{"id":7845,"date":"2010-12-16T15:05:47","date_gmt":"2010-12-16T20:05:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=1379"},"modified":"2010-12-16T15:05:47","modified_gmt":"2010-12-16T20:05:47","slug":"this-is-my-christmas-movie-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=7845","title":{"rendered":"This is MY Christmas Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Preamble<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are two ways to appraise the act of writing a piece on  a film you saw a long, long time ago, one that predates the birth of the  average, present day film student: a nostalgia piece, which can delve into  cranky-old-fart syndrome; or just elaborating on why a particular movie you saw  during its original engagement is still a damn fine film.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019d prefer the latter, but <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> <em>is<\/em> <em>special<\/em>, so this is a mild nostalgia  trip (bereft of farting crankydome), as well as a rallying cry to get a 70mm  print back in circulation for what\u2019s ostensibly, essentially, right down to the  core, a great fucking movie.<\/p>\n<p>The Bloor Cinema screened <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> Tuesday and Wednesday this week, and it was actually quite  interesting to see who would come to see a 22 year old action film that\u2019s  readily available on DVD, Blu-ray, and for the impoverished student, \u2018online.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Apparently plenty cared, because the average age of the  audience that filled \u00be of the Bloor\u2019s floor seating was maybe 25-30-ish, plus a  louder, similar aged group cheering merrily from the balcony.<\/p>\n<p>My impression is that a good chunk had seen the film before (a  few many, <em>many<\/em> times), and others  were dragged out by their friends in an attempt (a valiant attempt, I\u2019d say) to  expose them to greatness. It\u2019s not a perfect film, but a solid movie that  provides 124 mins. of violence, reindeer jingling fun, wrapped in a ribbon of  robust sound design.<\/p>\n<p>Among the first laserdiscs I bought at Sam\u2019s on Boxing Day  was <strong>Die Hard<\/strong>, and it remained the  test disc to show off my surround sound system to guests \u2013 a demo presentation as  to why they too should buy a Pro Logic amp. The neighbours weren\u2019t impressed,  but the friends were.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1380\" style=\"width: 190px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DieHard_pix.gif\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1380\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1380\" title=\"DieHard_pix\" src=\"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/DieHard_pix-300x252.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"180\" height=\"151\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1380\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">&quot;Ho... Ho... Ho....&quot;<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The laughs at the Bloor screening happened where the  screenwriters had pre-designed throwaway gags, visual gags, and goofy humour that  humanized and lampooned our concept of what terrorists and thieves are.<\/p>\n<p>The film\u2019s opening \u2013 John McClane (Bruce Willis) listening  to some guy prattle advice about walking around in bare feet with fist-curled  toes) &#8211; still evokes chuckles, as does McClane slowly passing a hot stewardess  and exchanging a tickling gaze, but in post-9\/11 times, it is weird to see a  cop allowed on board with a shoulder holstered pistol, as well as the mention  of terrorists since that nomenclature pops up a lot more often now in the  international news.<\/p>\n<p>You get past it all because of further jokes, but there\u2019s a  strange innocence in which one could write a script a long time ago where those  elements were funny without the cultural paranoia being close by; and you could  also arrive at the airport with ease and less hassles. With pat-downs and the  U.S. airline body IATA planning to stream travelers through <a href=\"http:\/\/www.financialpost.com\/news\/Airport+security+tunnels+IATA+plan\/3976300\/story.html\" target=\"window\">tunnels<\/a> (Tunnel #1: Relax, we like you; Tunnel #2: You look kind of funny, but most likely you\u2019re  just odd; and Tunnel #3: I don\u2019t like your colour or name, so let me touch your junk  for explosive liquids in excess of 100 ml), there\u2019s a nostalgia for that time  when flying wasn\u2019t such an unpleasant experience.