IF like me you went through the last 35 years somehow managing to avoiding seeing Die Hard, there’s a great opportunity to put matters right now with Eden Court and Cromarty Cinema screening the Bruce Willis action movie until Christmas Eve.
The Highland venue has established a lovely tradition of screening the Frank Capra classic It’s a Wonderful Life in the run-up to Christmas. I’ve grown up with the surprisingly dark but ultimately life-affirming James Stewart/Donna Reed flick that dates back to 1946.
Inspired by overhearing an office debate about whether or not Die Hard can be considered “a Christmas movie” as such (that debate is quite a thing amongst film nerds, apparently), I decided to finally go and check it out to make up my own mind.
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Whatever else it is, it’s a lot of fun – and still a remarkably big draw for a film released way back in 1988, the year of the Piper Alpha and Pan Am Flight 103 tragedies. Most of those attending the screening I attended were not, like me, first-timers but rather die-hard fans (sorry) there to catch up with an old friend.
Lasting impressions for me include big hair, bare feet, the pantomime baddie turn by the late, great Alan Rickman as Hans Gruber and Willis’s iconic white vest.That and a catchphrase involving the words ‘Yippee-ki-yay’.
Is it a Christmas movie? Well, it’s set on Christmas Eve and amongst the first words you hear are: ‘Welcome to Los Angeles, have a very merry Christmas’. Film nerds veering towards linking it to the festive season may also point out there are more references to “Christmas” (18) than the words “explode” (4), “die” (5),”hard” (11), “shoot” (12), “kill” (13) and “blood” (13).
At the end of the day, who really cares?
Although it did get me thinking about just what does rank amongst the favourite festive films of people I know. And from one of my own, Love Actually (go on – judge me!) I realised a character in common with Die Hard. Alan Rickman, of course.
Other honourable mentions included Steve Martin and John Candy in Trains, Planes and Automobiles (memorable line: ‘Those aren’t pillows!’)
Jude Law, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, Kate Winslet and Rufus Sewell (but Jude Law in particularly, I gather) in The Holiday:
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye in White Christmas:
How The Grinch Stole Christmas (Jim Carrey version):
The Muppet Christmas Carol, with Michael Caine doing a terrific performance as Ebenezer Scrooge and a banger of a soundtrack:
Guys and Dolls:
Remarkably, no one mentioned Home Alone which regularly polls up there as the most beloved Christmas film in the UK:
Find tickets and screening times for Die Hard and It’s a Wonderful Life here.
Would Die Hard be on YOUR list? If not, what else would?
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