My brother got me the Nothing Lasts Forever for Christmas a few years back. He had this really expectant look, and I just said "Uhhh, Cheers?" He refused to tell me why he got it for me, and it wasn't until I was about a quarter of the way through that I finally twigged "Holy shit! This is Die Hard!!"
I dont mean to be off topic but does any of you know a method to get back into an Instagram account..? I stupidly forgot the password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me
@Jabari Callan Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site through google and im trying it out atm. Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
+Lawrence Tider Dr. Joyce Brothers once said that highly intelligent people talk to themselves a lot. I don't blame them. Some days talking to myself is the only intelligent conversation I have.
Well, the joke about him originally being near 70 certainly validates my mother's theory that the next 'Die Hard' movie will be titled 'Die Hard with a Walker.'
Funny thing is, because it was a sequel to the Frank Sinatra movie, they had been legally required to offer him the role first. Imagine how different that would have been.
Ha! "Die Hard" is my GF's favorite Christmas movie (she decorates her apartment with stills from the film every December) so I got her the book and the Sinatra film as a surprise gift. She had no idea it was based on a book either! Also, to be fair, the profit margin would NOT have been the "only" victim. The guy did plan to murder the executive in cold blood.
They should have mentioned the book in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, seeing Jake's reaction to discovering his favourite movie was based on a book where the protagonist was a pensioner would have been hilarious, especially when he found out about the Frank Sinatra film before it
Easily one of your best and funniest episodes of all. The fact that that Die Hard is a classic and most people don't know it's an adaptation makes for a fun and enlightening video.
+BudderMan Any chance you're on FB? The Dom has a page there - facebook.com/The-Dom-1384329085170616/ - and when he posted the photo in the "Guess the book" all I could think of was "Some fanfiction writer's gritty reboot of Up?" I tried to read the novel, BTW, but didn't finish it because I found it too boring.
It's rare to get a film adaptation of any book that doesn't reduce moral ambiguity, or even flat-out reduce grey morality to black-and-white morality. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a single film adaptation that makes the story/characters more morally ambiguous.
@@NodDisciple1 hey batman wasn't treated exactly well either. The man known with a "no kill rule " gunning down thousands of people who probably had families and maybe even....children?
@@becuaseimbored3481 Batman's no kill rule is relatively recent, he used to use guns too, but Superman hasn't so much as terrorized a mobster, since his first couple issues. Basically for as long as Superman has been able to fly, he's been the kind of guy that rescues all the people, even criminals, and stranded pets.
I think the Aquaman film subverts it nicely. In most contunities, Arthur kills the Black Manta's dad by accident -he was trying to get the Manta himself to avange his own father. In the new movie however, he coldly leaves him for death because he was a criminal, despite Manta yelling him to save his dad, resulting with a rightfully angry supervillian with vengance. I was actually pretty suprised when I saw it, not just for that but also because the film Arthur was not an orphan. I thought having at least one dead parent was mandatory for superheroes.
@@billuraral1870 Not rightfully angry. Mamba and his dad were murdering people. People are not "rightfully" angry when they don't like the justified consequences of their actions, they're just angry. Too bad, so sad. One of my major peeves is when the bad guy wants revenge for the death of their loved one that was involved in criminal activity with them. If they wanted them safe, they should have kept them out of it. Have the cajones to accept the fate you court.
+VyseN1 NC goes from critic to critic wishing them a merry Christmas ( with a running joke of him poking E-rod and getting more and more violent just trying to wake him out of the E-rod sleep to wish him a merry Christmas) and all are merry then him and all the other critics (E-rod being stood up by a Hannable Lecter trolley) go to the Dom's front door start singing Christmas carols and Dom gets a bazooka leading into a Christmas carol parody with Nostalgia chick as ghost of reviews past, cinema snob as ghost of reviews present and Phelous as "the ghost of Christmas Phelous"
+Lee Morgan You had me interested up until the Christmas Carol parody. How many times are we gonna see internet reviewers parodying that story that was already parodied to death?
I'd think it'd be funny to be a Die Hard parody with The Dom trying to survive Nostalgia Critic's Christmastime Apocalypse, eventually trying to destroy Nostalgia Critic to save the world.
Book spoilers there are a couple of more things that underscores how much darker the book is. When Ellis tries to make a deal with the terrorists McClain tires to warn him to save his life. In the book this is completley opposite. Leland actually manipulates the situation to make sure the terrorist shoots him since he's afraid he might give up Lelenads identity and put his daughter in danger. Also, after the daughter dies Leland quite brutaly murders a female unarmed terrorist as a form of revenge. Overall Die Hard is imo a better movie than Nothing Last Forever is a book. But the book has many interesting themses that I appriciated. Even though I understand and agree with most of the changes the movie made I wouldn't necessarily mind seeing another adaptaion that is more faithful to the book.
Technically Die Hard 2 is another adaptation but not of Thorpe's books. Its of Walter Wager's novel 58 Minutes. So...considering Die Hard 2 is another Christmas film...when's that happening? Also was I the only one who KNEW Die Hard was a book before this? I knew since I was a kid but I never had the inkling to read the book before. 4:07 certainly changed that.
