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Ron Miller's DARK CORRIDORS VOL. 8, No. 30 |
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THE COMPLEX 'DIE HARD' SCREEN SAGA
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From Sinatra to Willis,
the saga keeps rolling on
of TheColumnists.com
One of my favorite movie trivia questions goes something like this: Name the Bruce Willis action film that began as a sequel to a film starring Frank Sinatra. Nobody ever guesses "Die Hard."
Here's the rather complex answer: In 1966, author Roderick Thorp had a nationwide bestseller called "The Detective," which was turned into a popular 1968 movie of the same name. In that film, Frank Sinatra played New York Police Detective Sgt. Joe Leland in a tough-as-nails mystery that was one of the first Hollywood films to portray homosexuals in a murder plot.
In 1979, Thorp decided to bring Joe Leland back in a sequel and wrote "Nothing Lasts Forever," an action-packed thriller in which Leland is visiting Los Angeles when terrorists take over a high-rise office building and take his daughter as one of the hostages they're holding. The terrorists don't know Leland is in the building and so he wages a one-man war against them, striking at them from elevator shafts and other hiding places he finds in the towering structure.
Nine years later, 20th Century Fox, the studio that made "The Detective," decided to film "Nothing Lasts Forever" as a major action film. To play the hero, the studio first went after Arnold Schwarzenegger. Failing to land him, they went for Sylvester Stallone. No sale. With the two top action stars both unavailable, they next tried for Burt Reynolds, then Richard Gere. That left them with only one additional name with any real "buzz" about it: Bruce Willis, the very hot new star of the ABC TV series "Moonlighting." Willis was available, sort of.
The shooting schedules of "Moonlighting" and the movie would overlap. If they went with Willis, he'd have to do both roles simultaneously. That was a dubious plan since "Moonlighting" already was becoming notorious for not finishing its one-hour episodes on time. Using Willis also would represent a big gamble since he had no credentials as an action star. He was best known as a smart-mouthed urban type with a cocky attitude. On screen, he was more a lover than a fighter. He was balding, too, but then even the most rugged of action heroes, Sean Connery, worked with a hairpiece. And yet, some wondered, could Willis play in Connery's league?
But Willis was proving to be catnip to female fans and that would be very helpful in luring a wider audience to a film that otherwise might have appealed mainly to men. The deal was made. Bruce Willis would film most of his scenes for the movie at night, after finishing his scenes in "Moonlighting."
The original screenplay for "The Detective," written by the much-honored Abby Mann, followed the book fairly closely. But the movie version of "Nothing Lasts Forever" would make some significant changes in Roderick Thorp's original story.
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chatting with Jacqueline Bisset, who made her U.S. screen debut in the film. |
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First, the title would be changed to "Die Hard." Then screenwriters Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza started overhauling the characters. Gone was the daughter. In her place as a hostage was the hero's estranged wife, played by Bonnie Bedelia. In the book, Joe Leland was an older man than the 30ish Willis. They made him younger, then changed his name to John McClane. A concerted effort was made to erase any connections to "The Detective" or the character played by Sinatra. The studio did not want this to look like a sequel to the earlier film.
Under the direction of action specialist
John McTiernan, "Die Hard" became a box office blockbuster
and Willis was launched on a new career as an action hero. Two
years later, Willis returned in "Die Hard 2" and another
blockbuster moneymaker. That movie, pitting Willis' John McClane
against another set of terrorists, this time at Dulles Airport
in Washington, D.C., had no roots in any new novel by Thorp but
was instead based on a novel by Walter Wager called "58
Minutes."
Still another five years later, Willis played McClane for the
third time in "Die Hard With A Vengeance," again directed
by the original director, John McTiernan. This original script
had crazed techno-crook Jeremy Irons terrorizing New York City
with bombings while an older, more battered McClane, now ousted
from his police job, comes after him. His wife now gone, McClane
is the ultimate loner, getting help only from angry shopkeeper
Samuel L. Jackson.
Though box office returns remained hefty, costs had risen and Willis was no longer a young actor seeking star billing in a movie and willing to work for chump change. Some thought the franchise had run its course, so it was 12 years before a fourth film turned up, this summer's "Live Free and Die Hard."
The new movie, a mega hit, is the best since the original "Die Hard." It's virtually non-stop in terms of action as the nearly forgotten McClane finds himself battling terrorists who shut down New York and much of the country by sabotaging computer networks and taking command of everything.
What's amusing is the fact that Willis, who now works with his head shaved totally bald, is now playing John McClane as a man even older than Joe Leland was in "The Detective." Let's face itf, though: Actors like Willis have helped re-define what old is on the screen. He's ready to rumble from the first frame of "Live Free or Die Hard."
Ironically, the finale scenes of the new film echo the story from Thorp's novel "Nothing Lasts Forever": McClane comes at the villain (Timothy Olyphant) from elevator shafts and the hidden workings of a complex building and the villain is holding McClane's daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), not his wife, as his hostage.
Will the "Die Hard" franchise continue to go on? As long as the money keeps pouring in and Willis can make it look convincing, I'd be surprised if they'll stop making "Die Hards."
In the meantime, go read Thorp's "The
Detective" and "Nothing Lasts Forever." They're
both absorbing novels and you'll still get caught up in them,
even if you've somehow escaped any exposure to a "Die Hard"
movie over the past 19 years.
©2007 by Ron Miller. The photos from "The Detective" and "Live Free or Die Hard" are courtesy of 20th Century Fox. This column first posted July 30, 2007.
Ron
Miller is a former nationally syndicated television columnist
and the author of "Mystery! A Celebration," the official
companion book to PBS' "Mystery!" series. He currently
writes about television mysteries for MYSTERY SCENE magazine.
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