# Old "Die Hard" complaint **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 2, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591 "2009-01-02T15:30:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/41 "2009-01-03T01:05:14Z")
Guys, guys, guys. As Gruber is telling McClane his name we see McClane looking at the list of people and the floors they are on. Clay Wm is on the 29th floor. The guard on reception at the beginning of the film tells McClane the only people left are the ones from the 30th floor. See [here](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Qdkmu6Oeo) at about 1:15. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/42 "2009-01-03T01:29:01Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > My complaint is that people speaking with a foreign accent speak as well as possible and the accent is a stumbling block that exists independent of that. You can’t just minimalize it on a whim. I know, I speak other languages. I know I have an accent in those languages eventho I can’t hear it. At all times I try to minimize my accent in those languages. I cannot just turn it on and off. Have you ever heard Kate Beckinsale, Nicole Kidman (film), Hugh Laurie (House) or Jaime Bamber (Battlestar Galactica) speak in interviews vs the characters they play? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/43 "2009-01-03T01:34:13Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > Guys, guys, guys. As Gruber is telling McClane his name we see McClane looking at the list of people and the floors they are on. Clay Wm is on the 29th floor. The guard on reception at the beginning of the film tells McClane the only people left are the ones from the 30th floor. > > See [here](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1Qdkmu6Oeo) at about 1:15. You win. I never made that connection before. I mean, I understood McClane was checking the directory, but I never thought about the floor number, just the name itself. That’s bugged me for years in a low-key, only-while-watching-the-movie sort of way. ---
**Author:** ![rues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@rues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rues)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/44 "2009-01-03T02:26:59Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > At any rate, Gruber holds it between thumb and forefinger, the other fingers cupped around it rather than between the first two fingers. I’m an American, and when I smoked I held the cigarette that way all the time, though I held them the other way as well. So that wouldn’t necessarily a tell… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/45 "2009-01-03T02:28:10Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > the only people left are the ones from the 30th floor. He didn’t claim to be attending the same party on the 30th? ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/46 "2009-01-03T02:46:50Z")
> [@rayh](#): > > Guys, guys, guys. As Gruber is telling McClane his name we see McClane looking at the list of people and the floors they are on. Clay Wm is on the 29th floor. The guard on reception at the beginning of the film tells McClane the only people left are the ones from the 30th floor. But does the guard say the people _from_ the 30th floor or _on_ the 30th floor? It’s not unusual for companies to occupy multiple floors of a building. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/47 "2009-01-03T02:57:29Z")
> [@rues](#): > > I’m an American, and when I smoked I held the cigarette that way all the time, Well, me too, but we’re _cool._ Somebody named “Bill Clay” is gonna be a dork. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/48 "2009-01-03T02:57:40Z")
A wizard did it. Seriously! Remember, Gruber was actually Severus Snape, deep, _deep_ undercover. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/49 "2009-01-03T03:05:34Z")
Oooh! I was wondering how he survived that fall. ---
**Author:** ![Pashnish\_Ewing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8797f3/32.png) [@Pashnish\_Ewing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pashnish_Ewing)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/50 "2009-01-03T03:08:45Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Well, me too, but we’re _cool._ Somebody named “Bill Clay” is gonna be a dork. Well, he did play paintball once. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/51 "2009-01-03T03:14:13Z")
> [@Pashnish\_Ewing](#): > > Well, he did play paintball once. But he must have missed _60 Minutes_ that week… ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/52 "2009-01-03T04:38:01Z")
Just came in to say: Mmmmm…Alan Rickman…\ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/53 "2009-01-03T05:53:07Z")
> [@Raygun99](#): > > It’s not impossible to have no trace of your mother tongue in a foreign language. Quebec premier Jean Charest is my gold-standard for this - when he’s speaking English, you’d have no idea he grew up speaking French. Charest grew up in a bilingual household; his mother’s side is Irish. Interestingly, his real first name is “John,” not “Jean.” ---
