Die Hard director confirms film is a Christmas movie inspired by… It's A Wonderful Life?!
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The fact that Die Hard is a Christmas movie isn’t really up for debate anymore (hell, The A.V. Club even sells sweatshirts about it), but that doesn’t make director John McTiernan recent interview with the American Film Institute about “how Die Hard became a Christmas movie” any less worthwhile.
During the 12-minute clip, McTiernan reveals an unexpected inspiration for his shoot-em-up action film: the 1946 Christmas classic It’s A Wonderful Life. “Specifically, the Pottersville sequence,” McTiernan says in the interview. “Which is what happens when the evil banker gets to do what he wants in the community without George getting in the way to stop it. And it’s the clearest demonstration and criticism of runaway, unregulated cowboy capitalism that’s ever been done in an American movie.”
Of course, unlike Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey, Bruce Willis’ John McClane has a gun to help him deal with the evil banker in his life. But McTiernan says he was always clear with producer Joel Silver about making McClane in the image of George Bailey: “I said, ‘Okay, if you want me to make this terrorist movie, I want to make it where the hero in the first scene, when the limo driver apologizes that he’s never been in a limo before, the hero says, “It’s alright. I’ve never ridden in a limo before.”’ A working class hero.”
Though it was inspired by It’s A Wonderful Life, McTiernan (clearly lying) admits “we hadn’t intended [Die Hard] to be a Christmas movie. But the joy that came from it is what turned it into a Christmas movie. And that’s really the best I can tell you about it.”
Is it weird that this story, rather than moving us to watch Die Hard, has inspired us to watch Saturday Night Live’s Dana Carvey as George Bailey?
116 Comments
Actually the movie is loosely based off the novel Nothing Lasts Forever.
And that book actually has a quite powerful ending where the “hero” cop realizes he was actually the bad guy of the story, getting in the way of Chilean resistance fighters who were trying to get back the money stolen from the country’s people in Pinochet’s deals with Kissinger.
Shit – I read the book when I was a teenager (after seeing the movie, natch) and I’m not sure I even picked up on that.
I was a pretty dense kid sometimes. :/
It is also not a good book.
Chilean resistance fightersDid he read about zem in Time magazine?
…Which everybody knows was based on It’s a Wonderful Life.
“Your money’s in Pinochet’s house, and Kissinger’s house”
…which in turn was based on Poor Richard’s Almanac
“Gruber, why must you torture the terrorists?”
Why do/did people go “oh wow” when reminded that Die Hard is set around Christmas? Because it is, but it’s almost entirely irrelevant to the plot, so people forget about it, because it’s irrelevant to the plot.That doesn’t make it a fucking Christmas movie. If someone says “A Christmas Story is a Christmas movie” you’d say “no shit, asshole.” Because it is a fucking Christmas movie. Pointing out irrelevant plot trivia about a movie doesn’t make a movie something it’s not. That’s like calling Star Wars a Japanese period film because it was inspired by The Hidden Fortress. Christ, it’s amazing how low people on Twitter set the bar for sucking each other off.
Iron Man 3 is a Christmas movie.
At least the dialogue explicitly invokes the fact that it’s Christmas.
I would say the movie is pushed a lot further into the Christmas movie territory by the soundtrack, especially Michael Kamen’s score. It utilizes a lot of classical, sure, but also has a ton of sleigh bells/Christmas variations that give the movie a Christmas sound. I think subconsciously that gives people that Christmas feeling when watching it. With a different score I don’t think it would be in that territory.
The question should not be, “Is X movie of Y genre?”Rather, “In what ways is it useful to think of X movie as being of Y genre?”So maybe saying Die Hard is a Christmas movie is one way people suck each other off. But being an absolutist about genre is also kind of sucking oneself off? Like, regardless of whether it is a Christmas movie, the claim itself helps us see certain things about Die Hard that we might not have. It also helps us clarify what we as a culture want out of the category of “Christmas movie” to begin with.
