The trivia about this
film is that it was based on a book, the sequel to the book was the one that
Die Hard was an adaptation of. Due to some contract law or something, Frank
Sinatra, the star of this, had to be given first refusal to play John McClaine
when Die Hard went into production.
I was going to say
how different a film that would be, but thinking about it, seeing a septuagenarian in a vest leap off a skyscraper using a firehose bungee might
actually have been magnificent.
Hans Gruber "Go
and get McClaine!"
Henchman "How do
we find him?"
Hans Gruber
"Follow the trail of Werther's Originals wrappers. And piss."
Henchman "He's
stealthy, Hans. Those carpet slippers make him almost silent!"
Hans Gruber "The
creak of his hip will always give him away if he's close. Or place a bus stop
somewhere in the building, people of his age seem to be magnitised to
them."
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway,
when the film's doing the investigative, policey stuff, it's pretty good, when
it's droning on about Sinatra's marriage, it's boring. Also, it's possibly the
only time you'll ever hear Ol' Blue Eyes say the words 'semen stains'.*
*Apart from his
little known 1958 album 'The Mrs Is At Bingo, Break Out The Blast-Sock'.
Fucking hell, you've
read this far? Well done, I would've given up ages ago. Such a load of twaddle.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062883/
6.4/10
Perkin.
Glad I read that far, the Mrs at the bingo gag was hilarious! Robert Mitchum was mooted for the original development of what became Die Hard, so they were originally aiming to use it as a near enough official sequel I guess
ReplyDeleteTa! :)
ReplyDeleteI read that a surprising amount of stuff made it into the film. I'm not much of a Willis fan, but I do think he was well cast in that. The right blend of everyman and action film tough guy.
Yeah I think the main thing they changed was have the character pay a visit to his ex wife rather than his estranged daughter (thus bringing the character's age down) and I think, though don't quote me, the villains were actually terrorists in the novel, but a lot of it remains intact.
DeleteI think Willis is an actor who really lost his way. Even now watching back his earliest starring roles straight off the back of the excellent, quirky Moonlighting, you can't fail to see what a refreshing likeable performer he was. But for the past 15 years or so all he does is look grumpy and scowl, so that he looks a bit like an angry bollock.