Chiasmus cult cinema trailers - "Die Hard" (1988). *These will be ongoing posts, courtesy of the A.Glass DVD collection. As I offer via Chiasmus Cult trailers, my summarized overviews*

Before we continue with the overview of "Die Hard" (1988), remember this line from the main villain "Hans Gruber", played by the late Alan Rickman, "Who said we were terrorists?"   

The 1988 movie adaption was Based off the 1979 Right Wing, conservative family values esque book titled "Nothing Last Forever" written by pulp fiction and relatively unknown author Roderick Thorp, who passed away in 1996, and was mainly a teacher of literature over the years before his passing.   The screenplay was written by Jeb Stuart, which was his first screenplay, and rewritten by veteran screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, know for penning some heavy weight action/comedy flicks of 1980s and 1990s, including the gritty action/comedy drama "48 Hours" (1982), and later in the 90s with Arnold Schwarzenegger one liner 'breakout' movies such as "Commando" (1985) and "Running Man" (1987).  

The first and updated second draft screenplay for "Die Hard" was immediately 'greenlit' for production in 1987, which cleverly reworked the 1979 book themes of German 'commie' terrorists taking over an American oil giant's high rise office block in L.A., as they, the terrorists, were going to steal documents showing that the oil company had dealings with Chile's (at the time) ruthless Far Right dictatorship.  In its similarity to the movie adaption, in steps "John McClane" styled character, unpronounced to the terrorists, although his name is different in the book, and saves his daughter, grandchildren and most of the hostages, while killing off the terrorists.   Of course what we now know and are fans of, in reference to "Die Hard", under the skillful direction of action blockmaster maestro John McTiernan, is that the book holds only a base for the movie's storyline, where "John McClane" (played by Bruce Willis), is to visit his wife working for a Japanese fictional multinational conglomerate, called the "Nakatomi Corporation".  Now remember the movie line at the start of this overview by main villain "Hans Gruber"?   The book's terrorists were changed in the script to be a group of well organised thieves, stealing Bearer Bonds from the Japanese company, rather than on a crusade to reveal corporate greed and international corruption.

McTiernan, was able to portray Stuart's and de Souza's screenplay, and project the contradictions between a terrorist and a thief, with Alan Rickman's character of a former East German trained counterintelligence officer, ripping off a Japanese mega company with guns and explosives, that at the time in the late 1980s, were thought to be taking over the world, only to economically collapse in 1990, hence the so called 'lost decade' that followed, with Japan now, very much a poorer country.  So in that sense, the movie feels economical outdated, yet the premise of an international company's greed, being hijacked with military hardware by thieves being just as greedy, holds up as an entertaining paradox.  With tons of action, gun battles, fist fights and explosions.  And of course, Willis's character ended up with some of the bloodiest bare feet in movie history (after attending the Christmas party, invited by his wife, and took of his shoes just as the band of gun wielding thieves took over the building).

A Box Office success for 1988, credited for reinvigorating 20th Century Studios to invest in more action flicks as the 1990s rolled in with Bruce Willis returning in "Die Hard 2" (1990), Die Hard stands alone an action cult movie classic, when the 1980s came to an end.

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(A.Glass 2025)

All CHIAMUS Cult Cinema trailers/commentary to date: chiasmusmagazine.blogspot.com/search/label/Chiasmus%20cult%20cinema