When Bruce Willis was cast in this movie, nobody believed it would work because he was known as a comedian and comedic actor. At the time, he was known from the tv show, "Moonlighting", a romantic comedy show. People were accustomed to action movies with larger, more muscular people, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. This movie made Willis a big movie star.
I did not see this movie at the theater because of Bruce Willis (hated Moonlighting), but once I did see it, I have seen it over a dozen times, The sequels also.
I hadn't seen Moonlighting when Die Hard came out, although I had a general sense of its tone from friends. I was living without a TV, but went to quite a few movies. I didn't regret this one. The third was filmed in part at a site where I had worked. A friend who worked on it gave me a leftover prop from it.
Yes, that's part of what made this movie work so well - that he was NOT an action movie badass but a regular guy. That's why I feel the sequels weren't as effective (though the second one is not too bad).
I've never heard of getting phone books that often. We'd get them once a year. You'd get the 'white pages' with home numbers, and 'yellow pages' with numbers for businesses.
In the 80's, I lived in Las Vegas and there they sent out new phone books twice a year because of the constant moving in and out of residents. I never heard of monthly either. I still get phone books here in Indiana once a year. It is good to have handy. I do not use them very often, but I do use them.
@OneColdMonkey I think they may have just misunderstood the reference of what they are told..... for example; maybe the person who mentioned monthly phone books was just referring to how there would often be salesmen going around neighborhoods knocking on doors "wanting" you to pay for a phone book from them and there was a time at which there used to be enough competitors in the phonebook marketplace that you could have a salesman visit once a month. But most people just told them no and stayed with the one phonebook per year.
Lethal Weapon is a Christmas movie, too! It's right up there with Die Hard! Good stuff guys. Gas was 75 cents per gallon in California when this was made.
This was Alan Rickman's (Hans Gruber) first Hollywood movie. And such a memorable performance. He went on to achieve fame in so many other parts. Most notably as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films.
Alan Rickman changed the rules on Villains with this role. He showed that a villain can be menacing and dangerous without being a raving loud madman. He showed that a villain could be cool and classy and intelligent... Cerebral. Hans Gruber was the first of a new kind of Movie Villain.
This movie is set on Christmas Eve at a Christmas party. It's about a couple who get back together to spend Christmas together with their family (after being apart). If this does not define "Christmas movie", I don't know what does.
Fascinating to hear you talk about the phone book! I worked for the yellow pages back in the 90s - the main phone book for business. The books were only replaced once per year. The White Pages were for residential/individuals.
@@ckobo84 - Well there were a LOT of newspapers that published daily, and were delivered to homes all across America. And much like the phone books, they were printed on mostly recycled paper.
Movie magic making moment: when Alan Rickman was going to do his death dive scene it became known that he was afraid if heights so he could not stand to do more than one take as it required Rickman to make a practical stunt fall himself. Director McTiernan did not tell him but he was dropped earlier than he was supposed to, so the reaction you saw of Hans Gruber falling to his death was as genuine as could be.
Alan was dropped onto a composite colored safety mat, but from a few stories up. The sequence was done with optical compositing to make it look like Hans was falling to his death, but of very high quality using 65mm cameras and film negatives. The exterior long shot was of a stunt man falling into a safety bag out of frame.
Alan was supposed to be dropped at the count of 3, instead he was dropped at the count of one. He was so angry that he did not talk to the director for the rest of the day.
I love your synopsis at the end, "this is not a Christmas movie as I want Jingle Bells, this was hell". this has been debated and discussion for decades. Really enjoyed your reaction
Are you two the most charming, free-spirited, gleeful, enthusiastic people in TH-cam Reaction Videos world? I think so. Another fun viewing. Thanks to y'all. And to a great movie. Die Hard 2 is good, too. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to you both, and to your families.
This movie played on every local, network, television station in the country around christmas time.... for decades. When all of the familys are together and half of them don't want to talk or catch up, many of us would hide in the basement watching TV. Cousins, Uncles and brothers would at some point make there way to the TV set where this movie was playing. Also, All three Star Wars movies would play back to back all day on Christmas as well as "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours straight. In between my brother and I would also watch "Leathal Weapon" which is also a Christmas movie. You guys are awesome. Keep it up. Don't forget Die Hard 2 and 3!
Thank you. Your enjoyable reaction reminded me of the feeling of seeing it for the first time in the theater. This was Alan Rickman's(Hans Gruber) first movie role. He had previously been a stage actor.
Fun fact: The novel upon which this film was based, 'Nothing Lasts Forever', was actually a sequel to the novel 'The Detective'. Frank Sinatra played the lead in the film version of 'The Detective' in 1968 and the studio were contractually obligated to first offer the lead in Die Hard to Frank Sinatra, which they did. Fortunately Frank Sinatra determined that he was too old for the part, so turned it down, as they were hoping he would. Imagine he'd have accepted, though. How different a film would it have been?
Pretty sure the movie would've not been made had he accepted the role, probably use some excuse to just push it back another few years until he said no.
You mentioned that there are a lot of action heroes named John. That is true! The names John and Jack are the most-used names for male leads, espeically in action movies. Hollywood must think the names sound tough but also relatable because of how common those names are in much of the world, especially U.S., Canada and U.K.
In order to save production costs the 20th Century Fox Plaza building at Century City, which was under construction at the time, doubled for the fictional Nakatomi building in the movie. Fox wouldn't have to lease an empty building or construct many sets as the studio fortuitously already had one ready to go. They could damage parts of the building with some pyrotechnic charges and smoke bombs and breakaway glass windows because they were still fixing it up anyway. Insurance would cover the costs of cleaning things up. Closeups of the roof and helicopter exploding were done with very large scale miniatures and real explosives by Boss Film Effects.
Sometime the holidays can be tough…..let me clarify….sometimes spending time with family is tough….and you just need a break, with other family or friends or friends that don’t have family…..on Christmas nothing is open except a movie cinema. Having gone out on the Christmas this was out….great distraction…..it made you feel like your family issues weren’t so bad lol. My sister took me to see it on bad Christmas, and I’m thankful to this day. Yippee kiy yah….
1:55 I don't remember phone books coming every month. I think it was once a year, or if you recently moved into a new place. I think you can still request them, but most people just use the internet to find numbers now. There was one for residential numbers and one for businesses.
I like how so many people argue if something is a christmas movie because yes christmas is supposed to be a happy joyful time... But it doesnt matter if something is a horror movie or an action film if its based around christmas then its a christmas movie. just because it might not be something you could watch with your kids doesnt remove it from that category. many people watch movies like these as part of their holiday tradition just like some people watch cheerful movies instead
Great reaction guys!! It's been debated for a while whether this is a Christmas movie. I do consider it a Christmas movie!! This is not only a great action movie but a great movie period. Hopefully you do watch all the die hard movies but alot of people don't like the last one but it's ok. I still enjoy it. I will be looking forward to whatever movies you react to next!!
Uh-oh, Hipsters have arrived outside the Nakatomi Plaza building. What will they make of this "old, slam-bang, Christmas" movie? A little-known song for "John McClane" as he travels from NYC to California: th-cam.com/video/wYHleFFhlFk/w-d-xo.html Some notes: Alan Rickman's first major motion picture role as "Hans Gruber" really "made his day." Bruce Willis was best known for the Rom-Com TV show, "Moonlighting." Unlike the usual Action Heroes, "John McClane" is an "average joe," who takes damage, has moments of fear/doubt/introspection, and is "dead man walking" by the final third of the movie. As some would say: "Christmas doesn't begin until Hans Gruber..." Oops, that's a spoiler! 21:45 Aww, you passed on "Yippie Ki-Yay, MF!"
I once got paid a heck of a lot of money for working on Christmas eve. It was quite a long job. An 11 hour round trip setting off from a town called Burnley in Northwest England and picking up 50 boxes from Portsmouth on the south cost of the UK and then dropping them off in Leeds which is 50 miles East of where I started from. And I had to be there before 5pm. But sooooo much money was being offered I couldn't say no. It paid for our entire family to have a decent celebration and more expensive presents.
Stevie Wonder is a blind musician from the 70s and 80s. The joke was that the cop was driving like a blind man. You should check out Ebony and Ivory, a duet by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.
The Christmas party is after business hours when the building is closed to the public and would normally be empty, so there are only a couple of guards who are basically functioning as nightwatchmen. That skeleton crew security, and the fact that only executives would be at the party (meaning not too many hostages for Hans and his crew to control yet enough hostages that you can kill some to make your point and enough to make make any any attempt at hostage rescue difficult yet) are a couple of big reasons the heist was planned for Christmas Eve.
Glad you enjoyed this. For a different flavors but great viewing you guys should watch Gladiator. The Devil's Advocate is also very good but rather disturbing in a well crafted way. It has Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino.
Oh How Funny, Your english is so good I honestly thought you both lived here in the USA. We have a tradition of watching great movies at Christmas time they don't have to have anything to do with Christmas, they are just movies that are blockbusters (super great money makers) and Television in the 80's started airing these great movies in our homes so people would gather around after eating on Thanksgiving or on Christmas or Easter and watch it as a family. Then it becomes a tradition to watch that same movie ea year. A silly tradition but fun.
If you notice, all the music used is Christmas music, all the music is Christmas songs either slowed down or no lyrics, the rap song is sung by Run DMC.
Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie. It's also an action movie. There are not mutually exclusive categories. Christmas is a time for family, and John McClane's entire reason for being in LA is to reconcile with his estranged wife. And it wasn't off to a great start. Within 5 minutes they were fighting again. Until Hans and his gang showed up, providing a little Christmas miracle for them to more properly reconcile. Also, there is tons of Christmas iconography and music throughout the film, including Ode to Joy pretty much being the bad guy's theme music.
You 2 are awesome !!! This movie is a favorite of mine too. Anyway FYI, phone books were local to a city or rural county, and were only updated once a year. We had 2 types of phone books, 1 for residential citizens (White Pages) and 1 for businesses (Yellow Pages), so you'd use/pick ⛏the appropriate book, depending on what type of number you needed to find. Also, you mentioned that "you could chose to have your number removed", but the process was a little different than that. In fact, for Residential (White Pages) customers, you had to pay an extra fee to get an "unlisted number" (i.e. a number that is NEVER put in the book) if you wanted to remain anonymous, otherwise, your name was automatically listed in the White Pages telephone book. However, it worked the opposite way for businesses. If you WANTED to be listed, you had to pay a fee for that "service".
Phonebooks are also very good for jobs like squashing spiders, beating confessions out of suspects in police interrogations and for ripping in half with your bare hands as a show of strength.
If you want a Christmas classic that shows what life was like in the 1940s in America, watch It's a Wonderful Life. Another good one is Christmas Story.
Like Onecoldmonkey said we'd get them once a year. A yellow pages for businesses and white pages were the public numbers. The only thing I'll add is that they were based on each city and each city has a county within cities. So you could get another book. Later, companies realized they could make more money on coupons and advertising in them(like pizza delivery, plumbers,etc). So they'd print secondary versions. Most people would just throw them away, but rip out the coupons out of the back. :P
Original Scripted Ending: Argyle: "If this is their idea of Christmas, I gotta' be here for New Year." The camera focuses through the rear window of the limo on John and Holly kissing. Then they pull apart. John: "Seriously, though, I need to go to a hospital. I've been shot at least once and I think I still have some glass in my feet."
The White Pages were personal names, addresses, and phone numbers, including companies (if you knew the name). The Yellow Pages was for businesses, and they would pay to have a listing and / or an ad in that book. Both books were published annually in my city, and they were free for all telephone customers. This was back when there was just one telephone company in the US: Bell Telephone. After the US law courts broke the company up (1984), and as phone technology started to change from land lines toward mobile phones, the White and Yellow Pages were slowly changed; published every two years, or were just for a smaller area around your house instead of being for the whole city. Eventually they went away, or mostly went away, being done by different private companies. Now you can find websites named White Pages and Yellow Pages.
If you guys can ever get around to it. Sort of in the same type or genre of movies. Many years before of course. Check out the original Poseidon adventure and Towering Inferno. And maybe throw in the original Death Wish starring Charles Bronson !
The other MUST-SEE Christmas movies are Home Alone (1990), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), It's a Wonderful Life (1946 version), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 version), A Christmas Story (1983), Miracle on 34th Street (1947 version), Scrooge (1951 version, also known as A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim), and Lethal Weapon (1987). If your phone number was Unpublished, it was not published in the phone book, and that cost you a small annual fee. If your number was Unlisted, then it was also not listed for telephone operators to give out on phone calls to Directory Assistance (411) by people asking for the number, which cost a greater annual fee. Either way, new phone books only were issued once a year. Stevie Wonder is blind.
The term 'Die Hard' is said of something that just won't die or break... (Like those old refrigerators, lol... You could keep those things for 50+ years and it still worked.) Something tough, rugged, durable.
Phone books were/are updated yearly. They are the product of whatever local phone company services your area. And they were listings of physical lines, not cell phones. A typical American house has a phone line ran to it and a single phone number associated with that line. And then as time went on, people would get extra phone lines for their children. Current versions of local phone books are mostly just ads for local businesses as many people have canceled their physical phone number as it is not needed due to cell phones becoming the standard. Cheers!
Phone books like the Yellow Pages and White Pages, are or were, depending on where you live, since I don't think everyplace still receives them, are released annually, not monthly, FYI! Also, apologies ahead of time if I misunderstood or misheard your comment, but Holly, was never interested in Ellis, she only wanted his office, which had a private bathroom.
Our phone numbers aren't really private, even today. They originated similarly to mail addresses and are publicly available information. So you didn't and don't have any privacy over whether others could find out what your phone number was. But neither did anyone else. All privacy existed through anonymity and the impracticality of people storing/remembering phone numbers. We would have our phone numbers printed on our own telephones and often keep a list of frequently called numbers-family, work phones, school, friends-either next to or near our main phones, or in a personal phone/address book, and we would have to look up any other numbers we didn't remember in the white pages (individuals with landlines in their residences) or yellow pages (commercial phone numbers). Unsolicited phone calls-harassment, speaking or vocalizing obscene sounds, silence just to check whether you were home and answering your phone, or threatening the person receiving the call-could occur, but would tend to be limited to your local calling region, because for most making calls from within the same area code was free while long-distance calls would be charged per call. Before the age of cellphones and caller id, there was no indication of what number was calling you or what number you had dialed. You just recognized people by their voices or didn't. By around.. I want to say the 1990s but perhaps earlier, our phone companies began having features like Last Call Return, usable here and referred to as *69, which would callback the last person who called your phone. Apparently, there were other similar features that would do things like provide the phone numbers, date, and time of callers you didn't answer (*51), a form of caller ID (*82), blocking calls, or blocking calls from those who block/disable caller ID, especially as cell phones became more common, but iirc, such features also likely cost quite a bit.
31:42 - PRIME EXAMPLE: The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence"
I grew up with phone book in the '80's and I remember me and my older brothers calling random people for fun. But the fun usually stopped when parents found out because of the phone bill 😂.
useless trivia, but they used 3 playboy models for eye candy in the movie lol female at air port is one, the calendar female is one and the 3rd i forgot :P
There is a 'Bollywood' film from 1995 titled 'Baazi' that borrows heavily from Die Hard and other Hollywood blockbusters such as Patriot Games (1992), Terminator 2 (1991) and even 9 1/2 Weeks (1986). The opening is borrowed from Patriot Games, and the climax is borrowed from this film Die Hard involving a hostage crisis atop an office building.
