"I am an EXCEPTIONAL thief, Mrs. McClain, and since I'm moving up to kidnapping, YOU should be more polite!" 😂

And even then is not like the full on temper tantrum that Karl has destroying the bar. Its more like just reminding her that he's still the one in charge.

It is one of the best lines in all of cinema.

@@charlesboots6508 that was a great outburst of hans and so funny. 🤣

Watching this video, that line came immediately to mind,

He was also known for English TV roles, though. We had that pleasure before the rest of the world knew of him.

We, meaning English people?

Rickman brought a lot of that experience to the Harry Potter films. Severus Snape would be reduced to a minor background character if someone else had gotten the role. I'm so glad he was hired to play him. And even thought he was not the main character, Rickman knew how to play this man with the right level of influence. Snape was not an antagonist but from reading the books, he was a major influence in Harry's time at Hogwarts. After seeing the movies, I firmly believe he correctly portrayed the character. Rest in peace, Mr. Rickman and thank you for the memories.

He best performance is Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Sheriff of Nottingham I'll cut your heart out with a spoon. Guy of Gisborne Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe? Sheriff of Nottingham Because it's DULL, you twit. It'll hurt more.

Shame he never became a James Bond 007 villain…

as per Get Carter

My brother just got his first movie role at 47 years old. Starts filming in June so hang in there's hope for everyone.

@@Stuart267 Great!

Well, you had better get busy putting your team of criminals together and planning your heist. Tempus fugit.

​@squamish4244 , Well, it's not as if Rickman's career up till that age hadn't been successful and highly esteemed. It just hadn't flourished in the realm of film.

great explanation. I was noting that difference between what I heard and what I read, and wondered about that. that makes sense.

Nice, I would not have known the reason for that distinction. I noticed good movies make sure we hate the antagonist. Rickman was awesome in this movie

This is an excellent comment. I learned something. Thank you

Also how he changed 'foreseeable detail' to 'conceivable detail'.

Agreed, this was an excellent use of research into the linguistic differences pertaining to German. I also find it funny that in the middle of the movie, Ellis makes the mistake of casually dropping some Yiddish words when speaking to Hans, no doubt in an attempt to sound worldly and smarter than he is, and then calls Hans "bubie" (which, funny enough, does NOT have the same friendly connotation in German that it does in Yiddish), and Hans' face hardens like he's been insulted... because he basically was, and Ellis was too stupid to realize it. The lesson there? NEVER, EVER, EVER use Yiddish to a German dude, especially if he's got a gun. Ellis learned that shit the hard way, lol.

But he still refused a the role of a villain in James Bond because he was sick of that. So he kinda knew

@@cherchehacknostale To be fair, the movie wasn´t made with the intended Bond either...it was Golden Eye, and Sean Bean played Alec Travilian. In the earlier nineties the script was different and Anthony Hopkins was supposed to play the part, which then was named Augustus Travilian. Makes more sense with his back story too.

I watched him say that on British kids TV in the 90's growing up. What was great about Alan is he didn't talk down to kids by dumbing down his answers. Miss him

"Truly, Madly, Deeply", "January Man", "Die Hard"........ absolutely.

He refused to play Lord Vetinari in a Discworld movie because he thought Vetinari is a villain.

Yes, it’s because Hans is interesting - you want know more and see more.

He's good enough to HATE! I just hated him throughout the whole film, like Neil's father in 'Dead Poets . ..' and MOST of Phil Hoffman's roles - when they're really great portrayals I forget it's an actor performing and just hate them.

@@dancarter482 And for me, I don't even hate him. That's the thing, Rickman said it himself, I don't see myself as the villain. He's so "good" that I want to like the guy and root for him. I turned out liking him.

In "Robin Hood" he simply outplayed the big hero, Kevin Costner, so that in the final version most of Rickman's scenes were cut out. Only years later, when the uncut version was released, we could see how much more depth the character of the sherriff of Nottingham originally had.

@@user-uo1kp3uh1u He should have cut Costner's heart out with a spoon. Doing it as an actor was clearly not enough.

You do not even need to hear him to appreciate the fabulous voice once you've heard it!

Indeed, he was a terrific actor.

Hear hear !

where did he go?

@@ninibupu He died

@@ninibupu , died of cancer.

