Reel Facts & Opinions: The Top 5 Reasons DIE HARD is a Christmas Movie & The Top 5 Reasons it is not.

It’s December! Tis the season for tinsel, trees, presents and nogg. It’s a kinder, gentler time…a time for family and friends and for the little ones to dream of jolly elves. For movie fans, it’s a month full of films we watch only once a year, from any version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, to Ralphie and his BB gun, to Clark with his cursed exterior lighting. Add all that together, and it surely is a wonderful time of year. 

 

Unfortunately, it is also a time for one of the more annoying questions among fans of the silver screen; is DIE HARD (1988) a Christmas movie? The action blockbuster, directed by John McTiernan and starring Bruce Willis as a N.Y. cop stuck in an L.A. high-rise battling terrorists, has been the source of a raging debate that seems to have no end. Why is it so debatable? Because there are fair points to be made on both sides. And with that, comes Reel Speak’s Top 5 Reasons DIE HARD is a Christmas Movie and the Top 5 it is not. 

 

 

So let’s come out to the coast….

 

 

Why it IS

 

5. It takes place on Christmas Eve

This is the obvious place to start, as Willis’ character John McClane arrives in L.A. to attend an office party on Christmas Eve. This time frame automatically gives the film the standard holiday elements; Christmas music, the familiar terms of ho ho ho and Merry Christmas, and holiday decorations. Right away, it at least looks and feels like a holiday film. 

 

 

4. It has some Christmas Music

This is a point made above, but it deserves another mention because Christmas music is an elemental part of any holiday film. DIE HARD features the contemporary hit Christmas in Hollis, along with classics such as Let it Snow and a variation of Ode to Joy which has become the un-official DIE HARD theme over the years and sequels. These music cuts give the film that holiday atmosphere. 

 

 

3. John’s wife’s name is Holly. 

A bit of a stretch, but there are no coincidences in filmmaking. 

 

 

2. It has a Christmas Theme

At its core, DIE HARD is about an out-of-place cop trying to save hostages (including his estranged wife) from a gang of terrorists. Call it revisionism if you’d like, but the film can also be described as a family man trying to get his family back for Christmas…a description that on-paper sounds like a thousand different Hallmark movies. 

 

 

1. It feels out of place watching DIE HARD at any other time of year. 

Most of us prefer to keep Christmas at Christmastime; no one wants to be singing Silent Night while laying on the beach. When we take into consideration all of the holiday elements in the film; the music, the decorations, and the familiar terms…it just feels weird watching the film during any other time but December.  

 

Why it is NOT

 

5. It was originally released in July. 

Christmas movies are released in November and December. Period. DIE HARD’s July release says that it was originally conceived as a summer blockbuster. Which it was. 

 

 

4. It’s rated R. 

This Blogger usually doesn’t like putting limits on films, but holiday movies are supposed to be for the whole family. DIE HARD is rated R for strong violence and language, drug use and nudity. Not exactly family fare. Now there is a fair argument to be made that DIE HARD is a Christmas movie for adults, but logic just says that gunplay, bloodshed, swearing, and bare breasts have no place in holiday movies. 

 

 

3. The Christmas setting is disposable. 

In every holiday film, Christmas is essential to the plot and characters. Take Christmas out of A CHRISTMAS STORY, and there is no movie. Take the holiday out of CHRISTMAS VACATION, and Clark has nothing to do. Now, take the holiday out of DIE HARD…and nothing changes. It would be the same plot with the same thing happening. The holiday setting serves as a set decoration and has nothing to do with the center of the movie. 

 

 

2. No Peace on Earth. 

Terms such as peace on Earth, goodwill towards men, and joy are vital elements of the holidays, and holiday films go out of their way to express them. DIE HARD, with its swearing and killing and punching and shooting…does no such thing. And nearly every holiday film has a strong lesson for the main character to learn and grow from. That is a glaring omission for John McClane here. 

 

 

1. Bruce Willis says it’s not. 

At the 2018 Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis, the star of the film, and the entire series, exclaimed to the world that DIE HARD is not a Christmas movie. It’s a goddamn Bruce Willis movie. If you want to argue with John McClane, go right ahead. 

 

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The conclusion? The conclusion is there is none. The film clearly checks the boxes that meet holiday movie criteria; music, atmosphere, setting…but its rating, content, and violence just throws it off. It has feet set on both sides of the border, and this has empowered today’s cinephile’s to argue about it since everything needs to have a label slapped on it. Bruce Willis’ strong statement seems to come from the frustration of his film, often considered to be one of the greatest action films of all time, having its legacy reduced to an endless (and pointless) argument. Personally, this Blogger is so sick of the issue that I haven’t watched the film in years due to exhaustion and a tainted legacy. It deserves better than that. It’s a great action film that takes place during the holidays, and that should be enough.