Movie Description
Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia. Based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, Die Hard follows New York City police detective John McClane (Willis) who is caught up in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper while visiting his estranged wife. Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, and Hart Bochner feature in supporting roles.
Stuart was offered the job of adapting Thorp's novel into a screenplay in 1987. His finished draft was greenlit immediately by 20th Century Fox, which was eager for a summer blockbuster for the following year. The role of McClane was turned down by a host of the decade's top stars, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone. Willis, who was known mainly for his television work, was paid $5 million for the role, placing him among Hollywood's highest-paid actors; the deal was seen as a poor investment and attracted significant controversy prior to the film's release. Filming began in November 1987 on a $25 million–$35 million budget, and took place almost entirely on location in and around Fox Plaza in Los Angeles.
Expectations for the film were low; some marketing efforts omitted Willis's image, ostensibly because the marketing team determined that the setting was as important a character as McClane. However, Die Hard grossed approximately $140 million, becoming the year's tenth-highest-grossing film and the highest-grossing action film. Initial reviews were mixed: criticism was leveled at the violence, plot, and Willis' performance, while McTiernan's direction and Rickman's charismatic portrayal of the villain Hans Gruber were praised. In addition to four Academy Award nominations, Die Hard elevated Willis to leading-man status and made Rickman a celebrity.
Die Hard has been critically re-evaluated and is now considered one of the greatest action films. It is also often named one of the best Christmas films, due to its Christmas setting. It revitalized the action genre, largely due to its depiction of McClane as a vulnerable and fallible protagonist, in contrast to the musclebound and invincible action heroes of the time. It produced a host of imitators; the term "Die Hard" became a shorthand for any plot in which a hero fights overwhelming odds in a restricted environment, such as "Die Hard on a bus". It created a franchise comprising the sequels Die Hard 2, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Live Free or Die Hard, and A Good Day to Die Hard, plus video games, comic books, toys, board games, clothing, and other merchandise. Deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, Die Hard was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 2017.