Exactly. Yet of course, there’s hardly such a thing as “we as a culture”. We as how many subcultures ?It’s indeed contextually useful to classify it as a christmas movie or not, depending on what you, as a group, agree to mean by that. And indeed there’s nothing more to it. Is “Outland” a western ? Is “El topo” a western ? “Westworld” ? “Gwangi” ? Hey, depends who asks, what they mean, and what would disappoint their expectations. It’s only language, communication. A word to convey something. If it doesn’t, it fails, and no smartassery compensates it. “Yes, I only kill animals, but humans are animals too, lol.” Such classification disputes (is it art, is it an RPG, etc) are most often pointless outside any context.BUT I don’t think that “culture” is a valid context, and that there is a will at, for instance, some nation scale, to define it. Heck, I don’t even think there has to be a consistent definition for a simple individual. In other words, the question can only have punctual valid answers. Anything broader (as in this forum) is merely playful. And it’s not a thing that requires to be fixated at a large cultural level.
Rather, “In what ways is it useful to think of X movie as being of Y genre?”This, precisely. Nobody ever thinks about why they’re arguing over whether it’s “a Christmas movie.”
But isn’t the reason for that perfectly clear? If we learned that lesson about dumb Die Hard arguments, we might then have to apply it to other sorts of conversations — and then we’d risk actually growing the fuck up and, god help us all, surviving as a species.
Look, I’ve had just about enough of your coherent, reasonable explanations.
That was way too smart of an answer for this person.
Lol.
Christmas is integral to Die Hard’s plot – John McClane wouldn’t even have been at Nakatomi Plaza had it not been for the holiday. The whole reason John McClane was even in Los Angeles was to see his family for Christmas and the only reason he was at Nakatomi Plaza was for the Xmas party.Gruber’s gang needed the reduced security and number of employees in the building for a night-time Christmas party for them to get into the building easier. They also needed enough employees at the party to create a hostage situation that would get the FBI out so they could turn off the power, letting them drill into the vault. You take Xmas out and they don’t have their opportunity to make their heist.If you remove Christmas from Lethal Weapon, Iron Man 3 and other action movies set around Christmas time, it doesn’t alter the story, but no Christmas, no Die Hard.
Shane Black just likes inserting Christmas into his scripts.
Star Wars isn’t set in a Japanese party whilst they play Japanese music in the background you idiot.
Yeah, now Die Hard 2 is a Christmas movie.
I did the same thing with my gf who thinks Die Hard is a Christmas movie. I told her that Eyes Wide Shut is also a christmas movie as well and that we’ll be watching that with her family.
“Die Hard is a Christmas movie” is one of those takes that are made by people who want to come off as being “hip” to movies. It’s annoying.
Of course it’s not a Christmas movie, it’s a movie about action escapism and violent fantasy. Just because a movie is set during Christmas, that doesn’t make it a “Christmas movie”. No reasonable definition of a “Christmas movie” should include Die Hard.
What’s a reasonable definition of a Christmas movie?
Anything by Shane BlackHappy Hannukah , Motherfuckers!
How about Gremlins? It has a heartwarming Santa story!
i count it.
That also applies to the Home Alone movies, though, and nobody questions them being Christmas movies.
That’s not really accurate. Christmas is intrinsic to the plot of Home Alone. Kevin’s family leaves for Christmas vacation, he meets with a mall Santa, and he uses Christmas decorations in at least one of his traps. The house set design is bathed in red and green and the score is all based on christmas music. The theme of family love and togetherness at Christmas drives Catherine O’Hara’s entire sub plot. Home Alone is thoroughly a Christmas movie in many ways, where Die Hard just has a Christmas office party as a backdrop.
But that is the only reason McClane is there, because it’s Christmas.
