Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and
written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza. It stars Bruce Willis
(pictured), Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia. Based
on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, Die Hard
follows New York City police detective John McClane (Willis) who is
caught up in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper. Filming
took place in 1987 and 1988, on a $25–35 million budget. Reviews were
mixed, but Die Hard became the year's highest-grossing action film. It
received four Academy Award nominations, elevated Willis to leading-man
status and made Rickman a celebrity. It is now considered one of the
greatest action films. It revitalized the genre, largely due to its
depiction of McClane as a vulnerable and fallible protagonist. "Die
Hard" became a shorthand for plots in which a hero battles in a
restricted environment. It was selected for preservation in the National
Film Registry in 2017.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1862:
American Civil War: Robert Smalls escaped from slavery by
commandeering the CSS Planter and sailing it from Confederate-
controlled waters to the Union blockade.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smalls>
1909:
The first edition of the Giro d'Italia began in Milan, with
Italian cyclist Luigi Ganna becoming the eventual winner.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giro_d%27Italia>
1958:
Algerian War: A group of French military officers led a coup in
Algiers, demanding the formation of a government to defend French
control of Algeria.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_1958_crisis_in_France>
2005:
Uzbek Interior Ministry and State Security Service troops fired
at protesters in Andijan, killing between 187 and 1,500 people.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andijan_massacre>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
slip-up:
(idiomatic) A (small) error or mistake; a (minor) misstep.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slip-up>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
I felt that I had done my duty. Nothing drove me now. I had run
out of causes and was as close as I might ever be to peace. With all
this behind me, I felt that if I had to die now, it was all right. I
would not protest quite so loudly as I would have at any other time.
--The Courts of Chaos
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Chronicles_of_Amber#The_Courts_of_Chaos_%281978%29>
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