I like the other two actors in the scene. Karl and Theo, I think, having a parallel conversation as they have a wager riding on Takagi’s choice.

Yup. That's his way of saying, "I'm not fucking around," but non-verbally.

I hate that they made the "suppressor" look like a barrel plug- they could have bothered to at least make it look real.

It's a message/threat to Takagi "I don't care if anyone hears me shooting you, I am in control here"

I didn’t really catch that(don’t know that much about guns), really cool detail

Or perhaps , to quote Jack Nicholson, he " couldn't handle the truth ".

Even when John made him VERY angry by refusing to hand over the detonators, he only lost control for a fraction of a second. We were not expecting him to yell into the radio: "Talk to me! Where are my detonators?" Then he lowers his voice and we hear nothing but boiling rage that is STILL well reined in: "Where are they or shall I shoot another one?" Even Bruce WIllis played his reaction well. He looked lost, a piece of his humanity looked betrayed by Ellis' sudden execution. He could only half-whisper "Hans, go f* yourself." It showed to me that Han's very rare outburst caught John by surprise. It is so brief and chilling at the same time. Hans is still one of the scariest villains I've seen in the movies partly because he could easily be a real person, not some weird short guy directing GQ models in a space station like in the near-comedy "Moonraker."

Exceptional Thief

Arttisaprimus , yes similar to Hans landa

And so insulting that Simon agrees with McClane thinking he was an asshole, in Die Hard with a Vengeance

Polite, well spoken, cultured...yet every word he speaks drips with bored condensention and anoyed arrogance...and that is what makes him so captivating. Lovers of actiuon movies of those days didn't have the patience or attention span for slow speech, but Rickman ensared the people with his slow and deliberate performance.

"Benefits of a classical education"😄

@@benjaminwilliams1292 A great line. I forgot that one. Thx

He was Irish-Welsh

@@celtspeaksgoth7251 no he wasn't.. Alan Rickman is English.. Hans gruber was German

@@celtspeaksgoth7251 the irish one is his father

@@Sasso-pf1mo OP is technically right. Alan's mom was Welsh (came from the same town as Tom Jones) and his father was Irish.

His German accent was really good, but sadly when he actually spoke German it was grammatically wrong. The writers messed up on that part. "Karl, schieß dem Fenster" (Karl, shoot the window) sounds like a bad word by word google translation and honestly it sounds like they did a poor and lazy job. "Karl, zerschieß das Fenster" (Karl, shoot the window) would have been correct, or "Karl, schieß auf das Fenster" (Karl, shoot at the window). Or if they really wanted to stick with "Shoot the glass" then "Zerschieß die Scheibe" would have been better.

I shall adopt this naming of the tradition (have been performing this every year since maybe the mid-90s.. Goes back-to-back with Xmas Vacay.. always a fun night!), I just haven't had an official name for it. Thank you, kindly, sir..

Love it!

SPOILER ALERT!

And we did finally get to see Holly's watch.

For the record, the actor is phenomenal, but that "oh shiznit" look on his face when he falls? That was natural, cause the director let him drop like half a second earlier than he was expecting. A small, but very real part of him thought he could possibly be falling to his death.

Great call out. Just a well crafted, acted and executed movie.

I know that had to happen to advance the plot, but Holly’s look was so forced that Stevie Wonder would have spotted it.

@@fatfreddyscoat7564 You're not wrong, but it's how we all act as humans. We are constantly giving other people evidence about how we feel and think by what we choose to say or look at, but it's polite for us to usually ignore these things to not make people uncomfortable. Hans is the type of person to look for anything that might be a weakness in others, so of course the script makes sure we understand what he saw.

You are very perceptive

Yes and he throws a test question at her: "Mr Takagi chose his people well, Mrs...?" To which she cleverly replies "Gennaro...Miss. Gennaro" to conceal John.

His face and voice is so theatrical he could dial right back. I served him in a shop in 1992. Not enough to meet him but, he really looks like that.

I loved how he recognized the suit maker, complimenting it, with that snarky smile💕

Nicely put

Well said

Yes, your label, THE CARY GRANT of bad guys, is PERFECT. I love it and will share it with my BFF who's also a huge ALAN RICKMAN fan. 💕🌸

It was like a Bond villain was inserted into the movie. He was great RIP

Butter with nuts maybe, I always considered his voice to be raspy.

