This plugin has been coded to automatically quote data from imdb.com. Not available for any other purpose. All showing data have a link to imdb.com. The user is responsible for any other use or change codes.

Quotes

John McClane: [huddled in an air vent, recalls his wife's invitation] "Come out to the coast, we'll get together, have a few laughs..."

Supervisor: [as McClane tries to call up police] Attention, whoever you are, this channel is reserved for emergency calls only.

John McClane: No fucking shit, lady! Does it sound like I'm ordering a pizza?

Hans Gruber: [on the radio] Mr. Mystery Guest? Are you still there?

John McClane: Yeah, I'm still here. Unless you wanna open the front door for me.

Hans Gruber: Uh, no, 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?

John McClane: Was always kinda partial to Roy Rogers actually. I really like those sequined shirts.

Hans Gruber: Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?

John McClane: Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.

Dwayne T. Robinson: I've got a hundred people down here, and they're covered with glass.

John McClane: Glass? Who gives a shit about glass? Who the fuck is this?

Dwayne T. Robinson: This is Deputy Chief of Police, Dwayne T. Robinson, and I am in charge of this situation.

John McClane: Oh, you're in charge? Well, I got some bad news for you *Dwayne*, from up here it doesn't look like you're in charge of jack shit.

Dwayne T. Robinson: You listen to me, you little asshole, I'm...

John McClane: Asshole? I'm not the one who just got butt-fucked on national TV, *Dwayne*. Now, you listen to me, jerk-off, if you're not a part of the solution, you're a part of the problem. Quit being a part of the fucking problem and put the other guy back on!

Hans Gruber: [Reading what McClane wrote on the dead terrorist's shirt] "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho."

John McClane: Welcome to the party, pal.

Hans Gruber: This time John Wayne does not walk off into the sunset with Grace Kelly.

John McClane: That was Gary Cooper, asshole.

John McClane: You'd have made a pretty good cowboy yourself, Hans.

Hans Gruber: Oh, yes. What was it you said to me before? "Yippie-ki-yay, motherfucker."

Hans Gruber: [Hans' radio turns on] I thought I told all of you, I want radio silence until further...

John McClane: Ooooh, I'm very sorry Hans. I didn't get that message. Maybe you should've put it on the bulletin board. I figured since I've waxed Tony and Marco and his friend here, I figured you and Karl and Franco might be a little lonely, so I wanted to give you a call.

Karl: How does he know so much about th...

Hans Gruber: [silences Karl him with a gesture] That's very kind of you. I assume you are our mysterious party crasher. You are most troublesome, for a security guard.

John McClane: Eeeh! Sorry Hans, wrong guess. Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change?

[speaking to dead man about cigarettes]

John McClane: Whoa, these are very bad for you.

Hans Gruber: Who are you then?

John McClane: Just a fly in the ointment, Hans. The monkey in the wrench. The pain in the ass.

Ginny: [Karl smashes a table of glasses in fury] God. That man looks *really* pissed.

Holly Gennero McClane: He's still alive.

Ginny: What?

Holly Gennero McClane: Only John can drive somebody that crazy.

Hans Gruber: "And when Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept, for there were no more worlds to conquer." Benefits of a classical education.

John McClane: You throw quite a party. I didn't realize they celebrated Christmas in Japan.

Joseph Takagi: Hey, we're flexible. Pearl Harbor didn't work out so we got you with tape decks.

John McClane: Drop it, dickhead. It's the police.

Tony: You won't hurt me.

John McClane: Oh, yeah? Why not?

Tony: Because you're a policeman. There are rules for policemen.

John McClane: Yeah. That's what my captain keeps telling me.

Holly Gennero McClane: After all your posturing, all your little speeches, you're nothing but a common thief.

Hans Gruber: I am an exceptional thief, Mrs. McClane. And since I'm moving up to kidnapping, you should be more polite.

Sergeant Al Powell: I shot a kid. He was 13 years old. Ohhh, it was dark, I couldn't see him. He had a ray gun, looked real enough. You know, when you're a rookie, they can teach you everything about bein' a cop except how to live with a mistake. Anyway, I just couldn't bring myself to draw my gun on anybody again.