I doesn’t really need to be christmas though, and christmas itself plays almost no part in the motivations of characters. You could make an argument that the mccallisters could have been going on any vacation, that mom’s motivation for getting home is just to see her son and not to make sure he isn’t alone on Christmas. But Christmas is injected into every scene through the set design and music. You can’t really say that about diehard save for the Christmas party at the beginning. After that, Christmas becomes irrelevant.For the record, I watch die hard every Christmas
Except his whole motivation for being there is Christmas. And also “now I have a machine gun-ho ho ho” wouldn’t work for any other holiday.
Except his motivation could be to see his wife at any time, it doesn’t have to be Christmas, and it would be the same movie. Drop the hohoho and the same line is just as effective. Anyway, I already conceded that you could say Home Alone doesn’t necessarily need to hang its Christmas-movie hat on Christmas-centric character motivations, the set design and score would still make it a Christmas movie in a way that Die Hard is not. The point is, Christmas doesn’t actually matter in Die Hard, it’s just a reason to have McClane present in an office building he doesn’t work in himself.But like I said, Christmas at the beginning is enough for me to watch Die Hard every Holiday
Strip it down and Die Hard is a film about about a man who has been estranged from his wife and has to find a way to make peace with her and his failings as a husband and father. They’re not as different are you’re insisting.
They could have gone on vacation for any other reason, including the very family oriented holiday of Thanksgiving (which is arguably MORE family oriented since it doesn’t have Jesus at the center of it); the mall Santa doesn’t have to be a mall Santa; no one would notice if he didn’t use any decorations in his traps; the set designs and score could have been non-Christmasy and no one would have batted an eye; Catherine O’Hara’s subplot could easily have been the same if set at Thanksgiving. None of these are good enough arguments as to why Home Alone is a Christmas movie and Die Hard is not.
They wouldn’t be the same movies without it being Christmas. Especially the first one, because a good chunk of what I remember involves christmas ornaments.
Pretty sure “Die Hard is not a Christmas movie” is the new hip take. The main argument is that Die Hard just takes place at Christmas and that the main plot could have happened any time of year. But that also applies to the (second) most famous Christmas story of all time, A Christmas Carol. The main plot of that – a bad person is show his past, present and future – did not have to be set at Christmas. You could make the same argument as Die Hard – that the Christmas setting and references are just superficial dressing on the main plot. Die Hard doesn’t *need* to be set at a Christmas party and have him make ho-ho-ho jokes, just as Scrooge could just visit Bob on any day and give him a raise and join him for dinner. But both use the season to add to the feel of their story, the very specific time of the year adding something more to the basic plot. A certain tone, with implied focuses (the nature of goodwill for Christmas Carol, a man trying to reunite with his family at Christmas for Die Hard). No one debates whether A Christmas Carol is a Christmas story – of course it is, and not just because of the title. The only arguments about Die Hard is that it’s an action film – as if all Christmas films need to fit into one genre (despite there being plenty of Christmas dramas, comedies, fantasies, romcoms). Both are Christmas stories. Both are better for it.
It’s not that main plot could happen any time, it’s that like a week after I saw “Die Hard” I was baffled when someone called it a Christmas movie because I’d already forgotten it takes place at Christmas. Christmas movies are movies where Christmas matters, or gets mentioned beyond “We need a reason for everyone to be in the building” and you happen to land on “Christmas office party” instead of “generic office party.” “A Christmas Carol” talks about Christmas incessantly. “Home Alone” features more holiday decorations than a small New England town trying to attract tourists AND a whole bunch of treacle-y crap about the importance of family at Christmas. “Die Hard” has… I dunno, were there some Christmas decorations where the hostages were being held? I don’t really remember.
In short, if it was the type of action movie where the catchphrase was “Ho ho ho, motherfucker” then sure, it’s Christmas movie.
