Talk:Die Hard

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"oily" in 2nd paragraph? means what?

I think it means a smooth-talking person who is not what he seems, a person who conceals his selfish intentions under a "slick" facade of respectablity or unctuous concern. (Like the term democratic centralism which sounds oh-so-respectful of workers' concerns but which is merely a justification for totalitarianism.) It might derive from "snake oil salesman", a kind of con artist from pre-20th-century America. --Ed Poor

FYI - one way to find out what words mean: Dictionary
Ellis also sports an slicked-back hairstyle that could be called "oily." I think it's a perfect description for the character, actually! --Do Not Talk About Feitclub (contributions) 08:50, 15 November 2005 (UTC)


Contents

[edit] Fires on Powell?

I don't think John McClane actually shot at Sergeant Powell's car. I think he threw the body on it, and then the terrorists in the building (who had been watching Powell check out the building) opened fire on him to try and prevent him from radioing for more help.

You're right, he just throws the body, he doesn't fire on him. Bonus Onus 03:32, Mar 15, 2005 (UTC)

Really? I always thought he shot at the car...he is shown holding a machine gun shouting "Welcome to the party, pal!" --Do Not Talk About Feitclub (contributions) 08:49, 15 November 2005 (UTC)
If you look closely it's a different weapon firing, a machinegun, probably a SAW. Scott197827 13:00, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
The weapon that fires on Powell looks like an M60E3, which is the same as used by the Helicopter Gunner later on, when the FBI shoot at McClane on the rooftop. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Don Rustone (talk • contribs)
In the original screenplay (which is pretty damned close to the final film, minus a line or two) it clearly states that it is a barrage of machine gun fire from Alexander on the third floor. Also, you can see clearly on the DVD that the gun fire is coming from a much lower floor than John Mac's.Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker 22:07, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

The real giveaway is this: we see McLane say "Welcome to the party pal" and he is clearly not shooting his gun. Meanwhile you can clearly hear that whoever was shooting at Powell hasn't stopped. So McLane is the one armed guy in the building that couldn't possibly be shooting up the police car.

[edit] Picture

It would be nice to have a picture on this page, like a movie poster. anyone know how to get one that isnt copyrighted? they have them for other movies. --Bonus Onus 03:32, Mar 15, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Music

Who is the band and what is the title of the music that played in the limo when Argyle and John were talking about Christmas music? (before they enter the Nakatomi Tower)

"Christmas in Hollis" by Run DMC -- Baby fenris 11:44, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Die Hard 4

Is it definite that the 4th movie will have McClane's daughter in it? The last I heard it was going to be his son.

[edit] I made a small change in the article

The article had claimed that the movie was true to the book. I deleted this because in the book it was the hero's daughter not wife who was held hostage & in the end she died. These seem like major changes to me. --Cenestrad The Emperor of Wikipedia 05:00, 5 February 2006 (UTC)


manda xa!!!! kaya panoorin nyo ha —Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.126.35.52 (talk) 01:51, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] who shot at Powell

I thought it was actually Willis...? Midgley 23:27, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New section: Plot Analysis

Given how successful this movie has been and how influential it has been in the action genre, I am going to start a plot analysis section. I am going to include some of the possible reasons for its success and popularity and the ways in which it is similar, and the ways in which it differs, from other action stories. Further updates and edits are strongly encouraged. Tommythegun 06:47 10 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] this Isn't Very encyclopedic

"Plus, the "German" spoken in the english version is complete and utter gibberish."--69.113.106.92 20:22, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Not that much gibberish - in fact, the German grammatical and syntactical deconstruction makes no sense at all.
Grueber does not say Schiess den Fenster, he says Schiess' dem Fenster - Fenster is a feminine accusative, not a "neutral", which I can only suppose is meant to translate the English grammatical term neuter.
Nuttyskin 00:16, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
Both is wrong and doesn't make sense! Right is: "Schieß auf die Fenster!", or "Zerschieß die Fenster!". —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 217.255.23.56 (talk) 21:46, 29 December 2006 (UTC).
Which is probably why Karl looks at him confused! :) (Which of course gives Hans an excuse to say it in English for the audience!)Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker 22:09, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Fenster is neuter. Go read a German dictionary. Or see: http://www.iee.et.tu-dresden.de/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/wernerr/search.sh?string=window&nocase=on&hits=50 HagermanBot is still right, because Fenster is both singular and plural. One would think movie studios would keep someone on staff just for throw away lines like this. 24.47.23.189 03:14, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Nope, you are all wrong. 'Fenster' has a neuter article, as in "das Fenster". The phrase he says has 'Glass' as the direct object, and the articles change from "der, die, das, die" to "dem, der, dem, den". He is saying "Shoot the glass" which is correct as "Scheiss dem Fenster"... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.239.96.162 (talk) 21:21, August 23, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Disambiguation ?