There are a lot of subtle details about the regional cultural differences between New York culture (in McClane) and Californian LA culture. They are all fun to notice if you know a lot about the US.
If you wanna see what Die Hard would've been if it were a 100% Christmas movie, watch Violent Night. It's a Die Hard parody with Santa as the main character. It's a great mix of action, comedy, and actually has some heart. All the things we love about Die Hard.
You guys are churning out classic after classic 😀! Used to watch this on VHS over and over until I wore out the magnetic strip 😂. Hope you guys do the Die Hard trilogy. Die Hard 3 is my favorite after the original.
What a fun reaction, you guys are great. Thank you. You want a perfect mythical American Christmas movie, do A Christmas Story. A more down to earth American Christmas movie,do Christmas Vacation. Keep it up guys.
It's not Christmas till Hans falls from the Nakatomi Tower. lol!!! You must check out "A Christmas Story", an absolute classic that will have you laughing your asses off!!
If a man gets a major career move the woman doesn't want to move he is considered a piece of crap if he doesn't stay and do what she wants so she can be happy at home so the man can't win
This is the one that made Bruce Willis a movie star (he was already famous for comedy from tv). Die Hard broke the action movie mold by having a "normal guy" as the star... FYI RE: "Why new phone books every month?" If you're in a big city the phone book would only be for part of it (West Side, East Side, North Side, etc). Plus they can charge more from businesses by putting their names first in the list or big ads in the yellow pages. It used to be a huge money maker for the phone companies.
Sorry I've never considered this for Christmas movie. To me it's a movie that takes place during Christmas with Christmas over tones let's say. Keep up the good work you guys and take care and be well always !
When Hans Gruber pretended to a hostage, John McClane tested Gruber three times. Hans failed the first, passed the second, and then failed the third test.
I would like to recommend the following Die Hard movies "Die Harder" as well. It actually ups the action actually, and so does the following Die Hard 2, with a Vengeance movie with Samuel Jackson. A lot of people got named after an actor named john wayne who played a cowboy in the movies in America. The rolex watch was essentially an expensive business watch, as sign of promotion in a corporation.
Just as you find things interesting about America, I would find things FASCINATING about India or other places and I'm sure others do to. I would love to watch a video about your home town or movies from your area!
Great reaction, guys! Die Hard 2,3,4 are good as well. If you want good Christmas-themed movies: Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and A Christmas Story are very good.
A quick theory on why it's a Christmas movie- if you take the terrorists and action out, it's the story of an estranged couple who are accidentally brought together on christmas, they realize what they love about each other and then overcome adversity to make it home to their kids. There is even a romantic threat and a friend found along the way Christmas is about more than presents and song, and more than the birth of Christ, it's about family
When Bruce Willis was cast in this movie, nobody believed it would work because he was known as a comedian and comedic actor. At the time, he was known from the tv show, "Moonlighting", a romantic comedy show.
People were accustomed to action movies with larger, more muscular people, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone. This movie made Willis a big movie star.
I did not see this movie at the theater because of Bruce Willis (hated Moonlighting), but once I did see it, I have seen it over a dozen times, The sequels also.
"Moonlighting" was awesome and very meta. A show ahead of its time.
I hadn't seen Moonlighting when Die Hard came out, although I had a general sense of its tone from friends. I was living without a TV, but went to quite a few movies. I didn't regret this one. The third was filmed in part at a site where I had worked. A friend who worked on it gave me a leftover prop from it.
Yeah a lot of people thought he was miscast like Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. 🏈
Yes, that's part of what made this movie work so well - that he was NOT an action movie badass but a regular guy. That's why I feel the sequels weren't as effective (though the second one is not too bad).
I've never heard of getting phone books that often. We'd get them once a year. You'd get the 'white pages' with home numbers, and 'yellow pages' with numbers for businesses.
In the 80's, I lived in Las Vegas and there they sent out new phone books twice a year because of the constant moving in and out of residents. I never heard of monthly either. I still get phone books here in Indiana once a year. It is good to have handy. I do not use them very often, but I do use them.
@OneColdMonkey I think they may have just misunderstood the reference of what they are told..... for example; maybe the person who mentioned monthly phone books was just referring to how there would often be salesmen going around neighborhoods knocking on doors "wanting" you to pay for a phone book from them and there was a time at which there used to be enough competitors in the phonebook marketplace that you could have a salesman visit once a month. But most people just told them no and stayed with the one phonebook per year.
Lethal Weapon is a Christmas movie, too! It's right up there with Die Hard! Good stuff guys. Gas was 75 cents per gallon in California when this was made.
It's time to let go of the V8. Who am I kidding u guys can't do that.
This will be fun!! Y'all should enjoy this "Christmas" movie. 💞
Instead of milk and cookies, I leave cigarettes and bullets in my vents.
This was Alan Rickman's (Hans Gruber) first Hollywood movie. And such a memorable performance. He went on to achieve fame in so many other parts. Most notably as Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films.
Rickman actually got mobbed at the premiere after this movie was played. This is how he got to be a bad guy in Hollywood.
I'd say his role as Hans is most notable. Hans Gruber is without a doubt one (if not the) most notable movie villains in modern movie history.
