Die Hard
Action! If there’s one word associated with cinema, the tension of movie sets, and the focus of attention, it’s this one. Action is very often at the heart of popular cinema: Harold Lloyd hanging from the clock hands in Safety Last! (1923), Cary Grant threatened and strafed by a plane in North by Northwest (1959), Franka Potente gasping for air in Run Lola Run (1998)... Westerns, swashbuckler films, martial arts or adventure flicks, thrillers, all these genres rely on action—sometimes frenetic, sometimes meticulously measured.
From movies by Sergei Eisenstein to Gilles Carle, from John Ford to John Boorman and Werner Herzog, via Paul Verhoeven, Kathryn Bigelow, Park Chan-wook, Érik Canuel, and Nicolas Winding Refn, this series will take you through the full range of emotions, from laughter to thrills, from fear to satisfaction.
35 mm print loaned by the Cineclub Film Society
On December 24, Detective John McClane attends a party hosted by his ex-wife’s boss in the luxurious Nakatomi Corporation skyscraper, hoping to reconcile with her. But German terrorists storm the building and take the guests hostage. All on his own, McClane must save the woman he loves, the hostages—and Christmas. A year after Predator, John McTiernan solidified his reputation as an action filmmaker and revitalized the genre with this unexpectedly successful film, which launched a new star: Bruce Willis, who until then had been primarily known for his television roles.
John McTiernan
John McTiernan is an American film director, producer and writer best known for his work in the action film genre. His films include Predator (1987), Die Hard (1988), The Hunt for Red October (1990), Last Action Hero (1993), and The Thomas Crown Affair (1999), almost all featuring a reimagined version of the macho hero, played notably by Bruce Willis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Sean Connery.
