The Dumb Cool Weird Podcast
It is a podcast that covers old movies from the 20th century that are funny and ridiculous. We cover what is dumb, cool, and weird about each movie. We are raw and don't show mercy!!
🎙️ To Check Us Out and Support US Go Here: https://linktr.ee/retroradfilms
The Dumb Cool Weird Podcast
Die Hard (1988) is the Ultimate Christmas Movie: A Humorous and Action-Packed Analysis - Episode 63
Can a high-stakes heist at Nakatomi Plaza redefine your idea of a Christmas movie? Tune in to hear our passionate argument as to why "Die Hard" is the ultimate yuletide film, complete with festive music, themes of brotherhood, and a miraculous showdown. Join us on the Dumb Cool, Weird Podcast as we pay homage to John McClane's raw and relatable heroism, contrasting his human vulnerabilities with the superhuman feats of other action legends like Stallone. We promise a delightful journey through the film's humorous layers, from Alan Rickman's charming villainy to the unforgettable buddy cop dynamic with Carl Winslow.
Our nostalgic trip doesn't stop there! We celebrate the film's unique mix of humor and action, examining its parody elements and appreciating Bruce Willis's standout performance. While laughing at Rickman's attempt at an American accent, we also marvel at the special effects that make "Die Hard" timeless. As we reminisce about the 1980s' cinematic charm, we wrap up with a teaser for our next classic review, potentially spotlighting "Christmas Vacation." Dive into our quirky insights as we uncover what makes these movies so deliciously dumb, cool, and weird—all packed into a concise 20-minute experience.
Support the show:
🎤 Go to listen to the audio podcast on your favorite platform: https://dumbcoolweirdpodcast.buzzsprout.com/share
🌐 To see more stuff, buy some merch, or support us go to https://www.retroradfilms.com/dumbcoolweirdpodcast
😀 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/retroradfilms/
📷 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retroradfilms/
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/retroradfilms
🌴 Links: https://linktr.ee/retroradfilms
dumb cool, weird podcast. Welcome to the dumb cool, weird podcast. And here we are, christmas again and we did die hard. And just before anybody says anything, die hard is a christmas movie, it is a christmas movie.
Speaker 2:It has christmas music. It talks about christmas themes, about friendship, brotherhood, miracles. I mean when Hans and his team finally got into that vault, it was a Christmas miracle.
Speaker 1:Yep, santa was looking out, wasn't he?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, let's put it this way Carl Winslow and John McClane are the best buddy cops ever. Yep.
Speaker 1:It's truly remarkable. You know you got Starsky and Hutch, you have the guys from Lethal Weapon, you have yeah, Riggs and Murtaugh. Yep, and then you got these two guys.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, these two guys are pretty solid. I don't want to hear another damn thing about the fact that Die Hard is not a Christmas movie. It is a Christmas movie. It ends with Christmas music.
Speaker 1:Yep, santa Claus is coming to town.
Speaker 2:Let's just say Hans Gruber is on the naughty list permanently. Yep In hell.
Speaker 1:So what would you say? You know, what about this movie do you like the most? I mean, let's kind of go into, like you know, like just like small plot points. I mean basically what this movie is is cop comes to see his family, his wife, out in LA. He's a New York cop.
Speaker 2:And then Eastern European terrorist group well, former terrorist group turned extreme heist kind of guys you know, like like bank robbers, just pros at heists take over the Nakatomi Plaza and start staging a terrorist attack. You know, it's all fun and games, they're professionals, but they have to rely on the terrorism to really make the win.
Speaker 1:What's interesting to me is how they just really just don't give a damn. I mean, they literally just shoot people on the spot, even people who could potentially be useful.
Speaker 2:That's crazy to me well, here's the thing, though. Right, that's their plan. Cause enough chaos so that they bring out the fbi. Fbi cuts off all the power, so then they can get all the security measures knocked right out. Yep, and then, um you know, steal about 680 million dollars in uh bonds. Yeah, genius plan. Worked out really well if john mclean wasn't there, or if their blonde sociopath's brother wasn't killed, and then the blonde sociopath wouldn't be just hunting him down recklessly with a very efficient weapon well, it's probably really cheap.
Speaker 1:Uh, when they were shooting this movie, to just be like literally one location the whole time obviously they had sets, you know, inside on the sound stage, but still it's pretty funny I feel like a lot of on-set injuries were a problem, though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're saying that. Yeah, I mean like with, uh, the fact that john mclean almost falls down an elevator shaft. You know just a lot of mean. You know to really think about it. John McClane got the shit kicked out of him. That's what I like about my action heroes. I don't like my action heroes to just be purely invincible like an Arnold Schwarzenegger type. I like to know that you know the bad guy still kicks the shit out of my hero. To know that my hero is, like, really human, that makes sense. You were mentioning First Blood with Sylvester Stallone. You know how he's just getting hunted down. He's still a powerhouse, but he's getting the shit kicked out of him. Essentially, he's got a bunch of dudes he's got to fight. John McLean's got a little less, but he's still really having to deal with a lot. He's got to think on his feet, His bare feet. He's still really having to deal with a lot.
Speaker 1:I mean he's got to think on his feet, his bare feet, yeah, bloody bare feet, losing a lot of blood.
Speaker 2:Stepping into glass. At no point did anyone ever think if we just throw this hockey puck at him, maybe throw some glass on the floor, he'd be over. They did it all in reverse. They tried breaking all the glass first and then throwing the hockey puck.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean it's. It's one of those movies. You know, I've never seen this movie before. My first time ever seeing it.
Speaker 2:It's one of those.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was my first time, so it's like you know. It definitely has all the elements of parody, like pair it from parodies I've seen before, especially South park. You know like, oh, we're running this show, not anymore.
Speaker 2:You're not, I'm running this thing you know, yeah, good old Craterface, the best C-list actor since Chinese Mullet man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, always plays something like that, doesn't he?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because, like they had the I can't actually remember the name of the Chinese Mullet man, but he is in pretty much all Stallone's, bruce Willis's and Schwarzenegger's movies, so he's just kind of a staple of 80s and 90s and early 2000s action.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a great movie too, because we get to see Alan Rickman versus Bruce Willis, which is a treat.
Speaker 2:Yeah, professor Snape, he really had to change his life after he was a. Well, first, it turns out, he was an Eastern European terrorist, then he was a, then he was a bank robber who pretended to be a terrorist, then he became a death eater and then he became a professor at Hogwarts. The timeline, unfortunately, for a principal in the Breakfast Club is we could see why he lost his job. He was a very incompetent deputy police chief. He just kind of let the FBI turn off all the power. He just really let the terrorists run loose. Didn't really have much competence on the job. He might live a double life too. That's always a possibility. He's a principal during the day. That's a really hard life to juggle Principal by day, cop by night, chief of police by night no, deputy chief of police. He's almost there. But Jesus, that man gets like what? Maybe an hour of sleep in between shifts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, then we have Carl, who's trying to run the Winslow house and family matters and trying to fucking save this tower.
Speaker 2:Well, I like my theory where, after the Nakatomi plaza incident, he's just like you know, maybe I should get a fresh start in Chicago. There's a lot of kids to shoot there and it won't be an accident. Yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's definitely one of those movies that you really got to be in the mood for, but it's definitely really good. It's a good action movie and it's silly, it's ridiculous, it's definitely over the top. It's definitely not super realistic in a lot of spots, but you know, goddamn, it's fun to watch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but that's the thing, right, it's not that realistic, but it's also not out of the ordinary. It's not like fucking Schwarzenegger running around on a tropical island shooting guns. Hip-firing of all things, Unlimited ammo, hip-firing yeah it makes sense. I mean, at least he ran out of bullets in that one exchange. Yeah, john McClane, you didn't even know how many bullets he had, but you knew it wasn't much and he ran out of that ammo real quick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean really this whole movie is just, you know, bruce Willis, as John McClane just takes down all these terrorists like one by one, and then the terrorists try to think two steps ahead. Where they try to blow up the top, he blew out the bottom, and then they try to get away with all these fucking bonds and they're trying to slip away and they slowly all start dropping like flies.
