Die Hard was released in 1988 and is now 21 years old and is considered one of the best action films of its era earning $138.7 million worldwide at the box office.  John McClane (Bruce Willis) is a detective with the New York City Police Department who arrives in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with his wife and kids,  his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) who is an Executive for the Nakatomi Corporation works in Los Angles.  McClane is driven to the Nakatomi Plaza building by Argyle (De’voreaux White) the limo driver.  When  McClane arrives he is welcomed to their Christmas party by Joseph Takagi (James Shigeta) the president of Nakatomi Corp who takes him to Holly’s office, before they can start arguing a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) seize the building and hold everyone hostage.  In the confusion McClane escapes into the stairway and heads to the upper levels of the building which are still under construction and learns that Gruber is actually using the hostage situation as a cover to steal $640 million in bearer bonds stored in the building’s vault.  McClane sneaks into the conference room and witnesses Gruber execute Mr Takagi  Holly’s boss when he refuses to hand over the vault’s combination.  He then orders Theo (Clarence Gilyard Jr) to begin breaking through all the locks which secure the vault,  meanwhile McClane attempts to alert the local police by setting off the fire alarm but is unsuccessful and Gruber sends one of his men after McClane who kills him securing his radio and weapon,  McClane then heads to the roof and uses the radio to alert the police.  Gruber hears his transmission and he sends Karl (Alexander Godunov) and 2 others to kill McClane, a fierce gun battle breaks out on the roof and McClane escapes into one of the elevator shaft’s and then climbing into an air duct.   McClane makes it out of the air duct and finds his way back to the same conference room where Takagi was murdered,  Looking out of the window in the conference room he sees a police cruiser driven by LAPD Sergeant Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) drive up to the building.  Powell is let into the building and has a look around he decides there is nothing wrong and leaves the building.  McClane uses a chair to try and break through the window which alerts the terrorists who race to the conference room and as they enter they begin firing ducking for cover McClane shoots back killing 2 more terrorists.  McClane then drops one of the corpses onto Powell’s patrol car as he pull’s away,  Powell  radios for additional help which soon arrives. In the conference room McClane comes across a bag one of the dead terrorists was carrying inside is a quantity of C4 explosives and all the crucial detonators which one of Gruber’s men was setting into prepared explosives,  McClane takes the bag and hides somewhere safe while the police arrive.  Powell manages to make contact with McClane using his radio who explains the situation to Powell,  Deputy Police Chief Dwayne T Robinson (Paul Gleason) shows up and takes control of the situation and immediately sends in the SWAT team to storm the building.   McClane and Powell are unable to prevent the SWAT team from entering the building and walk into an ambush set by the terrorists, but McClane manages to minimize the damage by sending some C4 explosives strapped to a chair down the elevator shaft causing a massive explosion to wipe out the terrorists firing on the SWAT team.  Gruber later makes contact with the police and gives them a list of demands which is a diversion to keep them busy,  one of the hostages tries to negotiate a deal for his release by revealing McClane’s identity to Gruber who uses the radio to contact McClane to try and get McClane to give up the detonators but McClane refuses to return the detonators,  so Gruber kills the hostage who had sold out McClane’s identity much to the horror of the police force who heard everything on radio.  McClane continues to keep moving through the building when he accidentally comes across Gruber who was checking the explosives his men had placed to blow up the roof of the building, gaining McClane’s trust by passing himself off as an escaped hostage.  McClane doesn’t fall for Gruber’s lies but it is already to late Gruber has already alerted Karl and one other man who come out of the lift firing,  McClane flees dropping the detonators as he manages to escape.  The FBI arrives and takes control of the situation by ordering power to the building shut down but this was Gruber’s plan all along disconnecting the power opened the final electromagnetic lock on the vault allowing them to steal the bonds.  Gruber makes more demands to lure the FBI into a trap by asking for helicopters to transport his men and the hostages from the roof of the Plaza to Los Angeles International Airport knowing that the FBI would attempt a sneak gunship attack on the building.  McClane investigates the roof and finds it rigged with C4 and tries to warn Powell but is caught by Karl and a fierce fight then takes place between the two of them,  Meanwhile Gruber orders the hostages to the roof he learns from a television report by Richard Thornburg (William Atherton) of Holly’s relationship to McClane and takes her hostage. McClane manages to defeat Karl leaving him for dead and makes his way to the roof to try to find Holly and warn the hostages to flee from the roof but they don’t listen to him so he fires into the air to get the hostages moving and the FBI thinking McClane is a terrorist shoot at him to take him out.   Gruber is alerted by one of his men that the hostages are coming back down and he orders the roof blown,  McClane ties a fire hose around his body and jumps over the side of the building as the roof explodes.  Hanging from the building he swings out from the window he crashed into during his jump while at the same time firing his gun shattering the window and swinging himself inside the building.  Gruber holds Holly hostage to prevent McClane from interfering in his getaway,  McClane is  down to his last two bullets who confronts Gruber at the vault making them think he is unarmed and just as Gruber is about to kill him, McClane shoots both Gruber and the last remaining terrorist.  Gruber injured stumbles backwards through a pane of glass still holding onto Holly’s wristwatch, his weight dragging her out the window as well. McClane is able to remove her watch causing Gruber to fall to his death.  McClane and Holly leave the building together and meet Officer Powell face to face for the first time as Karl comes out of the building with a gun and tries to kill McClane but but Powell draws his own gun and shoots him before he can harm McClane and Holly.  McClane and Holly take off in Argyle’s limo as the building is secured by the police.