+Morbius Fitzgerald Yeah, it is strange that people act so surprised, because, as mentioned in the video, it does say it was based on a novel right in the credits. When the movie first came out, I wonder if there was an old guy in the theater who got frustrated and said "Wait. Where's Frank Sinatra? What's this guy from the comedy drama Moonlighting doing in an action film? Bruce Willis isn't known for actions movies. I want my money back." Oh, by the way, do you have relatives from Illinois? I haven't checked to see if I have any "Morbiuses" in my family tree.
I hope the Dom will make a video about one of the Hannibal Lecter stories in a video soon. Or maybe several. Like a double video to talk about Red Dragon and Manhunter like the Charlie and the Chocolate factory episode. There's a ton of great material to make an episode in those books/films, I just know it.
Now the funny bit is Frank Sinatra who was offered the role for contractual reasons was 70 at the time which means he'd have actually fit the age of the book character.
I recently found out that the Sinatra film was the reason for a lot of the changes. The studio were contractually required to offer the role initially to Sinatra, but due to Sinatra’s age at the time, he turned it down (Ironic). Since they couldn’t risk injuring an elderly actor in the role, they went with someone younger (With Bruce being about the 20th choice but everyone else turned down the role). With the younger actor, the studio made more changes to distance the film from Sinatra’s role in The Detective
The hero doesn't manage to save his daughter in the book and even worse has to hear her screaming as she falls to her death. Damn that's pretty fucking dark.
and now he has to explain his grand kids why mommy is dead, probably while in the hospital on his own deathbed (letteraly), while the unbeloved ex-son-in-law gets guardianship over them
Of course he didn't get to his daughter in time. There was a theme back then of punishing women for being too much like men, either sexually or professionally.
...Back then? Though in this case I kind of like how grim and miserable it is, and it does underscore that edge of possible Nice Job Breaking It, Hero. It's like the how the original Woman In a Refrigerator was actually fairly legit and taken very seriously.
I think it was more because of the morally grey theming of the book. After having read the book, it does seem like there was a chance that if the MC had not gotten involved in the situation, his daughter(and a few other people) needn't have died. It was a reflection on the MC that it was entirely because of the MC that his daughter had died.
A lot of the changes can really be described by changing the film to be much more '80s. Instead of Americans taking over the world, it's Japanese conglomerates. They're leftist terrorists? Nope! They only pretend to when they're simply well-dressed Eurotrash thieves. McClane's wife being a successful executive, a cop accidentally shooting a child, even changing from a Browning Hi-Power to a Beretta 92 (a very similar, but more modern 9mm handgun). It's all a matter of making it into a film that more accurately reflected the late '80s rather than the late '70s. What's most surprising is that the film was released only nine years later, yet it was enough time for the novel to seem dated.
@@nataliepride9149 Was and is. We're slowly, slowwwly starting to get enough female action protagonists that refrigeration is getting more equal-opportunity. But even if it manages to stop being sexist, it'll still be lazy writing.
Great Review as usual. Makes me wonder what other films stared as completely different adaptations. Fun Fact: Die Hard was originally written to be a straight up sequel to The Detective but Frank Sinatra wasn't interested. Then it re-written as a sequel to Commando before being rewritten as a stand alone movie. You should have mentioned that Die Hard 2 was adapted from a novel called '58 Minutes' Die Hard 3 was based off of an early script for Lethal Weapon 4 Die Hard 4 was based on a 1997 Wired Article and a screenplay called 'WW3.com' Die Hard 5 was based on a rejected Screenplay for Die Hard 4 (it shows)
Max Nyström I remember watching a video where Bruce Willis was in an Interview (or Commentary? Don't remember) talking about Die Hard 4 and I recall him saying an early version of the script was about him and his son going on an adventure in Russia. This is just from Memory tbh, can't find the video where I found that. Doesn't really matter though, whatever potential that idea had was kicked with the Kiss of Death known as 'Skip Woods'
In Poland we called this film series "The Glass Trap" because "Die Hard" is basically impossible to translate for Polish. With first film it made sense. With second kind of, if you squint, same with fourth.
I just started your lost in adaptation series and if I didn't love you and your work enough already your feelings on Christmas sealed the deal. I'm 100% with the bah humbug! I wish I found your work sooner.
Considering Bruce Willis is pushing 70, and was until a few months ago still making action movies, the beginning of this tickles me. Young people have no concept of age or aging, especially during the current day when food, healthcare, etc... are so much better. Samuel L Jackson- 73, Denzel -66, Bryan Cranston - 65, Liam Neeson -69. I'd believe any of those guys could survive Nakatomi. ETA: I'd put the changes more in an effort to modernize it a little than to separate it from the book. We did love big business in the 80s - The Japanese company also fit in with the times--ah I remember the days when we were warned that Japan was going to take over America through corporate dominance.
1:50 funny enough when they were pitching the movie, they considered asking Frank Sinatra to reprise his role but he couldn't due to being too old. Frank sinatra was also considered to play Dirty Harry back in the day but due to a injury he sustained, he couldn't do the shoot. So Frank Sinatra was almost 2 iconic action movie characters.
From what I've read offering the role to Sinatra was a contractual obligation from the first film, but they never expected him to accept. Could have been funny if he'd called their bluff though...
Suddenly, I remember why I declared Die Hard my favorite Christmas Movie ever. Well, the german, censored version (which changed the first names for the terrorists to make them non-german). Now if you'll excuse me, I got to watch a Christmas movie.
+Giovanni Gianluca Reina If I lived in England I'd join in. Only since I don't have much Christmas spirit myself I'd be singing things like Barry Manilow's "I Guess There Ain't No Santa Claus."
I read the book when it was called Die Hard, I thought "Ah well that will pass the time a nice adaptation of a great movie" Holy crap! The ending blew me away and left me all sad :( I recommend the book if you like tough, cynical, action adventure.
Where to start re. guns? - "Hi-Power/High Power" refers to the magazine capacity of the gun. 13 rounds in the mag was a lot of firepower when the gun first came out in the 1930s. - H&K 94s were indeed used in the film, but they were meant to represent MP5s. In the 80s, the use of chopped and converted H&K94s in movies to stand in for the MP5 was quite common. - That's a German MP40 in the Goldfinger-clip... not a Tommy-Gun.
Also worth mentioning, the Browning Hi-Power and Beretta 92 both use the same ammo, 9x19mm (at least usually, the Browning can be chambered for other calibres). So one can expect the two guns to have similar amounts of bang. +Corvyn Malfoy Depends on where you are. More common in some places. That's more or less irrelevant, though, since with the internet around information about guns is commonplace regardless of whether guns themselves are.
@@0anesthetic4u70 2 years ago I was judging by my own experience, in my own nation - I had only ever seen a fire-arm once, and then in the hands of a police officer. I now know better, much to my woe.
When you refer to Leland as "an overzealous Guy of Gisborne" did you remember that Alan Rickman played Guy of Gisborne opposite Kevin Costner's Robin Hood?
I don't blame you for being a grinch, Dom. I can get annoyed by Christmas too, although it's more due to people being overly obnoxious about it than the holiday itself. Also, I'm Jewish and my big holiday is Hanukkah. Oh, and don't get me started on people who think there's a "War on Christmas" because they don't wanna say "Happy Holidays"--Christmas isn't the only holiday being celebrated in December, you know! The only thing I look forward to on Christmas Day is the Doctor Who christmas special.
Ah. Good to see one of the only Christmas movies I watch in the season. I love Christmas but I understand why others wouldn't. My husband works in retail and that's ruined his Christmas spirit.
+BigGator5 I haven't seen it and I didn't even participate in that poll. And frankly, I'm not big on action movies, so this doesn't have that much appeal to me. That's not to say I never will see it, I'm just in no rush to.
I was one of those that despite having seen this movie at least half a dozen times was unaware it was based on a book. Good episode as always Dom. As per usual I'm going to humbly suggest Stephan King's IT as your next project.
12:07-12:18 That's not what I heard from Jamietud's "Pages to Pictures" episode of *"Die Hard"* (before it got removed). Powell grabbed Robinson and used him as a body shield when Karl attempts to kill Leland in the end.
I just wanna put it out there that the most ripped man ive personally met was a 70yo Cheif Master Sergeant who ran several miles with a 50lb rucksack everyday. He basically was rl old man saitama.
Just FYI Dom, the Browning Hi-Power & Beretta 92F fire the same 9mm cartridge. They even have very similar barrel lengths, so they would have near-as-makes-no-difference the same power (the Beretta does hold a couple more rounds, though). This website is an awesome resource for movie guns: www.imfdb.org/wiki/Main_Page
Did anyone else pause the video when Dom pointed the gun at the camera and dared us to fill him with Christmas spirit and spoke about an essays worth of a speech talking about the beauty of Christmas
Nice review and I who thought that John McClane from A Good Day to Die Hard was freaking kill happy and also I really hope that you can do a review of the Walter Wager novel 58 Minutes that Die Hard 2 was based on at some point in the future
My grandpa never stopped manual labor he’s very spry surprisingly so, he even goes out dancing with ladies every weekend not like shuffle dancing it’s very high energy. He’s 80
might be about 6 years too late to comment on this but as a gun enthusiast i would like to point out that the Browning High-Power and the Barreta 92FS use the same ammo, 9x19mm Parabellum. so in terms of their "bang" it's relatively the same. there are versions of the Browning HP in .40 S&W however this round is barely any different from 9mm. there's a reason why it earned the nickname ".40 Short & Weak".
The Dom, please see this. Die Harder is also based off a book, not by the same author but it is based on a book. Walter Wagner's 58 Minutes. The differences between adopting two separate books from two different authors should make for an interesting video, seeing how adapting one story into an already not perfect adaptation only due to similarity. Plus it's also a Christmas movie.
Dom i seriously think you should do a crossover with the Nostalgia critic at some point! Especially if you hate Christmas cos he LOVES it!! It would be so cool to see you two face each other off! Btw Do you ever plan to do a Peter Pan episode? I loved the 2003 film but you could go for the disney version instead. I've also read the book of Peter Pan and i think the 2003 film is quite a faithful adaptation, but i would like to see you analyse it. Also with the exception of who framed Roger Rabbit which is half-cartoon half-liveaction, are you going to do any other animated films? Like Cinderella maybe? Or maybe even go further and compare big hero six to its original comic book?
That last idea of a more accurate reboot with an older Bruce Willis sounds really cool actually. But I assume you'll have a hard time getting Willis to warm up to that idea. At least until he's really too old to play action heroes.
My brother got me the Nothing Lasts Forever for Christmas a few years back. He had this really expectant look, and I just said "Uhhh, Cheers?" He refused to tell me why he got it for me, and it wasn't until I was about a quarter of the way through that I finally twigged "Holy shit! This is Die Hard!!"
I dont mean to be off topic but does any of you know a method to get back into an Instagram account..?
I stupidly forgot the password. I would appreciate any assistance you can give me
@Evan Idris Instablaster :)
@Jabari Callan Thanks so much for your reply. I got to the site through google and im trying it out atm.
Looks like it's gonna take quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Jabari Callan it did the trick and I now got access to my account again. I am so happy:D
Thanks so much, you saved my account :D
@Evan Idris glad I could help :)
Talking to yourself is not a sign of insanity. Expecting an answer is.
+Lawrence Tider Even worse if you get into an argument with yourself if/when you disagree... not that I would know...
+Logan Palmer It's only worse if you lose an argument with yourself.
+Lawrence Tider or you are a scientist or engineer
+Lawrence Tider Dr. Joyce Brothers once said that highly intelligent people talk to themselves a lot.
I don't blame them. Some days talking to myself is the only intelligent conversation I have.
+Jami JoAnne Russell Did you just burn the entire world?
I love when there's a surprise fourth category in your poll, I loled hard as "had to be convinced there was a book"
I've been wanting that for a while, and it was just as glorious as expected
Had a similar situation when I told my work colleague about it
Yes and yes
There's a movie??
Well, the joke about him originally being near 70 certainly validates my mother's theory that the next 'Die Hard' movie will be titled 'Die Hard with a Walker.'
Funny thing is, because it was a sequel to the Frank Sinatra movie, they had been legally required to offer him the role first. Imagine how different that would have been.
Which is what clint eastwood says every time someone asks him whens the next Dirty Harry
@@unfabgirl For a while Die Hard was also going to be the sequel to Commando. So Arnie would have been the lead in Die Hard!
@@unfabgirl , At least Sinatra's last years would've ended with a bang.
@@osmanyousif7849 is he sure lelands almost 70 if he served in ww2 . he might be only 54 in 1979 .
Saw the movie: 24
Read the book: 0
Had to be convinced there *was* a book: 19
I'm dying XD
To be fair, Dom: I talk to myself like John McClane does. Of all my mental issues, that habit is not one of them.
Ha! "Die Hard" is my GF's favorite Christmas movie (she decorates her apartment with stills from the film every December) so I got her the book and the Sinatra film as a surprise gift. She had no idea it was based on a book either!
Also, to be fair, the profit margin would NOT have been the "only" victim. The guy did plan to murder the executive in cold blood.
So the profit margin would still be the only victim
Thumbs up for 70-year old John McClain.
Joe Lin pretty soon he will be perfectly cast
They should have mentioned the book in Brooklyn Nine-Nine, seeing Jake's reaction to discovering his favourite movie was based on a book where the protagonist was a pensioner would have been hilarious, especially when he found out about the Frank Sinatra film before it
Easily one of your best and funniest episodes of all. The fact that that Die Hard is a classic and most people don't know it's an adaptation makes for a fun and enlightening video.
That final thought about Bruce playing the lead in the reboot was great.
Oof, it's sad hearing that thought, knowing that Willis has now retired from acting due to his mental health.
I wanna see Carl from UP in DieHard now
+BudderMan
Damn, now I am imagining a house with balloons instead of the helicopter.
+BudderMan Any chance you're on FB? The Dom has a page there - facebook.com/The-Dom-1384329085170616/ - and when he posted the photo in the "Guess the book" all I could think of was "Some fanfiction writer's gritty reboot of Up?"
I tried to read the novel, BTW, but didn't finish it because I found it too boring.
Speaking of Pixar, I can't hear the name Leland without thinking about the Worst Film Ever 2k11.
“Had to be convinced there was a book.” 🤣🤣
I don’t blame them though 😄.
It's rare to get a film adaptation of any book that doesn't reduce moral ambiguity, or even flat-out reduce grey morality to black-and-white morality.
In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a single film adaptation that makes the story/characters more morally ambiguous.
Zach's Superman Films? Can't stand them because they took DC's perennial Boyscout and made him a grey brooder. That's Bat's job you idiots!
@@NodDisciple1 hey batman wasn't treated exactly well either. The man known with a "no kill rule " gunning down thousands of people who probably had families and maybe even....children?
@@becuaseimbored3481 Batman's no kill rule is relatively recent, he used to use guns too, but Superman hasn't so much as terrorized a mobster, since his first couple issues. Basically for as long as Superman has been able to fly, he's been the kind of guy that rescues all the people, even criminals, and stranded pets.
I think the Aquaman film subverts it nicely. In most contunities, Arthur kills the Black Manta's dad by accident -he was trying to get the Manta himself to avange his own father. In the new movie however, he coldly leaves him for death because he was a criminal, despite Manta yelling him to save his dad, resulting with a rightfully angry supervillian with vengance. I was actually pretty suprised when I saw it, not just for that but also because the film Arthur was not an orphan. I thought having at least one dead parent was mandatory for superheroes.
@@billuraral1870 Not rightfully angry. Mamba and his dad were murdering people. People are not "rightfully" angry when they don't like the justified consequences of their actions, they're just angry. Too bad, so sad. One of my major peeves is when the bad guy wants revenge for the death of their loved one that was involved in criminal activity with them. If they wanted them safe, they should have kept them out of it. Have the cajones to accept the fate you court.
The Dom hates Christmas? Nobody tell the Nostalgia Critic! God help you if he finds out.
That would be tragically funny
+VyseN1 NC goes from critic to critic wishing them a merry Christmas ( with a running joke of him poking E-rod and getting more and more violent just trying to wake him out of the E-rod sleep to wish him a merry Christmas) and all are merry then him and all the other critics (E-rod being stood up by a Hannable Lecter trolley) go to the Dom's front door start singing Christmas carols and Dom gets a bazooka leading into a Christmas carol parody with Nostalgia chick as ghost of reviews past, cinema snob as ghost of reviews present and Phelous as "the ghost of Christmas Phelous"
+Lee Morgan You had me interested up until the Christmas Carol parody. How many times are we gonna see internet reviewers parodying that story that was already parodied to death?
I'd think it'd be funny to be a Die Hard parody with The Dom trying to survive Nostalgia Critic's Christmastime Apocalypse, eventually trying to destroy Nostalgia Critic to save the world.
Mr Critical I didn't know I wanted this
Book spoilers
there are a couple of more things that underscores how much darker the book is. When Ellis tries to make a deal with the terrorists McClain tires to warn him to save his life. In the book this is completley opposite. Leland actually manipulates the situation to make sure the terrorist shoots him since he's afraid he might give up Lelenads identity and put his daughter in danger. Also, after the daughter dies Leland quite brutaly murders a female unarmed terrorist as a form of revenge.
Overall Die Hard is imo a better movie than Nothing Last Forever is a book. But the book has many interesting themses that I appriciated. Even though I understand and agree with most of the changes the movie made I wouldn't necessarily mind seeing another adaptaion that is more faithful to the book.
2:01 $0.74 for gas? What kind of fantasy world is this?
The magical land of the 80s...
+The Dom Mr. Dom, y u h8t krishmuch?
+The Dom How we shall miss them.
+The Dom Also, I am imbuing with holiday cheer. Deal with it.
the 80s
I just watched Die Hard. And I am now seeing why everyone loves it.
R.I.P. Alan Rickman. :(
Technically Die Hard 2 is another adaptation but not of Thorpe's books. Its of Walter Wager's novel 58 Minutes. So...considering Die Hard 2 is another Christmas film...when's that happening?
Also was I the only one who KNEW Die Hard was a book before this? I knew since I was a kid but I never had the inkling to read the book before. 4:07 certainly changed that.
+Morbius Fitzgerald Yeah, it is strange that people act so surprised, because, as mentioned in the video, it does say it was based on a novel right in the credits.
When the movie first came out, I wonder if there was an old guy in the theater who got frustrated and said "Wait. Where's Frank Sinatra? What's this guy from the comedy drama Moonlighting doing in an action film? Bruce Willis isn't known for actions movies. I want my money back."
Oh, by the way, do you have relatives from Illinois? I haven't checked to see if I have any "Morbiuses" in my family tree.
+Billy Fitzgerald I'm from Australia, actually...even if that wasn't the case, my name is a pseudonym on UA-cam.
+Morbius Fitzgerald Understood. I mentioned the last part in jest.
Did 58 Minutes take place during Christmas? And how did they turn 58 minutes into a Two-Hour Film?
@@NodDisciple1 They added 62 minutes.
"guess his age in the book... go on... you'll never get it."
70?
"if you do the mathematics he is pushing 70"
I hope the Dom will make a video about one of the Hannibal Lecter stories in a video soon. Or maybe several. Like a double video to talk about Red Dragon and Manhunter like the Charlie and the Chocolate factory episode. There's a ton of great material to make an episode in those books/films, I just know it.
Coming from the future, that bit about Bruce Willis playing the lead again is kinda sad.
Now the funny bit is Frank Sinatra who was offered the role for contractual reasons was 70 at the time which means he'd have actually fit the age of the book character.
