123
votes
Accepted
Was there a Die Hard movie poster that excluded Bruce Willis?
There is an episode of the docu-series The Movies That Made Us (a spin-off of The Toys That Made Us) that is about the making of "Die Hard".
Writer Steven E. de Souza had this to say about the ...
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92
votes
Accepted
What was Hans Gruber's plan in Die Hard?
Let's go through the plan of Hans Gruber without the interference from John McClane.
Infiltrate Nakatomi Tower with his goons and take the Christmas party-goers hostage.
Get the vault password from ...
A J♦
- 58k
76
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Hans Gruber know what Mr. Takagi looked like?
Though the movie does not provide clear evidence about whether Hans had recognized Takagi on sight, I have always assumed that Hans had a good idea which man was Takagi, but had to confirm, hence the ...
- 24.2k
74
votes
Accepted
Why were the FBI agents so willing to risk the hostages' lives?
This added to the film's overarching theme of John McClane having the deck stacked against him in every way imaginable.
The theme of Die Hard is that the protagonist prevails when virtually everything ...
- 7,622
56
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Why didn't Hans Gruber know what Mr. Takagi looked like?
This was clearly a scare tactic and a show of force and knowledge. If you notice in that scene, he walks next to every Asian man in the group except Takagi, which allows him to complete his biography ...
- 60.5k
32
votes
Was there a Die Hard movie poster that excluded Bruce Willis?
Following up on the answer by @Oliver_C I've managed to find that ads lacking Bruce Willis were indeed featured in newspapers. For example, here's a clip from a The Journal News on July 12th 1988:
...
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28
votes
Why didn't Hans Gruber know what Mr. Takagi looked like?
One brief point in addition to the answers above: Die Hard takes place in 1987 or 1988, before social media, the web, 24 hour cable news, or even the desktop publishing revolution. For someone raised ...
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28
votes
Accepted
Did a TV edit of Die Hard have McClane say "Yippie Ki Yay Melon Farmer"?
Most TV edits of McClane's line are changed to "Yippie Ki Yay, my friend", not "melon farmer", though such an edit may exist.
But, in Die Hard With a Vengeance, Samuel L. Jackson's character (Zeus) ...
- 1,136
18
votes
Accepted
What makes Die Hard a Christmas movie?
We could debate the content of the film and what subjectively qualifies as a Christmas movie, but instead, I'll use this objective, quantitative definition:
A movie is a "Christmas movie" ...
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17
votes
Accepted
How did the first terrorist know John McClane was a cop?
As @HorusKol said, John tells him. The terrorist Tony goes to investigate the sound of a power saw and John steps from hiding and puts his gun to Tony's head'
John: Drop it, dickhead. It's the ...
- 6,555
13
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Was there a Die Hard movie poster that excluded Bruce Willis?
It's not that he was excluded, but given he was only seen as the comedic character David Addison in Moonlighting the studio was possibly nervous about featuring Willis.
The poster you ask about is ...
13
votes
Why were the FBI agents so willing to risk the hostages' lives?
A little later on in the helicopter:
Just like Saigon, eh, Wally?
The "fall of Saigon" was thirteen years previously. This implies that the FBI agents had experience of the Vietnam war and ...
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12
votes
Accepted
Why didn't Al Powell investigate the lights at the top of the building?
There's no indication he saw them.
The script doesn't indicate anything of that nature. Just that he sees the building
EXT. CONVENIENCE STORE
Powell looks towards the horizon and up.
There it is,...
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10
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Why didn't Hans Gruber know what Mr. Takagi looked like?
Your conjecture is correct, it was a scare tactic. By getting a chance to show his encyclopedic knowledge of Takagi, Gruber is showing that his team are both there for a specific reason, and are well ...
9
votes
Would Theo face the death penalty post-Die Hard?
Potentially.
The other answer to this cites the SCOTUS ruling affirming the death penalty being applicable to this matter. However, there are several potential mitigating factors that could have ...
