The classic Christmas movie that directly inspired ‘Die Hard’
Each and every year without fail, Die Hard will return to the cultural spotlight in December as the debate over whether or not it can truly be called a Christmas film reignites.
Obviously, it’s one of the greatest action movies ever made that can be watched at any point on the calendar, but there’s something so festive about watching John McClane take on the cabal of terrorists to have infiltrated Nakatomi Plaza that makes it irresistible during the lead-in to Christmas.
To be fair, the never-ending arguments aren’t helped by the vastly differing opinions the people who made it – and even those closest to them – hold on the matter. Bruce Willis said it most definitely isn’t a Christmas movie, something his mother told TMZ she agreed with, although his daughter Scout told the same outlet that “it’s a Christmas movie”.
Director John McTiernan, on the other hand, has an entirely different perspective on the matter. In fact, he even name-dropped an inarguable Christmastime classic as one of the biggest inspirations behind Die Hard, not that you can draw too many direct parallels between the gun-toting thriller and It’s a Wonderful Life outside of their narrative proximity to December 25th.
Speaking to the American Film Institute, McTiernan made the comparison between his movie and Frank Capra’s: “Specifically, the Pottersville sequence. 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,” he said. “And it’s the clearest demonstration and criticism of runaway, unregulated cowboy capitalism that’s ever been done in an American movie.”
That being said, both Willis’ McClane and Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey are hard-working everymen who end up battling against (entirely different) forms of rampant capitalism. In the latter’s case, the way in which it’s blighted his existence to the point of contemplating suicide, and in the former Hans Gruber’s desire to attain those bearer bonds and escape scot-free at any cost.
McTiernan did state that he never intended Die Hard to be interpreted as a festive caper, but he was happy to admit “the joy that came from it is what turned it into a Christmas movie.” More than 35 years on from landing in cinemas and the debate shows no signs of ending anytime soon – if ever – but when the person who directed it falls into the Christmas camp, then surely it becomes harder to argue the opposite point.
After all, if McTiernan has gone on record saying that Die Hard was indebted to It’s a Wonderful Life of all things before taking on its second life as a holiday staple, then it becomes a lot more difficult to disagree with the assessment of the guy who literally made it.
