This time of year tends to lead to arguably one of the biggest movie debates ever: Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? And I think I have the answer. The two-hour and six-minute action-packed movie is a story about New York City police officer John McClane, fighting off terrorists to save a group of hostages, including his wife, on Christmas Eve at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
What makes a movie a Christmas movie, though?
Sarah Smith believes that Christmas being relevant to the plot is important, and I certainly side with that, which will play a big factor in the final decision. However, many people also believe including things such as snow, family, Santa and gifts are all a Christmas movie requires.
All within the first five minutes of the movie, it is made violently clear by directors John Moore, Len Wiseman, John McTiernan, and Renny Harlin that it is Christmas time.
As viewers see McClane on the plane, a flight attendant can be overheard wishing the passengers a Merry Christmas and the sound of jingle bells in the background, but that is not it. The scene immediately switches over to his wife, Holly Gennaro, wishing her kids a Merry Christmas over the phone and cuts to her work Christmas party.
Now, I would say this pretty much establishes it as a Christmas movie, case solved, and without thinking, I would say this is about as Christmas as this whole movie gets, and that’s only in the first five minutes.
The movie then scurries into action and plot until roughly another thirty minutes pass until Christmas is brought up again, which is when the viewers are greeted with the famous elevator scene in which one of the terrorists’ dead body is found in the elevator wearing a Santa hat and “Now I Have A Machine Gun Ho Ho Ho” written on his shirt. Brutal, am I right?
Some people also included Christmas trees as a factor with a list of items that make a Christmas movie, and I counted a minimum of two scenes where people get killed in front of a decorated tree ready for gifts. Lots of action happens with decor for the party in the background, such as the previously mentioned scenes and essentially any scene, including the many hostages being held.
A relatively focal character in this movie is a Los Angeles officer, Al Powell, who is often humming holiday tunes and trying to communicate with McClane. Powell is not the only officer who can be found humming carols; in a few scenes, McClane can also be heard singing a little toon.
Christmas songs are a constant in Die Hard, and there is quite a wide variety of them, too. One of the first songs heard at the Christmas party is an orchestra rendition of a carol. Again, when McClane enters the limo, his driver plays a unique Christmas song, and the closing credit is “Let It Snow.”
Along with obvious music playing, I also heard what sounded like bells in the background of much of the score.
After laying everything out, I think almost anyone would assume Die Hard is a Christmas movie, but was it intended to be?
After all, the movie came out in July, but it wouldn’t be the first Christmas movie to take “Christmas in July” a little too seriously.
How about what the film’s heads think? The writer, Steven E. de Souza, announced in a social media post on X that it is indeed a Christmas film. However, lead actor Bruce Willis said on Comedy Central rather seriously that it is not a Christmas movie. So that clears up nothing.
As mentioned earlier, it’s important to people that Christmas is relevant to the plot to make it a Christmas movie, and at first glance, one might think that nothing important would be missed if this movie took place during another time of year, but actually, I disagree.
The biggest reason McClane is only in Los Angeles is because it is Christmas. Without that, he would have no reason to be there and would not be able to fight off the terrorists, ergo, there would be no reason for the movie.
After combing through all the details and factors, I can confidently say that I think Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