Alan Rickman changed the rules on Villains with this role. He showed that a villain can be menacing and dangerous without being a raving loud madman. He showed that a villain could be cool and classy and intelligent... Cerebral. Hans Gruber was the first of a new kind of Movie Villain.
This movie is set on Christmas Eve at a Christmas party. It's about a couple who get back together to spend Christmas together with their family (after being apart). If this does not define "Christmas movie", I don't know what does.
Fascinating to hear you talk about the phone book! I worked for the yellow pages back in the 90s - the main phone book for business. The books were only replaced once per year. The White Pages were for residential/individuals.
There'd be no trees 🌳🌳 left in America if they came out every month.
@@ckobo84 - Well there were a LOT of newspapers that published daily, and were delivered to homes all across America. And much like the phone books, they were printed on mostly recycled paper.
Movie magic making moment: when Alan Rickman was going to do his death dive scene it became known that he was afraid if heights so he could not stand to do more than one take as it required Rickman to make a practical stunt fall himself. Director McTiernan did not tell him but he was dropped earlier than he was supposed to, so the reaction you saw of Hans Gruber falling to his death was as genuine as could be.
Alan was dropped onto a composite colored safety mat, but from a few stories up. The sequence was done with optical compositing to make it look like Hans was falling to his death, but of very high quality using 65mm cameras and film negatives. The exterior long shot was of a stunt man falling into a safety bag out of frame.
Alan was supposed to be dropped at the count of 3, instead he was dropped at the count of one. He was so angry that he did not talk to the director for the rest of the day.
I love your synopsis at the end, "this is not a Christmas movie as I want Jingle Bells, this was hell". this has been debated and discussion for decades. Really enjoyed your reaction
It’s a must watch every Christmas, every year. Definitely a Christmas movie. The entire family watches it.
Are you two the most charming, free-spirited, gleeful, enthusiastic people in TH-cam Reaction Videos world? I think so. Another fun viewing.
Thanks to y'all. And to a great movie. Die Hard 2 is good, too. Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas to you both, and to your families.
2 is rubbish, with a vengeance is excellent and should have been part two.
@@philipocallaghan Hogwash. Like most movies, it had its plot holes. But it works as pure fun. The plot twist was a good idea.
This movie played on every local, network, television station in the country around christmas time.... for decades. When all of the familys are together and half of them don't want to talk or catch up, many of us would hide in the basement watching TV. Cousins, Uncles and brothers would at some point make there way to the TV set where this movie was playing. Also, All three Star Wars movies would play back to back all day on Christmas as well as "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours straight. In between my brother and I would also watch "Leathal Weapon" which is also a Christmas movie. You guys are awesome. Keep it up. Don't forget Die Hard 2 and 3!
Thank you. Your enjoyable reaction reminded me of the feeling of seeing it for the first time in the theater. This was Alan Rickman's(Hans Gruber) first movie role. He had previously been a stage actor.
35:33 "Spread your legs like a prostitute!". That's the most hilarious thing that I've heard in quite a while. Love you guys....
Having your number in the white pages used to be "standard". It used to be an extra 30 cents a month to have your phone number "unlisted".
Fun fact: The novel upon which this film was based, 'Nothing Lasts Forever', was actually a sequel to the novel 'The Detective'. Frank Sinatra played the lead in the film version of 'The Detective' in 1968 and the studio were contractually obligated to first offer the lead in Die Hard to Frank Sinatra, which they did. Fortunately Frank Sinatra determined that he was too old for the part, so turned it down, as they were hoping he would. Imagine he'd have accepted, though. How different a film would it have been?
Had Sinatra played in this movie it would have been a disaster.
Pretty sure the movie would've not been made had he accepted the role, probably use some excuse to just push it back another few years until he said no.
@@MUSBFRANK And rightly so imo
You mentioned that there are a lot of action heroes named John. That is true! The names John and Jack are the most-used names for male leads, espeically in action movies. Hollywood must think the names sound tough but also relatable because of how common those names are in much of the world, especially U.S., Canada and U.K.
btw what are the relations? wife/husband?, daughter/father?, niece/uncle?, sister/brother? could not find information in about
In order to save production costs the 20th Century Fox Plaza building at Century City, which was under construction at the time, doubled for the fictional Nakatomi building in the movie. Fox wouldn't have to lease an empty building or construct many sets as the studio fortuitously already had one ready to go. They could damage parts of the building with some pyrotechnic charges and smoke bombs and breakaway glass windows because they were still fixing it up anyway. Insurance would cover the costs of cleaning things up. Closeups of the roof and helicopter exploding were done with very large scale miniatures and real explosives by Boss Film Effects.
Great job guys! Two older classic American must watch Christmas movies are A Christmas Story (comedy) and It's a Wonderful Life (tear jerker).
There is a saying in America that "it's not Christmas until we see Hans Gruber fall from the Nakatomi Tower".
Sometime the holidays can be tough…..let me clarify….sometimes spending time with family is tough….and you just need a break, with other family or friends or friends that don’t have family…..on Christmas nothing is open except a movie cinema. Having gone out on the Christmas this was out….great distraction…..it made you feel like your family issues weren’t so bad lol. My sister took me to see it on bad Christmas, and I’m thankful to this day. Yippee kiy yah….
