This town is haunted by Hans Gruber

Managed to catch Die Hard today just as the 20th Century Fox searchlights were cycling... fought a brief temptation to surf on and decided to watch it, spend some time with an old cinematic friend.

I have long held that this movie was groundbreaking, and changed audience expectations for the genre forever -- a quick googling assured me I am not the only one. Its clever mix of action and suspense and humor was unique for its time, the writing was incredibly tight, and the charm of Bruce Willis and then-relatively-unknown-in-America Alan Rickman sold this film. Rickman, in particular, was incredible -- I am still amazed that this film did not make him into a huge star.

Rickman's ability to be sinister, smart and funny all at the same time delighted me as a moviegoer -- again today I clapped my hands in delight when Rickman's Gruber stated "Mr. Takagi, I could talk about men's fashion and industrialization all day but I'm afraid work must intrude...." Most all the 'bad guys' are smart and have a sense of humor to them, especially computer whiz Theo (played by Clarence Gilyard Jr). In fact, the 'twist' of having the black bad guy be the smart techie while other Eurotrash baddies wave guns around? Delightful.

So my new mission is to track down the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp -- not only is it the basis for this film, it allegedly is followed closely in dialogue/scenes/characters by the film that it spawned. Should be a good time.