As the festive season arrives each year, one heated cultural debate reliably returns alongside the tinsel and mince pies: is the 1988 action blockbuster Die Hard a genuine Christmas movie?
The Festive Evidence For
The case for classifying the Bruce Willis thriller as seasonal viewing is surprisingly robust. The entire plot unfolds on Christmas Eve during a holiday office party at Los Angeles's Nakatomi Plaza. The soundtrack is peppered with classic seasonal tunes like 'Let It Snow' and 'Winter Wonderland', not to mention Run DMC's 'Christmas in Hollis'.
Festive imagery is everywhere, from the building's decorations to the now-iconic use of gift-wrapping tape. Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza has strongly advocated for the film's Christmas credentials. In a 2020 interview, he highlighted that the story begins with a Christmas party aimed at reconciling a fractured marriage, and even the villain, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), references the time of year.
The Argument Against
Opponents argue that the Christmas setting is merely incidental backdrop for a standard action movie. Film critic John Serba contends that if a festive setting alone qualifies a film, then titles like Lethal Weapon and Batman Returns would also be Christmas movies.
Director John McTiernan has admitted the Christmas setting was initially a practical choice, not a thematic one. "We hadn't intended it to be a Christmas movie," he told the American Film Institute in 2020, though he acknowledged the joyful surprise of its festive reception.
What The Cast Thinks
The stars themselves are divided. Bruce Willis famously declared at a 2018 roast that "Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It's a Bruce Willis movie!" However, his position seemed to soften by 2022.
Conversely, Reginald VelJohnson, who played Sergeant Al Powell, is a firm believer. In a 2021 interview, he stated it's absolutely a Christmas film because it's "about love, it's about giving, it's about friendship – all the things that Christmas is about."
The debate has become a cultural phenomenon. A 2020 YouGov poll found that 47% of Americans consider it a Christmas movie, rising to 59% among millennials. The studio, 20th Century Fox, leaned into the controversy with a 2018 holiday trailer branding it 'The Greatest Christmas Story Ever Told'.
Whether you see it as a festive staple or an action classic in disguise, its status as the ultimate holiday conversation starter is unshakeable. It seems the argument over whether "Yippee-ki-yay" belongs in the Christmas lexicon is now as traditional as the Queen's speech.