Hans Gruber: When they touch down, we'll blow the roof, they'll spend a month sifting through rubble, and by the time they figure out what went wrong, we'll be sitting on a beach, earning twenty percent.

Hans: The following people are to be released from their captors: In Northern Ireland, the seven members of the New Provo Front. In Canada, the five imprisoned leaders of Liberte de Quebec. In Sri Lanka, the nine members of the Asian Dawn movement...

John McClane: [listening on the radio] What the fuck?

Karl: [mouthing silently] Asian Dawn?

Hans: [covers the radio] I read about them in Time magazine.

John McClane: [while crawling through a narrow ventilation shaft] Now I know what a TV dinner feels like.

John McClane: Who's driving this car, Stevie Wonder?

Holly Gennero McClane: I have a request.

Hans Gruber: What idiot put you in charge?

Holly Gennero McClane: You did.

[Hans looks at her]

Holly Gennero McClane: 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.

[long pause]

Hans Gruber: Go on.

Holly Gennero McClane: We have a pregnant woman out there.

[Hans looks disturbed]

Holly Gennero McClane: Relax. She's not due for a couple of weeks. Sitting on that rock isn't doing her back any good, so I would like permission to move her to one of the office where there's a sofa.

Hans Gruber: No, but I'll have a sofa brought out to you. Good enough?

Holly Gennero McClane: Good enough, and unless you like it messy, I'd start bringing us in groups to the bathroom.

Hans Gruber: Yes... you're right, it will be done.

Joseph Takagi: You want money? What kind of terrorists are you?

Hans Gruber: Who said we were terrorists?

Hans Gruber: Touching, Cowboy, touching. Or should I call you, Mr. McClane? Mr. Officer John McClane of the New York Police Department?

Richard Thornburg: Get on the phone to Harry in New York. Come on, baby, move, move.

Thornburg's Assistant: Got it.

Sergeant Al Powell: Better get a hold of somebody in dispatch.

John McClane: Sister Teresa called me Mr. McClane in the third grade. My friends call me John, and you're neither, shit-head.

Hans Gruber: I have someone who wants to talk to you; a very special friend who was with you at the party tonight.

Harry Ellis: [Hans hands him the walkie talkie] Hey, John boy.

John McClane: Ellis?

Harry 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 doing your job, John, and I can appreciate that, but, you're just dragging this thing out. Now look, no one gets outta here until these guys can talk to the *LA* police, and that just ain't gonna happen until you stop messin' up the works, capisci?

John McClane: Ellis, what have you told them?

Harry Ellis: I told 'em we were old friends and you were my guest at the party.

John McClane: Ellis, you shouldn't be doin' this.

Harry Ellis: Tell me about it. Alright, John, listen. They want you to tell them where the detonators are. They know people are listening. They want the detonators or they're gonna kill me.

[pause]

Harry Ellis: John, didn't you hear me?

John McClane: Yeah, I hear you.

Harry Ellis: Hey, John, I think you can get with the program a little, huh? The police are here now, it's their problem. Now tell these guys where the detonators are so no one else gets hurt, you know I'm putting my life on the line for you, pal.

John McClane: Ellis, listen to me very carefully.

Harry Ellis: John?

John McClane: Shut up Ellis, just shut your mouth! Put Hans back on the line.

[Ellis holds the walkie talkie up]

John McClane: Hans, this shit-head does not know what kind of man you are, but I do. Listen to me!

Hans Gruber: Good. Then, you'll give us what we want and save your friend's life. You're not part of this equation this time, you realize that.

[presents his gun]

Harry Ellis: Hey, what am I, a method actor? Hans, babe, put away the gun, this is radio, not television.

John McClane: [nervously yelling] Hans, this asshole is not my friend, I just met him tonight, I don't know him. Jesus Christ, Ellis these people are gonna kill you, tell them, you don't know me.

Harry Ellis: John, how can you say that after all these years, huh? John?

[gets no response]

Harry Ellis: John?

[still gets no response, then laughs slightly, then Hans shoots him in the head]

Hans Gruber: [he puts the walkie talkie up to the screaming crowd, then yells into the walkie talkie] You hear that? Talk to me, where are my detonators? Where are they, or shall I shoot another one? Sooner or later, I might get to someone you *do* care about!