- 3,902
9
votes
How did Dick endanger Holly's children?
He endangered her children in multiple ways:
sending his TV cronies and who knows who else to the kids' house that night, when only the housekeeper was there to protect them
giving Hans valuable ...
- 24.2k
8
votes
What does "yippie ki yay" mean?
The phrase "Yippee yi yo ki yay" is from the theme song of an extremely popular TV cartoon in the 1950s (Quick-draw McGraw). You have to be an old fart like me, or Bruce Willis, to get this!
Theme ...
7
votes
Is it just a coincidence that the bad guys give Ellis a Coke?
The script (p.83) clearly indicates that the Diet Coke was scripted
Ellis has a cigarette, and a terrorist brings him a Diet coke.
...but there is nothing in the script (unshot or otherwise) about ...
- 141k
7
votes
Why did Die Hard change the name of Stockholm Syndrome?
Taken directly from the Wiki:
Helsinki syndrome is a term sometimes used incorrectly instead of
Stockholm syndrome. The confusion is often deliberate and used for
ironic effect. It originates in the ...
- 60.5k
6
votes
Did Mr. Takagi actually know the code key to the vault?
I'm going to contradict the accepted answer and say that Mr. Takagi knew the key because the key is shown to the audience on Theo's computer monitor as "Red Castle", and visual cues are given showing "...
- 766
6
votes
What makes Die Hard a Christmas movie?
A Christmas movie:
Is it about getting back with family or just about family on Christmas time?
Is there a theme where bad people are being punished and good being rewarded?
Does it have a theme ...
- 11.1k
6
votes
Accepted
Why does Holly use her maiden name at work?
Was there some kind of prejudice on companies against married women?
Not in the sense of sexism, but one important part of Japanese corporate culture is that one is intended to think "keiretsu&...
- 13.2k
5
votes
Accepted
How do people figure out John and Holly McClane's identities in the first Die Hard?
Ellis, who believes he's smarter than everyone else, asks to speak to Hans. When brought to the office, he tells Hans, "Is the big guy upstairs ruining everything? I can give him to you."
...
- 60.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Did Mr. Takagi actually know the code key to the vault?
Is there any evidence that Mr.Takagi knew the code key?
No, there is no evidence that Mr. Takagi knew the code key. During this conversation, he tells that I don't know the code key all the time.
...
A J♦
- 58k
5
votes
What was Hans Gruber's plan in Die Hard?
As far as the initial timeline about the FBI and the power being shut off that has been covered in other answers but I always assumed that the escape was also planned as such...
They requested the ...
- 221
5
votes
If Al Powell was on desk duty, why was he driving black-and-white?
It's a plot hole.
If Sgt. Powell had been involuntarily removed from street duty he would have been assigned to a role where he would not have a firearm on his person while on-duty or off, unless it ...
- 3,902
3
votes
Did John McClane know Bill Clay was really Hans Gruber? If so, how?
I'm surprised to see a question with so many answers, none of which I think are correct.
John: That's pretty tricky with that accent. You oughta' be on fuckin' TV with that accent. (Slowly walks back ...
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3
votes
What was Hans Gruber's plan in Die Hard?
A large building like the Nakatomi Tower would have multiple power sources, and even the city worker wasn't able to cut all of the power locally; it had to be shut down from the Power Station downtown....
- 169
3
votes
Did a TV edit of Die Hard have McClane say "Yippie Ki Yay Melon Farmer"?
The video of Samuel L. Jackson saying "melon farmer" in Die Hard with a Vengeance is on LiveLeak. The only version I could find on YouTube (the only embeddable video on Stack Exchange) got removed by ...
- 139
3
votes
How do people figure out John and Holly McClane's identities in the first Die Hard?
There are nine key players in this drama. They each find out John McClane's true identity in different ways and at different times.
Holly (John's Wife)
Knows John from before the film starts
HOLLY: ...
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible