So much for 14 scripts in 14 days. I henceforth rename this project 14 scripts in 28 days just to buy myself some time. Jeez.
Right, what about Die Hard? Corking movie, does what it says on the tin. Action, suspense, heroics, goodies, baddies, guns, explosions. Die Hard doesn’t pretend to be anything other that what it is and guess what? The script is just the same.
From the very first page of the script there’s a sense of “let’s get the boring exposition out of the way as quickly as possible so we can get down to the action.” A few throw-away characters help us find out everything we need to know about John McClane. If you cut him in half he’d have the letters NYPD running through him like a stick of rock. Separated from successful wife. Strong sense of duty. Handsome. Loves his family. Can’t express his emotions.
Okay, whatever. Set up a few more simple archetype characters (cocky limo driver, good cop, drug-snorting wiseass business guy, decent boss) and off we go.
What’s next? Well, we need to make sure that this building, this high rise office block, is locked down. We can’t have hostages escaping or the police sneaking in, oh no. The script does a bit more work on this front for a page or two, locking doors, isolating lifts, cutting phone lines. This is absolutely instrumental to the success of the story. The building has got to be a trap, a closed room. This defines the field of play and the rules of engagement for us.
Wheel on the baddies.
The baddies? We’re basically talking Hans Gruber and a bunch of cannon fodder. Sure, there are one or two mildly interesting baddies but Hans beats them hands down (ha). Hans gets all the best lines. Hans gets all the power. Hans gets all the control. It’s beautiful to read. Even when John McClane begins to shove spanners in the works Hans doesn’t flinch. He’s super-smart, super-cool, utterly in control.
Which makes it all the more satisfying when dirty, sweaty, bleeding, hard-working cop-of-the-people John McClane comes out on top. John McClane doesn’t monologue. He acts. Large sections of the script are devoid of dialogue; just long action sequences punctuated by swearing. Oh, and a few wisecracks.
Ironically it wasn’t one of Gruber’s lines that took on a life of its own outside the movie. It was one of McClane’s:
Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.
Don’t tell me you’ve never heard that line. You know that line.
So the message is this: down-to-earth hard-working heroes who can think on their feet will always overcome cool, intelligent baddies with well-thought-out plans, superior firepower and a room full of hostages.
And even though we know full well that McClane is going to win the day (just like Captain Kirk, just like Clint Eastwood, just like Luke Skywalker) it’s fascinating to watch him do it. Do we ever really think that John is going to fail? Hell no. We know the score. We just want to watch the game.
And what a game.
