Die Hard, Spend Harder

Hannah Sternberg / May 06, 2011

If a Hollywood villain wanted the thrill of hundreds of millions of dollars at his fingertips, he wouldn’t have to stage a high-stakes heist. He’d just have to become a bureaucrat.

In the 1988 movie Die Hard, villain Hans Gruber and his crack team of code-breaking and martial arts experts take the guests of a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza building hostage. Their objective: to steal $640 million from the company’s vaults while distracting the cops with elaborate demands. Their problem: John McClane, the tough and resourceful New York cop played by Bruce Willis, who evades their notice and then methodically sabotages their heist. (more…)