Jeremy Irons had a good follow-up as Hans baby brother (second best DH movie, imo), but it's like anyone playing Joker after Ledger... Fugheddaboutit

"Cut your heart out with a spoon!"

Yeah I really miss Alan too.

Snape wasn't a villain 😉

In Galaxy Quest Rickman is rather like Patrick Stewart. A classical actor who is more commonly known as Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the 'Enterprise' (D). As Dr Lazarus he hates reciting the things his Galaxy Quest character says to fans. Except in the moment when one of the Thermians, Quelleck is dying he recites his catch-phrase realising it is what will ease the passing of Quelleck. I like the ending. the crew's ship totally trashes the car-park at a convention and buries itself in the hall of the venue & everyone assumes this is some grand re-enactment.

Fuck cancer. He was an amazing actor..

I think it's a lot " less " without him.

It was the same for me with Robin Hood. My SO and I went into the movie as Kostner fans - it was only one year after Dances with Wolves, so it wasn't as absurd as it sounds now, after Water World and Postman. When we left, it had become the movie of the Sheriff and the other guy. Over the next weeks, we went back three times because of Rickman. Which may seem a bit obsessive but the first two times we watched a dubbed version. Only after that we heard Rickman's real voice acting and realized that he was undubbable. Even today I'm comfortable with watching most Hollywood blockbuster movies dubbed because frankly, most of their voice acting is replaceable. But then you have people like Alan Rickman, who'll make you drive past five theaters in three cities to watch it in a fifty-seats place with the acoustics of a living room to hear his voice.

@Leandro Aude German

@Leandro Aude I don't remember tbh, it's been far too long since I watched it. People who watch movies undubbed often hate on translations. Many translators and voice actors do a great job but what's almost always missing is some 'flavor': Like, if you have somebody with a British accent in an American production, this accent has meaning. Scotty in Star Treck or Lucifer Morningstar in Lucifer aren't the same without it. So in dubbed movies or series, many gangstas, posh criminals, boxers from the hood and the Queen etc. speak more similar compared to each other than in the original, which is offputting for people who know both. Having said that, there surely are some crappy translations, too.

Although Rickman was absolutely magnetic, I limped out of that theater as if I had bloodied feet and had been bashed about. I even commented to my friend, "What the hell am I doing?" I was so immersed in the John McLane role--it was the weirdest thing. Over beers afterward, conversation focused on McLane's fight scenes (half punching, half profanity, all New York), how he should have died a few times, and finally, who that awesome villain was.

​@@strangelic4234 His voice was absolutely unique and distinctive, deep, warm and so was the natural slow cadence of talking, lingering on nearly every word. The slow measured pace should be boring, but the exact opposite is true - it gives every word a carefully thought through meaning. Since the moment I first heard his real voice, he is the one actor I definitely can't stand to watch dubbed. A few weeks ago I was switching between channels and there was Die Hard and I literally cringed at the sound when Hans started to talk.

@@Kigoz4Life It's a Christmas movie

@@writtenimage5360 Hell muthafukin' right it is

@@writtenimage5360 they consider home alone a Christmas movie and to me it’s the same movie just made for kids

@@writtenimage5360 : One of the best. Alan was everything right about his portrayal of Hans Gruber. Bruce Willis was also remarkable as he brought his character to life. Amazingly, this movie propelled both actors to super stardom. I watch this move at least once a year around Christmas time.

James Spader is the guy you hire when you need somebody seeping sleaze from every pore of his being. He just feels very perverted in his roles even discounting his roles in some raunchy films.

That's the sign of a truly magnificent actor - to be adept at both comedy and drama, especially in the same role.

He's also funny in Truly, Madly, Deeply

He is absolutely hilarious in Galaxy Quest ..... but the "By Grabthar's Hammer" scene with his dying protege is dramatic acting at its finest. Incredible talent.

@@timwheeler8523 I quite enjoyed GQ, but the lead actor was so awful I've never felt the desire to watch it again.

