Well there we have it folks: the screenwriter of Die Hard has once and for all defined it as a Christmas movie.
The debate over whether the 1988 action classic could be called a Christmas movie or not has been raging for years now. After you’d exhausted Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Love Actually, was it acceptable to watch Bruce Willis go about his business as John McClane? It really was a fine line to some.
Now the writer of the movie, Steven E. de Souza, has outlined his definitive argument as to why Die Hard is a Christmas movie. While appearing on the Script Apart podcast, he compared it to Bing Crosby’s vastly different musical White Christmas, using a checklist of “Christmas Movie or Not” characteristics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mKJySeEHxQ
“I think we can all agree, even the sceptics on why Die Hard is a Christmas movie or not, that White Christmas, the 1950’s movie with Bing Crosbie and Danny Kay, is a Christmas movie,” de Souza began. “So let’s check the boxes.”
“Does the movie take place during the Christmas holiday? Die Hard takes place entirely during Christmas. White Christmas, only the first scene and the final scene occur on Christmas, and they take place eight or ten years apart.”
He continued: “Is the setting a Christmas party? Die Hard is entirely set at a Christmas party. White Christmas, only the final scene is a Christmas party. How many Christmas songs are in the movie? Die Hard has four: ‘Let It Snow’, ‘Winter Wonderland’, ‘Christmas in Hollis’, and ‘Jingle Bells’. White Christmas has only two Christmas songs.”
Other things the checklist detailed included the body count and the differences in German ringleaders. 23 deaths against 26, 218 deaths? Hans Gruber against Adolf Hitler? On paper, White Christmas really doesn’t sound like a lovely bundle of holiday joy. “You be the judge which is more Christmassy,” de Souza told podcast host Al Horner.
It comes just after the movie’s director, John McTiernan, also gave his official opinion on its Christmas credibility, saying ““We hadn’t intended it to be a Christmas movie, but the joy that came from it is what turned it into a Christmas movie.”
Check out the trailer for Die Hard:
