May 19th was the 20th anniversary of inarguably one of, if not the best films of the hit franchise, Die Hard With A Vengeance.
We are pairing up Bruce Willis’ John McClane with Samuel L. Jackson’s Harlem shopkeeper, Zeus. They are thrown together by actor Jeremy Irons’ character German terrorist Simon Peter Gruber, the sibling of Hans Gruber (potrayed by Alan Rickman) who was killed in the original Die Hard movie. The chemistry between the two is the best I have seen since Murtaugh and Riggs in the Lethal Weapon series. It is a match made only in Hollywood and both actors played off each other exceptionally well.
Written by Jonathan Hensleigh who was pitching a script he tried to sell as not a Die Hard story, producers asked for his script originally titled as a Simon Says thriller and crafted it into the Die Hard universe.
Who doesn’t remember the fountain scene when McClane and Zeus try to disarm a pressure sensitive bomb from going off with only four gallons of water using five gallon and three gallon jugs? I was truly on the edge of my seat! And I still cringe at that moment each time I watch this movie.
Happy anniversary, DHWAV.