I recently found out that the Sinatra film was the reason for a lot of the changes. The studio were contractually required to offer the role initially to Sinatra, but due to Sinatra’s age at the time, he turned it down (Ironic). Since they couldn’t risk injuring an elderly actor in the role, they went with someone younger (With Bruce being about the 20th choice but everyone else turned down the role). With the younger actor, the studio made more changes to distance the film from Sinatra’s role in The Detective
Wouldn't it been funnier if the Nostalgia Critic was the one at the beginning who told Dom that Christmas is wonderful and all?
The hero doesn't manage to save his daughter in the book and even worse has to hear her screaming as she falls to her death. Damn that's pretty fucking dark.
and now he has to explain his grand kids why mommy is dead, probably while in the hospital on his own deathbed (letteraly), while the unbeloved ex-son-in-law gets guardianship over them
Glad I'm not the only one who was unaware that this was based on a book, but it doesn't surprise me.
13:07 - Yeah, no, Willis ain't gonna be playing any lead again.
And I think its time we get a truer-to-the-text adaptation of this.
I came to the comments to say this.
😪
Of course he didn't get to his daughter in time. There was a theme back then of punishing women for being too much like men, either sexually or professionally.
...Back then?
Though in this case I kind of like how grim and miserable it is, and it does underscore that edge of possible Nice Job Breaking It, Hero. It's like the how the original Woman In a Refrigerator was actually fairly legit and taken very seriously.
I think it was more because of the morally grey theming of the book. After having read the book, it does seem like there was a chance that if the MC had not gotten involved in the situation, his daughter(and a few other people) needn't have died. It was a reflection on the MC that it was entirely because of the MC that his daughter had died.
A lot of the changes can really be described by changing the film to be much more '80s. Instead of Americans taking over the world, it's Japanese conglomerates. They're leftist terrorists? Nope! They only pretend to when they're simply well-dressed Eurotrash thieves. McClane's wife being a successful executive, a cop accidentally shooting a child, even changing from a Browning Hi-Power to a Beretta 92 (a very similar, but more modern 9mm handgun). It's all a matter of making it into a film that more accurately reflected the late '80s rather than the late '70s. What's most surprising is that the film was released only nine years later, yet it was enough time for the novel to seem dated.
@@janerecluse4344 Women in refrigerators was never a thing
@@nataliepride9149 Was and is. We're slowly, slowwwly starting to get enough female action protagonists that refrigeration is getting more equal-opportunity. But even if it manages to stop being sexist, it'll still be lazy writing.
Great Review as usual. Makes me wonder what other films stared as completely different adaptations.
Fun Fact: Die Hard was originally written to be a straight up sequel to The Detective but Frank Sinatra wasn't interested. Then it re-written as a sequel to Commando before being rewritten as a stand alone movie.
You should have mentioned that Die Hard 2 was adapted from a novel called '58 Minutes'
Die Hard 3 was based off of an early script for Lethal Weapon 4
Die Hard 4 was based on a 1997 Wired Article and a screenplay called 'WW3.com'
Die Hard 5 was based on a rejected Screenplay for Die Hard 4 (it shows)
Max Nyström I remember watching a video where Bruce Willis was in an Interview (or Commentary? Don't remember) talking about Die Hard 4 and I recall him saying an early version of the script was about him and his son going on an adventure in Russia. This is just from Memory tbh, can't find the video where I found that. Doesn't really matter though, whatever potential that idea had was kicked with the Kiss of Death known as 'Skip Woods'
The wired article was actually called "A Farewell to Arms"
My dad is 73 and picturing him doing any of this...wouldn't surprise me one bit, old guys can be surprisingly badass
This was absolutely brilliant Dom!
0:19 I sneezed so loud that I didn't hear the gunshot, despite wearing one headphone (the other one doesn't work)
In the german dub the robbers are "european" and Hans is called Tony
In Poland we called this film series "The Glass Trap" because "Die Hard" is basically impossible to translate for Polish. With first film it made sense. With second kind of, if you squint, same with fourth.
I just started your lost in adaptation series and if I didn't love you and your work enough already your feelings on Christmas sealed the deal. I'm 100% with the bah humbug! I wish I found your work sooner.
Considering Bruce Willis is pushing 70, and was until a few months ago still making action movies, the beginning of this tickles me. Young people have no concept of age or aging, especially during the current day when food, healthcare, etc... are so much better. Samuel L Jackson- 73, Denzel -66, Bryan Cranston - 65, Liam Neeson -69. I'd believe any of those guys could survive Nakatomi.
ETA: I'd put the changes more in an effort to modernize it a little than to separate it from the book. We did love big business in the 80s - The Japanese company also fit in with the times--ah I remember the days when we were warned that Japan was going to take over America through corporate dominance.
1:50 funny enough when they were pitching the movie, they considered asking Frank Sinatra to reprise his role but he couldn't due to being too old. Frank sinatra was also considered to play Dirty Harry back in the day but due to a injury he sustained, he couldn't do the shoot. So Frank Sinatra was almost 2 iconic action movie characters.