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Sudden Impacts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The film has evolved into a classic eighties action film  because while it may have been designed to satirize the idiocies of the  disaster film \u2013 namely 1974\u2019s <strong>Towering  Inferno<\/strong>, with stupid people trapped in a fiery tower with floors that blow  up time to time while firefighters attempt elaborate rescues doomed to fail in  splendid, cinematic conflagrations \u2013 it\u2019s wholly indicative of that perfect  blend of action, action figure heroism, melodrama, pop culture riffing, and  mayhem with specifically designed peaks and valleys like a rollercoaster ride.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Die Hard<\/strong>\u2019s  catch-phrases became classics, whether it was \u201cYippy ki-yay, motherfucker,\u201d Hans\u2026  Bubby,\u201d \u201cWelcome to the party, Hans,\u201d \u201cOh the quarterback is toast,\u201d and the  film spawned an immediate array of imitations.<\/p>\n<p>Way (WAY) back in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wilnervision.com\/?p=248\" target=\"window\">June of 2007<\/a>, Norm Wilner wrote a  piece on <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> clones, and while  the MSN piece is no longer online (it went poof! in cyberspace), my archival  mania had a copy of his rough list, which included 1991\u2019s <strong>Toy Soldiers<\/strong>, Andrew Davis\u20191992 variant <strong>Under Siege<\/strong> (aka \u2018Float Hard\u2019), 1992\u2019s <strong>Passenger 57<\/strong> (\u2018Fly Hard\u2019), 1994\u2019s <strong>Speed<\/strong> (\u2018Drive Hard\u2019), 1995\u2019s <strong>Sudden  Death<\/strong> (\u2018Skate Hard\u2019), 1997\u2019s <strong>Executive  Decision<\/strong> (\u2018Fly Harder\u2019), 1997\u2019s <strong>Con  Air<\/strong> (\u2018Fly Hard with Nicholas Cage\u2019), 1997\u2019s <strong>Air Force One<\/strong> (\u2018Presidentially Harder\u2019), 2001\u2019s <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0266048\/\" target=\"window\">Whiteout<\/a><\/strong> (which I never  saw, so I got nothing to say, except maybe \u2018Dam Hard\u2019), 2002\u2019s <strong>Panic Room<\/strong> (\u2018Jodie Fights Hard\u2019), and  2005\u2019s <strong>Flightplan<\/strong> (\u2018Flying Hard with  Jodie\u2019).<\/p>\n<p>A friend also added Renny Harlin\u2019s 1993 goof-fest <strong>Cliffhanger<\/strong> (\u2018Climb Hard\u2019), 1992\u2019s <strong>Hard Boiled<\/strong> (\u2018Chow Hard\u2019), and I added  two titles that simply <em>had<\/em> to be on  that list: 1997\u2019s <strong>Masterminds<\/strong> (\u2018Study Hard\u2019), and 1994\u2019s <strong>No Contest<\/strong> (\u2018Modeling Hard\u2019) which actually earned enough freakin\u2019 money (how?!?) that  they gave director Paul Lynch (<strong>Prom  Night<\/strong>, <strong>Humongous<\/strong>) cash for a  sequel, 1997\u2019s <strong>No Contest II<\/strong> (\u2018Modeling  Hard II: Strut Harder\u2019).<\/p>\n<p>I guess you could also include 1997\u2019s <strong>Turbulence<\/strong> (\u2018Still Flying Harder\u2019), but seeing how there\u2019s only one  protagonist, it doesn\u2019t really count, though maybe one of the two utterly necessary  sequels might. (Ahem.)<\/p>\n<p>What a younger generation may not get is when <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> broke, it went beyond a blockbuster:  it became a genre unto itself, which talent agents used to pitch some of the  aforementioned projects as \u2018Die Hard on a plane,\u2019 \u2018Die Hard in the basement of  an angry wine merchant,\u2019 or \u2018Die Hard with cabbage monsters.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>For years this pitch nonsense went on, and the real <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> sequels didn\u2019t help, because <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> <strong>II<\/strong>: <strong>Die Hard<\/strong>er (1990), <strong>Die Hard<\/strong>: <strong>With a Vengeance<\/strong> (1995), and <strong>Live  Free or<\/strong> <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> (2007) kept  that sub-genre of eighties action films alive, which is probably why eighties  and early nineties action films are so popular on home video.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Die Hard<\/strong> wasn\u2019t a  perfect script \u2013 the third film was a rewrite of a non-<strong>Die Hard<\/strong> script called \u201cSimon Says,\u201d and the fourth happened after  years of delays and turfed script concepts due to the steady stream of  imitators &#8211; and there were a series of articles as to who really wrote the  script and \/ or touched up the dialogue, which were based on Roderick Thorp\u2019s  novel \u201cNorthing Lasts Forever.\u201d (It didn\u2019t matter in the end, because both credited  writers enjoyed box office hits soon after, and were able to retire as key  participants of the eighties action film.)