Bruce Willis’ Kids End The Die Hard Christmas Debate
Let’s put this to bed once and for all: Die Hard is a Christmas movie. You don’t have to take our word for it either. Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis, the star of the movie in question, recently took to Instagram and said as much herself.
Bruce Willis’s Kids Weigh In
“I’ve collected all three Willis girls,” Rumer (35) began in her Instagram Story on Tuesday, December 19. Two more of Bruce Willis’s daughters, Scout (32) and Tallulah (29), were also in the video filmed from Rumer’s car.
The story featured the question that has become inescapable this time of the year: “Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?” in text above the girls’ heads. “It’s a f—-ing Christmas movie,” was the definitive answer from Scout regarding Bruce Willis’s magnum opus. “It takes place during Christmas.”
Rumer chimed in, ending the short clip with the definitive declaration, “It’s a Christmas movie.
Bruce Willis Thought Differently
Whether or not the December 24th set, the 1988 Bruce Willis classic, counts as an actual “Christmas movie” has been hotly debated for years.
Willis himself set out to end the debate once and for all during his 2018 Comedy Central roast.
“Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It’s a goddamn Bruce Willis movie!” the actor exclaimed in jest.
Definitely A Christmas Movie
Of course, given that “Bruce Willis” isn’t a genre or even a subgenre of film, Bruno’s declaration means nothing in terms of the actual argument:
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? We here at Giant Freakin Robot believe it is, and really who else’s opinion matters?
Allow us to convince you. First, it’s not enough to simply be set at Christmas. Batman Returns is set at Christmas, but besides the tinsel-covered backdrop, the holiday has nothing to do with the plot.
You could set Batman Returns on Groundhog Day, and the only thing that would change would be the decorations around Gotham.
Built Into The Plot
Die Hard, on the other hand, has Christmas built into the plot. It’s specifically the holiday season that convinces the recently separated John McClane to fly to Los Angeles and try to reconcile with his wife, Holly. Nakitomi Plaza is only empty accept for top execs because of a Christmas party.
Hans Gruber
Likewise, Hans Gruber and his gang of international thieves posed as terrorists are specifically taking the building over on Christmas Eve because that’s when it’s emptiest.
The movie even has its own twisted version of the “Christmas miracle” trope when the thieves are suddenly able to get into the Nakitomi vault thanks to a bumbling FBI cutting the building’s power.
“Ode to Joy” even plays over the scene to emphasize that—for the bad guys at least—the sudden blackout is a form of holiday Magic.
One Step Further
You could take Christmas out of Die Hard, but it wouldn’t be the same movie. You could remove Bruce Willis, but then you’d just get that Skyscraper movie with the Rock.
In fact, we’ll go a step further and say that Die Hard is more of a Christmas movie than It’s A Wonderful Life. In Die Hard, Bruce Willis’s whole adventure takes place on Christmas Eve. Roughly 47% of It’s A Wonderful Life is set at Christmas, with the rest of the movie taking place in the past.
The whole movie is really just a biography of Jimmy Stewart’s George.
Final Thoughts
Die Hard‘s soundtrack is full of Christmas music: Wonderful Life‘s is not.
Christmas is germane to the plot of the Bruce Willis classic: Wonderful Life uses Christmas as a backdrop for less than half of the movie and none of the film’s relevant plot points are in any way related to the holiday.
In conclusion, Bruce Willis’s daughters are right. Die Hard is in fact a Christmas movie and always has been. Yippee Ki-yay Mother Elfer!
