The movie itself actually states it takes place on Christmas Eve. 3:20 into the movie Holly tells Ellis "It's Christmas Eve". This makes the basketball game a continuity error.
One of the rare times I was totally captivated by a movie. It seemed as if this great flick was over in no time at all---as well as taking forever for the vcr to rewind (and I was kind) to watch it again.
Great video ! I have facts 51 and 52 ... both from an interview with the late, great Alan Rickman shown on British tv : 51. Hans Gruber was originally to wear overalls like the other terrorists, but Alan Rickman suggested he play it wearing a suit and tie. 52. The shot of Hans Gruber falling was the last shot Alan Rickman had to film ... Just in case !
She was walking with Ellis, but I believe she was talking to her assistant who was still working instead of joining the party. They then have the dialogue about her being pregnant and if alcohol will be ok for the baby.
Curiously, both Under Siege and Passenger 57 were intended to be Die Hard sequels, but were nixed as not being good enough, and were made with other actors. I was told this by an assistant director I knew in the 1990s when I was doing work on The Edge and Legends of the Fall here in Calgary Alberta.
Subscribed! I am a MASSIVE Die Hard fan, and have watched probably 40 "top fact" videos over the years. They are all the same crap. But I didn't know at least 20 of your facts. Great job!! Great digging!!
One of the coolest scenes in any movie ever, was near the end, when the bad guy with the long blond hair comes out of the building with his machine gun, and shots ring out. The camera is focused on a smoking revolver, then focuses in on Al Powell, who redeems himself, by taking out the last terrorist. Awe-inspiring!
I text-typed Akagi, but Autocorrect overruled me and made me look like a Total Fool. As a total Military- World War II-Pacific Theatre-Battle of Midway-Nerd Geek, I stand abashed and embarrassed. Akagi Akagi Akagi. Red Castle. Take That, Autocorrect.
My wife and I watch a handful of Christmas movies every year, and this is one of them. There is Christmas music lavishly spread across the entire film. The film clearly takes place on Christmas Eve night. It's mentioned so many times throughout the film.
#17 - "Fox charged itself to make the movie at its own offices". Sounds like Milo Minderbinder had a pretty good postwar career. One of the big goofs in the movie (in my opinion) is that the radio that McLain talks to Pal is taken from one of the robbery crew. As such, Gruber should be listening to everything that McLain says during the entire movie.
Now in 2019, the FBI would deploy the HRT or Hostage Rescue Team. This elite unit was set up after 1988. HRT could deploy quickly but due to 🎅 the response would be delayed. The FBI did have a regional SWAT unit & the US marshals had the elite SOG(special ops group). The Border Patrol, DoJ(1988) had BORTAC but I'd highly doubt LA or the state gov would approve BORTAC doing a SWAT op.
Never thought of Yippe Kaayayy as Urdu/Hindi before. BUT If it was Urdu/Hindi it would be - Ye (this) Pee (drink) = Drink This kha (eat) ye (this) = Eat this.
#28 The film is definitely set on Christmas Eve. There are multiple references to this, various characters outright state it's Christmas Eve through the film. When they cut the power to the building, Deputy Dwayne says "Ten square blocks? It's Christmas Eve for Christ's sake." Theo paraphrases the classic Christmas Eve poem 'Twas the night before Christmas' Hans says "It's Christmas, the time for miracles" Holly specifically mentions Chritsmas Eve when talking about having John stay at the house. Argyle says "If this is their idea of Christmas, I got to be here for New Year" Holly, when talking to her daughter on the phone about John coming home says "Let's see what Santa and Mommy can do. And no snooping round the house looking for presents" I could go on as there are dozens of Christmas nods and references. I'm going to suggest the game on TV was either a flub by the production team as what game is being played is hardly an important plot point. Or the terrorist was watching a rerun of the game and thought it was live as he was acting as being the guard. But the film is definitely set on Christmas Eve.
Die hard was literally the first movie I watched after my daughter was born. She was born on June 28, 1988 in... *Philadelphia* (Bryn Mawr to be exact). My mother, brother and sister came up to visit about a week later and my brother, sister and I went to see the movie about a week or so after that. We had a great time. On a movie side note... we named our daughter Jessica because it seemed to be a name that had fallen out of use and was likely to be somewhat original. Except... just days before she was born, _"Who Framed Roger Rabbit"_ was released (the second movie I saw after my daughter was released, and of course we had no idea how huge and influential it would be). Including her, there were 5 Jessicas in her kindergarten class alone.
