Set in Los Angeles, during Christmas time, Die Hard, the satisfyingly entertaining, if formulaic actioner, is well directed by John McTieran, boasting a strong performance from Bruce Willis, who went on to become a major Hollywood star.
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Theatrical release poster
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The tale begins with an employees’ party on the 30th floor of the Nakatomi Corporation building.
However, thing come to an abrupt end, when the partygoers are taken hostage by some terrorists, headed by the vicious Hans Gruber (British actor Alan Rickman).
Gruber and his henchmen scheme to steal the $600 million locked in Nakatomi’s high-tech safe, while pretending to be politically motivated in their goal of throwing the authorities off track.
The vicious Gruber announce right away that he has no intention of allowing anyone to get out of the building alive.
Enters New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis), who has come to L.A. to visit his estranged wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia). It “just happens” that Holly is one of the hostages.
Disregarding the orders of the building’s security guards, McClane, armed with only one handgun, decides to take on the villains.
Making a big-screen splash, Bruce Willis, then mostly known from the TV series Moonlighting, carries the day—in the process becoming a major bankable Hollywood star.
Oscar Nominations: 4
Sound: Don Bassman, Kevin F. Cleary, Richard Overton, and Al Overton.
Film Editing: Frank J. Urioste and John F. Link
Visual Effects: Richard Edlund, Al DiSarro, Brent Boates, Thaine Morris
Sound Effects Editing: Stephen H. Flick and Richard Shorr.
Oscar Awards: None
Oscar Context:
Clint Eastwood’s Bird won the Sound Oscar.
Arthur Schmidt received the Editing Oscar for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which also won Visual Effects and Sound Effects Editing.
Credits
Directed by John McTiernan
Screenplay by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza
Based on Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp
Produced by: Lawrence Gordon, Joel Silver
Cinematography Jan de Bont
Edited by Frank J. Urioste, John F. Link
Music by Michael Kamen
Production companies: Gordon Company: Silver Pictures
Distributed by 20th Century Fox
Release date: July 15, 1988
Running time: 132 minutes
Budget $35 million
Box office about $140 million
DVD: March 9, 1999
Cast
Bruce Willis as John McClane
Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber
Bonnie Bedelia as Holly Gennero McClane
Alexander Godunov as Karl
Reginald VelJohnson as Sgt. Al Powell
William Atherton as Thornburg
