"DIE HARD" (1988)

( i

"DIE HARD"

Screenplay

by

Jeb Stuart

/JR»S,

based on the novel

Nothing Lasts Forever

by

Roderick Thorp

A Gordon Company/Silver Pictures Production

"DIE HARD"

Christmas tinsel on the light poles. We ARE LOOKING east past Inglewood INTO the orange grid of L.A. at night when suddenly we TILT UP TO CATCH the huge belly of a landing 747 — the noise is deafening.

The usual moment just after landing when you let out that sigh of relief that you've made it in one piece.

ON JOHN MCCLANE 3

mid-thirties, good-looking, athletic and tired from his trip. He sits by the window. His relief on landing is subtle but we notice. Suddenly, he hears a voice next to him.

J^W!fc'"S Don't fly much do you?

McClane looks over at a grinning middle-aged BUSINESSMAN sitting next to him.

The Businessman picks up on McClane's scepticism and takes it as a challenge. His salesman's smile broadens.

A98

CONTINUED: 3 /0s**.. The Businessman oozes confidence. McClane reaches up to help a woman down with her bags and the butt of his Beretta handgun suddenly becomes visible to the Businessman. The man blanches at the sight and McClane notices the look. He's seen it before.

We SEE this doesn't totally calm the Businessman. McClane holds his look and produces a gold NYPD Detective's shield.

CLOSE ON A bottle of Dom Perignon as the cork explodes across a large office floor decorated for Christmas. A Japanese man, mid-fifties standing on a desk holds up the bottle triumphantly and looks out at an adoring audience of junior executives and office personnel. He is JOSEPH TAKAGI, Sr. V.P. of Sales for Nakatomi, a multinational corporation.

In the b.g., obviously still at work, an attractive BUSINESSWOMAN in her mid-thirties, studying a computer printout, heads toward her office. Falling into step with her is HARRY ELLIS, thirty-seven, V.P. of Sales. Well-dressed, with stylish, slicked-back hair, he looks and acts very smooth.

She turns into:

A98

HER OFFICE 5

Her name is HOLLY GENNARO MCCLANE, though the nameplate on her door stops after the first two. She puts the printout down on her secretary's desk.

Ginny passes Ellis in the doorway as Holly punches a number on the phone.

I ELLIS ' (not giving up)

How about tomorrow night?

Just then the party on Holly's phone picks up and WE:

INTERCUT:

where a four-year-old girl, LUCY MCCLANE, answers the phone with a sense of importance.

Holly suddenly smiles. It is the first time we've seen her smile and it speaks volumes about the person hidden under a tough business exterior.

She looks up and watches Ellis leave.

/fH^s

A98

CONTINUED: 6 J^*>*

Lucy hands the phone to a young Salvadorian woman, PAULINA, the housekeeper.

Holly hides a trace of disappointment.

Holly's smile comes through again.

McClan^-r^earing TBTs-sWool topcoat and carrying a huge FAg^chwartz stuffep. animal and his hangup bag, comes down

ramp with the Businessman from the

A98

CONTINUED: 7

The Businessman moves down the ramp and is lovingly greeted by his family. McClane watches, moved by the sight, then looks around the waiting area, just on the chance his family might be waiting. Instead he spots a thin, gangling, black kid, WILLIAM, in an ill-fitting chaufeur's uniform. As he waits he beats «out a rhythm on a card with J. McCLANE printed on it. McClane pauses in front of him.

He turns and starts walking.

William takes McClane's bag.

McClane and William both sit in the front seat as the black limo turns off the Santa Monica Freeway and heads north toward Century City. The huge toy animal sits in the backseat. McClane hears a rustling at his feet and looks down to see a bunch of fast food wrappers. Picks one up — it says Taco Bell — and looks at William who grins sheepishly.

<T expect you to sit up front.

A98

f* WILLIAM (Cont.)

(popping in a cassette) Mind if I play some tunes?

A hard RAP SONG blasts from the speakers.

McClane gives up and grins, tosses the wrapper back on the floor and looks out the window.

9 HIS P.O.V. 9

Convertibles with Christmas trees in their backseats, Time/Temperature signs which read: 69°, and palm trees trimmed in Christmas lights — it is clear that Christmas L.A. style is a foreign commodity he could live happily without.