We saw Die Hard the day it was released on a midnight screening with a full house. It was awesome. I knew I was watching a classic. It is a new Christmas tradition.
Even Hans Gruber’ s line “Who said we were terrorists” after Takagi asks “ You want money, what kind of Terrorists are you? was classic confrontation between the characters.
Wow. Great insight on this movie. Well researched and interesting. I like the split screen between you and the scenes. If I may suggest, your nose is a bit distracting. Maybe move the camera back a couple of feet and keep the same framing. Thanks!!
Another little known Die Hard BTS fact is the terrorist actors did NOT use HK MP5 9mm sub guns as widely stated. The set & prop guys converted HK 94 9mm carbines to look like full auto MP5s. The studio & producers could not get new MP5s from 🇩🇪 in time due to 🗂📑🌏 customs, legal issues. BTW, McClane used a 9x19mm Beretta 92F pistol. Hans used a nickel HK P7M8 9mm, Al had a S&W model 15 .38spl 4" revolver. Imfdb.org .
Actually if you watch that scene with the terrorist grabbing the candy you would notice that it's not a candy bar but a Twinkie. This was not improved. Twinkie was a sponsor of the movie that is why it is used more than once in the film. The funny thing about this scene is that this same actor later plays Genghis Khan in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure where he eats Twinkies. :-)
@@williamfoy599 I literally just watched a video of Alan Rickman as The Metatron. What brilliant casting. (Even in movies that were not that great) I cannot think of a role of his in which he did not completely own the screen.
Last Saturday of November? Nope, Holli tell Ellis , when he suggests mulled wine and an aged brie, that it's Xmas eve. And she tells her daughter that Santa is coming...
I believe you might have referenced the wrong actor for Nakatomi. You showed a pic of Toshirô Mifune (who portrayed Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto) and the pic should have been of James Shigeta (portrayed as Vice Admiral Nagumo)... both from the 70s Midway movie. Sorry to split hairs. But... James took it in the face for plot dev!
Hi Jeff! I know the football game makes it seem like the weekend after Thanksgiving but the movie actually takes place on Christmas Eve and you know this because Holly tells Ellis "It's Christmas Eve" right at the beginning of the flick! Either the fake security guard told Powell the first teams he could think of or that is a really big goof on the part of the production crew! Thanks for another great video!
When the preview for this film -- a short clip -- hit movie theaters, audiences laughed out loud at how absurd it seemed. But then, after the movie was released, it blew everybody away. GREAT cinema!
I loved Toy Soldiers. 🥰 It had a bit of the Red Dawn vibe to it. My brother and I and several neighborhood kids spent many-a summer evening acting out stuff like that around the neighborhood. Good times.
I keep trying to find the time to make them. I’ll try to do more in the new year. I have made a few TikToks, but it’s hard to find an audience that likes classic movies on there.
Thank you for a balanced,and informed commentary on this and the other movies that you are analysing,, nice to hear an intelligent commentary. Look forward to your future episodes and at this rate you should achieve your target !
What you missed was that Bruce Willis does not appear on the original poster as the producers thought he would not be a good fit as he was not known as an action star. That changed very quickly
They did a good job with Hans Gruber faking German. I know a lot of German and when he says schießen das Fenster , he is saying SHOOT THE GLASS. although Das Fenster means the Window. So at first he said SHOOT THE WINDOW .......... when the criminal looked at him not understanding, he said to him SHOOT THE GLASS. If he said SHOOT THE GLASS in German it would have been schieße auf das Glas .
“A Million Movies” . . . Sorry, I think you’ve vastly under-estimated the number of movies I’ve seen. 😂😂😂😂 It’s both so much fun and so sad I’ve watched so much. Strangely enough, I somehow managed to play outside countless hours and be dedicated to several sports . . . It’s like there were more hours in the say back when I was a kid or something! 😂
Pacific Courier also appears in Speed. It's on the plane that gets exploded by the bus. Also, it's set on Christmas Eve. Several characters mention it including Holly, and the police chief before they cut the power.
Another cool fact. The set they built that has the playboy calendar on the wall was slowly reduced in size each time it appears on screen, so as to give the audience the feeling of claustrophobia, as if the walls were literally closing in on our hero...which they were.
