What Christmas Eve at Nakatomi Plaza means in today's world
Merry Christmas from the O'Leary Review
“Hans … Bubby … I’m your White Knight.”
It’s the Christmas season and it is time to revisit old friends.
Usually I do that in person, but since our cultural and governmental betters have rendered simple human interaction a terrible inconvenience over the last several years, I am currently doing my visits via email and text and phone.
I don’t fly commercially at this point and most of my friends are elsewhere, so I have little human contact with the outside world.
What I do get to do is: I get to see old friends in old movies. Sports movies, Christmas movies, you name it.
As is tradition around the holidays, we started watching the 1988 Christmas classic, Die Hard, a few nights ago.
I got to see my old buddy, NYPD detective John McClane, battle some terrorists and save the day and (temporarily) save his marriage and his family.
Die Hard is one of those flicks that is always good, whether you’re watching 5 minutes or the whole shebang.
The viewer can get to know a decent amount of McClane’s biography from just watching the film series. I, for one, have seen the first film scores of times, the second one dozens of times, and the third quite a few. Like I said, McClane is now an old buddy of mine.
Yet, the charm somewhat lapsed when they brought out films 4 and 5. I recall seeing those final two installments only one time each. Deuterocanonical films perhaps?
Importantly, the original film became the standard by which all post-1988 action films are judged. The movie flipped the genre.
We’ve got a fish-out-of-water cop in McClane who’s just hopped a bird from New York to L.A. to try and save what’s left of his family.
McClane is a wiseacre and certainly anti-authoritarian at his foundation—somewhat of a walking contradiction.
He chain-smokes but he’s phenomenally fit. He’s a no-nonsense NYPD detective, but at his core a vigilante, even a reluctant hero. One of the best characters in movie history.
Bruce Willis, who portrayed the cinematic McClane was “in shape” in those days. He probably wasn’t sucking down the flaxseed oil or caking on the arthritis cream like fellow 80s action stars like Sly and Arnie.
Yet, Bruno worked the heaters pretty hard in those days. Not uncommon. Willis said of his John McClane character, “He’s an ordinary guy who’s been thrown into extraordinary circumstances.” I’ll say.
Though it is somewhat controversial to say it, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Takes place on Christmas Eve.
There we go…debate settled.
But let’s briefly talk anachronisms in the blockbuster.
The fake security guard at Nakatomi, who looks eerily like Huey Lewis, is watching a Notre Dame v USC football game. Classic rivalry, about as classic as you’re going to get as far as intersectional rivalries go.
However, they would never play on Christmas Eve.
The Fightin’ Irish and the Trojans indeed play every year, yet those contests are typically held in October in Indiana or November (usually Thanksgiving weekend) in Southern California.
Historically, they have never re-matched later in the season. Theoretically, though, they could have, with a bowl like the Aloha Bowl or the Freedom Bowl that may have been played on Christmas Eve. They didn’t.
It was stock footage…sports fans know these things.
More sports…
The lead computer terrorist, Theo, one of if not the only American, starts talking hoops. The Showtime Lakers fast break.
[Karl and Theo pull up in their car and come through the revolving door]
Theo : So Kareem rebounds, right? Feeds Worthy on the break, over to A.C., to Magic, then back to Worthy! Right?
[Karl shoots and kills the desk guard with a perfectly timed aim]
Theo : BOOM! Two points!
[Theo jumps over the desk and pushes the guard's body down, then grabs his walkie-talkie]
Theo : We're in.
Good clip, other than the original security guard getting clipped in the forehead.
But there was a problem. The way Theo describes it, by the time they drop the bucket, the Lake Show had really settled into their half-court set. Kareem to Worthy to A.C.—and we love A.C. Green on this program…native Portlander and Oregon State Beaver—to Magic (?) and then back to Worthy (?) who then scores…
Too many passes. Plus, 4 out of 5 guys touching the ball, with the point guard, Magic Johnson, as the 4th touch of the break. No. Didn’t happen. Show me a clip of this and I may recant my testimony.