WILLIAM

f* (to the animal • in the back)

You know, you're stocked backed there. We got CD, CB, TV, phone, full bar. I even know a couple of Teddy Bears... (to McClane) ...Or is he married?

f^ WILLIAM

Hey, I'm sorry. I got to quit doing that, you know.

A98

McClane gives up.

I /

McClane grins, he likes William even if he is direct.

A miniature Christmas tree with blinking lights sits on a desk of SERGEANT AL POWELL, thirties, a man who's had enough experience to know how bad it can be out there. He speaks in low tones to the telephone.

A98

10 CONTINUED: ' 10

Suddenly Powell's miniature tree is knocked on its side and a handgun goes spinning across the desk into his lap. He looks up to see two cops trying to subdue a struggling suspect in front of his desk. COP #1 looks up at Powell and grins.

COP #1 Don't worry, Al, it ain't loaded.

Powell hangs up and puts the heavy firearm on the desk as the two cops shove the suspect into a chair in front of him. COP #2 stares at the suspect and points at Powell.

I COP #2

Sergeant Powell's a very deadly man with a handgun, so don't try anything or he might kill you... by accident.

The two cops laugh. Powell ignores them, and expertly rolls in a sheet of paper into his main weapon — the typewriter.

McClane and William pull up in front of the Nakatomi building, a forty story, ultra-modern highrise in Century City.

He gets out and William sits a moment in the car alone before getting out to help him with the bags.

William climbs out of the limo and stops by the trunk.

A98

12 CONTINUED: _ 12

He looks up at the highrise lit by huge spotlights, then back at William who's made no attempt to open the trunk.

He hands McClane a slip with the number on it.

Beautiful and deserted. A large Christmas tree stands next to the security table where the GUARD sits. McClane goes to the desk and signs in.

McClane riding the elevator. He rotates his head. Getting the cricks out. As he approaches the 32nd floor we hear a tremendous THUMPING, THROBBING NOISE. McClane stops and listens before he realizes — it's the party. As the doors open the noise attacks us.

McClane moves around the edge of the party and stops a dancing woman who points to Holly's "office.

A98

McClane pauses at the door and notes the name, then knocks. It is opened by Takagi. Ellis sits behind Holly's secretary's desk and nervously taps a tightly-rolled dollar bill.

Ellis subtly runs a checking finger under his nose then stands to shake hands with McClane. McClane takes it all in.

We can tell by McClane's look that he doesn't think much of Ellis. McClane holds Ellis' look and runs his finger subtly under his nose.

A98

yflE^X

Ellis automatically puts his hand to his face before realizing his face is clean.

Holly enters. Seeing McClane momentarily stops her. J /

^S*!S\ him...of course he has.

McClane and Holly look at each other for a moment awkwardly then she kisses him on the cheek. The awkwardness pleases Ellis.

He points to a new gold Rolex on Holly's wrist.

A98

Holly fixes Ellis with a lethal look.

A UPS truck turns off Olympic into the underground parking garage of Nakatomi.

It goes down the ramp and passes William's black limo. William I is not visible in the front. The back windows are tinted.

William sits in the backseat. He is making a drink from the bar with the TV on and his rap music blasting from the cassette player, oblivious to the truck passing behind him.

The UPS truck stops in front of the service elevator on the next level down. As the truck idles, the uniformed driver makes a note on his clipboard.

Holly sits in Ellis' office — a Sharper Image kind of place. Through a door to the private washroom, she watches McClane in his T-shirt finish washing his face.

They both smile, a reminder of something past.

A98

J^tn\ McClane finishes drying his face and steps to the doorway.

McClane fixes her with a look.

He nods at her new watch. She rubs her watchband self-consciously and when she looks up McClane is staring at her.

They lock eyes for a moment, but it's an intense moment that says a lot about how they still feel about each other. Just then a man and a woman, both a little tipsy, open the door to the office, see that its occupied and beat a hasty /Si^V retreat. The interruption temporarily dents the mood. Holly tries to smile.

A98

21 ' CONTINUED: (2) 21

She leaves and McClane smiles to himself — it's a start. He looks at all the lavishness around him and picks up a phone on the wall by the toilet. He opens his wallet and takes out the phone number William gave him. A photo of his children stops him.