Item 28 is wrong. It specifically says in the film that it is Christmas Eve. I don't think they were concerned at the time about the two teams playing football on the lobby monitor!
@@AMillionMovies Hence the Christmas movie adornment, either way it works, its cold out, winter, Die Hards on, Christman movie, set in a very warm place, no snow in the film, takes you out of that, the trademark 80's films Cali sky glow through floor to ceiling windows, nostalgic feeling now really, just reminds of you the time period, or you're in a warm climate, simply, hey, its Christmas and Die Hard's on
Interesting fact on James Shigeta also being in Midway, however the picture you show of "him" in uniform is actually Toshiro Mifune, who was Yamamoto in Midway.
@@robbybee70 nope, not a joke. got it from the Minty Comedic Arts channel. maybe i'm mistaken, maybe he is - but it sounded SO plausible, that it stuck with me as a fun fact!
@@dobrzpe well the video mentions it was initially a book and the book is older then the movie commando so I don't see how that's possible unless they were just going to rename it commando 2
@@robbybee70 it was his #5 thing. at 8:58. thought it was pretty cool as i LOVED Commando growing up... it would have been a real interesting take on Die Hard had it actually happened.
How many movies would have been affected if Bruce Willis doesn't land this part? Can you imagine how bad Die Hard would have sucked with Richard Gere? He's a fine actor but he's no John McClane. Great job!
I remember when movie was first released,my date really wanted to see it because she liked moonlighting......i didnt think a movie with some guy from t.v.,especally some show called moonlighting.....thats why i work in a mine and not Hollywood
While it is a stretch that the Office Christmas Party, (even with a major business deal closing celebration to go with it) would take place exactly on Christmas Eve (most people would likely want to be home at a given time) it's mentioned several times that it IS Christmas Eve during the film. So where did the football game come from? This may have been a film flub. The game should have been unnamed where an audience would then assume it is The Peach Bowl.
both reggie vel johnson and william atherton was both in ghostbusters and mary ellen trainor was in ghostbusters 2 and another movie connection to the actors who played agent johnson was in license to kill originally titled licensed revoked but cubby broccoli thought that american audiences wouldn't get the title so the licensed revoked was an refference in the film license to kill .
Sorry but the elevator shaft that the "Stuntman" falls down is not a shaft at all. its a set extension with green screen. They don't do live stunts in elevator shafts.
The use of the radios was a joke in that movie. First off the radios being used were Ham Radios not CB's and a VHF or UHF Ham Radio CAN'T transmit on the CB band. Second, Police cars back in the day were on crystal controlled radios and couldn't transmit on the CB band, or Ham Bands. The last thing is that you must hold the PTT button down to talk and when you do no one else can talk. The radios they were using did not have VOX and were NOT on a full duplex system. Only 1 person can transmit at a time.
about the german version of Die Hard......I dont remember the terrorists being irish.......but from the Netherlands or some dutch commonwealth and they would speak in a dutch language ( sort of dutch-german jibberish )
Nice video. Just one thing though, when referring to Reginald VelJohnsons' character, are you call him "Pal" or "Powell"? (Al Powell) Just struck me as a bit odd since you referred to other characters by first names at times, so It makes me think you were mistaking his first name as "Pal" I mean no big deal, I was just curious. Excellent choice in movies, and excellent video. Keep it up, and Thanks.
Alan Rickman was in a "brat pack" movie in the early '80's.Where they took one kids mothers car and drove to Texas to see his girlfriend over the weekend.Can't remember the title of the movie.
Not sure what movie that is. Fandango with Kevin Costner is a road trip movie that goes to Texas (to see what remains of the set from Giant). That’s what came to mind for me, but I don’t think Alan Rickman was in that one.
I heard that Argyle was the little kid in the Blues Brother who tries to steal a guitar off the wall of Ray's Music Exchange, and Ray Charles shoots to scare him off.
Nicely done bro really informative love what you’re doing, awesome. First time viewer lifetime fan but, “Yippy-Khaa-Ehh” Actually translates to “You Yippy eat this”!!!!!!! (In Urdu) Keep up the good work love’n it... K-9 0Ut...
Why "even ´A Christmas Story`"? That´s my favorite Christmas movie. (Of course, I don´t know all Christmas movies that exist. For example I haven´t watched "Elf".) What do you have against it?