John McClane: Go fuck yourself, Hans.

Theo: [as the SWAT Team closes in]

[over the CB]

Theo: 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 two-by-two cover formation.

John McClane: So that's is what this is about, Hans? A fucking robbery?

Hans Gruber: Put down the gun.

John McClane: Why'd you have to nuke the whole building, Hans?

Hans Gruber: Well, when you steal $600, you can just disappear. When you steal 600 million, they will find you, unless they think you're already dead.

Dwayne T. Robinson: We're gonna need some more FBI guys, I guess.

Sergeant Al Powell: Hey Roy, how you feeling?

John McClane: Pretty fuckin' unappreciated, Al.

John McClane: [fighting Karl] You motherfucker, I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna fuckin' cook you, and I'm gonna fucking eat you!

FBI Agent Johnson: I'm Agent Johnson, this is Special Agent Johnson.

Dwayne T. Robinson: Oh, how you doin'?

FBI Agent Johnson: No relation.

Sergeant Al Powell: [over radio] Hey, John? John McClane you still with us?

John McClane: Yeah. But all things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia. Chalk up two more bad guys.

[Begins removing glass from foot]

Sergeant Al Powell: Well, the boys down here will be glad to hear that. You know we got a pool going on you.

John McClane: What kind of odds am I getting?

Sergeant Al Powell: You don't wanna know.

John McClane: Put me down for twenty, I'm good for it.

[pulls shard of glass from foot]

John McClane: . Hey pal, you got flat feet?

Sergeant Al Powell: What the hell you talking about, man.

John McClane: Something had to get you off the street.

Sergeant Al Powell: What's the matter? You don't think jockeying papers around a desk is a noble effort for a cop?

John McClane: No...

Sergeant Al Powell: I had an accident.

John McClane: The way you drive, I can see why. What'd you do? Run over your captains foot with the car?

Sergeant Al Powell: I shot a kid. He was 13 years old. Oh, it was dark, I couldn't see him, he had a ray gun, looked real enough. You know 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 anyone again.

John McClane: ...Sorry man.

Dwayne T. Robinson: Did you hear that? He just let the guy die, man. He just gave him up. Gimme that headset. That's like pullin' the trigger yourself.

Sergeant Al Powell: Christ, man. Can't you see what's happening? Can't you read between the lines?

Dwayne T. Robinson: Cold. This on the right channel?

Cop: Yes, sir.

Sergeant Al Powell: He did everything he could to save him. If he gave himself up, they'd both be dead right now.

Dwayne T. Robinson: Oh, no way, man, no way. They'd be talking to us. Listen, you tell this partner of yours, Powell, to stay the hell out of this from now on, do you hear me? Because, if he doesn't, I'm gonna nail him, boy. I'm really gonna nail his ass, now, believe me.

Sergeant Al Powell: The man is hurting! He is alone, tired, and he hasn't seen diddly-squat from anybody down here. Now you're gonna stand there and tell me that he's gonna give a damn about what you do to him, *if* he makes it out of there alive? Why don't you wake up and smell what you shoveling?

Dwayne T. Robinson: You listen to me, Sergeant. Any time you wanna go home, you consider yourself dismissed.

Sergeant Al Powell: No, sir. You couldn't drag me away.

Hans: [Hans uses McClane's gun and says something in an uninterpreted German on his CB Radio] Put down the gun, and give me my detonators.

John McClane: Well, well, well... Hans.

Hans: Put it down now.

John McClane: That's pretty tricky with that accent. You oughta be on fucking TV with that accent. But what do you want with the detonators, Hans? I already used all the explosives. Or did I?

Hans: I'm going to count to three...

John McClane: Yeah, like you did with Takagi?

John McClane: [Hans pulls trigger] Ooops.

[Hans pulls the trigger a few times more]

John McClane: No more bullets. What do you think, I'm fucking stupid, Hans?

Hans: [elevator opens] You were saying?

John McClane: Geronimo, Motherfucker!

Hans Gruber: The circuits that cannot be cut are cut automatically in response to a terrorist incident. You asked for miracles, Theo, I give you the F.B.I.