Speaker 2:Yeah, argyle also saved the day. Livimo Driver beat up the other black guy that they had.
Speaker 1:Yeah, their smart, nerdy black guy, which is another stereotype in a lot of these movies. Yeah, the nerdy guys.
Speaker 2:Very 80s thing to have was the nerdy black guy yeah, that was the thing who understood tech, and then everyone else was kind of retarded.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just a little bit Just a little retarded.
Speaker 2:I know you didn't bring me here for my good charming looks or whatever the fuck he said Something. Bring me here for my good charming looks or whatever the fuck he said something like that. Something like that.
Speaker 1:All I know is alan rickman, being severely british, playing an east german guy was great yeah, it's, um, you know, I gotta fully appreciate some of the effects they did in this movie too. I mean, oh yeah, pretty good for its time, you know. And also seeing bruce willis with hair, that's. That's definitely a treat too. Yeah, and um, you know I like that comparison, you, you know.
Speaker 2:And also seeing Bruce Willis with hair, that's definitely a treat too. Yeah, and you know, I like that comparison you made. You know he looked like Harrison Ford in Blade Runner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's giving me the same kind of vibe, I guess, except he was not as serious as Deckard was in Blade Runner.
Speaker 2:Well, then again, that was a more serious movie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean there's a lot of comedic elements to this. I mean just the fact that the buddy cop element, especially Him and Al, are just having this conversation about why Al's behind a desk while he's basically bleeding out, and that's just silly dude, which I think is kind of funny.
Speaker 2:When you think about it, you know like there's some serious moments going on and these guys are on an open channel talking to each other about their life's personal problems. Yeah, and then fucking ellis dude, do you think alan rickman's just sitting there?
Speaker 1:he's like, oh, oh fuck, he killed a kid, holy shit yeah, he's like I'm a monster, but I'm not that much of a monster.
Speaker 2:I thought I was terrible, but you know, I've never, I've never taken out a kid and then how about alan rickman doing that half-ass American accent? Oh yeah, he went for the California guy like businessman-out accent. That was great. It's funny. It was so In character for Mr Rickman, Yep.
Speaker 1:But you know the thing is there is to this movie. It's really a very simple movie for the most part. You know it's pretty straightforward. I mean the plot's not that dynamic, it's just fun. It's just a fun movie to watch.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I'm so glad we didn't have to engage in understanding John McClane's divorce. Yeah, they kind of just. That love story was pretty simple. Though he comes out to LA since she invites him, his wife sees him, she's like damn, you know, I just can't get this dreamy hunk of a man off my mind. I hope he doesn't do anything severely masculine and outlandish later. It might make me moist. I might invite him to the main room and not just the side guest room.
Speaker 2:Yup, and there we are, here we are, and at the end of the movie he's just you know he's going home to fuck yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I'm glad that him and Al got to see each other, I'm glad that the fucking police deputy chief wanted to fucking get debriefed. And then they finally took out the other fucking Fabio, large blonde sociopath. Fabio looking dude just to avenge his brother.
Speaker 2:Let's mention that as well. All of these guys looked like they used to be supermodels or worked in the modeling industry.
Speaker 1:One way or another, they either were the models or the crew that was shooting the models.
Speaker 2:The two balding guys, chinese mullet man and the really rough-looking German guy with the slicked-back ponytail, the way older one. Those two definitely were cameras. Yeah, pretty much they worked behind the camera. They were like oh, we were never too pretty to be in front of the camera.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and then they weren't, and then they had to do those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, give me your tiger. Yeah, Jesus.
