Über Takes Have a take
Film · Settled every December, un-settled every January · Take No. 006

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie?

It came out in July. It's set on Christmas Eve. It has a Christmas party, a Christmas song and a dead man in a Santa hat. The internet has argued about this for thirty years.

The case for each side, then the verdict. Then the floor is yours.
The case for

Yes, obviously

The case for the yippee-ki-yay side

  • Dec 24The entire film takes place on Christmas Eve, at a Christmas party, in a building decked for Christmas.
  • 2Christmas songs in the soundtrack, plus 'Ode to Joy' doing double duty as a holiday score.
  • 1Man reunited with his family on Christmas, which is the plot of every Christmas movie ever made.
vs
The case for

No, come on

The case for the calendar

  • July 151988 release date. Nobody at the studio thought they were making a holiday picture.
  • 0Lessons about the spirit of Christmas. The holiday is a setting, not a subject.
  • 1Bruce Willis, who said in 2018 it's not a Christmas movie. The lead actor's word counts for something.

Cast your take

——
The verdict

It's Yes. The calendar doesn't decide; the movie does.

The "no" side's best point is that the holiday is wallpaper, and it's a fair one. Plenty of films are set at Christmas without being about it.

But Die Hard isn't wallpaper-level. The party is the plot's engine, the estranged marriage is healed by the final scene, and the whole thing ends with snow-like paper falling to 'Let It Snow.' It's a Christmas movie that happens to have terrorists. Yes, and we'll watch it on the 24th to prove it.

Disagree? That's what the buttons are for.

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