John McClane: Happy trails, Hans.

Hans Gruber: Nice suit. John Phillips, London. I have two myself. Rumor has it Arafat buys his there.

John McClane: [John is fighting Karl] You should have heard your brother squeal when I broke his fucking neck.

Harry Ellis: Hey babe, I negotiate million dollar deals for breakfast. I think I can handle this Eurotrash.

John McClane: Son of a bitch! Fist with your toes.

John McClane: [stealing Tony's shoes] Nine million terrorists in the world and I gotta kill one with feet smaller than my sister.

Big Johnson: [flying in the chopper to the roof] Just like fuckin' Saigon, hey, Slick?

Little Johnson: [smiling] I was in junior high, dickhead.

Hans Gruber: [during a shootout with McClane, who is barefoot] Karl, schieß dem Fenster

[sic]

Hans Gruber: [Karl gives Hans a puzzled look. Exasperated, Hans repeats it in English] *Shoot* the *glass!*

John McClane: [upon seeing Marco arrive, suspense music plays] Freeze m*th*rf*cker!

Marco: [panicking] Oh God! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!

John McClane: Drop the gun!

Marco: [starts to do so] Ok! But don't shoot! Don't shoot!

John McClane: Put it on the ground!

Marco: [still doing so but very slowly] I know! But don't shoot! Don't shoot!

Heinrich: [music changes to a climatic theme as Heinrich comes in] Marco duck!

Marco: [John easily shoots Heinrich but Marco manages to take cover. John then hides under a long conference table]

[after a quick scene change Marco is on the table shooting it as he walks down it]

Marco: You a dog now. Where you going pal? Soon there will be no more table.

[empties his clip and jams a fresh one in]

Marco: Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don't hesitate.

[prepares to start shooting again when...]

John McClane: [fires upwards several times riddling Marco with bullets. Marco drops dead on the table with bullets and wood splinters in him] Thanks for the advice.

Harry Ellis: I hope I'm not interrupting anything.

Hans Gruber: What does he want?

Harry Ellis: It's not what I want, it's what I can give you.

[comes in]

Harry Ellis: Well, I've watched 60 Minutes, and I'm saying to myself, they're motivated, they're happening, I.E. they want something. Maybe it's because you're pissed off or maybe it's the jockies, it's none of my business.

Hans Gruber: You're amazing. You've figured this all out out already.

Harry Ellis: 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 in a hostile takeover, you snatch us up for some green mail, but you're not expecting some poison pill to be running around the building, am I right? Hans, *bubby*, I'm your white knight.

Hans Gruber: [Looking puzzled] I must have missed 60 Minutes. What are you saying?

Harry Ellis: You know that guy that's fucking things up upstairs?

[sits down]

Harry Ellis: I can give him to you.

[grins]

Gail Wallens: Author of "Hostage Terrorist, Terrorist Hostage: A Study in Duality." Dr. Hasseldorf, what can we expect in the next few hours?

Dr. Hasseldorf: Well, Gail, by this time the hostages should be going through the early stages of the Helsinki Syndrome.

Harvey Johnson: As in Helsinki, Sweden.

Dr. Hasseldorf: Finland.

Theo: [laughing as a LAPD SWAT armored vehicle is hit with a missile] Oh my God, the quarterback is TOAST!

FBI Special Agent Johnson: Authorization? How about the United States FUCKING government? Lose the grid, or you lose your job.

John McClane: [McClane watches fire trucks approach the building] C'mon baby, come ta' papa, I'll kiss ya' fuckin' dalmatian.

Sergeant Al Powell: [about McClane] In fact, I think he's a cop. Maybe not LAPD, but he's definitely a badge.

Dwayne T. Robinson: How do you know that?

Sergeant Al Powell: A hunch, things he said. Like being able to spot a phony ID.

Dwayne T. Robinson: Jesus Christ, Powell, he could be a fucking bartender for all we know.

Hans Gruber: [to Takagi] I'm going to count to three, there will not be a four. Give me the code.