<\/p>\n<p>In terms of the Bloor crowd (which was amazing), they  laughed and seemed to have fun with the action scenes in spite of them being  copied and expanded in subsequent films, since the point of clones and legit <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> sequels was to top the  original.<\/p>\n<p>The most obvious cheers came when Hans (Alan Rickman) makes  his first entrance, leading his flock of grumbly gun-toting acolytes into the  main celebration room. The most unexpected cheers were for Sergeant Al Powell  (Reginald VelJohnson), buying Twinkies \u2018for his wife\u2019 and the local Quickee Mart.<\/p>\n<p>Powell actually got a few laughs whenever he and McClane  (Willis, in optimum shape, and sporting perfect hair\/rug) had their radio chats about being  cops, hardships of the job, and \u2018hanging in there\u2019 because \u2018you\u2019ll tell her  that message of love yourself.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>The slo-mo death of Hans as he turns, loses grip, fires a  gun and starts to freefall from the Nakatomi building also got some chuckles  for being overwrought (I wonder how Sam Peckinpah\u2019s <strong>The Wild Bunch<\/strong> would play to the same crowd), but newbie chauffeur Argyle  got approving cheers when he pesters McClane about his wife, sitting in the  back of the limo with a giant teddy bear, and clocks the computer geek in the  finale.<\/p>\n<p>Unexpected laughs actually came from the early limo chatter  between Argyle and McClane: the mention of a \u201cVHS\u201d player among the limo\u2019s  luxuries, and the sight of an audio cassette tape being shoved into the limo\u2019s stereo.<\/p>\n<p>Hey, when I see a vintage mobile phone in a film \u2013 one of  those angular bricks bigger than a cinderblock \u2013 I always break out laughing. The  strap-on intercom boxes used by the reporters in <strong>Medium Cool<\/strong> (1969) are particularly funny, as is the coffee  table-sized answering machine at the beginning of <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/dvd_reviews\/v2z\/2432_WinterKills.htm\">Winter  Kills<\/a><\/strong> (1979).<\/p>\n<p>It was weird, though, to see people talking on corded phones  with fat ear and mouthpieces \u2013 things less and less people use because they  have no land line and everything\u2019s morphing into mobile toys.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1382\" style=\"width: 93px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Contempra_phone_b_s.gif\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1382\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1382 \" title=\"Contempra_phone_b_s\" src=\"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/12\/Contempra_phone_b_s.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"83\" height=\"135\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1382\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Still working after several drops. Pity the company isn&#39;t.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>(For the record: I use a vintage Northern Telecom Contempra  for my phone interviews because it\u2019s reliable, the land line guarantees it works during  a power failure, and it\u2019s drop proof \u2013 I plopped it many times 2 feet off a  concrete floor as a kid. <em>Beat that<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<p>Happily, the montages still worked, Michael Kamen\u2019s score is  assuredly a brilliant interpolation of Beethoven\u2019s \u201cOde to Joy\u201d \/ Symphony No.  9, and the montages and fight scenes are superb. The helicopter assault is a  magnificent example of action filmmaking, and it looked incredible when the  film was exhibited in 70mm, and when Kamen\u2019s standout cue blasts in 6-track  surround sound, it\u2019s the key reason he became a name brand in Hollywood, and  scored other films for producer Joel Silver, since the composer was part of the  producer\u2019s winning action formula.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, the fight scenes aren\u2019t psychotically edited, so  we actually see the actors beating the shit out of each other, with blood and  emerging sores, and heads bashed into walls, metal railings or wrapped in chains  before the whole body \u2013 in this case, poor Karl (Alexander Godunov) \u2013 is  ratcheted up and swung over to a wall, where it smacks into concrete. It\u2019s  beautifully done, and functions as emotional payback for Karl hunting McClane  for killing his brother.