I've always loved Alan Rickman, he of the dark chocolate soaked in whiskey voice. Interesting that a slight speech impediment made his voice one of the top male voices ever. I always felt weird wanting to cheer Hans on.

i think Bond films are generally overrated, there's never been a truly good Bond girl or a really good Bond villain, they are all just meh

@@holliswilliams8426 While most of the Bond villains have been a bit lackluster compared to other movie bad guys, I could not disagree with you more about the Bond ladies. There have been a plethora of amazing women in Bond films. Sure, many are quite cliché, but many others have stolen the show.

Alan Rickman was considered for Bond villain Alec Trevelyn in the 95 Bond film Goldeneye but turned the role down as was tired of playing villains at that point.

It's never too late!

@@alexmc69 Uhhhh about that...

That would've been really great to see. The only absolutely rubbish thing about Die Hard is that it feels like it ends so quickly.

I definitely could see him in Die Hard 3. By skipping him in DH2, it would have been like, an old enemy returns.

One of the best Christmas movies out there, along side Lethal Weapon!

Amen, you almost wish they had a re-vote about 10 years later for those who really stood the test of time and were not just a flash in the pan. Many winners would not even be nominated later. And of course many losers would then be the winners.

That's why it spawned a franchise that's lasted 30 years.

​@@dennisgannon Kind of like the veterans committee at the baseball hall of fame. :-) This is one of a handful of performances where an actor got flat out robbed and gave a performance for the ages that didn't even get a nomination, much less a win. Top of my list would be Alan Rickman in "Die Hard", Angela Lansbury in "The Manchurian Candidate", Yul Brynner in "The Ten Commandments", John Wayne in "The Searchers"" and Andy Griffith in "A Face in the Crowd". There are also a whole slew of Henry Fonda performances that would qualify- he didn't get an Oscar nomination between "The Grapes of Wrath" and "On Golden Pond".

And being that it's a Christmas movie and Christmas is almost here, you're likely to see it televised, referenced or pop up in popular weekly searches in streaming services.

When I first saw Die Hard as a kid, I confused Ellis with Hans because they look so similar. Now I see that they made Ellis out to be the crappy American knock-off version of Hans--a twitchy, delusional yuppie who has no idea how far out of his league he is. The way Ellis is introduced and how he talks and behaves is on the opposite side of the sophistication spectrum compared to Hans.

Both are horrible people and eillis would backstab and screw people to get ahead if he could. He just didn't have the balls or opportunity. Though Ellis is more the type to have others do the dirty work for him so could think of himself as better than most criminals.

"Yes you're very perceptive, you've figured it all out" is the funniest line in the movie

It also shows the difference in cockiness between McClane and Ellis. McClane has an assuredness he's earned through toughing it out as a cop. He's not much of a talker, but he's had to learn to read people as a matter of life and death. Ellis is used to dealing snakes like himself who are only out to obtain and horde wealth. His assuredness is that he believes he's a top-tier talker. McClane says it himself when he says "Hans, this shithead doesn't know what kind of man you are, but I do." I love the minute Ellis realises he's out of his depth and a goner. His smile fades, he laughs nervously and gets one last drink in. Hart Bochner nailed it.

Ellis is also coked out of his head

More...

John Phillips London

Sheriff of Nottingham: "Locksley, I’ll cut your heart out with a spoon!" Guy of Gisborne: "Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an ax?" Sheriff of Nottingham: "Because it’s DULL, you twit. It’ll hurt more." Funniest moment ever! Exquisite comedic delivery!!!! 🤣🤣🤣

@@Cyborganna 👍👍👍

"CUL-OSE THE GEEE-YATE!"

Alan Rickman as Alexander Dane = beyond perfection :)

"And call off Christmas!" 🤣🤣🤣

Irons does a hell of a job though. I love DH3, I really do. It has an amazing fleshed out world with great little characters…until the stupid set pieces start. But the build up to the heist is amazing. It all goes to hell when he gets flushed out of a manhole, though. Lol

@@kyucklebeans Well it would have been hard for them to have lightning strike twice but DH3 is still a very good movie - if you ask me that is.

The Diehard sequels were a complete rip off.The industry was simply slashing the pockets of the audience ; what was required was an equally sophisticated, thrilling plot; what we got were weak scripts and bigger louder bangs. It is as if Hollywood has banned intelligent plots and smart dialogue.

@@bedstuyrover Die Hard 2, yes. Total waste of time

They could have pulled of any trick save him but maybe some didn't want this

This

One confesses a vulgar love for the "cowboy" heroics. But Rickman's performance makes it high tone.

