Yippee-ki-yay … the 30th anniversary of the attack on Nakatomi Plaza Tower – It's in an Xmas movie
It’s an Xmas film.
If the fall of the Berlin Wall has taught us anything, the mercenary nature of terrorists (state-sponsored or non-state actors) is often superseded by our cynicism about the intrusive corruption of the State, as the Die-Hard universe of films has taught us. It’s not about automobile batteries, but about the “battery bunny”of impossible-to-kill action heroes… and the dead Johnsons.
In the first film of the Die Hard series, Hans Gruber is talking to John McClane on the radio, mocking John.
“You know my name, but who are you? Just another American who saw too many movies as a child? Another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he’s John Wayne? Rambo? Marshal Dillon?”
“I was always kind of partial to Roy Rogers, actually. I really like those sequined shirts.”
“Do you really think you have a chance against us, Mr. Cowboy?”
“Yippee-Ki-Yay, motherfucker!”
Hans then mockingly uses the line before McClane kills him at the climax of the film.
Of course there are many people who haven’t seen the film, but it is about popular culture and an action hero genre plot that constantly transgresses on continuity and credulity.
The film spawned four sequels:
In July 2007, Bruce Willis donated the undershirt worn in the film to the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institution.[39]
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In 2010, Die Hard was voted as “The Greatest Christmas Film of All Time” by Empire.[49] In 2012, IGN listed it at the top spot on their list of “The Top 25 Action Movies”.[50] Debates have been had about whether or not Die Hard should be considered a Christmas film. Some feel that because the events of the film occur on Christmas Eve and its setting includes a Christmas party, that is enough to qualify it as a Christmas film, whilst others feel that since the film is not actually about Christmas and focuses on an action plot involving a lone police officer trying to stop terrorists, it should not be considered a Christmas film.[51][52][53][54][55][56] On December 24, 2017, screenwriter Steven E. de Souza stated on Twitter that Die Hard is a Christmas film.[57] However, at his Comedy Central Roast, Willis declared “Die Hard is not a Christmas movie! It is a goddamn Bruce Willis movie!”[58]
Acknowledging the debate over this, 20th Century Fox released a special Die Hard – Christmas Edition home media release in December 2018 (during the film’s 30th anniversary), including a re-cut trailer to present the film as a heartwarming Christmas story.[59]