Takagi: [Hans is threatening to kill Takagi if he doesn't divulge the code to the vault] I don't know it, I'm telling you. Get on a jet to Tokyo and ask the Chairman. I'm telling you, you're just going to have to kill me.

Hans Gruber: Okay.

[shoots Takagi in the head]

Hans Gruber: We do it the hard way.

Cop: Sir, the FBI is here.

Dwayne T. Robinson: Oh, the FBI is here, now?

Cop: Yes, sir. Right over there.

Dwayne T. Robinson: Hold this.

[straightens his jacket]

Sergeant Al Powell: Want a breath mint?

Hans Gruber: [addressing the hostages] I wanted this to be professional, efficient, adult, cooperative. Not a lot to ask. Alas, your 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 of here 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.

Dwayne T. Robinson: We don't know shit, Powell. If there's hostages, how come nobody's come to us with ransom demands, huh? If there's terrorists in there, where's their list of demands? All we know is that somebody shot your car up. It's probably the same silly son of a bitch you've been talking to on that radio.

Sergeant Al Powell: Excuse me, sir! But what about the body that fell out the window?

Dwayne T. Robinson: Well, who knows? Probably some stockbroker, got depressed.

Dwayne T. Robinson: [Watching Hans fall to his death from the 30th floor] Oh, I hope that's not a hostage.

FBI Special Agent Johnson: [on the phone] This is agent Johnson. No, the other one.

John McClane: [after McClane sets off massive explosion] Is the building on fire?

Sergeant Al Powell: No, but it's gonna need a paint job and a shit load of screen doors.

John McClane: [after witnessing Mr. Takagi's murder]

[talking to himself]

John McClane: Why the fuck didn't you stop 'em, John? 'Cause then you'd be dead, too, asshole.

John McClane: [Tying fire hose around his waist] Oh, John, what the fuck are you doing? How the fuck did you get into this shit?

John McClane: But, all things being equal, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.

[the FBI shoots at McClane on the roof, thinking he's one of the terrorists]

John McClane: I'm on your side, you assholes!

[Argyle turns on the radio in the limousine and Run DMC's "Christmas in Hollis" is playing]

Argyle: Hey, that'll work.

John McClane: Don't you got any Christmas music?

Argyle: This *is* Christmas music!

[last lines]

John McClane: Merry Christmas, Argyle.

Argyle: Merry Christmas.

Richard Thornburg: [to the camera] Did ya get that?

Argyle: [Argyle shuts the limo door] If this is their idea of Christmas, I *gotta* be here for New Year's.

John McClane: [after being kissed on the face by a stranger on a party] Jesus! Fuckin' California!

John McClane: [When he drops a chair wired with C4 down an elevator shaft] Let's see you take *this* under advisement, jerkweed!

FBI Special Agent Johnson: Figure we take out the terrorists. Lose twenty, twenty-five percent of the hostages, tops.

FBI Agent Johnson: I can live with that.

John McClane: [McClane, before jumping from 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.

Hans: Mr. Takagi, I could talk about industrialization and men's fashion all day, but I'm afraid work must intrude, and my associate, Theo, has some questions for you. Sort of fill in the blanks questions, actually.

Harry Ellis: [watching the terrorists in deep discussion] What do you think?

Holly Gennero McClane: Something's wrong.

Harry Ellis: Cops?

Holly Gennero McClane: [pauses] John.

Harry Ellis: John? Aw, Christ, he can fuck this whole thing up! What does he think he's doing?

Holly Gennero McClane: His job.

Harry Ellis: Bullshit! His job's three thousand miles away. Without him, we still have a chance we might be able to get outta here.

Holly Gennero McClane: Tell that to Takagi.

[first lines]

Businessman: You don't like flying, do you?

John McClane: What gives you that idea?

Businessman: You wanna know the secret to surviving air travel? After you get where you're going, take off your shoes and your socks then walk around on the rug bare foot and make fists with your toes.

John McClane: Fists with your toes?

Businessman: I know, I know, it sounds crazy. Trust me, I've been doing it for nine years. Yes sir, better than a shower and a hot cup of coffee.

John McClane: Okay.

[the businessman sees John's gun]

John McClane: It's okay, I'm a cop. Trust me, I've been doing this for eleven years.