Not him alone. There were masterful performances by Bruce Willis (who else could have played that part?) the gal who played his ex-wife, whose reactions were riveting, the dirt bag who gets killed by thinking he can negotiate with Rickman, and the guy who played Mr. Tagachi (sp?) The other crooks were great, too. this was a real ensemble, and the direction was top shelf. I suspect the director did some theatre work before doing films.

It is also a Christmas movie >:D

@@joemarshall4226 don't leave out the reporter.

he's the protagonist in this movie

What a rare treat. Rickman will ALWAYS be the actor who should've been cast as Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. Like the book, he would've been subdued, ambiguous, charismatic, leashed and mysterious. Not disrespecting Viggo (well, I kinda am), but Aragorn deserved to have depth and timeless command. But also the sort of tender devotion he displayed in Truly Madly Deeply.

Truly Madly Deeply is the only film I have ever walked out of. It put me off Rickman basically till the poor guy died.

Rickman as Aragorn? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Aragorn is more brash in the books, Viggo and Peter Jackson made him thoughtful and subdued

John Phillips; London

Yep well said....He played Gruber without the makeup......Genius

Later he is shown writing in the notebook and I've always wondered what he possibly could have been recording.

The notebook is probably empty with nothing in it because he thought strutting around with it in that intimidating way would be such a boss move.

Yes! He looks like a preacher tending to his flock

the notebook also lets everyone know he is the man with (both figuratively and literally) the plan

I think that's the key to all the best villains. Jon Doe in 7, Darth Vader, Joker or Commodus all believed and felt perfectly justified in what they were doing and saw the hero as a the villain. Like they were creating art that only they understood.

@@grinningchicken Well put - creating art that only they understood. But even on a more earthy level, it's what life is about. Those who go against us and hurt us have their own reasons for it, and it makes sense to them. It might even make sense when viewed objectively. And shoplifters or burglars or people who embezzle thousands from their workplaces all feel perfectly justified, because it benefits them, after all.

Kind of how he elevated the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. He starts off cool and controlling, but becomes increasingly manic as his plans are continually foiled by Robin. "Call off Christmas" was his best over-the-top lines.

Something that Michael Madsen said in an interview “you’ve got to find the humanity in a villain”

Excellent point, "Everyone is the hero in their own movie." In that perspective, he's doing what's right because he feels he's in the right.

Yes! He really stood out in Robin Hood, far above any others performance. Heard that ol’ Kevin Costner asked for some of Alan’s lines to be cut because he feared he was being over-shadowed. Yes, you were being eclipsed by a real actor. Sheriff of Nottingham: “You my room, 10:30 tonight. You, 10:45. And bring a friend.” 😂😂

Yes, I detested and feared him in that!

"I'm gonna cut your heart out with a spoon"...I watched it so many times!

Cancel Christmas

"because it's dull, it will hurt more!" 🤣

You do know you can compliment men without being gay, right?

A good point on his speaking. Reminds me of Hugo Weaving as the Matrix's Agent Smith. Enunciates every single syllable!! Masterful!

And Christopher Lee.

Yes! So many movies these days don't have that precise diction, I want to rewind it to hear it again. With Alan Rickman, you always hear it clearly.

The difference between a fluent speaker of English and a native speaker of English is that the native speaker will inevitably "slur" in the sense of blending words together and using weak forms. A fluent non-native speaker will speak very precisely, like Hans Gruber, betraying his foreignness. Hans as the "American hostage" tries to use a sloppy and unrefined voice and accent, but can't help but still enunciate, subconsciously cluing John in to his ruse. Hans is not as smart as he thinks he is, be it in his accent, his citing a classical education when using a popular misquote of classical literature, or his failure to account for one man on the inside of the building being able to evade him and ultimately get the upper hand. The only thing more satisfying than seeing an American "cowboy" best a European intellectual is seeing the cowboy beat a European poseur, one who's read more Time and Reader's Digest than Plutarch and Nietzsche. Hans' air of precision and superiority ultimately crumbles in the face of a seasoned officer of the law, a man who's had more experience dealing with criminal activity than Hans - the "exceptional thief" - has.

