568:) was altered to be a stand-alone film with no connections to Thorp's novel, and does not follow the source material very closely, some of its memorable scenes, characters, and dialogue are adapted directly from the book. Some of the biggest changes in the film included the older hero of the novel becoming 25 years younger, his name changed from "Joe Leland" to "John McClane", the person he is in the skyscraper to visit changing from his daughter to his estranged wife, and the American "Klaxon Oil Corporation" becoming the Japanese "Nakatomi Corporation". The "terrorists" in the film are actually professional thieves seeking $ 640 million in negotiable
294:–era terrorists take over the skyscraper. The gang is led by the brutal Anton "Little Tony the Red" Gruber. Joe had known about Gruber through a counter-terrorist conference he had attended years prior. Barefoot, Leland slips away and manages to remain undetected in the gigantic office complex. Armed with only his Browning pistol and in communication with Los Angeles Police sergeant Al Powell and his belligerent supervisor, Dwayne Robinson, Leland fights off the terrorists one by one in an attempt to save the 74 hostages, his daughter, and grandchildren.
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his daughter's death, Leland throws the cash out of the window himself. Once Leland is back on the street, the last terrorist, Karl, who was presumed dead earlier, returns and starts a shooting rampage, killing several police officers (including
Robinson) and a doctor in the process, before Sgt. Powell finally kills him, allowing Leland to receive medical care.
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kept in the building's vault and are only posing as terrorists to draw attention away from the robbery. In the film, most of them are German (including their leader), the rest being of varying ethnicities and nationalities. The novel also features women amongst the terrorists. The overall tone of the
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Mr. Rivers - the president of Klaxon Oil, he hosts the
Christmas party and arranged the ride in for Leland. Rivers is soon disliked by Leland and is taken hostage by Gruber to get the safe code in order to get the millions of dollars in the safe. Rivers refuses to give the code and Gruber shoots him
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Al Powell - a 22-year-old Los
Angeles Police sergeant who is sent to the Klaxon Oil headquarters to check on an emergency call made by Leland and is soon thrown into radio contact with him and monitored by Gruber. Powell tries to talk Leland into keeping calm and not to lose his cool and sees Leland
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Stephanie
Gennaro - the only daughter of Joseph Leland and an important executive to the Klaxon Oil building. She is having an affair with another executive named Harry Ellis. She invited her father to the party in the hope of seeing him and wishing him a Merry Christmas, but she soon falls hostage
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pistol with him everywhere. On the plane, Leland begins a relationship with a stewardess named Kathi, who he talks to throughout the novel over the phone. Leland is still somewhat depressed that his wife had left him and then died eight years later, and the relationship between him and his daughter
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Leland kills most of the terrorists and, despite no help from the police, faces off with the leader of the terrorist group, Anton Gruber, who is holding his daughter hostage. Gruber falls to his death after being shot by Leland, taking
Stephanie with him. Blaming Klaxon for the terrorist attack and
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Dwayne
Robinson - the deputy chief of police and is sent in to take charge of the situation at hand. He automatically dislikes Leland for what he is doing and feels that he is only making things worse for the hostages. He tries to convince himself that Leland could be one of the terrorists or a
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Anton "Little Tony The Red" Gruber - is the ruthless leader of the terrorists who have taken over the Klaxon Oil
Building, and one of the few who can speak English. Gruber is his real name but people (including Leland) often refer to him as "Little Tony" or "Tony" as a
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novel was far darker, with underlying themes of guilt, alcoholism and the complexity of a disturbed human mind. The ending of the novel is also different in that it suggests that the wounds Joe sustained were so severe that he could possibly succumb to them and die.
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that he acted out McClane with enough fear, anxiety, and vulnerability to make audiences believe that he could indeed possibly be killed because of what happened in the story, as Joseph Leland could possibly have died of his injuries in the book.
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Joseph Leland - an aging, retired New York Police detective on his way to Los
Angeles to visit his daughter for a Christmas party hosted by her boss, Mr. Rivers. Although retired, he still habitually carries his
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as Joe Leland. Thus, the storyline hypothetically takes place some four decades after its predecessor (as Leland was age thirty-six in that novel). Sinatra declined the offer. It was then offered to
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Karl - Anton's right-hand man. Near the beginning of the novel, Leland kills his younger brother, Hans, and throughout the remainder of the novel, Karl wants nothing but Leland's blood.
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Gruber and the terrorists kill Mr. Rivers, the CEO of the Klaxon building, and proceed to steal documents that will publicly expose the Klaxon corporation's dealings with
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Leland/McClane jumping off an exploding roof with a fire hose attached to his waist and then shooting through a window to gain re-entry.
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Harry Ellis - a sleazy executive in the Klaxon Oil
Building who is sleeping with Stephanie Leland Gennaro and does drugs such as
663:"a ferocious, bloody, raging book so single-mindedly brilliant in concept and execution it should be read at a single sitting".
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detective Joe Leland is visiting the 40-story office headquarters of the Klaxon Oil
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may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience
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723:"The 25th Anniversary of 'Die Hard' – How John McClane Changed Action Movies (and Us) Forever"
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lunatic but is soon on Leland's side when he finds out what Leland's been doing.
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any relevant information, and removing excessive detail that may be against
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While he is waiting for his daughter's Christmas party to end, a group of
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and a number of other actors until Bruce Willis signed on for the role.
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263:. In 2012, the book was brought back into print and released as an
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Some of the most famous action sequences taken from the book are:
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Leland/McClane taping his gun to his back at the climax.
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Roderick Thorp decided for the book to be a sequel to
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702:"Classic Interview: Bruce Willis for "Die Hard" 1988"
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Similarly, Willis explained in a 1988 interview with
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681:"'Die Hard': How Bruce Willis Changed the Movies"
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508:Learn how and when to remove this message
360:Learn how and when to remove this message
457:"Nothing Lasts Forever" Thorp novel
60:of all important aspects of the article.
704:. The Bobbie Wygant Archive. 2012-06-20
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267:for the 24th anniversary of the film.
56:Please consider expanding the lead to
683:. The Daily Beast Archive. 2012-06-29
27:1979 thriller novel by Roderick Thorp
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391:as the true hero that he is.
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212:PZ4.T55 No 1979 PS3570.H67
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1135:Novels set in Los Angeles
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633:. You can help by
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281:Los Angeles
259:, starring
1109:Categories
993:Die Hard 2
897:Characters
865:Die Hard 2
840:58 Minutes
733:2018-12-13
708:2014-06-09
687:2016-12-08
667:References
468:newspapers
338:relocating
309:Characters
236:is a 1979
1050:Fox Plaza
935:(1990–91)
915:Al Powell
614:Reception
387:nickname.
160:paperback
123:Publisher
50:summarize
1130:Die Hard
1093:Category
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1032:Year One
986:Die Hard
968:Vendetta
932:Die Hard
858:Die Hard
805:Die Hard
754:(1979).
565:Die Hard
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275:Retired
256:Die Hard
200:813/.5/4
156:hardback
105:Language
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947:Trilogy
745:Sources
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482:scholar
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