hello beautiful watchers and welcome to
the first ever lost in adaptation
Christmas special now you'll notice I
didn't do one of these last year that's
mainly because my feelings towards
Christmas and more kin to the bah humbug
philosophy than anything else
oh the Dom how wrong you are Christmas
is a magical time where people come from
far and wide to give the gift of love to
each other yeah
[ __ ] ha ha ha
now would anyone else like to try and
imbue me with some holiday spirit
now excellent anyways because this I
ended up in a little conundrum despite
my feelings it occurred to me that if I
don't do the Christmas adaptations on
Christmas when the [ __ ] am I gonna do
them the solution was to ease my way
into it by starting with the most badass
least Christmassy Christmas movie ever
yippee-ki-yay [ __ ]
so yeah we've got another film on our
hands where everyone surprised to hear
was a book first which in this case is a
little surprising to me in its time the
book was a best-seller and diehard
didn't attempt to hide its origins any
more than any other film nothing lasts
forever was originally published in 1979
by highly praised novelist Roderick
Thorp who you do Reginald could we use a
different photo this was scaring the
[ __ ] out of me well that's better but he
still looks mad at me anyways here's an
interesting thing nothing lasts forever
is actually a sequel to a novel called
the detective which was also adapted
into a movie back in 1968 starring Frank
Sinatra making it technically a prequel
to die hard it was one of Sinatra's most
popular movies in the end for a record
and probably unsurprisingly the multiple
and increasingly silly sequels the movie
have no connection to Thorpe in his
books you'll never mistake the book in
the film for being twins but you'll
definitely know they're related that the
main character is trapped alone and
without help in a skyscraper when a
group of criminals try to take over on
Christmas Eve in order to break into the
vault is the basic set up of both
stories Gruber's casual killing of the
men in charge not cooperating is there
as is the lead having to go through the
whole [ __ ] ordeal without shoes on
due to incredibly bad timing that are
friendly but ultimately not very helpful
cop named al Powell became his link to
the outside world is good in both
versions the lead delivers his first
victim back to the intruders with a
message on it as part of a fat gathering
mission and then throws another off the
building to get the police's attention
he also drops a bunch of c4 down an
elevator shaft as part of his ongoing
war with them in both incarnations and
both events resulted in a much bigger
explosion than he was anticipating in
the book and the film he was known to
use the building's air vents to
circumvent situations where the bad guys
thought they had him trapped Carl the
giant Blom's bloodthirsty German
probably wins the prize for being the
most accurate to his book character in
both looks and actions the sanity
challenge jump off the roof of the fire
hose and the bad guys using a glass
attack against his bare feet were
original plot points but I do have to
note that both were premeditated as
opposed to spur-of-the-moment events in
the book the trick of taping a gun to
his back for a sneak attack is true to
the book as was the resulting express
ticket to ground level it bought Gruber
here's what they changed now you've
probably noticed that I've been saying
the lead thus far not John McClane this
because they changed the names quite a
lot the heroes of regional name was Joe
Leland than Gruber's first name was no
John his name was Tony okay okay fine he
can be hands his full name was Anton
little hands groover because that makes
perfect sense
shut up the name of the company
headquarters was originally klaxon Oil
Corp as opposed to Nakatomi it was an
American big oil company that dabbled in
other businesses I rather suspect these
name changes may have been an attempt on
the film's part to distance itself from
the book slightly as the novel was a
much bigger deal before it was
overshadowed by the film and they knew
right from the get-go that they were
going to be taking some liberties with
it don't underestimate the importance of
honesty of purpose I certainly respect
it a lot the funniest change guess what
age the lead is in the book
go on you'll never get it if you do the
mathematics that dude is pushing 70 I'm
not even kidding I mean what you're say
you damned kings welcome to the party
pal
now keep the damn music down holding it
down oh there she goes I need four pills
hamster in the pocket well now I know
what a TV dinner feels like ooh okay
fine that's not what happened in fact as
I mentioned many of the more physically
ridiculous parts of the film are from
the book Leland is one spry
[ __ ] old retiree because he's
so much younger in the film they
couldn't keep his original backstory of
being a world war 2 fighter ace which
makes his discomfort about flying kind
of funny as messing around in his
Mustang was the happy place he went to
when things were getting really bad he
also spoke passible German in the book
