Is ‘Die Hard’ A Christmas Movie?

“Last year, I introduced him (my son) to Die Hard and I said it was one of my favorite Christmas movies. All year long, he has been trying to argue that it’s not a Christmas movie per se, it’s just a movie that happens at Christmastime.”

“My argument was that the whole reason John McClane was even in Los Angeles was to see his family for Christmas and the only reason he was at Nakatomi Plaza was for the Xmas party. He wasn’t having it.”

“So tonight I introduced Lethal Weapon, which honestly, I had forgotten was also set around Christmas. But there we are, watching the opening credits and they’re playing jingle bell rock, everything is decorated for Xmas, everyone’s saying “Merry Christmas” to each other. So I start saying “look, another Christmas movie like Die Hard!” because I know he’s going to argue that it’s not.”

“He impressed me this time: he said that if you take Christmas out, it doesn’t change the story. And he’s 100% right; Lethal Weapon can stand on its own without the story changing even if it happens in the third week of August. Christmas is not at all integral to any part of that movie.”

“So I pointed out that Gruber’s gang in Die Hard needed the reduced security and number of employees in the building for a nighttime Christmas party for them to get into the building easier, but they also needed enough employees at the party to create a hostage situation that would get the FBI out so they could turn off the power, letting them drill into the vault.”

” You take Xmas out and they don’t have their opportunity to make their heist.”

“And again, McClane is in that building specifically because it’s Christmas.”

” He’s not happy about it. So tomorrow we’re going to have to watch Love Actually and see what he thinks.”