This holiday season, we at Psycho Drive-In would like to introduce you to the good, the bad, and ugly of not just any Holiday Films, but the Holiday Films you may have forgotten, overlooked, or just didn’t realize were Holiday Films. There’s no Rankin-Bass, no Miracles on any streets, no traditional happy family gathering fare. Instead there’s a lot of blood, violence, some terrorists, monsters, and even aliens. Plus more than a couple of bizarre Anti-Santas to go around. Twelve days, twelve films, twelve opportunities to amuse and disturb your families this holiday season.
On the Fifth Day of Christmas, Sam Salama Cohén gives to you, Die Hard (1988).
One of the reasons why movies become instant classics are unforgettable quotes, those little pieces of pop culture heaven that remain on our collective memory. Die Hard provides tens of those instant classics, but the line that could sum up the overall ambience and feel of the movie is, without a doubt, the next one:
- Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy? (Hans Gruber)
- Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker. (John McClane)
There have been many action movies after Die Hard. Many one cop against the world movies, that’s for sure.
Funny thing, however, is that we nostalgics, when feeling that warmth on our hearts that Christmas tends to bring with it – or so they say – know that we better stick to the classics.
I have fond memories of Die Hard, as it is one of the first action movies I loved, and now that I have watched it again for this wonderful 12 Days of Christmas thing we have going on, I can’t help but wonder what kind of parents would let their little boy see a young Bruce Willis boldly and very violently finish a bunch of German no-good terrorists.
I guess the ‘80s were a different time. Tougher, if you will, but also more naïve in a lot of things that today are prohibited, or regarded as something only a junkie would do.
Because hey, when was the last time you saw one of your work colleagues sniff some coke as part of the Christmas festivities? Or a New York cop who hates “liberal” California and spends the whole movie shooting a machine gun while smoking a cigarette?
These little bits don’t make the movie, sure they don’t, but they help transport you to a place and time that, in some ways, was easier, with fewer rules.
Because, above it all, that’s what Die Hard is. The ultimate bad-ass, snarky Bruce Willis quip movie. And it should be enjoyed as such, as an easy story of friendship, redemption, winning back the woman you thought you’d lost through your own male stupidity, ironically, through your heroic, violent macho attitude — which of course saves the day.
And what better way to create the perfect Christmas-y mood than to send the corpse of a terrorist as a special delivery to his pals? Dressed as Santa and with the instant classic on his sweater: Now I have a machine gun. Ho Ho Ho.
Maybe if this same movie was produced today, it wouldn’t have the impact Die Hard has on me, some twenty five years after watching it for the first time. For starters, there would be no blood, or the two Johnson FBI agents wouldn’t be portrayed as the violent idiots who think they’re running the show only to crash and explode, helping create one of the most awesome classic action scenes in American movies.
Yes, sir, as good old John McClane jumps off the roof of the Nagasaki building, and we only see his body falling with that brutal explosion going on behind him and propelling him forward, I still drop a little tear.
However, explosions, blood, cigarettes and high death toll aside, this movie brings back one very special memory, the most beautiful of them all, and that’s why it has a special place in my heart.
And it is that of me and my late grandfather Sammy watching, on his bedroom, the moment Sergeant Al Powell (played by the beloved Reginald VelJohnson) comes in for the rescue. My amazing grandfather had a lovely sense of humour, and, as he’d seen the movie before – as had I – he smiled at me in the cozy dark of the room and asked: You know who’s coming now?
So yes, Die Hard has a lot of great reasons to be loved, and to be one of my favorite Christmas movies, but I guess the real reason it remains attached to my nostalgia is because of the beautiful personal moment it brings back to my mind.
And if that’s not a Christmas – or Hannukah – miracle, I don’t know what it is.