Should'nt there be a disambiguation page for die hard (with lower-case? johan_h 20:36, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

That is taken care of by the first line of this article. Val42 00:36, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] German language

As far as I know as a native speaker of German "Fenster" is "neutral" to quote the term, that was used in the main article. "Das Fenster", not "Die Fenster", exept you are referring to the plural of "Fenster" (windows), which is "Die Fenster". Actually I never listened that close, whether Rickman says "dem Fenster" or "den Fenster", however, both expressions make no sense and are ungrammatical, so what's the big deal. On the other hand not all German expressions in the movie are wrong.

There german speaking is ridiculous! The pronunciation is harder than the real german and the accent sound like a mix of native english speakers and germans from south-germany. Especially the 'r' is very english. You don't here any complete sentence, only cusses. They wanted to have the german stereotype. The hard and bad guy. I know it, because I am german. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.185.39.133 (talk) 23:41, 20 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Parodies

Removed a reference between National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon and Die Hard With A Vengence that is entirely coincidental - Loaded Weapon (1993) was released 2 years before other film (1995) so it cannot be a deliberate reference to it. If someone wants to re-instate it as a ironic twist of fate that would seem a possiblility, but not one I think is needed. RoyBatty42 19:01, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

I agree that you were correct to remove this. I have tried to cut down some of the trivia, per Wikipedia:Avoid trivia sections in articles and Wikipedia:WikiProject_Films/Style#Trivia. There are a couple of interesting facts in there that could be moved to a more appropriate section, such as 'production'. The JPStalk to me 19:18, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Bill Clay clue

From the Trivia section, this segment is in error:

"In the scene where McClane realizes that the man he has met on the roof, Bill Clay, is actually Hans, the actual reason he's able to tell is because he saw 'Bill' looking at his watch, which is the same special expensive watch as the terrorist McClane killed had, and he saw others wearing while he was standing above them in the elevator, but this information was dropped from the film. In the shown version, McClane glances at the workboard behind Hans and sees the name W. Clay, implying he's sussed out that the man is lying and is Hans."

The name McClane sees on the workboard is Wm. Clay, but Wm. is an abbreviation for William, commonly shortened to "Bill". When McClane sees the name, it only helps to confirm Gruber's story; the film implies that Gruber saw the same workboard and picked up the name from there. What may have been the clue that Gruber was lying was the way he held his cigarette. McClane held his cigarette in a V between two fingers, while Gruber held his between the thumb and his fingers. The latter is less common in the US, which could have been a clue to the observant McClane that "Bill Clay" was European, not American as he pretended.

Lee Gaiteri 00:29, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

Given that the intended clue (the watch) was cut from the film, anything else is likely to be supposition, but I've always read it as, McClane was suspicious but inclined to give "Clay" the benefit of the doubt - especially when he confirms the name on the board. However without absolute proof he isn't likely to hand *anyone* a real loaded gun and so keeps his options open. When Gruber thinks he has the drop on McClane, he gives himself away, but we then learn that the gun McClane gave him wasn't loaded.

Tomsalinsky 21:02, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Precisely. Also, where did the idea that his watch was supposed to give it away come from? The watch we see in the elevator doesn't look especially expensive to me, and isn't he wearing it before he kills Karl's brother, anyway? I've always wanted to know how Hans knew there was an employee called Bill Clay! I've deleted the above post about the watch until something better can be added.Johnny "ThunderPeel2001" Walker 22:13, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
Also when Maclane offered him a Cigarette, Gruber just took one without saying anything. They were the same cigarettes that Maclane stole from one of the other terrorists - European cigarettes. An American would have been slightly suprised or mentioned "gee these are different" but Gruber just took one without batting an eyelid.--Mutley 10:22, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Is Hans Gruber a German?