which was handy in the film MacLean is
in California to meet his increasingly
estranged wife in the book Leland's wife
had left him years before and then died
of natural causes the business woman he
was meeting was his adult
he wasn't best pleased of her life
decision to become a corporate Lackey
but he tried not to judge his young
grandchildren we'll also at the party in
the book adding an extra level of fear
for him in the book his daughter gave up
her identity herself to stop the
terrorists choosing a hostage randomly
as opposed to being outed by a douchebag
reporter Argyle the limo driver was an
old man in the book as well he just
drives Leland there and drops him off is
no more involvement in the story after
that and if he had any massively
inappropriate questions he wanted to ask
him he kept them to himself huh you
thing up the cat seems to be a thing
here I guess it makes sense in this film
but can you imagine if they did it
everywhere hey Daniel sign once you've
watched my car let's have a beer and get
wasted
the Japanese executives were a lot more
appreciative and MacLaine's wife and the
[ __ ] American execs worth Leland's
daughter
despite her doing the majority of the
work the best she could probably hope
for was that her Christmas bonus might
be as good as the men's in the company
now as you may or may not remember me
referencing in episodes past the lead
character of this story tended to think
a lot but say very little now the film
obviously didn't want to fall around a
silent protagonist all the way through
and their solution was for him to
constantly talk to himself like he had
serious mental health issues in the film
Gruber scoffs at the suggestion that he
is crack team of thieves we're anything
so blase is a terrorist group having
been kicked out of that particular club
but that's exactly what they were in the
book they were a group of well organized
well-funded anarchists committed to the
cause of bringing down the corrupt first
world orders and starting society again
with them in charge Gruber wanted to you
guessed it take over the world but of
course damn it
go home bond you're drunk he was
targeting collection in particular
because he had gotten his hands on proof
that the corporation was using a bridge
making contract to illegally sell arms
to a military dictatorship in Chile in
the film Gruber's crew is a complete
sausage fester in the book almost half
of them are women Leland didn't like
killing young girls at first but stop
giving a crap real fast McClane and
Gruber chance meeting where he pretends
to be a civilian isn't in the book both
Tony and Joe were clever as Farkle
wouldn't have participated in anything
quite so silly if Joe had got the drop
on him and even suspected who he was for
1/10 of a second
goobers brains would be decorating the
wall behind him 1/9 of a second later in
the film McClane starter weapon was a
modified beretta 9 f2 in the filming
pack 2 browning hi-power
I have to confess a certain level of
ignorance towards firearms but I'm
assuming from the name that the book's
gun has a much louder bang so to the bad
guys went from being armed with
Kalashnikovs to having HK 94 submachine
guns except for Leland's first victim
oddly enough people to Thompson silly
Tara Stefan knows Tommy gun's of her
crazy grandma's McClane's a cold-blooded
killer in the film but Leland's even
more so at one point to another he gets
to drop released three terrorists two of
which were young women and blows their
brains out without any hesitation at one
point he has a young man at gunpoint he
asks him a question and simply because
the look in the young man's eyes
suggested to him that he was about to
give him a righteous speech he shoots
him dead because he's not in the mood to
hear it on top of that the accidental
neck-snapping of Carl's brother was a
damn sight less accidental in the book
there's a lot of stuff added into the
film about the supporting cast that
wasn't in the book I don't know if you
can technically call these changes more
embellishments Thorpe doesn't really
bother to provide anyone except Leland
and Gruber with any kind of significant
backstory or character development so
the filmmakers pretty much had some
blank slates to work with maybe sergeant
Powell shot a kid maybe he didn't if he
did it never came up in conversation
maybe there was some FBI guys out there
with the same surname the book didn't
specifically say there wasn't
maybe there was a [ __ ] reporter out
there trying to catch his big break he
didn't have any effect on the story but
he could have been these additions added
a certain level of depth the rest of the
cast so I suppose their effect on the
story can be forgiven the most shocking
difference between the book in the
movies the climax right after McClane
pulls off the gun taped to his back
trick in both Gruber falls backwards
through the window and tries to drag his
hostage with him in the film McClane
manages to save his wife in the book
Leland doesn't get to his daughter in
time she falls out of the building to
her death he hears a scream all the way
to the ground after reading the book I
realized that the single most important