I want to get back to our hero, John McClane. He takes the bull by the horns.
There is no better example of leadership.
The feckless cops and the arrogant FBI agents try to take charge of the situation, but they do it by bullying their way into the situation at hand. The barefooted, tanktopped McClane galivants Nakatomi Plaza from floor to unoccupied floor.
At first McClane doesn’t have a plan, then he develops one in crisis. He is aggressive in executing the plan. He is resolutely a man of character throughout the whole saga.
Most importantly, McClane knows how to adjust. He is physically and mentally tough enough to follow through on his plan and execute his adjustments to said plan.
McClane is a tortured soul. We don’t know much about the details regarding his marriage. We’re left to assume that both he and his wife have contributed to the strife. What we’re not sure about is who is more to blame. McClane thinks it is him—but can’t really figure out why—and comes out to the coast to get together and have a few laughs with the missus.
Within a few scant hours of his arrival at LAX and Ms. Gennero’s (aka Mrs. McClane) company Christmas party, he finds himself crawling through HVAC ductwork, soon equating his plight with that of a Swanson Hungry-Man.
McClane is a crack shot. Has the ability to think and react on the fly, all without the help of all the “helping class” of people. One guy on the outside, Sergeant Al Powell of the LAPD, believes in him.
One guy is all you really need.
Spoiler alert: McClane thwarts the terrorist attack and saves the day.
Sgt. Powell loved the “convenience” of the AM/PM store. To say he was a fan of Hostess Twinkies would also be a tremendous understatement. (Regular gasoline at the attached ARCO station was 74 9/10 ¢ at the time of filming, by the way.)
A helper and a hero that Al Powell. Getting the Twinkies for a pregnant wife 😂 and looking out for an anonymous hero he knew was probably a cop too.
Convenience stores are helpful insofar as they are convenient. You can get all sorts of goodies at a decent price very quickly. Good stop on the way home.
Sgt. Powell may not have realized it, but his trip to the AM/PM was a study in economics. “Human action,” in other words.
“Human action is purposeful behavior. Or we may say: Action is will put into operation and transformed into an agency, is aiming at ends and goals, is the ego's meaningful response to stimuli and to the conditions of its environment, is a person's conscious adjustment to the state of the universe that determines his life.
- Ludwig von Mises, Human Action
You probably never learned that in school, did you?
But you probably did “learn” about the "nutrition facts" on the Twinkies.
What if I told you that history or economics could be easier to understand than the gobbledygook on Al Powell’s Twinkie wrapper?
Like a Twinkie draws Al Powell to the AM/PM, if you have a craving for knowledge, you can go to right on over to Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom.
My friend Tom Woods started the premier “dashboard university” on the Internet more than a decade ago. You can “attend” classes while sitting at your computer, on the couch, or driving in your car. It’s that easy.
Classes start whenever you want them to! Download the audio OR video lectures at your convenience and start learning.
If you want or need to know more about libertarian thought, Liberty Classroom is for you.
Fantastic economists like Bob Murphy and accomplished historians such as Brion McClanahan, Kevin Gutzman, and Brad Birzer make up only part of the faculty.
Ol’ Woods—a Harvard grad with a Master’s and Doctorate from Columbia—is also on faculty. No slouch, himself.
Now, if you’ve procrastinated in your gift-giving so far, save face with your family member or friend and buy a membership to Liberty Classroom.
There’s still time…you’ve got until Hans falls 30 floors to his death!
Don’t be like Hans Gruber.
Be like Sgt. Al Powell.
Enjoy your Twinkies, sure, but do your best to become better-educated with Tom Woods and the people he trusts at Liberty Classroom.
Without an educated Al Powell knowing his stuff, there is no John McClane beating the terrorists, and without John McClane beating the terrorists, Christmas sucks.
Yippee-ki-yay...
Merry Christmas!
Brian O’Leary