“Now I have a machine gun, ho ho ho” is one of the most famous quotes. It may not have as *many* decorations as Home Alone but the party is Christmassed up, the main character is there because it’s Christmas (and arrives to Run DMC’s festive sounds), characters make Christmas references and it ends with Let it Snow over the end credits. It’s status as an action movie – one of the greatest of all time – overshadows it’s Christmas elements but I think it’s simply that it lacks that “treacly crap” that people dismiss it as not being a Christmas film (again, McClane is there to try and make good with his family for Christmas – it’s just not overemphasised because there’s shooting to be done). It has just as many elements as other films that people count as being Christmas- Its a Wonderful Life has nothing to do with Christmas for first 3/4s and Love, Actually could have dropped it’s Christmas trappings and been a very similar film – so it’s odd. I’m not sure of the barometer that people measure Christmasness is films by is I guess the summary. It seems very arbitrary which is why this debate always seems so silly (a debate I’m aware I’ve voluntarily waded into) .
It amazes me that anyone claims Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie. It uses Ode to Joy as a leitmotif, for Chrissake. And as you point out, Christmas is far more essential to Die Hard than It’s a Wonderful Life.
Fair enough. I’ll have to rewatch it with this in mind, because none of that made a bit of impression on me the first time. Down to me remembering that McClane was there to make good with his family, but having zero recall of the Christmas connection. Also neither I nor my husband recall that machine gun quote and he’s seen “Die Hard” about six times. Weird.Incidentally, I think it’s weird that “It’s a Wonderful Life” is constidered a Christmas movie. It really isn’t to me, for the reasons you mentioned. I’m 99% sure I read it only became a Christmas thing due to copyright weirdness so a bunch of local stations played it constantly (i.e. it was the cheapest non-shitty movie that touched on Christmas at all).
Also, I can’t edit my comment but apparently I completely misunderstood what my husband said. He does recall a Christmas-y machine gun line. So I hope you’ll accept this bouquet of whoopsie daisies by way of apology.He also pointed out that while I now understand why people say “Home Alone” is a Christmas movie, in times past I have utterly forgotten that it takes place at Christmas. So maybe I just have Christmas blindness.
I don’t know if there’s a cure for Christmas blindness but if you start watching Iron Man 3 repeatedly now then you’ll be ahead of the game in 20 years when the “Iron Man 3 is/isn’t a Christmas film!” debates properly start.
What? Iron Man 3 is not a…. Oh, GodDAMN it!
And now I’m wondering the extent of this. Does The Wicker Man have some Secret Santa sequence I’m forgetting? Is Robert Mitchum dressed as Santa the whole time in Night of the Hunter?
You joke but the finale of Night of the Hunter takes place at Christmas…
I’m very pleased you caught that.
Iron Man 3 was directed by Shane Black – almost like half of Shane Black’s filmography takes place on or around Christmas time – it’s so weird (the aforementioned Iron Man 3, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, The Nice Guys, The Long Kiss Goodnight, (pretty sure the first Lethal Weapon). Similar to Tarantino’s foot fetish, I think Shane Black has a fetish for tinsel or something.
I was just thinking while reading the article that It’s A Wonderful Life really isn’t much more about Christmas than Die Hard is. I mean, I believe they are both Christmas movies, but the reasonings that people who argue against that use for Die Hard could very well work for It’s A Wonderful Life, too.
did you not notice all the Xmas music?and it has decorations.
family and redemption play a role in Die Hard.
Oh, *you* were baffled. Didn’t know that before. Now that I do, I definitely agree Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. FFS
I’d throw in (fitting for the article) It’s a Wonderful Life too. People forget only like the latter third of that film even takes place at Christmas (less than Die Hard!) and the plot could have easily been done without it being set at Christmas at all. Still an undisputed Christmas classic.
And of course, tons of Christmas horror films like Black Christmas.
Agreed – and It’s a Wonderful Life is my favourite Christmas film. It doesn’t matter how much Christmas is in there or how much Christmas drives the plot. It can have loads in. The entire plot could be about the season. Or, like so many Christmas stories, the seasonal setting could be there to add a specific tone (whether genuine or ironic) and give the characters and the audience something to have fun with or latch onto emotionally. Both are equally valid and it’s weird that people draw such arbitrary lines over it (the OP hasn’t responded to another poster’s question over what a “reasonable definition” of a Christmas film is which is telling). You know what makes a film a Christmas film? Something you enjoy watching around the season and attach festive meaning to. How Christmassy does a film need to be? What genre does it need to be? How good does it need to make you feel? Doesn’t matter – it’s a personal thing based on taste and tradition. Christmas itself isn’t a genre, it doesn’t have parameters.