**Author:** ![mecaenas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/91b2a8/32.png) [@mecaenas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mecaenas)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/54 "2009-01-03T12:30:46Z")
> [@WormTheRed](#): > > I call bollocks on that. I can fake English accents well enough that people have thought I’m from Australia, Ireland and somewhere in England (different times, different people). > > If I can manage that, I’m sure a master criminal like Gruber wouldn’t have a problem with it either. Speaking as an Australian, if your attempt at an English accent is easily confused with Irish or Australian then I’d say you’re doing a pretty horrendous job of it or your audience is embarrassingly clueless. Confusing Australian accents with New Zealand accents I can understand.. but Irish or English! Ack! I can see how Hans would easily fake an American accent given how easy it is to mimic, I don’t know whether that’s due to the vast quantities of American TV & movies shown throughout the world or whether it’s something about the accent itself. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/55 "2009-01-03T13:09:38Z")
> [@TroubleAgain](#): > > Because if he really was interacting with his own men or talking to himself, it would have been in German, so you get “English with a German accent” at those times. Common movie/tv convention. Which leads to a Python-esque moment in the film, when Hans and his underling are chasing McClane and have the following exchange: Hans: “Schiess das Fenster!” Underling: 😕 Hans: “Shoot. The. Glass.” ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/56 "2009-01-03T15:07:07Z")
> [@mecaenas](#): > > Speaking as an Australian, if your attempt at an English accent is easily confused with Irish or Australian then I’d say you’re doing a pretty horrendous job of it or your audience is embarrassingly clueless. Confusing Australian accents with New Zealand accents I can understand.. but Irish or English! Ack! I can switch between accents pretty well. So I didn’t use the same accent used when people mistook me for being from different places. It’s the same with other languages I speak, I tend to pick up the tone of it pretty easily (while the grammar haunts me to no end). ---
**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/57 "2009-01-03T17:22:27Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > Which leads to a Python-esque moment in the film, when Hans and his underling are chasing McClane and have the following exchange: > > Hans: “Schiess das Fenster!” > Underling: 😕 > Hans: “Shoot. The. Glass.” I thought that was because the underling was unaware that McClane was barefoot, while Hans knew it already, from the meeting scene IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/58 "2009-01-03T18:37:50Z")
> [@Sublight](#): > > Hans: “Schiess das Fenster!” > Underling: 😕 > Hans: “Shoot. The. Glass.” It’s actually _“Schiess dem Fenster!”_ I won’t defend the logic of a German giving an order to another (presumably) German and having to repeat himself in English to be understood, but he does at least speak grammatical German. The only other point that has been brought up in the thread that I’d like to address is the security guard’s “They’re the only ones left in the building” line. I cannot hear that line anymore without wondering why McClane doesn’t go off on the guy. “Oh, so telling me use the touchscreen staff directory dealie was just a way of getting me to jerk myself off for your amusement, I guess?” ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/59 "2009-01-03T19:31:03Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > It’s actually _“Schiess dem Fenster!”_ > > I won’t defend the logic of a German giving an order to another (presumably) German and having to repeat himself in English to be understood, but he does at least speak grammatical German. No, he doesn’t. There’s no reason for the dative there. “Schiess auf das Fenster” is grammatical. ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591/60 "2009-01-03T19:51:10Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > It’s actually _“Schiess dem Fenster!”_ > > The only other point that has been brought up in the thread that I’d like to address is the security guard’s “They’re the only ones left in the building” line. I cannot hear that line anymore without wondering why McClane doesn’t go off on the guy. > > “Oh, so telling me use the touchscreen staff directory dealie was just a way of getting me to jerk myself off for your amusement, I guess?” I figured a security guard isn’t about to let someone in who has no reason to be there. He let McClane call up the info about his wife just to ensure that he did in fact know someone up at the party. If Willis had said, “I’m here to see Mrs. Crabapple” or something and it turned out she worked on the second floor, then I imagine the guard would’ve done some calling around. But since the person he mentioned worked on the 30th, he let McClane go on up. Of course, you could argue that the guard would’ve been aware that the Nakatomi limo was out at the airport to pick up Holly’s husband, I suppose. But, bottom line, the guard wouldn’t be doing his job if he’d just waved a stranger up to the party without even looking up. By the way, if you really want to ruin _Die Hard_ for everyone else, simply point out that there is no ambulance in the truck as the terrorists get out of it at the beginning of the film. Oops. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-die-hard-complaint/479591.md?page=4)