Hans Gruber: Now, you *can* break the code?

Theo: You didn't bring me along for my charming personality.

Harry Ellis: [Trying to get the German Terrorist's attention] Hey, sprechen ze talk?

Hans Gruber: [after bad guys hit police ram with rocket]

[in radio to bad guys]

Hans Gruber: Hit it, again.

John McClane: [in radio to Hans] Hans you motherfucker, you made your point! Let them pull back!

Hans Gruber: [in radio to McClaine] Thank you, Mr. Cowboy, I'll take it under advisement.

[to bad guys]

Hans Gruber: *Hit it, again.*

Sergeant Al Powell: [after the FBI cuts the power to the building] Well, what are we gonna do now? Arrest them for not paying their electric bill?

FBI Agent Johnson: We've shut them down. We let 'em sweat for a while, then... we give 'em helicopters.

FBI Special Agent Johnson: Right up the ass.

Karl: [holding a gun to McClane's head, takes his radio] We are both professionals. This is personal.

[smashes the radio]

Fritz: They're using artillery on us!

Hans Gruber: You idiot, it's not the police. It's *him*!

[referring to McClane]

John McClane: These guys are mostly European judging by their clothing labels and...

[long pause]

John McClane: cigarettes. They're well-financed and very slick.

Sergeant Al Powell: Well, now, how do you know that?

John McClane: I've seen enough phony ID's in my time 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 and they're here to stay.

Sergeant Al Powell: I hear ya, partner. And L.A.'s finest are on it.

Hans Gruber: Theo, are we on schedule?

Theo: One more to go then it's up to you. And you better be right, because it looks like this last one is going to take a miracle.

Hans Gruber: It's Christmas, Theo. It's the time of miracles. So be of good cheer... and call me when you hit the last lock.

John McClane: [Getting out a pack of cigarettes] Do you smoke?

Hans Gruber: [while mimicing a hostage] Yeah.

[McClane hands him the pack of cigarettes]

Hans Gruber: Thanks. Now, you don't work for Nakatomi, and you're not one of them.

John McClane: I'm a cop from New York.

Hans Gruber: New York?

John McClane: Yeah. I got invited to the Christmas party by mistake. Who knew.

[laughs]

John McClane: Better being caught with your pants down, huh? I'm John McClane, and you are?

Hans Gruber: [Quickly thinks of a name which he got from a nearby Bulletin board] Clay. Bill Clay.

John McClane: [Takes out his handgun] You now how to use a handgun, Bill?

Hans Gruber: I spent a weekend at a combat ranch. You know where they shoot red paint, but it sounds stupid to you.

John McClane: Well, time for the real thing, Bill. All you gotta do is pull the trigger.

FBI Agent Johnson: [referring to McClane] He's inside? Who is he?

Dwayne T. Robinson: Well, he might be a cop. I don't know, we're checking on that.

FBI Special Agent Johnson: One of yours?

Dwayne T. Robinson: No. No way.

John McClane: [cops start coming towards the building] You macho assholes, no, no!

[Karl and Theo pull up in their car and come through the revolving door]

Theo: So Kareem rebounds, right? Feeds Worthy on the break, over to A.C., to Magic, then back to Worthy! Right?

[Karl shoots and kills the desk guard with a perfectly timed aim]

Theo: BOOM! Two points!

[Theo jumps over the desk and pushes the guard's body down, then grabs his walkie-talkie]

Theo: We're in.

Hans Gruber: [over radio] Theo? Theo!

Theo: Yo!

Hans Gruber: We may have some problems. How's our schedule?

Theo: Three down, four to go.

Hans Gruber: Then don't waste time talking to me.

[signs off]

Sergeant Al Powell: If you are what I think you are then you'll know when to shut up, when to listen... and when to pray.

Hans Gruber: Due to the Nakatomi Corporation's legacy of greed around the globe, they are about to be taught a lesson in the real use of power. You will be witnesses.

Hans Gruber: If you'd listened to me, he would be neutralised already.

Karl: I don't want neutral. I want dead.