Side note, but I finally saw It’s A Wonderful Life I think three years ago, and it was one of those movies I worried wouldn’t really appeal to me without the nostalgia goggles of having grown up with it. But honestly? It really is a fantastic film. Fully deserving of its reputation. I went and saw it again the following year.
I had the same trepidation when I first saw it about 2008 – and the same reaction. It’s now an annual watch, at the cinema if possible. And that living room breakdown scene (and the Gower scene at the start) get me every time. More so now I’m a parent.
Gremlins. I do think most people consider it a Christmas movie, I guess because his dad gives him Gizmo as a Christmas present and that seals the deal. But Gizmo could have been a birthday present. I don’t know how else you would tell Pheobe Cates’ dad’s death story without Christmas, but otherwise, it’s not important to the plot. But, it’s a Christmas movie.
I mean, Christmas itself is a completely different holiday (Saturnalia) willed into being Christmas. Die Hard being willed into being a Christmas movie is possibly the most Christmas thing possible.Plus, consider some of the Christmas standbys, like a movie about a man contemplating suicide that just got played on TV over and over again because it was cheap to do so, a song about going out in the snow that had nothing to do with any holiday, or a song from a movie about the 1904 World’s Fair.
There are so many songs about winter that we consider Christmas songs. Let It Snow; Walking in a Winter Wonderland; Jingle Bells; Baby It’s Cold Outside. Just off the top of my head. If those can be Christmas songs without ever even mentioning Christmas, then Die Hard can be a Christmas movie.
I didn’t realize until this year how strong the backlash was against the idea of Die Hard being a Christmas movie. I literally had no idea this idea made anyone angry. I barely realized anyone seriously disagreed.Obviously, I can’t resolve the entire discourse with one Kinja post, but here’s what I want to say to you and to everyone I’ve seen on the internet who’s expressed a similar sentiment:Die Hard doesn’t have to be a Christmas movie to you, but it is to me, and when I say that Die Hard is a Christmas movie, I’m not saying it to be hip, I’m not saying it to funny, I’m not saying it to contrarian or ironic or irreverent. I watch Die Hard every year in December, and only in December, because I think Christmas makes Die Hard better and because Die Hard makes Christmas better. Everyone I know in real life who says “Die Hard is a Christmas movie” feels the same way. None of them are being insincere.I also watch Miracle on 34th Street (b&w original), A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Chuck Jones original), The Bishop’s Wife, The Shop Around the Corner, It’s a Wonderful Life, and the 1951 version of A Christmas Carol with Alistair Sim.I know those movies are MORE Christmas-y than Die Hard. Their plot and themes concern themselves with Christmas far more explicitly than Die Hard does. But plot is not the only thing in a movie. Christmas-ness is embedded into the DNA of Die Hard at a filmmaking level. It is loaded with Christmas music, from Christmas in Hollis to Winter Wonderland to Let It Snow to the continuous musical references to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” as a leitmotif for Gruber and his crew. There are so, so many frames of the movie that intentionally juxtapose red and green, in a way that makes the movie feel Christmas-y on an almost subliminal level.