Holly and the two children we saw at Holly's house. He flips it over. On the back in crude but painstaking hand of a five-year-old it says: WE MISS YOU, DADDY. LOVE JOHN (and in more primative letters) LUCY.

23 MCCLANE 23

returns the photo to his wallet, dials the number and begins to unlace his shoes.

The Guard at the front desk notices the UPS truck on his monitor. The Guard continues to watch the UPS truck and only half notices as a BMW pulls up in front of the building and two extremely well-dressed, BUSINESSMEN (late twenties) climb out and start up the stairs for the door. As they cross the lobby to the Guard's table to sign-in, we hear •their conversation.

MAN #1 (THEO) (animatedly) ...So, Kareem rebounds — listen, this is a great play — feeds Worthy on the break, over to A.C., to Magic, back to Worthy in the lane and —

Suddenly the other man pulls out a Walther pistol with a silencer and aims it at the Guard's forehead. Before the Guard can react he pulls the trigger.

MAN #1 (THEO) (dryly) Boom...two points.

(The speed with which the murder takes place sets the tone for the rest of the action.) The killer moves behind the desk, stepping over a small pool of blood from the Guard. His name is KARL, big, with long blond hair like a rock drummer. Karl takes off the silencer and looks at the

A98

J0£\ video monitor of the UPS truck. The first man, THEO, opens his briefcase and takes out a portable CB radio.

25 ON THE SCREEN 25

the driver nods at the security camera as several men climb out the rear of the van and begin unloading wooden crates•by the service elevator.

Theo enters the small control room and comfortably sits behind a maintenance keyboard. With a few typed-in commands } he locks down the passenger elevators up to the 32nd floor. i Then with several more computer commands, .systematically causes:

27 THE HEAVY STEEL GATES TO THE PARKING GARAGE CLOSE 27

28 THE ESCALATORS TO THE GARAGE COME TO A STOP 28

29 THE POWERFUL BLOWERS IN THE AIR CONDITIONING TOWER 29 ON THE ROOF SUDDENLY STOP AND WE HEAR JUST THE TRICKLE OF WATER IN THE COOLING TOWER

Theo finishes typing and disconnects the keyboard and pulls out the wires from beneath the panel.

The doors to a service elevator open TO REVEAL HANS GRUBER, impeccably dressed, lean and handsome, he steps out into the lobby like he owns the building — and in a way he does. Theo steps to the door of the control room and tosses Hans the Guard's master keys. Hans goes to the front door and locks it. He looks out at the street — not a creature is stirring — Century City is quiet.

32 KARL 32

waits beside an elevator which opens REVEALING NINE MEN dressed in fatigues, all armed with Kalashnikov machine guns and carrying canvas kit bags. One of them, HEINZ, in his twenties, goes to the dead guard and immediately begins \ changing into the dead man's clothes.

A98

33 KARL 33

takes a tool case from the elevator and heads silently for the basement stairwell.

34 THEO 34

leaves the control room and nods to Hans.

35 HEINZ 35

•

half-dressed in his uniform, takes his position behind the front desk.

36 HANS 36

looks at his watch and seems pleased. He steps into the service elevator with the others and presses the button for 1 the 32nd floor. The entire sequence has taken maybe sixty ( seconds.

McClane, barefoot, his pant legs rolled up above his ankles. He finishes dialing and waits for the party to answer.

/Jl//lfl"\38 INT. BUILDING BASEMENT - PHONE ROOM 38

A large sign says: PACIFIC BELL EMPLOYEES ONLY. Inside Karl stands in front of an intimidating matrix of phone lines — but what he has in mind won't require a doctorate in Electrical Engineering. He focuses on four CPV plastic conduits which run out of the main panel over his head and opens his case REVEALING a compact electric chain saw.

McClane on the phone.

William is reclining on the seat. The music is on so loud that it is nearly impossible to hear.

/liBBNy 41 INT. PHONE ROOM - SAME 41

Karl cuts through the four tubes one at a time.

A98

ytf&*^S McClane on the phone.

He stops and gently taps the phone cradle. No dial tone.

William looks at the phone.

He turns down the music but there is no one on the line.

