Die Hard with Wine

Yippie-Ki-Yay Mother F#&$ers and thank you so much for joining us for our Nakatomi Staff Party, festive screening of 'Die Hard with Wine' at The Crescent Theatre on Wednesday.

If you got out safely then that means John's cousin Tony McClane hasn't lost his touch just yet and you were saved from the grasp of Gruber and his henchman.

Read on for details on all the wines from the evening, our gallery of photos, and a bunch of trivia.

Jingle those bell Ladies and Gentlemen, jingle those bells. Merry Christmas!!

As promised, these are the wines we enjoyed ...

Wine Hard

Graham Beck, Cap Classique, South Africa - Majestic £16.99 (£11.99 mixed six)

Known as 'The President's Choice' after it was served at Barrack Obama's presidential win and Nelson Mandela's inauguration, this Champagne style South African Sparkling is perfect for a Christmas morning.

Sturmwolken Dry Riesling, Pfalz, Germany - Sainsbury's £7.50

This fresh, zesty Riesling will stand up well to your Christmas Lunch. A perfect foil to cranberry sauce, pigs in blankets, turkey, veggies and rich gravy and a departure from the traditional Chardonnay pairing.

Bauer Mayr Zweigelt, Austria - Majestic £11.99 (£8.99)

If the traditional pairing for Christmas lunch is Pinot Noir then this is a fantastic twist. Another light red, slightly more body than Pinot Noir, the grape is also known as Rot-burger. It is a cross of St Laurent & Blaufrankish grapes. Red fruits on the nose, juicy black fruits and violet on the palate.

Bread & Butter Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, California, USA - Majestic £15.99 (£9.99)

Enjoying beef or goose on Christmas Day? .. this is the one. Bolder, more intense than the last red but still smooth and easy drinking. Vanilla, and dark fruits on the nose, blackcurrant, black pepper and coffee on the palate. Smooth, mellow and juicy.

No.1 Reserve Tawny Port - Symington Family - Waitrose £13.99

Aged for seven years in barrel, then bottled for sale. Nectar in a glass, deliciously smooth, mellow and fruity with flavours of ripe figs, raisins, butterscotch and toasted nuts.

Great with Christmas pudding, cheese or even on its own!

Yippie-Ki Gallery

Yippie-Ki Trivia

Some highlights from our movie trivia ...

Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

Yippie-Ki YAY or Yippie-Ki-NAY?

The NAY say:

• Whilst it is set at Christmas, that is not sufficient, it's not integral to the plot.

• It's just an action movie set at Christmas.

• Not marketed as a Christmas movie.

• Even released in the Summer!

The YAY say:

• So many references to Christmas in the movie: It takes place at a Christmas party, there's Santa hats, Christmas trees, Hohohos, a Christmas theme tune, three other Christmas songs in the movie.

• More Christmas music than 99% of films over the last 30 years

• It takes place over 12 hours. Which ones? The 12 hours leading to Christmas.

• McClane is only in LA because of Christmas, trying to rekindle his marriage because it's Christmas, the timing of the robbery is because it’s Christmas (hostages & Police less active).

• White Christmas features just one scene at Christmas but all of Die Hard’s are at Christmas.

Still not convinced? Check out Stephen Follow's detailed study: https://stephenfollows.com/using-data-to-determine-if-die-hard-is-a-christmas-movie/

• Rickman nearly turned down the role of Hans Gruber. He was appalled at the idea of his first movie role would be playing a villain in an action movie. Rickman enjoyed a great career but often ended up playing the bad guy!

• On the other hand, it was Willis' favourite role.

• Willis received a then unheard of $5 fee, personally approved by Rupert Murdoch.

• Our all-American hero is actually more German than most of the villains. Rickman was English, Alexander Godunov was Russian. Willis born 1955, in West Germany to an American father and a German mother.

• Rickman jumped off a 3 foot ledge on the first day and injured himself. He was on crutches for a week and the first scene between Gruber & McClane he spent on one leg with a leg brace under his trousers.

• The Nakatomi Plaza was a cheap set as it was the 20th Century HQ so they could do what they wanted to it. They actually paid rent to themselves. This was all helped by the fact that the building was unfinished at the time.

• Jeb Stuart whilst writing the screenplay, toured the building and incorporated many elements of it directly into the script.

• The costume department had 17 vests in various states of degradation for Willis to wear.

• A vest was donated to the Smithsonian Museum and the movie was designated for preservation by the Library of Congress in 2017 for being ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant’.

• The majority of exterior shots of building showing explosions were real, full-scale explosions set off in and around the building. One caused Willis to lose 2/3rds of his hearing in his left ear and he still wears a hearing aid as a result.

• In German version ‘terrorists’ names are anglicised and made Irish activists.

• Die Hard translates really badly in other languages – Hard to kill or dies slowly, so in Spain it was called Crystal Jungle, in French Piege de Cristal, in Poland ‘The Glass Trap’.

• Lots of the script was improvised, including the line by American turncoat Harry Ellis ‘Hans Bubba’ .. the delayed response & quizzical look by Rickman is genuine.

• Willis was known for comedy hit Moonlighting at the time. In trailers people thought it must be a comedy so they removed Willis from the posters until became a hit and changed them back.

• The action was planned to take place over three days but, inspired by Shakespeare, they decided to make it take place over a single night like, a Midsummer Night’s Dream

• When adapting the book Nothing Lasts Forever, Jeb Stuart was inspired to weave in the element of John and his wife trying to reunite after having a fight, by him having an argument with his wife and then having a car accident in LA. He worried that they might never have been able to say sorry to each other and how important it is to reconcile differences with those you love.

• Were Gruber and Co. terrorists or bank robbers? McTiernan made them robbers to create a lighter plot.

• When John runs through glass he’s actually wearing rubber feet.

• Yippie-Ki-Yay motherfu**ers is no.96 in the top 100 movie quotes of all time. From a song about a cowboy in the 1936 movie 'Rhythm on the Range', sung by Bing Crosby. It’s a retort, well, the first bit is!

• Reginald Vel Johnson (Sgt Al Powell) is often given Twinkies wherever he's recognised.

Thank you!

We look forward to welcoming you back to another of our events very soon but why not check out our website or sign up to our monthly mailing list to find out about new events first:

www.thewineeventscompany.com

Merry Christmas from Tony and the Wine Events Co Crew