When I watch this movie in December, as I did just the other night, with a mug of hot cocoa and the Christmas tree lit, snuggling with my wife (who watches it every year with me), it highlights all of those elements in a way that they wouldn’t be highlighted if I just popped it on in July with a cold beer and a bag of pretzels, like I would with, say, Under Siege or Bloodsport.And yes, it’s a bloody action power fantasy. No, that doesn’t inherently have anything to do with Christmas. But for me, and I think for a lot of people, it does. Were you ever gifted a really great action movie as a kid? What about a violent video game, or action figures? I have. They’re some of my best Christmas memories, and Die Hard brings me back to that. It’s such a joyful movie, and it’s joyful ABOUT violent cinematic action. It connects that idea to the idea of Christmas, for me, and that connection is more than just snotty contrast.So if you don’t want to watch Die Hard at Christmas, that’s fine. If your personal meaning of Christmas would be disrupted rather than augmented by watching Die Hard, I understand. But don’t shit on other people’s joy just because you assume that it’s all some tired gag. It isn’t. Not for me, and not for a lot of people.
It’s a Christmas movie by virtue of the fact that, plotwise, the movie couldn’t have happened at any other time of year.
What are you talking about? You don’t work in place that has big Labor Day office parties?
it’s not about being hip it simply is a Xmas movie.
what makes Home Alone or Wonderful Life more of one?i think it’s a broad tent, but if you want to narrow it then it’s only films that focus on truly on this like Santa.
It became a Christmas tradition for me well before it became a cliche online joke. No it’s not a movie about how Christmas has to be saved for the thousandth time but how many of those films are any good?
You’re All Wrong, Die Hard Is A Hanukkah Movie
Speaking of ‘80s action movies set at Christmastime, the other night I watched (some of) Lethal Weapon and you know what? It hasn’t aged all that well. The running gag of Riggs’s inability to get through the day without killing someone is really not funny now. There’s also his use of the word “fag” that makes Riggs someone I don’t want to spend time with.
You could probably add Mel Gibson in general to that list.
Turns out Riggs and Gibson weren’t that different after all.
Im starting to feel like the only person who can just watch movies without putting a 2020 is this woke? filter on everything. I don’t need movies or characters to line up with my thoughts or beliefs. Especially when it comes to 80s movies. Oh he said the f word. Shocking! I’m glad things are at least better and more thoughtful now but the fact that a bunch a movies do things I don’t agree with is just whatever to me.The whole I can’t watch rogue or violent cops is another whatever thing to me. I never idolized these people. Most of the movies also call out these characters for their over the top behavior. The main escapism of these movies is having people that will do anything to take the bad guy down. Real life isn’t and shouldn’t be that way but it’s a movie.The day when movies just start sanding down all the edges and trying to appease and not offend anyone will be a sad day filled with boring ass movies that will be 30 minutes long.
If I could give you all the upvotes, I would.
“The day when movies just start sanding down all the edges and trying to appease and not offend anyone will be a sad day filled with boring ass movies that will be 30 minutes long.”Raise your kids right and maybe we won’t have to have these #woke moments. I watched all the big violent blockbusters of the 80’s as a kid and yeah, I loved the violence, but I also knew that’s not how you treat women or anyone. I still watch True Lies and enjoy it. The scenes with JLC as a hooker are badly dated, but I knew they were wrong even as a 15 year old. Does that mean I can’t still enjoy the movie? I’m going with yes. Ya gotta self actualize and know that’s not the person you are, it’s entertainment. It’s not real life. It’s not how I act in real life or especially how I interact with friends and family and co-workers.Are we gonna take Titus Adronicus out of plays and film because of how violent or misogynistic it is?
Honestly, my worst influence growing up was other kids. I saw coming to america at 6 years old with my parents in the theater. Mostly all the “black movies” I saw with my parents or just watched them on my own. Been watching horror movies and action movies all my life. I was also raised to learn right from wrong. Use common sense. But, in school, I was the weirdo for things like not cursing until middle school and I just said forget it. I might as well just curse. These things weren’t okay back then either. It’s just that now everyone has a voice so everyone has a problem with something. This isn’t new. The ability to give everyone a voice is.
Well said. Thank you.
