I celebrate Christmas as the Christian I am; in other words, as a sacred festival. That being said, I can understand why so many people abhor the season and the holiday - clearly, because of all the awful films associated with this time of year. Sure, there are the fun feel-good stalwarts like White Christmas, and I have nothing against It's A Wonderful Life, but 9.5 out of 10 "Christmas movies" are either melodramatic crap, or brainless heresy ("you just have to believe in...um...believing!"), or a horrific combination of both (there is the odd nostalgia film that fills neither category, like A Christmas Story, but I don't get that movie - I guess you have to have been there to be nostalgic about it). Seeing as how I don't own White Christmas, and can only watch It's A Wonderful Life once every decade, what's left for a girl to watch as December 25th rolls around?
Why, the finest Christmas movie of them all, of course: John McTiernan's Die Hard.
No, really. Hear me out!
First, the obvious: it takes place on Christmas Eve. But past the obvious, Die Hard remains the most (the only?) socially conscious and relevant pure action film I'm aware of. Exploring and expressing the fears of the working-class man at the end of the 1980s, both domestic and economic, it even brings up (without using a word of dialogue) the vestigial remnants of Vietnam as it continued to affect the men who fought there, and the ones who were just a bit too young to join up or be drafted.
Think about it. NYPD cop John McClane is flying across the country to visit his semi-estranged wife Holly, who has moved there with the kids in order to pursue a career as a successful corporate executive. She's not just discontent with being a stay-at-home mom, but has chosen her career over John and all her ties in New York. And who's she working for? The Japanese! At the ultimate conclusion (don't worry, this isn't really a spoiler), she must give up her Rolex - the ultimate 80's symbol of having "made it" - in order to save her life. And who's the villain of the story? A German economic terrorist - this is just on the heels of the fall of the Berlin wall. And in two brilliant, brief scenes, one involving a police helicopter and the over showing John making his way, shilouetted, barefoot, and clutching a machine gun, through the koi pond of the building's darkened atrium - it looks, and sounds, like all the clips and movies I've seen of the Vietnamese jungle, and I think that was done very deliberately as a reminder of the personal impacts of that war, which were still very much present in the 80's. And then there's the racial commentary - with both John and Al and the two FBI agents, we have the black-and-white buddy combo, but on villain Hans Gruber's crew, the hacker/security expert - i.e., the super-smart, highly educated, guy - is a young black man. That's an interesting one.
And, of course, it's a freakin' awesome film! Smart, well-played, great dialogue, one of the most memorably hilarious vulgar lines in film history, and tons of attention to detail - the "under construction" set even has contractor measurements written in magic marker on the bathroom mirrors - it remains the best pure action film I've ever seen, period. It's such a pleasure to watch.
"Elly! Isn't it hypocritical of you to have a violent action flick as your favourite Christmas movie?"
I don't know. But that's the way it is.
Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Reginald VelJohnson, and Bonnie Bedelia. Merry Christmas!
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