scene of the film was the bit where
McClane drives the hostages off the roof
before Gruber can go through with his
plan to blow them up with the FBI
helicopter the reason this is so
significant is it's the most overriding
proof that the plane's involvement in
this whole event was both needed and
righteous it justifies everything he
does before and after if he hadn't been
there all of those people would have
been dead there's never a moment like
that in the
let me explain as I mentioned before
Gruber's outfit was originally a group
of anarchist not fiends we may never
know if he was lying about this or not
but he claims his original plan was to
capture the building shoot the
treasonous son-of-a-bitch who was
selling arms to an illegal military
dictatorship break open the safe steal
back six million dollars of illegally
gained taxpayer money and throw it out
of the window so the people of America
could have it back he was then going to
release the hostages and make his escape
it was at its heart a rather violent PR
attempt to set himself up in the world's
eye as a badass freedom fighter and gain
support for his terrorist group if this
is true it brings up the disturbing
thought that perhaps you've had this
story backwards this whole time was
Gruber the real hero here trying to be
the one man in the whole world willing
to stand up to the big evil as [ __ ]
corporations and take back what they
stole from the common people to actually
make them accountable for committing the
heinous crimes they'd perpetrated in
order to make [ __ ] tons of money
what's he actually a heavy-handed modern
age Robin Hood who was killed for his
cause by an overzealous Guy of Gisbourne
would everything have been so much
better of the grizzled old war veteran
and missed his flight and not gotten
involved with the body-count have been
smaller with the insurgents have gotten
in and out without the need for a battle
with a local police force with the only
victim have been the profit margin of a
soulless oil corporation these are the
big question marks the book leaves you
with and there's no hint of them in the
film the people who denounced MacLaine's
intervention are dismissed as [ __ ]
being [ __ ] and he's quite clearly
seen as a hero again Gruber is given the
full [ __ ] makeover he wanted that
money for himself and he was playing to
kill everyone for it the film's pretty
damn black-and-white even though the
book is pretty much all grey [ __ ]
stupid hurt your a saying
the film starts with the lead landing in
California with the book covers his taxi
drive to the airport in New York which
involved a minor car crash in resulta
and Joe sticky is gonna guys face to get
him to shut the [ __ ] up and let him
catch his plane on time it also covers
the flight over where he scores the
telephone number of a much younger than
him air stewardess she turns up later to
give him moral support her with the
radio originally Leland actually clocks
one of Gruber's boys in the car outside
talking on a radio and tips off the
security guard ultimately it doesn't
help but it does give you an idea of how
on the ball this guy is all the time
even though goober killed all the same
people as he does in the book they left
out his signature way of doing it he
liked her straighten a guy's tie for him
before shooting him through the lapel
it's still psychopathic but down of it's
not cool as [ __ ] Tyco bill a radio
enthusiast a few miles away was a minor
help to Joe by helping him cut through
the police crap and getting him the
Intel he needed Robinson the idiot
deputy chief who kept messing things up
throughout actually redeemed himself in
the last page of the book when Cole
makes his last suicide attack Robinson
put himself between him in the lead
sacrificing his life to save him finally
the film left out the strong hints from
the book that the lead might have
already been wounded past the point of
no return by the end probably for the
best
would have made it a lot harder to keep
it going for the for movies otherwise
although I have heard tell that the
director was happy that this was in the
book because it added an extra level of
fear that McClane wasn't going to see
the end credits v Dom's final thoughts
to be completely honest it's a little
hard for me to get worked up about this
one you all know how good the film was
and I had trouble getting through the
book in places when it comes to the
difference is I'm inclined to side with
the film just on general principle the
book definitely has a bigger pair of
Kahuna's in the film it's not afraid to
be morally ambiguous and have a much
more bittersweet ending for that reason
alone it's worth the read if you're into
that sort of thing I'll leave you with
this to think about in a few years time
when they're looking to cash in on the
original die hard by rebooting it if
they decide to stick to the book a
little better Bruce Willis could play
the lead again aah-aah
oh yeah I love you I think what
hairspray my love is oh man Daniel
thought that chun-li she's got really
hot acts like I like to wax on and wax
off and send the floor with her if you
know that me
Oh