You guys are awesome. You know exactly when to comment while not talking over the actors. And little to no pauses either. Nicely done.
1:55 I don't remember phone books coming every month. I think it was once a year, or if you recently moved into a new place. I think you can still request them, but most people just use the internet to find numbers now. There was one for residential numbers and one for businesses.
I like how so many people argue if something is a christmas movie because yes christmas is supposed to be a happy joyful time... But it doesnt matter if something is a horror movie or an action film if its based around christmas then its a christmas movie. just because it might not be something you could watch with your kids doesnt remove it from that category. many people watch movies like these as part of their holiday tradition just like some people watch cheerful movies instead
38:00 By Grabthar’s Hammer... what a timing.
Great reaction guys!! It's been debated for a while whether this is a Christmas movie. I do consider it a Christmas movie!! This is not only a great action movie but a great movie period. Hopefully you do watch all the die hard movies but alot of people don't like the last one but it's ok. I still enjoy it. I will be looking forward to whatever movies you react to next!!
Love this channel. Thank you for your videos!
Thank you come again 🤣 you guys always have at least a few lines per reaction that have me cracking up
I love this movie. Another great Christmas movie is “A Long Kiss Goodnight”.
Uh-oh, Hipsters have arrived outside the Nakatomi Plaza building. What will they make of this "old, slam-bang, Christmas" movie? A little-known song for "John McClane" as he travels from NYC to California: th-cam.com/video/wYHleFFhlFk/w-d-xo.html Some notes: Alan Rickman's first major motion picture role as "Hans Gruber" really "made his day." Bruce Willis was best known for the Rom-Com TV show, "Moonlighting." Unlike the usual Action Heroes, "John McClane" is an "average joe," who takes damage, has moments of fear/doubt/introspection, and is "dead man walking" by the final third of the movie. As some would say: "Christmas doesn't begin until Hans Gruber..." Oops, that's a spoiler! 21:45 Aww, you passed on "Yippie Ki-Yay, MF!"
I once got paid a heck of a lot of money for working on Christmas eve. It was quite a long job. An 11 hour round trip setting off from a town called Burnley in Northwest England and picking up 50 boxes from Portsmouth on the south cost of the UK and then dropping them off in Leeds which is 50 miles East of where I started from. And I had to be there before 5pm. But sooooo much money was being offered I couldn't say no. It paid for our entire family to have a decent celebration and more expensive presents.
I absolutely love your reactions!!! You make me smile
Stevie Wonder is a blind musician from the 70s and 80s. The joke was that the cop was driving like a blind man. You should check out Ebony and Ivory, a duet by Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney.
"Thank you, come again." Now that's a great impression.
The Christmas party is after business hours when the building is closed to the public and would normally be empty, so there are only a couple of guards who are basically functioning as nightwatchmen. That skeleton crew security, and the fact that only executives would be at the party (meaning not too many hostages for Hans and his crew to control yet enough hostages that you can kill some to make your point and enough to make make any any attempt at hostage rescue difficult yet) are a couple of big reasons the heist was planned for Christmas Eve.
John McTiernan also directed Predator.
Glad you enjoyed this. For a different flavors but great viewing you guys should watch Gladiator. The Devil's Advocate is also very good but rather disturbing in a well crafted way. It has Keanu Reeves and Al Pacino.
Disturbing is easy to digest for Indians.
Y’all have great channel,we luv the reactions 🙏👍✌️😊🇺🇸
Oh How Funny, Your english is so good I honestly thought you both lived here in the USA. We have a tradition of watching great movies at Christmas time they don't have to have anything to do with Christmas, they are just movies that are blockbusters (super great money makers) and Television in the 80's started airing these great movies in our homes so people would gather around after eating on Thanksgiving or on Christmas or Easter and watch it as a family. Then it becomes a tradition to watch that same movie ea year. A silly tradition but fun.
If you notice, all the music used is Christmas music, all the music is Christmas songs either slowed down or no lyrics, the rap song is sung by Run DMC.
Die Hard is definitely a Christmas movie. It's also an action movie. There are not mutually exclusive categories. Christmas is a time for family, and John McClane's entire reason for being in LA is to reconcile with his estranged wife. And it wasn't off to a great start. Within 5 minutes they were fighting again. Until Hans and his gang showed up, providing a little Christmas miracle for them to more properly reconcile.
Also, there is tons of Christmas iconography and music throughout the film, including Ode to Joy pretty much being the bad guy's theme music.
You 2 are awesome !!! This movie is a favorite of mine too. Anyway FYI, phone books were local to a city or rural county, and were only updated once a year. We had 2 types of phone books, 1 for residential citizens (White Pages) and 1 for businesses (Yellow Pages), so you'd use/pick ⛏the appropriate book, depending on what type of number you needed to find. Also, you mentioned that "you could chose to have your number removed", but the process was a little different than that. In fact, for Residential (White Pages) customers, you had to pay an extra fee to get an "unlisted number" (i.e. a number that is NEVER put in the book) if you wanted to remain anonymous, otherwise, your name was automatically listed in the White Pages telephone book. However, it worked the opposite way for businesses. If you WANTED to be listed, you had to pay a fee for that "service".
You said it perfectly. " The higher you go up, the stupider you are." Words of wisdom my friend.