From what I've read offering the role to Sinatra was a contractual obligation from the first film, but they never expected him to accept. Could have been funny if he'd called their bluff though...
Suddenly, I remember why I declared Die Hard my favorite Christmas Movie ever. Well, the german, censored version (which changed the first names for the terrorists to make them non-german).
Now if you'll excuse me, I got to watch a Christmas movie.
"I need my pills" and "this is what a TV dinner feels like" Enough said. That was hilarious.
Who want to come with me to sing christmas Carols at the dom door?
+Giovanni Gianluca Reina Wear kevlar...
+The Dom They will.
christmas sweater in kevlar
+Giovanni Gianluca Reina If I lived in England I'd join in. Only since I don't have much Christmas spirit myself I'd be singing things like Barry Manilow's "I Guess There Ain't No Santa Claus."
R.I.P.
I read the book when it was called Die Hard, I thought "Ah well that will pass the time a nice adaptation of a great movie" Holy crap! The ending blew me away and left me all sad :( I recommend the book if you like tough, cynical, action adventure.
Man, that book sounds AWESOME!
It really is. Read it every Christmas.
Where to start re. guns?
- "Hi-Power/High Power" refers to the magazine capacity of the gun. 13 rounds in the mag was a lot of firepower when the gun first came out in the 1930s.
- H&K 94s were indeed used in the film, but they were meant to represent MP5s. In the 80s, the use of chopped and converted H&K94s in movies to stand in for the MP5 was quite common.
- That's a German MP40 in the Goldfinger-clip... not a Tommy-Gun.
How do you know that shit? I mean, guns are hardly common-place.
Also worth mentioning, the Browning Hi-Power and Beretta 92 both use the same ammo, 9x19mm (at least usually, the Browning can be chambered for other calibres). So one can expect the two guns to have similar amounts of bang.
+Corvyn Malfoy
Depends on where you are. More common in some places. That's more or less irrelevant, though, since with the internet around information about guns is commonplace regardless of whether guns themselves are.
@@samuellawrencesbookclub8250 Was that a joke you made 2 years ago? Guns are very VERY commonplace.
@@0anesthetic4u70 2 years ago I was judging by my own experience, in my own nation - I had only ever seen a fire-arm once, and then in the hands of a police officer. I now know better, much to my woe.
Yes Dom, i will bring the holyday spirit to you...after wearing my bullet proof armor :P.
wolfkniteX
That's why there's a helmet in the armor set :P.
*****
Dom: *Pulls out bazooka*
:P
wolfkniteX
Cheater :(.
:P
*****
Dom: "All's fair in love and war. And this was definitely war." :P
+wolfkniteX
. . . Fa la la la laa, la la la- **blown out the window* F*K!!!!
Had no idea it was a book myself. To the bookstore!
Thanks for this episode, I have been begging for this since April!
When you refer to Leland as "an overzealous Guy of Gisborne" did you remember that Alan Rickman played Guy of Gisborne opposite Kevin Costner's Robin Hood?
He played the sheriff of Nottingham......
Die Hard is a Christmas movie not just because it takes place on Christmas, but because its themes are of love, family, and forgiveness.
Great video, as ever. Really makes me want to grab the book.
Speaking of classic action movies, I reckon First Blood would make a great episode.
Your wish is granted.
THERE WAS A BOOK!?!
I don't blame you for being a grinch, Dom. I can get annoyed by Christmas too, although it's more due to people being overly obnoxious about it than the holiday itself. Also, I'm Jewish and my big holiday is Hanukkah. Oh, and don't get me started on people who think there's a "War on Christmas" because they don't wanna say "Happy Holidays"--Christmas isn't the only holiday being celebrated in December, you know! The only thing I look forward to on Christmas Day is the Doctor Who christmas special.
“Bruce Willis could play the lead again.”
That didn’t age well.
Ah. Good to see one of the only Christmas movies I watch in the season. I love Christmas but I understand why others wouldn't. My husband works in retail and that's ruined his Christmas spirit.
0:58 Wait, you actually found six whole people who have not yet seen this movie? I like to meet these six and ask them what they are waiting for.
+BigGator5 I haven't seen it and I didn't even participate in that poll. And frankly, I'm not big on action movies, so this doesn't have that much appeal to me. That's not to say I never will see it, I'm just in no rush to.
Partariothegoth Well, what are you waiting for?
+BigGator5
I have a friend who hasn't seen Die Hard... he barely even knows who Alan Rickman is... it's sad.
+BigGator5 To want to watch it really. Or until someone else is watching it and I just happen to pass by and have nothing else to do.
+BigGator5 I've seen the 2nd and the 4th, but never the first
R.I.P. Allan Rickman you will be missed.
Finally The Dom does a Christmas Movie. Yes I count the first two Die Hard Movies as Christmas movies.
The browning high power and the Berreta both fire 9mm bullets. The browning high power is just a much older gun.
