Film Structure Analysis #12A (Act 1) - Die Hard (1988)

"Welcome to the party, pal."

Die Hard is one of the best ever action films, Christmas films, love films... or just one of the best ever films.
Directed by John McTiernan, with Steven E. de Souza and Jeb Stuart adapting Roderick Thorp's novel.

I was watching it again recently to get in the holiday spirit (it takes me some time, a lot of time) and was thinking about the structure. I wanted to look first at Act 1 (the first thirty-three minutes or so) because it is so so so sharp.

You could look at it in three sequences (or any way you want, I suppose), but my brain likes to see it as two.
First the airplane. We introduce our main character. He gets advice to take off his shoes upon getting to his hotel, he discusses being a cop, he sees a pretty lady, he gets surprised by California because he's a New York guy. He also has a big stuffed animal and it's Christmas, so there's someone he cares about out there. Also another HUGE thing happens on the plane. So smooth. We set up one of our key motifs: "ding" for danger. Throughout the film the sound of the elevator dings will continually indicate danger. But when do we first hear the ding? When the airplane seatbelt light changes. Golden.

From here we meet Holly, hear about her and John's history as we ride in the limo with Argyle, and get to the plaza. The sun sets as we enter into the dark of the single night that will contain the entire story. You could say this ends Sequence 1, but I would include/end it with John and Holly meeting and talking. They connect, then they fight, then John bangs his head on the wall, showing us he doesn't want to fight, to mess up, to be a jerk. He cares.

Then we see Hans and the bad guys head toward the Plaza. John takes off his shoes and socks to calm himself down at the suggestion of our opening airplane friend. The bad guys arrive. The murdering begins. John has to take cover with a handgun, no shoes. Hans asks Takagi for "the code," but he doesn't give it. John witnesses Takagi get shot, killed. This is key, because John now knows they are killers. It is also important for later that John does not see Hans during this scene, only his hand and the gun.

We then go back to the vault, Hans' key goal. They have to crack it. There's money inside. The theft has already begun. End of Sequence 2. We have our hero and his family, we have our villain and his crew. We have a contained location and time frame, and we have a goal--save our wife, stay alive, stop Hans. Here we go. From almost exactly twenty-five percent through the film, Act 1 concludes and our story questions start their answering.

Be well.
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(words and image are original)