Saludó desde la República Dominicana excelente vídeo 🇩🇴👍🏿👏🏿
Phonebooks are also very good for jobs like squashing spiders, beating confessions out of suspects in police interrogations and for ripping in half with your bare hands as a show of strength.
If you want a Christmas classic that shows what life was like in the 1940s in America, watch It's a Wonderful Life. Another good one is Christmas Story.
Great reaction you two! And yes it's a Christmas Movie! hahaha....
Like Onecoldmonkey said we'd get them once a year. A yellow pages for businesses and white pages were the public numbers. The only thing I'll add is that they were based on each city and each city has a county within cities. So you could get another book. Later, companies realized they could make more money on coupons and advertising in them(like pizza delivery, plumbers,etc). So they'd print secondary versions. Most people would just throw them away, but rip out the coupons out of the back. :P
I think you guys would like the movie, "the world's fastest Indian". Its motorcycle movie, starring Anthony hopkins. Great reactions!
Original Scripted Ending:
Argyle: "If this is their idea of Christmas, I gotta' be here for New Year."
The camera focuses through the rear window of the limo on John and Holly kissing. Then they pull apart.
John: "Seriously, though, I need to go to a hospital. I've been shot at least once and I think I still have some glass in my feet."
The White Pages were personal names, addresses, and phone numbers, including companies (if you knew the name). The Yellow Pages was for businesses, and they would pay to have a listing and / or an ad in that book. Both books were published annually in my city, and they were free for all telephone customers. This was back when there was just one telephone company in the US: Bell Telephone. After the US law courts broke the company up (1984), and as phone technology started to change from land lines toward mobile phones, the White and Yellow Pages were slowly changed; published every two years, or were just for a smaller area around your house instead of being for the whole city. Eventually they went away, or mostly went away, being done by different private companies. Now you can find websites named White Pages and Yellow Pages.
If you guys can ever get around to it. Sort of in the same type or genre of movies. Many years before of course. Check out the original Poseidon adventure and Towering Inferno. And maybe throw in the original Death Wish starring Charles Bronson !
The other MUST-SEE Christmas movies are Home Alone (1990), National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), It's a Wonderful Life (1946 version), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 version), A Christmas Story (1983), Miracle on 34th Street (1947 version), Scrooge (1951 version, also known as A Christmas Carol starring Alistair Sim), and Lethal Weapon (1987).
If your phone number was Unpublished, it was not published in the phone book, and that cost you a small annual fee. If your number was Unlisted, then it was also not listed for telephone operators to give out on phone calls to Directory Assistance (411) by people asking for the number, which cost a greater annual fee. Either way, new phone books only were issued once a year.
Stevie Wonder is blind.
You two are great. Good reaction.
The term 'Die Hard' is said of something that just won't die or break... (Like those old refrigerators, lol... You could keep those things for 50+ years and it still worked.) Something tough, rugged, durable.
Phone books were/are updated yearly. They are the product of whatever local phone company services your area. And they were listings of physical lines, not cell phones. A typical American house has a phone line ran to it and a single phone number associated with that line. And then as time went on, people would get extra phone lines for their children. Current versions of local phone books are mostly just ads for local businesses as many people have canceled their physical phone number as it is not needed due to cell phones becoming the standard. Cheers!
I would be glad to host Christmas 🎄 with you two!😁 Merry Christmas! 🎅
Phone books like the Yellow Pages and White Pages, are or were, depending on where you live, since I don't think everyplace still receives them, are released annually, not monthly, FYI! Also, apologies ahead of time if I misunderstood or misheard your comment, but Holly, was never interested in Ellis, she only wanted his office, which had a private bathroom.
Our phone numbers aren't really private, even today. They originated similarly to mail addresses and are publicly available information. So you didn't and don't have any privacy over whether others could find out what your phone number was. But neither did anyone else. All privacy existed through anonymity and the impracticality of people storing/remembering phone numbers. We would have our phone numbers printed on our own telephones and often keep a list of frequently called numbers-family, work phones, school, friends-either next to or near our main phones, or in a personal phone/address book, and we would have to look up any other numbers we didn't remember in the white pages (individuals with landlines in their residences) or yellow pages (commercial phone numbers).
Unsolicited phone calls-harassment, speaking or vocalizing obscene sounds, silence just to check whether you were home and answering your phone, or threatening the person receiving the call-could occur, but would tend to be limited to your local calling region, because for most making calls from within the same area code was free while long-distance calls would be charged per call.
Before the age of cellphones and caller id, there was no indication of what number was calling you or what number you had dialed. You just recognized people by their voices or didn't. By around.. I want to say the 1990s but perhaps earlier, our phone companies began having features like Last Call Return, usable here and referred to as *69, which would callback the last person who called your phone. Apparently, there were other similar features that would do things like provide the phone numbers, date, and time of callers you didn't answer (*51), a form of caller ID (*82), blocking calls, or blocking calls from those who block/disable caller ID, especially as cell phones became more common, but iirc, such features also likely cost quite a bit.
This is one of my top 3 xmas movies. The other two being Scrooged and Elf.
31:42 - PRIME EXAMPLE:
The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to "a level of respective incompetence"
I grew up with phone book in the '80's and I remember me and my older brothers calling random people for fun. But the fun usually stopped when parents found out because of the phone bill 😂.