Probably because you aren’t in any of the groups who have actually suffered from these things. That’s called privilege. Enjoy it, but please understand that not everyone has it and, for many, these words and ideas are extremely painful because they negatively and significantly impact their lives.
lol imagine that crazy realization that Mel Gibson isn’t someone that’s aged well
Not to mention the throwaway line when they realize two women were in bed together, and Riggs says “Disgusting, but ok.” That… that did not age well at ALL…
Danny Glover is the best part of those movies, anyway. And Joe Pesci in 3.
I was shocked in the scene at the shooting range and they talk about Amanda Huntsacker being in a homosexual relationship. My caveman brain was going “that’s hot.” Mel Gibson says something like, “Disgusting but OK”. Wow, that stood out. I thought that men in the 80s still thought girl-on-girl sex was sexy. I guess we just found out about Mel Gibson’s conservative views way before they were truly public.
That SNL clip starts off gold with the Shatner intro, and just gets better.
Star Wars is a Life Day movie.Discuss.
I’m afraid this is Kinja, not Disqus.
McTiernan is out of prison? Maybe put him in charge of the new Die Hard.
I think that’s been quietly gotten rid off thanks to Disney.
“Why, you’re just a scurvy little spider Mr. Gruber!”
Rabid (at least, the Cronenberg original) is a Christmas movie.
“Your detonators aren’t here. They’re in Joe’s house, and the Kennedy house…”
The dumbest fucking thing about “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?” is that nobody ever bothers to develop a consistent set of criteria for what qualifies as “a Christmas movie” and then consistently apply it to all films. They just come up with whatever bullshit in order to justify their position that Die Hard in particular is(n’t) a Christmas movie.Here’s an approach: what fucking difference does it make whether Die Hard is considered a Christmas movie?
Usually my main concern if something is a Christmas movie is dependant on a character coming to some kind of self-realization through the “magic” of the holiday or related-to-the-holiday element, often through the use of traditions or the sepia-toned past…not just because it takes place at Christmas.Die Hard fails at this… I’m not even sure that bruce willis goes through any kind of self realization transformation throughout the movie, much less because of a holiday related thing. Also gremlins.Things like charlie brown Christmas, grinch, it’s a wonderful life, and elf succeed at it. Home alone is a bit of a trickster… I’ve never really considered it to be a true Christmas movie, but after watching it recently for the first time in 30 years or so, there are elements of the kids coming to self realizations through talking with the old man at church, and a few other moments that make it qualify.
So, would “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” count as one?
Of course John McClane goes through a “self realization transformation” – there’s a very pretty obvious thread of him understanding that he needs to support his wife’s career choices, that his lashing out at her was selfish and immature, and that the ball is in his court, with the push to overcome his male ego coming from him and his wife being subjected to an extended life-and-death situation. It’s not subtle or anything. Have you even seen it?
Through what “magical” Christmas moment?
I don’t know, through what ‘“magical” Christmas moment’ does George Bailey decide not to commit suicide?“I didn’t even think of it as a Christmas story when I first ran across it. I just liked the idea.” (Frank Capra, 1984)
Guiding Angels.
That’s not a Christmas thing. Also, you replied to yourself.
Angels (it’s just one angel, by the way. Also, you don’t capitalize “angel”) are not specific to Christmas. If angels got their wings from doing good things, they would not just get them at Christmas. There is nothing in what happens between Clarence and George that indicates that Christmas is the reason this is happening or that some kind of Christmas magic is what Clarence used to bring George to his senses or that Clarence is a Christmas angel. Just because you put one on top of the tree doesn’t make angels Christmasy. Yep, they’re in Christmas songs, giving messages of Jesus’ birth to people. God uses angels throughout the bible to give messages to people no matter what time of year and even before Jesus was born. (Also, angels are not pretty and do not look like people, but that’s a completely different subject.)
“Die Hard fails at this… I’m not even sure that bruce willis goes
through any kind of self realization transformation throughout the
movie,”
…I mean….he kinda literally does? The heart at the middle of the film is his coming to terms with his failures as a husband and father. It’s made particularly explicit in that sequence where he tells Al to pass along a message to his wife.