Bruce Willis

Bruce Willis is an American actor his career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since. His films include The Verdict (1980), Blind Date (1987), Sunset (1988), Die Hard (1988), Look Who’s Talking (1989), Die Hard 2 (1990), Look Who’s Talking Too (1990), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), The Last Boy Scout (1991), Death Becomes Her (1992), Striking Distance (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), The Fifth Element (1997), Armageddon (1998), The Sixth Sense (1999), Unbreakable (2000), Tears of the Sun (2003), Hostage (2005), Sin City (2005), 16 Blocks (2006) and Die Hard 4 (2007).   He has appeared in TV series such as Miami Vice, The Twilight Zone, Moonlighting, Mad About You, Ally McBeal and Friends.   He also provided the voice for a talking baby in Look Who’s Talking (1989) as well as its sequel Look Who’s Talking Too (1990), Muddy Grimes in the animation film Beavis and Butt Head Do America (1996) and RJ in the animation film Over The Hedge (2006).

Alan Rickman

Alan Rickman is an English actor his films include Die Hard (1988), The January Man (1989), Quigley Down Under (1990), Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (1991), Sense and Sensibility (1995), Michael Collins (1996), Galaxy Quest (1999), Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2000), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007), Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009).   In 2005 he directed the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie at the Royal Court Theater in London and won the Theater Goers Choice Award for best director.

Bonnie Bedelia

Bonnie Bedelia is an American actress her films include  Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), Heart Like a Wheel (1983), The Boy Who Could Fly (1986), Die Hard (1988), Die Hard 2 (1990), Presumed Innocent (1990) and Needful Things (1993).   She has appeared in TV series such as The High Chaparral, Bonanza, The Outer Limits, The Division and CSI Crime Scene Investigation.

Reginald VelJohnson

Reginald VelJohnson is an American actor his films include The Deer Hunter (1978), Ghostbusters (1984), Crocodile Dundee (1986),  Magic Sticks (1987), Die Hard (1988), Turner & Hooch (1989), Die Hard 2 (1990), Posse (1993) and Like Mike (2002).   He has appeared in TV series such as The Equalizer, Diagnosis Murder, Twice in a Lifetime, Will & Grace, Monk, CSI Crime Scene Investigation, Eve, Crossing Jordan, The Parkers, That’s So Raven, Chuck and Bones.

Alexander Godunov

Alexander Godunov was a Russian ballet dancer and actor whose defection caused a diplomatic incident between the USA and the USSR.   After playing Lemisson in a 1978 Soviet adaptation of 31st of June by JB Priestley Godunov became well known in the USSR as a movie actor.   In 1979 he came to America where he began dancing with the American Ballet Theater until he gave up ballet and turned to film acting.  His films include Witness (1985), The Money Pit (1986), Die Hard (1988), The Runestone (1990), Waxwork II Lost in Time (1992) and North (1994).  He died in West Hollywood California of alcoholism and complications of hepatitis at the age of 45 in 1995.

Paul Gleason

Paul Gleason was an American film and television actor his films include Arthur (1981), Trading Places (1983), Ewoks The Battle for Endor (1985), Die Hard (1988), Johnny Be Good (1988), Maniac Cop 3 Badge of Silence (1993), I Love Trouble (1994), Shadow Conspiracy (1997) and Not Another Teen Movie (2001).   He has appeared in TV series such as Mission Impossible, Banacek, Remington Steele, Cagney & Lacey, “Magnum PI, The A Team, The Equalizer, Beauty and the Beast, The Wonder Years, Lois & Clark The New Adventures of Superman, Friends and Cold Case.   In 2006 he died of mesothelioma a form of lung cancer.

Clarence Gilyard

Clarence Gilyard is a former American actor and a current college professor at the College of Fine Arts Department of Theater at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His films include Top Gun (1986), The Karate Kid Part II (1986), Die Hard (1988) and LA Takedown (1989).  He has appeared in TV series such as Different Strokes, CHiPs  and Walker Texas Ranger.

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