Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie? Both Sides and a Ruling
Updated · 6 min read · 6 sources
The short answer
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Yes. The whole story happens on Christmas Eve at an office Christmas party, the plot follows a man trying to win back his estranged wife at Christmas, and its screenwriter says it counts. It opened in July and most polls say no, but a Christmas setting plus a Christmas story is enough.
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?
Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? It is the most famous film argument of the holiday season, and both sides have real points. The 1988 action film follows New York cop John McClane, who flies to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to see his estranged wife, Holly, at her company's Christmas party in Nakatomi Plaza, just as a gang of thieves takes over the building.
Everything in the movie happens over that one Christmas Eve night. But it opened in theaters in July, it is wall to wall gunfire, and nobody learns the true meaning of anything by a fireplace. So the real question is what you mean by a Christmas movie.
The case that Die Hard is a Christmas movie
The setting is not window dressing. The film is based on Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, which is also set on Christmas Eve, and when Jeb Stuart was hired to adapt it, the producers' head of development gave him creative freedom on one condition: keep the Christmas in Los Angeles setting, according to Wikipedia's production history. Michael Kamen's score works in sleigh bells and pieces of Winter Wonderland and Let It Snow, and Run-DMC's Christmas in Hollis plays in the film.
Fans also read it as a Christmas story at heart: a cop whose marriage is falling apart tries to win his wife back on the night that is supposed to be about family. Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza has argued this for years. In a 2018 NBC News interview he pointed to the Season's Greetings gift tape McClane uses to hide a gun, and noted that Miracle on 34th Street also came out in summer, so a July release proves nothing.
The studio has joined in. For the 30th anniversary in 2018, 20th Century Fox recut the trailer to sell Die Hard as a traditional holiday film and billed it as the greatest Christmas story ever told.
The verdict
- The whole film happens on Christmas Eve, starting at a Christmas party.
- Its screenwriter, its studio and its source novel all lean Christmas.
- The score is full of sleigh bells and holiday songs.
- It opened in July 1988 as a summer action release.
- Bruce Willis said it is not one, and most polls agree with him.
- Christmas is the setting, not the point, as film historian Leonard Maltin puts it.
What it sounds like
The case that it is not
The no side starts with the calendar. Die Hard opened in limited release on July 15, 1988, and the studio was eager for a summer blockbuster, not a holiday release. Take out the tinsel and the plot barely changes: a building, a hostage crisis and one cop fighting his way through it.
Film historian Leonard Maltin told NBC News he sees it as a thriller set at Christmas rather than a Christmas film in spirit, the same way he does not count Gremlins. Bob Waliszewski of Focus on the Family's Plugged In uses a three part test (is Christmas central, does the film reflect the holiday's meaning, is it family friendly) and says Die Hard fails it.
Then there is the star. Closing the Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis in July 2018, Willis declared that Die Hard is not a Christmas movie, a line Fox News and many others reported. De Souza has since suggested Willis was joking, which at a roast is a fair bet. Either way, an actor's opinion is not a definition, and quoting him as the final word is an appeal to authority.
What do the polls say?
Most people side with Willis, though the numbers move with the question. A Morning Consult and Hollywood Reporter poll of 2,200 US adults in November 2018 found 25 percent called Die Hard a Christmas movie and 62 percent did not. Men were more likely than women to say yes (32 percent versus 20 percent), and adults 30 to 44 were the most convinced, at 37 percent.
A 2017 YouGov poll of Americans found 19 percent yes and 56 percent no, with nearly a third of 18 to 24 year olds saying they were not familiar with the film. In Britain, a YouGov poll that year put the yes side at 31 percent. Popularity does not settle a definition, though. Treating a poll as proof is the bandwagon fallacy.
What makes a movie a Christmas movie?
Most of the fight is about one phrase. People use Christmas movie in at least three senses, and sliding between them is how the argument loops forever, a textbook case of equivocation:
- Set at Christmas: the story happens during the holiday. Die Hard passes easily.
- About Christmas: the holiday shapes the plot or the theme, such as family, homecoming or redemption. Die Hard passes, mostly.
- For Christmas: a gentle film the whole family watches by the tree. Die Hard fails, unless your family is unusual.
The ruling
Die Hard is a Christmas movie. It is set entirely on Christmas Eve, its story is about a man trying to get his family back at Christmas, and the people who wrote it and sold it say so. Pick a definition before you argue and the debate gets much shorter, the same trick that settles whether a hot dog is a sandwich.
It is not a family Christmas movie, and anyone who says it is wrong for Grandma's living room is right too. So the fair house rule: it counts as a Christmas movie, it does not count as the family's Christmas movie, and it gets watched after the kids are in bed.
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Questions people ask
When was Die Hard released?
It opened in limited release in the US on July 15, 1988, a summer release for a story set on Christmas Eve.
Did Bruce Willis say Die Hard is not a Christmas movie?
Yes. He said it at the end of the Comedy Central Roast of Bruce Willis in July 2018. Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, who says it is one, has suggested Willis was joking.
What percentage of people think Die Hard is a Christmas movie?
In a 2018 Morning Consult and Hollywood Reporter poll, 25 percent of US adults said yes and 62 percent said no. A 2017 YouGov poll of Americans found 19 percent yes.
Is the Die Hard book set at Christmas?
Yes. The film is based on Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever, which is also set on Christmas Eve.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Die Hard
- NBC News: Debate over which films are Christmas movies continues to 'Die Hard' (2018)
- Fox News: Bruce Willis ends debate on whether 'Die Hard' is Christmas movie (2018)
- Morning Consult: No, 'Die Hard' Isn't a Christmas Movie, Most People Say (2018)
- YouGov: Most Americans agree: Die Hard is not a Christmas movie (2017)
- Final Draft: Steven E. de Souza: Die Hard IS a Christmas Movie
Keep reading
- FallaciesEquivocation FallacyThe equivocation fallacy is using one word in two different senses within the same argument, so a conclusion seems to follow when it doesn't. "You told me to be more spontaneous, so why are you mad I booked a trip without asking?" slides from spontaneous dates to spontaneous spending. Most equivocation in arguments is accidental.
- FallaciesAppeal to Authority FallacyAn appeal to authority is a fallacy when a claim is treated as settled just because someone with status said it, especially when that person isn't an expert on the topic, is quoted out of context or disagrees with most experts. Citing real expertise on its own subject is a good reason. The fallacy is using a name in place of evidence.
- FallaciesBandwagon FallacyThe bandwagon fallacy treats something as true, good or acceptable because many people believe it or do it: 'Everyone in my class has a phone.' Popularity can be a useful hint, but it isn't evidence that a claim is correct or that a choice is right for you. It's also called the appeal to popularity or argumentum ad populum.
- DebatesIs a Hot Dog a Sandwich?Is a hot dog a sandwich? By a broad dictionary definition, yes: it is a filling served in split bread, and Merriam-Webster has said it counts. In everyday use, no: nobody orders one by asking for a sandwich, and the hot dog industry says it is its own thing. Our ruling: technically a sandwich, practically a hot dog.
- DebatesIrish GoodbyeAn Irish goodbye is leaving a party or gathering without saying goodbye to anyone. Is it rude? Usually not at a big, busy party where the host will not miss you. It is rude at a small dinner, at an event in your honor, or when someone is counting on you. A quick text to the host fixes most cases.
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