Speaker 1:Christ, but that's you know. Like I said, this movie, it basically just takes place in this building. I mean, there's one scene at the beginning where he's getting off the plane from the airport, and we've seen a couple scenes at their house, but really it's outside the building, inside the building. That is the location for this entire flick. So let's talk about the dumb, cool and the weird, nick. What was dumb about this movie?
Speaker 2:Dumb. You know what. This one's actually kind of hard because it was so well executed, but I guess we'll go with the the fact that the deputy police chief is the dumbest character in this movie.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's just asking the the dumbest questions really yeah, I love how he just repeats whatever carl winslow says to sound like he's in charge of the situation. You know, just like any officer who is having a listen to an enlisted guy in the military. Yeah, just like, let me just steal Carl Winslow's thunder real quick so that I can sound like I'm important. Oh wait a minute, I'm making bad decisions. Like, just let the FBI turn off all the power. I'm getting mad at John McClane for stopping those other Germans from using that rocket on our vehicles and troops, basically. So you know, I'm more mad about us being covered in glass. Really, really was worried about all the wrong things. I guess that's what a bureaucrat is all about, you know. So that's why, I hate him.
Speaker 2:I think he's dumb.
Speaker 1:I thought it was really cool how you know, talking about the cool part of this movie, I thought it was really cool how a lot of the practical effects, especially the squibs those look pretty realistic, great squib use in this movie. That was cool shit. I also thought it was cool how they utilized, you know, matte paintings for the scenes where they were inside of the air vents and stuff, Like when they went into his wife's office and you just kind of, and they had that you had that good backdrop over there as the coke head is trying to exit the room and I love how okay that.
Speaker 2:That was a funny scene, by the way when her boss is like, yeah, you know, this is her husband, the police officer from New York.
Speaker 1:And John's, like you missed some Cool as shit. So what's weird about this movie?
Speaker 2:Hmm.
Speaker 1:Hmm, I think I got it.
Speaker 2:I think you should go first, cause I might have to, might have to think a little bit harder on that one.
Speaker 1:So what I thought was really weird about this movie, the the the most. The weirdest thing was that when they were, when he was trying to call it in over the illegal radio and those, those cops heard it and they heard all the gunshots in the background and all this other stuff. They're like, well, what is he doing? It's, it's weird and you may crank call, it's a crank call and all this and it's just like dude, you heard gunshots in the background and you, it's just like so weird dude yeah, you know what that that is.
Speaker 2:I would say that is the weird one of the weirdest things. Because, first off, why would somebody be making a crank call from the Nakatomi Plaza? They would probably get fired for doing something like that. Would, somebody really risk their job working for this amazing Japanese company, this big corporation from Japan. You think they would risk their job making a crank call from an office phone up there.
Speaker 1:Or a radio.
Speaker 2:That doesn't even make any sense yeah, that's one of those weirdest part of the movie, along with, oh, another weird one when the fire department is called off, right, fire department would still have to show up and, you know, check that alarm now. Essentially they'd all become hostages, but that would make people realize like wait a minute, these guys just disappeared on shift while doing a standard call, but they just went away because somebody at the office was like yeah, you know, I'm sorry, it just goes off every now and again.
Speaker 1:They just take them for their word. Dude, they take their word for it.
Speaker 2:I guess people on the 80ies worked in the honor system.
Speaker 1:I guess so but that was diehard. Diehard's a pretty straightforward movie, but it's very good and it's it's definitely a Christmas movie, an excellent Christmas movie. And, um, yeah, that's diehard. So we're going to be doing, uh, a classic next week.
Speaker 2:I hope you guys are ready. It could be a Christmas vacation, as they say yes. So yippee-ki-yay motherfuckers.
Speaker 1:We're out. Thanks for watching the Dumb, cool, weird Podcast, where we cover some of your favorite movies in 20 minutes or less for your convenience. We go over what is dumb, cool and weird about movies and check out our Wayback Wednesdays. We do sometimes for other stuff, and