<\/p>\n<p>In an earlier life,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alexander_Godunov\" target=\"window\">Godunov<\/a> was a highly respected ballet dancer, and director John McTiernan exploited his  gift for controlled movements in simple but memorable shots, such as Karl  walking slowly towards the edge of the roof where McClane is hiding. With a gun  held up, Karl\u2019s a patient hunter, slowly honing in on his prey in a long shot  that reveals character and creates tension without any manic intercutting.<\/p>\n<p>The film also proved without any doubt that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Germans are  funny<\/span>, particularly when they grumble about lazy Americans, mutter among  incompetent co-workers, swear in English with German reserve, yell anxiously to  be handed the next missile, or feel contempt for rebels like McClane who don\u2019t  understand <em>order<\/em>. (Drifting from the  plan is wrong, and simply not correct.)<\/p>\n<p>Lloyd Kaufman has insisted for years that monkeys are funny.<\/p>\n<p>Monkeys are <em>not funny<\/em>; <strong>Germans<\/strong> <strong>are<\/strong>. <em>Ende punct<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Admitted Weaknesses<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The sole weak spot in the film is the return of Karl for  once last shootout, and sure, it validates Powell again as a pro-active, heroic  cop, but it\u2019s unnecessary.<\/p>\n<p>Another aspect that also hurts is the way the melodrama  builds between Powell and McClane, so when the two finally meet each other in  person at the end, it plays goofy, if not homoerotic, because the filmmakers  fell in love with their stupid temp track and not only scored the reunion with  John Scott\u2019s lovely theme from <strong>Man on  Fire<\/strong> (yup, the <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">first<\/span> film version from 1987 that no one\u2019s heard  about because it\u2019s been buried for 20 years), and James Horner\u2019s <strong>Aliens<\/strong>. The latter cue accentuates a  weird mushiness that kind of infers the two wanna kiss, but don\u2019t because this <em>is<\/em> an action comedy headlined by Bruce  Willis.<\/p>\n<p>(Incidentally, key genre writer Shane Black, who similarly  co-created the genre with <strong>Lethal Weapon<\/strong> in 1987 for producer Silver, lampooned all that machismo in 2005 by making the  second half of his two-man hero team in <strong>Kiss  Kiss Bang Bang<\/strong> gay \u2013 mandatory for eighties aficionados.)<\/p>\n<p>In any event, Karl\u2019s final death did get a round of  applause, and one audience member gave him a military final salute. Whatever.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Postscript<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In 1988, Fox was admittedly worried that their expensive  action film starring a TV actor named Bruce Willis might suck, so the publicity  was rather tame. I caught the film as the first half of a double-bill with <strong>big<\/strong> (1988) at the old Varsity Cinema.  It was a sneak for the former, and we were all freakin\u2019 blown away by this  thing that rewrote the rules for the action film.<\/p>\n<p>If I could re-experience seeing two films for the first time  again, it would be <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> and <strong>The Matrix<\/strong> (both, coincidentally,  produced by Silver), because they had us walking around in a daze, giddy with  delight, thrilled for what they brought to the craft of commercial moviemaking.<\/p>\n<p>(It is a craft, so stop frowning. The low end just happens  to be <strong>No Contest<\/strong> with a donut-fed  Andrew Dice Clay playing the lead terrorist figure.)<\/p>\n<p>Fox\u2019 subsequent campaign embraced the media\u2019s good vibes,  and the studio quickly realized they had a winner, so the ads trumpeted the release  of 6-track 70mm engagements \u2013 a form of big screen exhibition that\u2019s sadly gone  the way of the Dodo. I later caught <strong>Die  Hard<\/strong> at the Cinesphere (you know, the IMAX globe cinema several daft provincial  bean counters wants to <a href=\"http:\/\/torontoist.com\/2010\/07\/historicist_opening_the_cinesphere.php\" target=\"_blank\">murder<\/a>)  twice, and it was always packed.<\/p>\n<p>The Bloor\u2019s screenings keep the original film alive in the  consciousness of a smaller fan base, but here\u2019s a message to Fox, if not other  studios sitting on prints of films used for their Blu-rays: these movies may  not draw massive crowds, but they are premium examples of mainstream commercial  filmmaking made without contempt for audiences.<\/p>\n<p>Fox may have wanted a blockbuster, but that\u2019s the endpoint  to their investment strategy; the movie was well-made, and it hasn\u2019t aged into  something like <strong>Armageddon<\/strong> \u2013 which  was stupid (but entertaining) during its release, but is more entertaining now for  aging into an unintentionally dopy sci-fi epic (ironically starring Bruce  Willis), but written by committee and directed by a filmmaker who develops  dramatic scenes like 30-second Amex adverts.