Hans Gruber: Now, where is Mr. Takagi? Joseph Yoshinobu Takagi, born in Kyoto, Japan, 1937. Family immigrated to San Pedro , California, 1939. Interned Manzanar, 1942 to 43. Scholarship student University of California, 1955. Law degree, Stanford, 1962. MBA , Harvard, 1970. President, Nakatomi Corporation. Chairman, Nakatomi Investment Group...

Joseph Takagi: [interrupting] Enough!

Hans Gruber: [concluding] and father of five.

Joseph Takagi: I am Takagi!

Hans Gruber: I'm going to count to three, there won't be a four... Give me the code.

Convenience Store Clerk: [walks up to the counter with an armful of Twinkies, the clerk checks him out] Thought you guys just ate donuts.

Sergeant Al Powell: [chuckles] They're for my wife.

Convenience Store Clerk: [disbelieving but going along with it] Yeah.

Sergeant Al Powell: She's pregnant.

Convenience Store Clerk: [still playing along] Yeah.

Sergeant Al Powell: Bag it.

Convenience Store Clerk: Big time.

John McClane: [after entering the room where Gruber retains Holly] Hi, honey.

Hans: [Pulling a gun on Holly] Mrs. McClane. How nice to make your acquaintance.

Tony: 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.

Karl: No one kills him but me!

Argyle: Well, why didn't you come with her man? What's up?

John McClane: 'Cause I'm a New York cop. I got a six-month backlog on New York scumbags I'm still trying to put behind bars. I can't just pick up and go that easy.

Holly Gennero McClane: You'll have to forgive Ellis. He gets very depressed this time of year. He thought he was God's greatest gift. You know?

John McClane: Yeah, I know the type. I think he's got his eye on you.

Holly Gennero McClane: That's okay. I have my eye on his private bathroom.

Harry Ellis: [hearing police sirens outside] I never thought I'd love to hear that sound.

John McClane: [John has a gun to Tony's head] Drop it, dickhead. It's the police.

Tony: You won't hurt me.

John McClane: Oh yeah, why not?

Tony: Because you're a police man. There are rules for police men.

John McClane: Yeah... that's what my captain keeps telling me.

[John pistol-whips Tony and a fight ensues]

Theo: [Hans, Theo, and Kristoff stare in awe as the vault opens] Merry Christmas.

Argyle: [when he sees a big truck crashing out of the building] The fuck is going on?

Argyle: Just remember that when you sign for the tip.

Theo: [sees LAPD SWAT armored vehicle approaching] Wait a minute, wait a minute. What have we here, gentlemen? The police have themselves an RV. Southeast corner.

Karl: [after finding out his brother has been killed by McClane, Karl flips an office desk over in rage] I WANT BLOOD!

Hans Gruber: You'll have it! But let Heinrich plant the detonators and Theo prepare the vault! After we call the police, they'll waste hours trying to negotiate then you can tear the building apart looking for this man, but until then, we DO NOT ALTER THE PLAN!

Karl: And if HE, alters it?

City Worker: [On his radio] Yeah, Central?

Manager: Yeah?

City Worker: This is Walt, down at Nakatomi. Listen, would it be possible for you to turn off Grid 2-12?

Manager: Are you crazy?

Dwayne T. Robinson: [Quietly in the background] Maybe I should call the mayor on this...

City Worker: No shit, it's my ass! I got a big problem down here. Shut it down. Shut it down, NOW!

John McClane: [Seeing the lights turn off and emergency lighting kick in] Powell? Powell? Talk to me, what's going on here?

Sergeant Al Powell: That's the FBI. They got the universal terrorist playbook and they're running it, step by step.

Fritz: [In German Accent] Hans, we have a machine gun, he's in the furnace area of the roof

Hans Gruber: [In German Accent] Have you found him?

Karl: [opens the vent and looks through, but no sign of him]

Fritz: [In German Accent] He's in the furnace area of the roof.

Hans Gruber: [In German Accent] Where is Karl?

Karl: He's in the elevator shaft.

Fritz: [In German Accent] Did you hear that?

Hans Gruber: [Uses his Walkie Talkie] Perfect. The elevators are locked off. He can't escape. Just shut him in and come back down.

John McClane: [Enters an elevator shaft and sees posters of naked girls on the wall] Girls...

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