I have many German relatives who do the same thing, even more so than other non-native speakers. English is very similar to English, but almost no silent letters, so it's also part of Rickman's shockingly good fake German accent.

'Rickman uses the gun with his left hand. In every other shot where he's holding the gun, it's in his right hand.' - Well spotted. I didn't notice that.

It looked really smooth for being his off hand - it made me wonder if he was ambidextrous! My husband's family have people who are able to use both hands, so I notice weird things like "wait, wasn't he right handed earlier?"

@@jenenglert2828 My older brother Glenn is ambidextrous. At a restaurant once when we were in high school, he ate with his left hand until he saw someone at another table point it out to his tablemates. Then he switched to his right hand to confuse them.

@@AmericanActionReport my husband's dad would do certain things left handed, also an older brother uses their left for batting and a couple other things. My son, who is non-verbal and autistic, will sign certain things with one hand, and other things with the other. No reason that we can figure out. It's so interesting to me, who fumbles around with my dominant hand!

He was a theatre actor for a while before TV and film.

Willis is a key part of it though, you need that counterweight to Rickman, and he's perfect for it.

Great villains tend to have layers. They start calm and rational and end as depraved wrecks of their former selves. Hans had a great plan that hinged on knowing how his primary enemy (LAPD and FBI) would operate and he was even able to adapt into unexpected situations. He definitely has established some degree of loyalty and professionalism in his quite motley crew that goes beyond paying them well.

@@vksasdgaming9472 How the crew interacts with each other is one of the things that makes the movie special. They do a convincing job of making it look like they've worked together for a while and have a strong rapport, and that Gruber is a good leader who pushes his people, but also takes care of them.

@@davidward2651 There definitely doesn't look to be much internal tensions between them. Biggest strife within is between Hans and Karl and there is very strong reason for Karl not being as disciplined as he should be, but even then he doesn't question Hans' plan or challenge his leadership. Personal guess is that Gruber had planned Nakatomi heist as his Final Big Score before retiring to South-American silence. He doesn't seem inept manager and most likely pays agreed share (or lump sum) as that is professional. Karl provides leadership while Hans does the plans and keeps focus. If Gruber would have just grabbed the loot after he blew up the roof he had chance of escaping. Forcing new confontration with McClane was unnecessary risk and villains plans tend to break when they do so.

It wasn't acting then, was it?

@@OrangeDog20 lol yeah Loki totally undermines his own point. Such a great actor that they had to trick his ass with a fake countdown! I just think he wanted to prove he remembered that BTS nugget in the special edition DVD

What is so great about him having been ‘dropped’ before the actually 3 count, is that he stayed in character and didn’t lose his professionalism.

That was when he broke his leg too.

He did the same to Kevin Costner in his Robin Hood remake.

@@bigyin2794 He STOLE that film from Costner.

It belongs to both of them, the role didn't turn Willis into a superstar for no reason.

​@bigyin2794 why a spoon cousin? Alan rickman and Michael wincott my 2 favourite villans 👌

Yes, and while I like Kline, Rickman’s performance was just brilliant and as it turns out, timeless as well.

When I watched that movie couple of weeks ago I was stunned by his performance and was totally not surprised to see him as Snake in Harry Potter but really disappointed he didn't make more movies

@@cherchehacknostale Snape, not Snake lol.

@@cherchehacknostale It was a very romantic performance.

That was another one of his great performances. Bottle Shock, Quigley Down Under, Galaxy Quest... No matter the sort of role he played, he always gave his best, and that was very good indeed.

and of course, James Mason along with Vincent Price

I’d had Anthony Hopkins in there as Lecter as well. Why do the British make good bad guys?

@@dawnguard6472 It's the subtility and the juxtaposition of wrongdoing and perceived refinement. No amount of shouting, violence and pointing weapons can compare to a cool, collected voice in Her Majesty's English telling you in intimate detail how the future will unravel.

@@dawnguard6472 I think the reason brits make such good villains is due to our dryer sense of humor, over the course of our lifetimes even your everyday brit has mastered the ability to say apparently outlandish evil-sounding things but in a calm serious manner and that same delivery has many cross over skills for playing a cinema villain.

Quite frankly, the sequels to Die Hard could never match up to the original simply because their villains weren't up to the standards of the truly terrifying Hans Gruber. Kudos to Rickman for bringing this mastermind to life.