Re-watching the Original Die Hard in preparation for the fourth film, it occured to me the the original seems to imply the Hans, while posing as a German (who then poses as an American) may not actually be German. The key scene being after Hans is revealed to not to be William Clay to McClain and a fire-fight ensues as the henchmen rush in. Hans tries to give instructions in German ("Shoot the glass!"), but when Karl does not understand them, he needs to reitterate them in English. If truly German, he would speak the instructions more slowly and loudly in German; but rather he spoke in English. 66.109.248.114 21:35, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I think viewers are missing the point about Karl's confused look. It isn't that Hans didn't enunciate the instructions correctly; the confusion is that the instructions seem odd to give in the middle of a fire-fight. The second command (given in english so the viewer would understand the command) was directed as more of an order from the "higher-ranking" thief, if there is such a rank-structure. Also, the third film confirms he is, in fact, german. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.239.96.162 (talk) 21:35, August 23, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Trivia point

I can't remember this 100% (and I don't have ready access to the flick), but I'm almost certain the football game the front desk guard is watching is a USC-Notre Dame game. Can anyone with the movie confirm? --Bobak 18:14, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

All I know is that I had $50 bet on those assholes. --EEMeltonIV

I was just told that USHER RAYMONDS is the limousine driver in the first part of the movie. LOL. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bairuz (talk • contribs) 04:33, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Screenwriter link redirect

Jeb Stuart redirects to J.E.B. Stuart. I'm fairly certain J.E.B. Stuart didn't write Die Hard while fighting in the Battle of Antietam. What can we do about this? There's a "see also" for Jeb Stuart Magruder, but I don't think that's the same guy. Amphy 04:32, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

I've changed the link to point to (nonexistent page) Jeb_Butler_(screenwriter) Rojomoke (talk) 14:51, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Terrorists?

In the cast section several characters are marked with the job "terrorist". Isn't the point of the plot that the gunmen taking hostages are in reality just robbers and not terrorists as they portray themselves? The political demands are after all just part of a ploy to take attention away from the robbery.

60.240.143.88 (talk) 19:12, 6 January 2008 (UTC)


I'm curious whether that distinction will even exist in a few more years. QuantumG (talk) 07:23, 10 June 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Cast "table"

While it is somewhat interesting to lay out the connection between the characters in the film, the "table" of the film's cast is hardly a valuable addition to the article. The "kidnapped" column is totally superfluous as only one person is marked and it could be argued that separating one hostage from the others is hardly "kidnapping." As far as mapping out who killed who (and how), it doesn't strike me as particularly encyclopedic. I think the whole thing should be scrapped, save for the basic info (character - actor). --Do Not Talk About Feitclub (contributions) 03:00, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] lots of Spoilers

I don't know what are the current policy about spoilers, but this article has a lot of it. Shouldn't there be a warning somewhere in the beginning of the article? -- Daniel3ub (talk) 03:36, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Yippee Kai Yay motherfucker

Where did they come up with that line? 70.90.174.173 (talk) 03:29, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

I don't know but it sure is funny!!! --Charmed and Dangerous, Danielle (talk) 06:47, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Die Hard 5???

I read an article about Fox was talking about maybe making a Die Hard 5. It is not for sure, but they are talking. Oh and Bruce Willis is in favor of another one. --Charmed and Dangerous, Danielle (talk) 06:51, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Nudity in Trailer?

I was a little shocked to see the nude pinup girl image that McClane passes a few times appear in Trailer A, which is on the second DVD of the 2 disc release. Did this actually play in theaters as we see on the DVD? And also, how were those scenes edited for TV? Did they let it slip there as well?

In a film which features headshots, gun fights, villains being thrown off buildings and copious amounts of swearing you are worried about a barely seen girly calendar on the wall? In answer to your question, yes, it did for some bizarre, unknown, completely unresearable reason slipped through the stringent TV censorship net and made it to the worlds TV screens. Mmm commentaries (talk) 04:33, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

No, of course I wasn't "worried" (I'm of the opinion that Die Hard could have used more gratuitous nudity!), but it is a bit odd that the image of a naked woman was shown in a green band trailer and on TV uncensored. It's another example of content slipping through and now that you've confirmed it, should the article make mention of this? And has the Trailer A with the shot been featured on other DVD's that shouldn't contain nudity? (This also reminds me of Brad Pitt's pornography covered shirt in the trailers and TV spots for Fight Club, albeit with more visibility.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 4.254.117.60 (talk) 00:26, 22 April 2008 (UTC)