I want. So bad. The idea of Bruce Willis playing the same character twice in the same story would be great
Agreed, although it's a damn shame we can't also have Alan Rickman reprise his role as Hans Gruber...rest his soul. :'(
I was one of those that despite having seen this movie at least half a dozen times was unaware it was based on a book. Good episode as always Dom. As per usual I'm going to humbly suggest Stephan King's IT as your next project.
12:07-12:18
That's not what I heard from
Jamietud's "Pages to Pictures" episode of *"Die Hard"* (before it got removed).
Powell grabbed Robinson and used him as a body shield when Karl attempts to kill Leland in the end.
I just wanna put it out there that the most ripped man ive personally met was a 70yo Cheif Master Sergeant who ran several miles with a 50lb rucksack everyday. He basically was rl old man saitama.
Excellent work as always.
And now we know the perfect Christmas gift for the Dom:
A real Walther
Ah, Die Hard. The objectively BEST Christmas movie.
Just FYI Dom, the Browning Hi-Power & Beretta 92F fire the same 9mm cartridge. They even have very similar barrel lengths, so they would have near-as-makes-no-difference the same power (the Beretta does hold a couple more rounds, though).
This website is an awesome resource for movie guns: www.imfdb.org/wiki/Main_Page
13:03 - ooh, that did not age well.
"Whelp, now I know what a TV Dinner feels like" XD
I think that the most shocking part is that there are at least 6 people out there who haven't seen Die Hard...
I now want to see a crossover between the Dom and Nostalgia Critic on christmas. Hehehe
Scrooge Vs. Christmas's #1 Fan! Fight!
13:00 Oh how time has thrown that dream out of the skyscraper window.
Brilliant. Utterly freakin' brilliant. Yippie kaye aye, indeed.
Another great one Dom.
Did anyone else pause the video when Dom pointed the gun at the camera and dared us to fill him with Christmas spirit and spoke about an essays worth of a speech talking about the beauty of Christmas
In the book, the helicopters sent to the roof were police and fire ones.
I'm surprised you didn't get the Nostalgia Critic to cameo as the "Cheerful Christmas Guy" who gets shot.
Bruce Willis is now 66. He could totally play this role again.
They cast Paul Gleason AND William Atherton in this movie . Pretty much automatically tells the audience to ignore the assholes on the ground.
I must applaud the 'i've just been shot in the foot' scream!
I've just come across your channel, and enjoy very much your presenting style. Keep making these videos, they're great :)
Nice review and I who thought that John McClane from A Good Day to Die Hard was freaking kill happy and also I really hope that you can do a review of the Walter Wager novel 58 Minutes that Die Hard 2 was based on at some point in the future
The only Xmas movie I ever watch annually.
Roflol, 'Take over the world!' was deliciously clever. Won't spoil it; you will enjoy it :-)
That ending joke really lands even better now.
RIP Alan Rickman
My grandpa never stopped manual labor he’s very spry surprisingly so, he even goes out dancing with ladies every weekend not like shuffle dancing it’s very high energy. He’s 80
might be about 6 years too late to comment on this but as a gun enthusiast i would like to point out that the Browning High-Power and the Barreta 92FS use the same ammo, 9x19mm Parabellum. so in terms of their "bang" it's relatively the same. there are versions of the Browning HP in .40 S&W however this round is barely any different from 9mm. there's a reason why it earned the nickname ".40 Short & Weak".
Your Old American Man accent is Really good youtuber formerly know as The Dom Dominic Noble!!
The Dom, please see this. Die Harder is also based off a book, not by the same author but it is based on a book. Walter Wagner's 58 Minutes. The differences between adopting two separate books from two different authors should make for an interesting video, seeing how adapting one story into an already not perfect adaptation only due to similarity. Plus it's also a Christmas movie.
I'd love if they rebooted it almost exactly but worked the grey and gray morality in there, as well as the motivation of Gruber and his terrorists.
I was hoping you'd eventually get to this one. Thanks!
Bruce Willis should be the lead in Die Hard... 7?
Great video! It's a good way to start the Christmas season.
This is the best Christmas film
By any chance does anyone know if the music that starts around 2:00 and 9:20 is from the movie?
So the books version of the lead is Solid Snake.
Dom i seriously think you should do a crossover with the Nostalgia critic at some point! Especially if you hate Christmas cos he LOVES it!! It would be so cool to see you two face each other off!
Btw Do you ever plan to do a Peter Pan episode? I loved the 2003 film but you could go for the disney version instead. I've also read the book of Peter Pan and i think the 2003 film is quite a faithful adaptation, but i would like to see you analyse it.
Also with the exception of who framed Roger Rabbit which is half-cartoon half-liveaction, are you going to do any other animated films? Like Cinderella maybe? Or maybe even go further and compare big hero six to its original comic book?
12:13
Dwayne T Robinson did not heroically jumped in front of Leland, he was pushed into the crossfire by.... Al Powell
My family refuse to accept this was an adaptation
That last idea of a more accurate reboot with an older Bruce Willis sounds really cool actually. But I assume you'll have a hard time getting Willis to warm up to that idea. At least until he's really too old to play action heroes.