While we might like to think of Die Hard as this perfect film, there are some mistakes that we have to point out.
If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs! Plus, it’s just fun to see that even the most professional people in Hollywood can make mistakes.
1. Breaking The Same Window Twice
When the terrorists launch the rocket launcher at the RV, they break the same window of the building twice.
Perhaps this window was also taking a stand against Hans Gruber and his goons.
2. The Cameraman In The First Christmas Party Scene
In the scene where Takagi steps out to greet his guests for the first time, you can see the shadow of a cameraman right next to the orchestra.
Oh, it’s okay, don’t help, just film.
3. The Not So Dead Guy
When Hans sees the first dead guy (“Now I have a machine gun – HO HO HO!”) Hans pushes his head and it moves before the German can even touch it.
4. Walking Into A Wall
When the terrorists (except Karl and Theo) are walking into the building from downstairs, the camera cuts a moment before one of them can walk into a wall!
Whether or not he actually does, we’ll never know.
5. Blocking The Street
When Powell calls in the cops, you can see that they come and are blocking both sides of the street.
However, when McClane is going down the building, you see the street traffic and none of them are cops.
6. The Name “GENNARO”
When Bruce is looking at the touch screen to find out where his wife is, he presses the name “GENNARO.”
But once it refreshes it corrects the name to “GENNERO”.
7. Holly’s Breasts
As Hans is talking to Holly as she sits on the floor, every time the camera cuts from him to her more of her cleavage is revealed.
Wonder why they did that…
8. Bruce Willis’ Fake Feet
During shooting, Bruce Willis wore fake feet for obvious reasons.
In the scene where the FBI shoots at him and he jumps to a lower level of the roof, you can see them slipped over his ankles.
9. The Lack Of An Ambulance
In the scene where the terrorists pull up to the building, we see the rental van they pull up in, but not the ambulance they planned to get away in.
This was because the ambulance was a late addition.
10. The Blood On Holly’s Face
When Alan Rickman is shot and falls out the window, he grabs onto Holly’s watch.
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She has blood on her face when the camera is on her, but when it cuts back to her, there’s no blood.
11. The Green Shirt
When Bruce Willis comes out of the air duct, his shirt goes from white to green.
This could have been explained due to the goop in the duct, but the green color is everywhere, including places it couldn’t have been.
12. The Terrorist’s Neck
When John and the terrorist fall down the stairs, you hear the snap of the terrorist’s neck.
He should be dead, but when you see him at the bottom, his corpse is still breathing.
13. The Orchestra Disappears
At the beginning of the party, there’s an orchestra. Even when Hans enters for the first time, there’s an orchestra.
However, later in the movie, the orchestra is nowhere to be found.
14. Powell’s “Desk Job”
Powell says in the beginning that he has a desk job, and yet he is driving a cruiser.
An officer with a desk job would not be issued a cruiser.
15. The Computer Room Shoot Out
During the above-mentioned scene, the terrorists shoot out a bunch of glass dividers and they, of course, explode into a hailstorm of glass.
However, the windows behind the dividers (also in the path of the bullets) remain untouched.
16. Old Man Gets Bonked On The Head
There’s a scene where some C4 explodes and everyone is running down the stairs.
Concrete and debris are flying everywhere, and one old man even gets hit in the head with a fist-sized piece of concrete!
The weirdest part about it all though? He just keeps on running, like it never happened!
Man, maybe John McClane can ask this guy for help against Hans and his goons.
17. The Gun’s Continuity
Right, so Bruce Willis is hanging off the side of a building with a fire hose, and he decides that he needs to shoot out the glass so he can get into Nakatomi Tower.
He pushes off and we see that the gun is pointed at the window pane.
However, when we cut next, Bruce Willis is pulling the gun from his side. Well, did he get it up or not?
18. The Way He’s Lying
Once he breaks open the window and gets in, we see that he’s lying on his back, head towards the window.
But in the next shot, it’s on his stomach, feet aimed towards the window.
He totally switched around!
19. Blood Goes The Wrong Way
There’s a scene where Takagi gets shot and the door that was in back of him gets covered in blood.
Except that considering the angle Hans shot him at, the blood should have gone in front of, not behind him.
20. Falling Down The Vents
Alright, so there’s this part where Bruce Willis is crawling through the vents when suddenly, he falls.
He misses the first ledge, the second and finally, we’re led to believe he grabs the third.
However, when he throws on his lighter, we can see by the background that he grabbed a vent he definitely missed on his way down.
John McClane, manipulating the laws of time and space.
21. The Ghostly Bear
When Argyle is in the car with John and listing all the features, we see that the bear is in the back, between the two seats.
Then when we cut, it’s by the window.
22. A Man’s Fringe
So Karl walks in and is going to shoot the dude at the front desk. You know, standard terrorist affair.
What’s not standard is that the guy at the front desk’s fringe goes from pressed and neat to messy between shots.
23. Powell’s Magic Tail Light
When Powell is first being shot at, he reverses and completely destroys his back right tail light.
Pretty cool, until you realize that in later shots the tail light is fine. They must have a mechanic on hand.
24. The Roll Cage
Speaking of Powell and driving, there’s a scene when he’s driving backward to get away from a bunch of terrorists.
In these scenes (and only these scenes) you can see a roll cage in Powell’s car.
25. The Lamp
In the scene where Al goes into the lobby, we can see off the reflection of the marble countertop that there are huge crew lights making sure this shot is well lit.
26. The Cop Car Window Would Not Smash Like That
Remember the scene where Willis murders the terrorist and tosses him out the window?
Only for the terrorist to hit a cop car, smashing it to absolute smithereens?
Well, that wouldn’t have happened.
The windshields on cars from the ’80s were double plated with strong plastic in between each pane of glass.
So they wouldn’t smash like that during accidents.
27. Who’s That?
There’s a scene when John McClane is standing in a pool watching the helicopter fall from the roof and explode.
In this shot, we can see who I assume is Bruce Willis’ stand-in.
28. John’s Fight With Karl
During John’s fight with Karl, even though there isn’t a lot of light on Bruce Willis, there are still a bunch of shots where you can tell it’s not him.
It’s his stuntman.