If a movie takes place at Christmas and has Christmas music played then it’s a Christmas movie right?
In that case, “The Thin Man” (1934) is a Christmas movie.Note the tree in the background:
Ok so it’s a Christmas film then. Is that the one where Orson Welles shows up, cuts an awesome monologue then leaves?
It makes a fucking difference to my religious studies doctoral thesis on John McClane being a stand in for Jesus Christ for one
Die Hard is a documentary and the events happened in real time
Oh I am forever… I am immortal!
I don’t know why people keep trying to take down Die Hard as Christmas movie. If it is to you, that’s all that matters. There is no definitive answer to this because everyone’s criteria is different.
It’s more like “Franz Kafka’s It’s A Wonderful Life”.
We’ve milked this one for all it’s worth, so I propose that Friday the 13th is an Arbor Day movie.
Even if the original isn’t an Arbor Day movie, The New Blood certainly is…
I saw this opening weekend, probably opening night, and the sleeping bag kill brought the house down. Pandemonium! What an awesomely hilarious moment of moviegoing with a theater full of strangers, something that can’t be replicated at home.
I think Die Hard is a Christmas move, but if you want to watch it in April, or June, or September , by all means do it. Enjoy the film. It is a one of the greatest action movies of all time.
I’ve always felt the exchange between John and Argyle at the beginning about Run DMC and Christmas music was a microcosm of this argument. John hears Christmas in Hollis and asks if Argyle has any (traditional) Christmas music, to which Argyle explains that it IS Christmas music. Die Hard = Christmas in Hollis. It may not be conventional, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still about Christmas.
Not sure if this will ever be definitively decided. But I think something that can be said is that the source material, Nothing Lasts Forever, is definitely not a Christmas story. A much darker ending that the movie. No one is singing Christmas carols at the end of that.
Can Hollywood let McTiernan direct movies again?
The line was originally “It’s a Wonderful Life, Motherf**ker!” They changed it in post.
Of course Die Hard is a Christmas movie, probably the second greatest story ever told. The obvious signs are that it’s filled with Christmas music and cheer.The slightly less obvious signs are that without Christmas, you really don’t have a story…Hans Gruber’s whole plan revolves around that fact that it’s Christmas Eve and (a) the only ones left in Nakatomi Plaza are going to be those at the party (what party? a Christmas Party). This heist depends on Christmas…it could not be planned for any other night as Gruber had to be sure that someone with the vault codes would be there. Not even a New Years party would suffice as there would likely be more police patrol available to investigate the situation earlier on in the evening.But the real reason this is a Christmas movie comes down to the underlying truth it speaks from the Gospel (the true meaning of Christmas). The story as a whole is about redemption, it’s about overcoming sin. According to the gospels, Jesus Christ was born completely sinless and a lived sinless life. Why? So that man can learn to be like him? Well, yes and no. Yes, man is called to learn and live like Christ, but God knows that man fails at this, it is the curse of Adam and Eve since the days in the Garden. The wages of sin is death and the only payment that can completely wash away that debt is the blood of a sinless life. So Christ was born to be that sinless life (the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world)…through Jesus, man is redeemed.So what does that have to do with John McClane? Was John sinless…absolutely not. John is a troubled man, selfish, with a broken marriage, short temper and quick to anger. He’s judgmental and proud. He represents all of mankind…and his marriage (like man’s relationship with God) is to be redeemed. In comes the angel, Sgt. Powel, sent from heaven (or L.A.P.D.) to help guide John back into his marriage through counsel and encouragement…all the while (like Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life) earning his wings…which he does upon taking down Karl in the end. “Every time a cop shoot’s a bad guy, and angel gets his wings” Cap the whole thing off with “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas” and you have yourself a Christmas tale to handed down for generations to enjoy along with retellings of Dicken’s A Christmas Carol.
William Shatner’s enthusiastic intro is just as good as the sketch. I think this is the same episode where Shatner hilariously browbeats the Trek convention and might make it one of SNL’s best.