<\/p>\n<p>The Bloor\u2019s print was well-worn around the reel changes, one  reel had a deep emulsion scratch, there were some lost frames, the Fox logo was  in smooshee-vision (forced anamorphic stretching of a non-anamorphic image) and  the end credits were clipped, but the sound (a few buzzing streams excepted) was  solid.<\/p>\n<p>The original sound design was truly a landmark in the arts  of sound editing, mixing, and engineering. Highlights include the engine rumble  in close cuts of the police RV that gets \u2018toasted\u2019 by the mean Germans, massively  elegant gunfire and ricochets, or the various levels of helicopter engines in  the attack montage where McTiernan cuts in and around the copters from various  angles and vantage points \u2013 goosed with differing levels of aggressive and  passive sonics that shove audiences into the drama in movie theatres, and at home  with a good subwoofer.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Where did everyone go after 1988?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For everyone connected with the film, <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> boosted careers, if not profiles within the next 5 years.<\/p>\n<p>Bruce Willis finally broke free from that purgatory of  shitty comedies (<strong>Sunset<\/strong>) and made  imitative actioners (<strong>Die Hard<\/strong> <strong>2<\/strong>), less shitty comedies (<strong>Death Becomes Her<\/strong>), a few serious roles  (<strong>In Country<\/strong>) and some crap, plus the  ego trip \/ guilty pleasure <strong>Hudson Hawk<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Alan Rickman only went upwards, reaching international  audiences with <strong>Truly Madly Deeply<\/strong> and <strong>Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves<\/strong> (and yes, I\u2019m ignoring <strong>January Man<\/strong>).  Character actor Riginald VelJohnson went for the security of TV, and dropped  his cop uniform to play opposite that thing called Urkel in <strong>Family Matters<\/strong> from 1989-1998.<\/p>\n<p>William Atherton had a brief film career boost after having  started out in feature films during the seventies (<strong>The Sugarland Express<\/strong>, <strong>The  Day of the Locust<\/strong>, and singing the title tune \u201cWhat\u2019ll I Do\u201d for <strong>The Great Gatsby<\/strong>), and Bonnie Bedelia  continued to make straight drama and genre projects (<strong>Presumed Innocent<\/strong>) in film and TV.<\/p>\n<p>The late, great Paul Gleason (<strong>The  Breakfast Club<\/strong>) seemed happy to play assholes we\u2019d all feel no guilt in  beating to a pulp for being a mouth, and Hart Bochner mostly worked in TV, with  the odd directorial project (like the rude \/ guilty pleasure <strong>PCU<\/strong>, filmed at the University of  Toronto, and co-starring Jon Favreau as a dreadlocked stoner named Gutter).<\/p>\n<p>Alexander Godunov never managed to find anything worthwhile,  appearing in just a handful of direct-to-video shockers (<strong>North<\/strong>, excepted), and he failed to find a role as strong as the pacifist in\u00a0<strong>Witness <\/strong>(1985). He died at the  ridiculously young age of 45 in 1995. When the actors were doing press for <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> in 1988, Bonnie Bedelia told a  nice story to <strong>City Lights<\/strong> host <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brian_Linehan\" target=\"window\">Brian Linehan<\/a> of asking  Godunov to do a little pirouette for her, and to Bedelia\u2019s absolute delight, he  did.<\/p>\n<p>No one seemed to know what to do with Robert Davi because he  wasn\u2019t an emotive actor, but he had a unique screen presence. Already a  hard-working actor in TV and film, he played the lead villain in the Bond flop  <strong>License to Kill<\/strong> (1989), a cops in Mimi Leder\u2019s overheated <strong>The Peacemaker<\/strong> (1990)  and Joel Silver\u2019s <strong>Predator 2<\/strong> (1990), and managed an effective quiet performance  as a stoic handler in Zalman King\u2019s <strong>Wild Orchid 2: Two Shades of Blue<\/strong> (1991).  Drivel and banalities followed \u2013 he played the lead cop in Lynch\u2019s <strong>No Contest<\/strong> \u2013 but he was kind of fun in  the short-lived series <strong>VR5<\/strong> (1995) and a sleazebag in Paul Verhoeven\u2019s neon  trash heap <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/dvd_reviews\/s\/2870_ShowgirlsVIP.htm\">Showgirls<\/a><\/strong> (1995).