If you're writing a script and you want a bone chilling villain, name him Hans! Hans Gruber! Hans Landa! Can't go wrong when the bad guy is in good Hans!

Agreed. I also think there was a missed opportunity when they had cigarettes. John should have realized they were European cigarettes and gotten a clue.

@@kirnpu i think he did, hence he played along. the stepped on cigarette was part of this..

@@kirnpu “Oops, no bulllllets. You think I’m fucking stupid, Hans?” He knew lol

I think he knew all along....

Mason was a huge influence on Rickman.

Damn, you're on to something. Add to that the suave gait and posture of his henchman Leonard played by Martin Landau.

Good comparison.

Well I agree Hans is a truly great villain and Alan Rickman had a huge hand in making the movie the classic it is but without Bruce Willis as John McClane Hans has no hero to play off of and even more importantly there wouldn't be a movie. Both Hans and John McClane and their insane chemistry together as foes make Die Hard the icon it is. You can praise Alan Rickman without dissing Bruce Willis lol.

Alan Rickman is the reason I keep watching Die Hard!

Agree. I only rewatch that movie because of Alan.

Alan Rickman is the main reason I watch this movie but Bruce Willis does great as well and both play off each other really well. I also like the character of that cop that McClane talks to on the radio, that and some of the humour is the little touches that add to the movie and lets not forget the one in the limo, forgot his name lol.

If there was an 'NCAA style' tournament of 'Baddies'.. Hans is in the Final 4 for sure.. Only other person I can for sure put there is Vader (old Vader.. from back in the day.. you know which one I mean...)

I was just looking for this comment. It is so telling (and such great performance) that the only thing that could crack Gruber's facade is to call him ordinary ('common'). His callous narcissism is on full display for those two seconds. And is swiftly put back behind the mask.

It might be a bit of a cliche but, when done well, this is my favourite sort of villain: the one who’s facade gradually cracks as things go more and more wrong. It humanizes them even more and, when done to a villain who is *already* really compelling, elevates them just that much more than if they were either a.) inhumanly confident and on top of things the whole time or b.) psycho and scary the whole time.

I don't think he does lose it in that moment. His plan is gone, he's extemporising, thinking on the move, he corrects her, telling her that there is nothing common about the heist he is pulling off, and when he does so his voice is controlled, this man has exceptional restraint, shown by his follow-up comment. He's still smart enough to tell her, in an amusing way, that he's still in charge and she's still in deep shit. "...and since I'm moving up to kidnapping you should be more polite." The only time he "loses it" is when, in exasperation, he has to tell the German Karl in English to shoot the glass because Karl has utterly failed to understand "sheiss dem fenster". That last paragraph is entirely my opinion and I use "lose it" in a fairly light way. You can practically hear him sigh to himself when he has to switch to English, as if to say "what the hell is wrong with you? Do you even German?" (Admittedly, I understood it because my German sucks) Personally, I think Gruber keeps it together throughout the film, which makes him an even more enjoyable villain. He doesn't take out every setback on one of his underlings or blame them for the jerk who is busy ruining his brilliant plan. He just keeps on finding ways to keep moving forward.

@@aaronleverton4221 ...

@@personalsigh !!!

I've always seen Gruber as more the hero than the scruffy little fat-boy.

Also juxtaposed Kevin Costner's Robin Hood as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. I dare say that Rickman actually saved that movie.

@@joelellis7035 I would not go so far as to say he 'saved' that execrable film, but he made it more bearable. Costner sucks the life out of everything.

@@davidmorgan6896 Only role I could stand Costner in were when he was the bad guy.

@@davidmorgan6896 Willis' McClain character was in shape so I'm not sure what you mean by 'fat-boy'. While we wanted him to win but still loved the performance of Gruber, I don't think we'd necessarily jump off the deep end regarding our admiration for Rickman's performance and say that the people in the movie who are very clearly terrorists, should win.

Yet even though he was very surprised by them having done that, he stayed in character and didn’t blow that scene.

its been a christmas tradition of mine to watch Die Hard because it really is that good ... and Rickman totally destroys the role

Metatron in Dogma.

Galaxy Quest!

@@joelellis7035 He was great in that role too.

Rasputin!

No. It’s *the* best ever Christmas movie.