Die Hard

Die Hard
Directed by	John McTiernan
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon Joel Silver Charles Gordon Beau Marks
Written by	Novel: Roderick Thorp Screenplay: Jeb Stuart Steven E. de Souza
Starring	Bruce Willis Alan Rickman Bonnie Bedelia Alexander Godunov Reginald VelJohnson Paul Gleason James Shigeta
Music by	Michael Kamen Chris Boardman (uncredited)
Cinematography	Jan de Bont
Edited by	John F. Link Frank J. Urioste
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	July 20, 1988
Running time	132 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English, German
Budget	$30,000,000 (estimated)
Box office	Domestic: $83,008,852 Worldwide: $138,708,852

Die Hard is a 1988 American action thriller movie starring Bruce Willis. It is the first movie in a series, and was followed by Die Hard 2.

Plot

The movie is set on Christmas Eve at the Nakatomi building in Los Angeles, California. NYPD officer John McClane (Bruce Willis) is flying in from New York to meet his wife Holly during the Nakatomi’s annual Christmas party. While there, they get into an argument over Holly's choice to use her maiden name instead of her married name. Shortly afterwards, a group of German terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) invade the building and take all the people hostages. They want the bearer bonds in the building ' s vault and ask the CEO, Joseph Takgai, for the access code to the first barrier. When he says no, Gruber shoots and kills him.

McClane witnesses Gruber killing Takagi and tries to get help. He pulls a fire alarm, but the terrorists find out and reverse the alarm. Gruber then sends a man named Tony to find whoever pulled the alarm. In the ensuring battle, McClane snaps Tony's neck and takes his machine gun. He then puts the dead man in an elevator and pushes buttons so that it stops on the floor where the partygoers are being held. Upon finding Tony, Gruber sends more men to find him. After killing two more of Gruber's men, McClane finds and takes some detonators.

On the rooftop, McClane radios for help. The dispatchers send a patrol car in. Just as the police officer is about to leave, McClane drops the body of a dead terrorist on his patrol car. The LAPD arrive. They send in a tank and four SWAT team members, but Gruber's men beat back both attacks. When Gruber ignores McClane's request to stop attacking, McClane takes some C4 explosives and blows up part of the building.

Holly's co-worker Harry then tries to talk to the terrorists. He tries to get McClane to give up the detonators, but when he refuses, Gruber shoots and kills Harry. Shortly afterwards, McClane finds Gruber, who was trying to check the explosives. Gruber fakes an American accent, throwing McClane off. As they talk, Gruber's men show up and shoot out the glass. McClane injures his feet severely as he tries to walk across the floor and loses the detonators in the process.

The FBI arrives and orders the building's power to be cut. Gruber informs the FBI that he wants two helicopters and he will escort the hostages to the top of the building. The power outage opens up the final locks on the building's vault, where Gruber scoops up the bonds. The FBI plans to send gunships to kill the terrorists, but Gruber had lined the top of the building with explosives and plans to blow it up to cover his escape.

A reporter named Richard Thornberg manages to interview McClane's children. Gruber, seeing this on TV, realizes that Holly is McClane's wife and takes her hostage. McClane finds the explosives and realizes what Gruber is up to. However, Gruber's man Karl finds him and they engage in a vicious hand-to-hand combat. McClane leaves Karl for dead and rushes up to the top of the building. He and forces the hostages to go back down into the building. The FBI fires at him. Gruber blows up the top of the building. McClane ties a fire hose around his waist and jumps off the building.

McClane finally meets Gruber one last time. He tricks him by throwing his gun down and then using another gun to shoot Gruber. Gruber falls out of the building, nearly taking Holly with him. McClane unties her watch and Gruber falls to his death. Afterwards, they go home in a limo.

Release dates

Country	Premiere
United States	20 July 1988
Puerto Rico	25 August 1988
France	21 September 1988
South Korea	24 September 1988
Taiwan	24 September 1988
Italy	29 September 1988
Spain	30 September 1988
Sweden	30 September 1988
Australia	6 October 1988
Finland	7 October 1988
Hong Kong	19 October 1988
Brazil	27 October 1988
Netherlands	3 November 1988
Greece	10 November 1988
West Germany	10 November 1988
Austria	11 November 1988
Norway	18 November 1988
Iceland	23 November 1988
Argentina	15 December 1988
Mexico	16 December 1988
Portugal	16 December 1988
El Salvador	25 December 1988
Uruguay	25 December 1988
Denmark	26 December 1988
Peru	2 February 1989
United Kingdom	3 February 1989
Japan	4 February 1989
Ireland	17 February 1989
Colombia	20 April 1989
Poland	October 1989
Hungary	14 December 1989
Turkey	26 January 1990
Czechoslovakia	20 June 1991
Romania	4 June 1993

Other websites

• Die Hard on IMDb