<\/p>\n<p>Director John McTiernan was a top action director of the  period, and followed up with the smart <strong>The  Hunt for Red October<\/strong> (1990) before his talents were wasted on <strong>Medicine Man<\/strong> (1992), <strong>Last Action Hero<\/strong>, based on a wonky  script co-written by Shane Black, and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/dvd_reviews\/p2r\/2082_Rollerball2002.htm\">Rollerball<\/a><\/strong> (2002), which MGM emasculated by removing graphic violence (not that it  would\u2019ve helped the cinematic turkey). He did made <strong>The Thomas Crown Affair<\/strong> in 1999, which I\u2019ll defend as one of the  few great remakes &amp; re-imaginings of a classic film done with thought,  class, boobery, and style.<\/p>\n<p>Screenwriter Jeb Stuart did make some crap \u2013 there\u2019s no  dignity in <strong>Leviathan<\/strong> (1989) nor <strong>Another 48 HRS<\/strong> (1990) \u2013 but he regained  some of his reputation for writing Andrew Davis\u2019 <strong>The  Fugitive<\/strong> in 1993. Co-writer Steven E. de Souza co-wrote Willis\u2019 ego trip <strong>Hudson Hawk<\/strong> as well as <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> 2, and when his fledgling  directorial career flopped with <strong>Street  Fighter<\/strong> starring Jean-Claude Van Damme in 1994, he seemed permanently tainted,  and wrote mostly crap. (<strong>Knock Off<\/strong> was, unfortunately, his too.)<\/p>\n<p>Michael Kamen had already scored <strong>Lethal Weapon<\/strong> for Joel Silver in 1987, and while he was involved in  the sequels of that franchise as well as the first two <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> sequels (he died in 2003), he scored a memorable mix of  commercial and little films. <strong>Robin Hood  Prince of Thieves<\/strong> may have been his biggest hit (and <strong>Hudson Hawk<\/strong> was fun), but Kamen\u2019s quiet scores for Peter Medak\u2019s <strong>The Krays<\/strong> and <strong>Let Him Have It<\/strong> are superb (and deserve proper &amp; complete CD  releases).<\/p>\n<p>Producer Joel Silver milked the heck out of his <strong>Lethal Weapon<\/strong> and <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> franchises (not to mention <strong>Predator<\/strong>), and continued his association with Shane Black via <strong>Ricochet<\/strong>, as well as further Willis films  (<strong>Hudson Hawk<\/strong>, and Shane Black\u2019s <strong>The Last Boy Scout<\/strong>) and <strong>Die Hard<\/strong> <strong>2<\/strong> director Renny Harlin (although the Andrew Dice Clay guilty  pleasure <strong>The Adventures of Ford Fairlane<\/strong> kinda ended that love affair).<\/p>\n<p>And then there\u2019s Jan de Bont, whose elegant lens-flared  cinematography propelled him to the forefront of A-list DOPs. After further  adventures with producer Silver (including the oddball TV movie <strong>Parker Kane<\/strong>) and photographing  McTiernan\u2019s <strong>Hunt for Red October<\/strong>, he  took whatever knowledge and inspiration he gleaned from various directors and  helmed <strong>Speed<\/strong> (1994) and <strong>Twister<\/strong> (1996).<\/p>\n<p>His further efforts \u2013 <strong>Speed  2: Cruise Control<\/strong> (1997) and <strong>The  Haunting<\/strong> (1999) &#8211; proved he sold his soul to the devil, as the dual  stinkers made one wish he\u2019d return to pure cinematography, but that was never  to be.\u00a0Perhaps the years with Verhoeven in Holland  (art films) and America  (beaver films) exhausted his zeal for photography. Besides a few producing  credits and directing <strong>Lara Croft Tomb  Raider: The Cradle of Life<\/strong> (2003), he\u2019s been awfully quiet. He\u2019ll likely  return, because his interest in throwing large moving objects at actors is far  too attractive.<\/p>\n<p>Coming next: reviews of the eighties action tribute series <strong>Human Target<\/strong>, Bear McCreary\u2019s music,  and an interview with the composer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"style3\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"style3\"><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>,  Editor<br \/>\n<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/Main_Index_Page.htm\">KQEK.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are two ways to appraise the act of writing a piece on a film you saw a long, long time ago, one that predates the birth of the average, present day film student: a nostalgia piece, which can delve into cranky-old-fart syndrome; or just elaborating on why a particular movie you saw during its original engagement is still a damn fine film&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[214,215,216],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-22x","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}