Christmas is a rollin’ round. It’ll be here in less than a week now. And just as we enjoy our annual visit from Chris Cringle, so too do we enjoy our annual movie debate. Is Die Hard a Christmas film?
Many arguments have been made at this point. It takes place at Christmas time, sure, but the man in red is nowhere to be seen. Does Santa have to be on screen in order to make a movie a Christmas movie? Not necessarily, as The Muppet Christmas Carol is compulsory viewing in our household, and the big man never pops up there. Does a Christmas movie have to be wholesome? Nope. Take the obvious example of Bad Santa. That joint isn’t wholesome, and I think we can at least agree on that.
Anyway, back to Die Hard. Its status as a Christmas film is a serious and long-debated subject. People have gathered hard data on the issue (https://stephenfollows.com/using-data-to-determine-if-die-hard-is-a-christmas-movie/), and the various polls that are still compiled to this day just go to show that we still haven’t settled on a conclusive answer (https://www.radiox.co.uk/news/tv-film/is-die-hard-a-christmas-film/). Die Hardwriter Steven E de Souza presented a compelling argument that it is, comparing it with the 1954 film White Christmas. However, central star Bruce Willis stated in a 2018 Comedy Central roast that it isn’t. I guess we’ll never know.
One thing we do know by the end of the film, however, is that the film’s big bad, Hans Gruber, is dead. It seems like he could get away with the money as he holds John McClane’s wife Holly at gunpoint, but a maniacally laughing McClane suggests otherwise, and a close-up shot of the gun taped to his back assures us that we’re in safe hands, even if the extended laughter between John and Hans is probably enough to make Holly go completely insane. McClane whips out the gun from his back and successfully shoots Gruber, taking out his goons at the same time. Hans smashes out of the glass window with Holly still attached, and somehow manages to start aiming his gun at McClane while suspended mid air (it’s an action movie, folks; like Hans’ suspended figure, we’re willing to suspend disbelief). McClane manages to cut Holly loose, at which point Hans falls to his death.There could have been much more bombastic music playing at this particular point, and it’s an unexpected relief that the composition here is relatively minimalist as a shocked Hans falls in slow motion. After recently watching the hyperbolic disappointment that is Die Hard 2, Hans’ demise feels nicely toned down. There’s no blood or gore shown as Hans is in freefall, and the moment his body hits the ground is deliberately obscured, and it is only articulated through the onlooking policemen’s disgusted reactions. Happy trails, Hans/Alan Rickman. Your theatrical, charismatic villainy will not be forgotten.