is also known for its sense of humor, and while some of it is of the typically Schwarzenegger-ish gallows variety—after a bad guy taunts McClane by saying, “Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don’t hesitate,” McClane shoots him dead and says, “Thanks for the advice”—the entire movie has a mild satirical undercurrent that criticizes the very genre conventions it satisfies. McClane's “Yippee-kayyay, motherfucker!” is such a resonant, funny punchline because of its context: the conversation that leads up to McClane’s first utterance of that catchphrase, in which Gruber accuses McClane of being “another orphan of a bankrupt culture who thinks he’s John Wayne, Rambo, or Marshal Dillon.
” McClane never directly engages this point—indeed, he seems to proudly affirm the truth of Gruber's taunts. But his response--that he was always partial to Roy Rogers--becomes a running gag throughout the film. McClane even adopts "Roy" as his handle during radio conversations with Powell.
Amid its typically busy strings and blaring horns, even Michael Kamen’s musical score has hints of this kind of humor. Its seemingly incidental use of a guitar gives certain moments--a rooftop shootout; the scene where Al reveals his troubled past to McClane--a Western-like flavor. At other points, it uses Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" to both ominous (when Hans and co.
are driving into the Nakatomi garage in a truck) and celebratory (when Hans is eyeing the money vault before and after it is successfully opened) effects—it's as if the soundtrack is inviting us to share in the bad guys' sense of wonder at their jackpot. Kamen's score—which includes repeated snatches of "Let It Snow" as well as sleighbells to emphasize the Christmastime setting—plays an important role in clarifying both the film's sense of humor and sense of drama. But the film’s mocking sense of humor is most apparent in its treatment of the three buffoonish law enforcement characters: Deputy Chief Dwayne Robinson (the late Paul Gleason) and the two FBI Johnsons (Robert Davi and Grand L.
These three characters are often considered the most problematic aspects of ; in 1988, Roger Ebert dismissed the whole movie as a “mess” simply on the basis of what he thought was Dwayne Robinson’s needless stupidity. But these three are actually representations of the macho mindset run amok. Robinson is too impatient to try to sit and wait for verified information about the situation—he immediately begins to suspect that McClane might simply be a terrorist pulling their legs—so he rashly decides to risk the lives of the hostages by trying to penetrate into the sealed building.
Later on, the two FBI Johnsons hatch a surprise plan that will “lose 20-25% of the hostages, tops,” the possibility of which doesn’t seem to bother them at all. “Kickass,” utters Robinson when he’s told the SWAT team is ready go in. “Just like fucking Saigon, eh, slick?
” cries Special Agent Johnson, riding in a gunship en route to snipe at McClane on the roof. ("I was in junior high, dickhead," his partner replies.) Compared to McClane, who is more concerned with saving the hostages, these three characters, despite their well-dressed appearances, are too eager to take out the bad guys, and either end up dead or discredited as a result of their excessive zeal.
Excessive zeal also infects Richard Thornburg, the slimy TV reporter played by William Atherton. Thornburg is a variation on the Hollywood macho-movie mindset embodied more obviously by the three law-enforcement buffoons: in his relentless pursuit of the news, he shows almost no interest in treating his interview subjects as human beings, only as a means to get the story. Perhaps one could extend this argument to suggest that his character is a commentary on one of the more unfortunate hallmarks of modern action films: the tendency to give humanity the shaft in favor of staging another big explosion or upping the brutal violence quotient.
Don't get me wrong: for all its sense of humor about itself and its genre trappings, is also known for its sense of humor, and while some of it is of the typically Schwarzenegger-ish gallows variety—after a bad guy taunts McClane by saying, “Next time you have a chance to kill someone, don’t hesitate,” McClane shoots him dead and says, “Thanks for the advice”—the entire movie has a mild satirical undercurrent that criticizes the very genre conventions it satisfies.
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