Another “Is It Or Isn’t It A Christmas Movie” is Gremlins (1984). Hope y’all get the chance to check it out.💜
useless trivia, but they used 3 playboy models for eye candy in the movie lol
female at air port is one, the calendar female is one and the 3rd i forgot :P
Die Hard With a Vengeance is great, you should check that one out as well. Great job as always!
There is a 'Bollywood' film from 1995 titled 'Baazi' that borrows heavily from Die Hard and other Hollywood blockbusters such as Patriot Games (1992), Terminator 2 (1991) and even 9 1/2 Weeks (1986). The opening is borrowed from Patriot Games, and the climax is borrowed from this film Die Hard involving a hostage crisis atop an office building.
There are a lot of subtle details about the regional cultural differences between New York culture (in McClane) and Californian LA culture. They are all fun to notice if you know a lot about the US.
If you wanna see what Die Hard would've been if it were a 100% Christmas movie, watch Violent Night. It's a Die Hard parody with Santa as the main character. It's a great mix of action, comedy, and actually has some heart. All the things we love about Die Hard.
I used to deliver phone books! 😁
You guys are churning out classic after classic 😀! Used to watch this on VHS over and over until I wore out the magnetic strip 😂. Hope you guys do the Die Hard trilogy. Die Hard 3 is my favorite after the original.
What a fun reaction, you guys are great. Thank you. You want a perfect mythical American Christmas movie, do A Christmas Story. A more down to earth American Christmas movie,do Christmas Vacation. Keep it up guys.
It's not Christmas till Hans falls from the Nakatomi Tower. lol!!! You must check out "A Christmas Story", an absolute classic that will have you laughing your asses off!!
If a man gets a major career move the woman doesn't want to move he is considered a piece of crap if he doesn't stay and do what she wants so she can be happy at home so the man can't win
Another great reaction. But sorry guys, this is considered one of the best Christmas movies. Can't wait for the reaction to part 2!
You guys are legit great reactors. A sub and fan from Australia 👍🇦🇺🇮🇳
This is the one that made Bruce Willis a movie star (he was already famous for comedy from tv). Die Hard broke the action movie mold by having a "normal guy" as the star... FYI RE: "Why new phone books every month?" If you're in a big city the phone book would only be for part of it (West Side, East Side, North Side, etc). Plus they can charge more from businesses by putting their names first in the list or big ads in the yellow pages. It used to be a huge money maker for the phone companies.
''Die Hard'' is one of my favorite Christmas movies!
Sorry I've never considered this for Christmas movie. To me it's a movie that takes place during Christmas with Christmas over tones let's say. Keep up the good work you guys and take care and be well always !
28mins 43 seconds in 😂😂😂😂 i love these two
This is a christmas movie! THe house I grew up in, it wasnt christmas until Hans fell down the Nakatomi Plaza!
Over here it’s not Christmas Eve until Hans falls off the building.
There are two kinds of people in the world:
1) People who think Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
2) People who are wrong.
When Hans Gruber pretended to a hostage, John McClane tested Gruber three times. Hans failed the first, passed the second, and then failed the third test.
I would like to recommend the following Die Hard movies "Die Harder" as well. It actually ups the action actually, and so does the following Die Hard 2, with a Vengeance movie with Samuel Jackson. A lot of people got named after an actor named john wayne who played a cowboy in the movies in America. The rolex watch was essentially an expensive business watch, as sign of promotion in a corporation.
Came for the reaction, stayed for the exposition on phone books.
$.75/gallon gas! In Las Angeles, CA! God, I just wanna cry!
35:33 Parbrahm certainly has a way with words. He is so funny!
🎄🎅🎄This is the perfect Christmas movie. 🎥
At the end the stunt crew told Alan they'll drop him on 3... The director made them drop him on 2 so the fear on his face was real
Just as you find things interesting about America, I would find things FASCINATING about India or other places and I'm sure others do to. I would love to watch a video about your home town or movies from your area!
Great reaction, guys! Die Hard 2,3,4 are good as well. If you want good Christmas-themed movies: Elf, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and A Christmas Story are very good.
Die Hard 3 is as good as 1.
Everyone gets a character arc without it been bloated. Very rare to pull off.
Delighted you two reacted to this movie. Die Hard 3, is just as good. Hope you watch it!
Is that the one with Samuel L. Jackson? If so yeah, really good action/suspense in that one. Motion seconded.
Yes, you have to watch this at Christmas time, lol. Off topic, have you guys done Lord of the Rings? If not, PLEASE do. Love the channel. ❤️
If you want to see a classic Christmas movie to watch each year, try, "It's a Wonderful Life," which was released in 1946!
There are two kinds of people. People who think DIE HARD is a Christmas Movie... And people who are wrong. 😅
You should watch all 3 of these movies.
A quick theory on why it's a Christmas movie- if you take the terrorists and action out, it's the story of an estranged couple who are accidentally brought together on christmas, they realize what they love about each other and then overcome adversity to make it home to their kids. There is even a romantic threat and a friend found along the way
Christmas is about more than presents and song, and more than the birth of Christ, it's about family
Listening to you talk about phone books you now have to react to Steve Martin's The Jerk!