Die Hard (film series) reunite with separated wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) in Los Angeles at her company's Christmas party. Holly left to pursue her career with their two children, and uses her maiden name. At the fictional Nakatomi Plaza, East German terrorists break in and take the celebrants hostage. McClane escapes detection and hides throughout the building. He kills off the gang and learns their real plan, to steal $640 million in bearer bonds from the building's vault. In the finale, McClane shoots the terrorist leader, Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman), out the window to fall thirty stories. It was released on July 15, 1988
Die Hard of American History at the Smithsonian Institution. "Die Hard" established what would be a common formula for action films over the next decade, featuring a lone everyman against a colorful terrorist character in an isolated setting. Several of these films followed this formula were often referred to as ""Die Hard" on a _____", such as "Under Siege" (1992, ""Die Hard" on a battleship"), "Passenger 57" (1992, ""Die Hard" on a plane") and "Speed" (1994, ""Die Hard" on a bus"). Such a trend would continue until films like "The Rock" (1996, also dubbed ""Die Hard" on an island") changed the tone