Settling the Argument Once & For All: Why Die Hard Absolutely is a Christmas Movie

[MrWendel]

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/settling-the-argument-once-for-all-why-die-hard-absolutely-is-a-christmas-movie/

Welcome to the party, pal! The debates are over, at least for now. Congress has gone home. The president is in Hawaii. Barring a breaking story or Steve Harvey guest-refereeing Chargers-Raiders Thursday night, the news (and publications like this that cover the news) will be a snooze for about the next two weeks. So what better way to kick off the slow season than finally tackling (in this space, anyway) the age-old question heard often at Christmas time lately:

Is Die Hard really, really a Christmas movie?

Note: We’re not talking Die Hard 2, which also takes place Christmas Eve largely at Dulles Airport apparently one year after Part 1. We’re also not talking Die Hard 3, 4 or 5 (yes, the last two actually exist), because those all take place in what looks like summer. In the minds of many, there’s really been only one Die Hard… just like there’s really been only one Caddyshack, one Meatballs, one Fletch and two Godfathers. As we’ve seen all too often, some sequels are so far removed from the original, they should be stealth-edited from existence.

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[Yorktown]

1. Die Hard is a Christmas movie because people get presents and are pleased

[MrWendel]

2. Meh...

I'd rather wait for my "Save Ferris" T-shirt I bought online.

[Yorktown]

3. Well, I posted that pic because

in the movie scene, you can't read the 'ho ho ho' so well.

[MrWendel]

4. I know...

your talking to the guy who shamelessly has the Die Hard 1-3 box set. By the way, # 2 was such crap!

[ManiacJoe]

5. The movie does take place at Xmas time.

Lots of the props and plot parts do depend on that fact.

However, I am not sure that "at Xmas time" is the definition of "Xmas movie".

I do like the way various versions of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" are playing in the background of every scene that does not have specific music for that scene.

[Bluenorthwest]

11. It's more than 'at Christmas time', trappings aside it is a story of a family separated by both

geographic and emotional distance reuniting in spite of obstacles. It's 'Home Alone' with more guns and serious villains instead of comic villains, but the narrative process is the same. Most Christmas films involve the rebuilding of relationships and understanding among family members, who are very often not see together until the very end. Die Hard = Christmas movie. Action Christmas, but Christmas.

[Katashi_itto]

6. It Not Christmas until I see Hans Grubber

[MrWendel]

8. They need to toss...

a mannequin of a tall building in LA on Christmas eve. You know like a countdown to the ball drop in times square on new years eve? Everyone counts down and yells "Yippe Ki Ya Motherfucker!"

.... I gave this way to much thought.

[Katashi_itto]

9. :)

[NanceGreggs]

7. Die Hard (1988) ...

... is a Christmas classic.

End of message - end of discussion.

Case closed.

[Nye Bevan]

10. I like when Severus Snape says "McClain- where are my detonators?" (nt)