A selfish, self-centered husband whose marriage is falling apart learns how much he cares about his wife, gets over himself and defeats his Jungian Shadow to save his family.
“Hans” is German for “John” and “Gruber” has connotations of being grabby, grubby, base, selfish and Grinch-like.
Somehow, I find myself able to resist the compelling power of your argument.
Still not a Christmas movie.
Yeah? Well how do you explain that classic old Christmas Carol, so prominently featured in the film?
Is a Christmas movie. Neener neener.
Look at the 30th anniversary edition and tell me this isn’t a Christmas movie:
https://nerdist.com/die-hard-christmas-themed-blu-ray-cards/
Of course it’s a Christmas movie. Or maybe it isn’t. I don’t know.
But here’s an unrelated question I’ve always wondered about: when McClane is describing the terrorists to the cops, he speculates they are European based on their accents, clothing and…cigarettes. He gives a long, significant pause before mentioning cigarettes, as if he’s just realizing something. Or hearing something. Or something else.
Anyone know why he pauses for so long?
Just watched that scene. It appears that he is just being cautious, pausing for a moment to check behind himself.
It’s probably that, but I’ve always wondered if I was missing something more significant. Mainly because, later on in the movie, McClane meets Hans and offers him a (European) cigarette. Hans takes the last one and nonchalantly puts the empty pack in his pocket - as if they were his own! I thought maybe that kind of tipped McClane off as to Hans’ identity. Or am I reading too much into that gesture?
He pauses because he faintly hears police sirens which means his drop-in message to officer Twinkie was effective in attracting attention from the wider police force. It may also serve to highlight cigarettes as a metaphor.
It’s at 63 minutes in the 2H12 version for those who want to check.
I took it as showing the viewer that Gruber is compulsively selfish/greedy and that cigarettes are used as a metaphor related to John Wayne/cowboys/masculinity/facing up to challenges.
Note how there’s a close-up of the last 2 cigarettes that’s similar to the close-up of the last 2 bullets near the end (1H59). 2 bullets & 2 cigarettes for 2 cowboys; a white hat and a black hat. Or a white undershirt and a black suit, in this case.
If you watch the scene where they share a cigarette, you can see the camera is at a Dutch angle and the characters are lit from below, both of which suggest that something is off. McTiernan mentioned in the Die Hard commentary that he uses the camera as an expressive narrator so the shooting techniques must have been expressing what McClane felt & thought. McTiernan also used expressionist camera work in Predator.
I think McClane was suspicious without being sure and kept testing Gruber. Even before McClane asks for Gruber’s name, McClane says he was invited to the Christmas party by mistake, obscuring his wife’s presence. He was definitely suspicious by the time he asked for Gruber’s name and right after that, McClane offers Gruber an empty gun which is a further test which Gruber promptly falls for, revealing himself. That kind of hiding, trying to get the opponent to reveal himself and lure him into a trap is also present in Predator. And is pretty central to submarine warfare in The Hunt for the Red October.
The cigarette scene is around 92 minutes in.
I gotta admit, this is the best argument I’ve heard yet. Though to be nitpicky the quote is:
“Now I have a machine gun.”
<Awesome Droll Rickman Voice> “Ho. Ho. Hhhhho.” </ADRV>
This is some great analysis. You should do a full commentary somehow. (And it makes sense he’s hearing more sirens - I’ll have to crank the volume next time I watch that scene)
I always assumed the Cigarettes are what tipped him off he was really a terrorist. Like they were a European brand or something.
Or maybe it was the Spirit of Christmas entering him in what is clearly and obviously a Christmas Movie 
So sad when actors start to lose it. I wish I had thought to ask Alan Rickman if it was a Christmas movie when I met him. I’m sure he would have said it was.
BTW, I just asked Alexa again if it’s a Christmas movie and she still says yes.
Thanks.
You may further enjoy that the close-up of the 2 cigarettes is bluish, has a closed hand and body/hand placement/movement from right to left whereas the close-up of the 2 bullets is reddish, an open hand and body/hand placement/movement from left to right. Right to left movement tends to feel backward, wrong whereas left to right tends to feel more positive. Blue and red are conventionally opposite basic colors.
The blue and red can symbolize 1) the police because of their red-blue flashing lights. This brings us back to police - white hat - cowboys - social role - ethos 2) combined with the body/hand placement, it connotes a “blue corner” and a “red corner” like a boxing match.
The change in hand posture from closed to open may symbolize his becoming less self-centered & selfish (less like Hans Gruber), realizing he’d been a jerk and resolving to change, an acceptance of vulnerability. This is also connotated by his clothes deteriorating until they fall apart which leaves him with a naked torso, the polar opposite of a fancy suit like Gruber. Actually, the first scene where McClane has a naked torso is the scene where he tells officer Twinkie to tell his wife that he’s sorry which is a big thing for him (1H46).
McTiernan’s movies are likely to be full of subtle details like that. He seems to have an intuitive understanding of a particular insight but have difficulty articulating it. He talks about it in vague terms of “nuance” whereas radar-related theory might give us a more precise understanding.
Yes.
The scriptwriter, Stephen E. de Souza, says Die Hard is a Christmas movie:
https://www.finaldraft.com/learn/final-draft-blog/steven-e-de-souza-die-hard-is-a-christmas-movie/
The next thing you know, people are gonna start claiming Bad Santa is not a Christmas movie.
Yes, it’s an action movie, a buddy cop movie and a Christmas movie.
While we’re here, Naked Gun is a sports movie.
Well, he is getting old and senile. Obviously. Can’t help but repeat himself.