He hangs up and turns the volume back up.

44 ELLIS' OFFICE 44

He hangs up the phone and goes into Ellis' office and picks up the phone on the desk. It too is dead.

\ 45 INT. SERVICE ELEVATOR 45

Hans and the others approaching the 32nd floor. As they grow closer we hear the noise of the speakers growing louder and louder. The men cock their weapons and brace themselves as the car stops and the elevator doors open. ON THE SOUND OF GUNSHOTS AND SCREAMS WE:

McClane grabs his shoulder harness off the back of the chair and moves quickly to the doorway. He looks down the hall.

47 HIS P.O.V. 47

Two terrorists, FRANCO and TONY, armed with M-5 machine guns searching the offices on the hall one by one. They open a door, look in from the hallway, and move on quickly to the next. They are four offices away and moving fast.

McClane looks across the corridor and sees the stairwell door — too far to reach without being seen.

(*** 48 MCCLANE , . 48

steps back, throws off the safety on his Beretta and braces himself.

A98

^0™^ reach the office just before Ellis' and throw open the door REVEALING the man and woman who interrupted Holly and McClane a few minutes before, now in the throes of passionate lovemaking on the desk. The two terrorists smile at each other then enter the office.

A moment later the man, trying desperately to pull up his pants and woman buttoning her blouse, are pushed out into the hall and toward the party, by Tony. The other terrorist. Franco, goes to Ellis' office and opens the door. It is empty. Only McClane's shoes and coat remain.

CLOSE ON McClane's bare feet padding quickly up the concrete stairs, two at a time. We FOLLOW him up two flights, then | out onto the:

51 34TH FLOOR 51 i | Unlike the 32nd it has no surrounding offices, just one | large secretarial pool with hundreds of desks, hundreds of phones, dark and deserted. McClane moves quickly to a desk and picks up a phone. It's out.

P MCCLANE

Shit...

Out the windows a high-rise apartment building a half-block away sparkles with lights. McClane stares at a woman in her kitchen. We SEE her wipe her hands on an apron and turn to answer a telephone. It seems so easy.

McCLANE Think...

The employees have been herded to the center of the room where the desks have been pulled back. Many people are whimpering. Holly looks around the room for McClane; she sees Ellis. Takagi, stubbornly refusing to cooperate is pushed toward the group. Hans steps up on top of a desk and looks over the group.

{ unfortunately, are part of the recompense.

A98

Several of the terrorists begin collecting IDs as people hunt for ID.

f He steps down from the desk and goes into: / 53 HOLLY'S OFFICE 53

where a terrorist with glasses, FRITZ, has begun to set up operations. A large CB unit is placed on her desk and a TV monitor is put on the credenza. While he works, Hans picks up an 8x10 photo on the credenza.

y 54 CLOSE - THE PHOTO 54

The same one that we saw in McClane's wallet of Holly and the children.

55 HANS 55

He puts the photo back. Franco (who checked Ellis' office) brings McClane*s coat, socks and shoes. Hans examines the clothes and looks at the man who brought them.

Hans feels the fabric of McClane's topcoat as Franco leaves and Takagi is brought to the office. Hans smiles. jt0>&\

A98

f*y HANS

(pleasantly) Mr, Takagi, my name is Hans Gruber. Would you come with me, please?

McClane pauses outside the stairwell door to the 38th floor, he presses the handle and cracks the door open TO REVEAL a computer floor. The-computer machinery drones on under the lights behind plate glass windows. McClane quietly closes the door and makes a note on a piece of paper.

It is a listing of the floors and says:

» 32 Hostages / 33 ?

34 Open Floor 35 Open Floor 36 Cubicles 37 Cubicles and inside offices (TV sets in inside office) 38 Computers

f* 58 MCCLANE 58

moves up the stairs to the next landing, the 39th floor, and tries to open the door. It is locked. He keeps going up.

Hans, Takagi, Karl and Tony. Riding silently. Hans alone seems relaxed. He whistles. We recognize it as "Whistle While You Work."- He looks at Takagi*s suit.

He continues whistling and enjoys Takagi's surprise.

HANS

f^' You are surprised a 'terrorist' would

know fine tailors?

A98

The answer is obvious. Hans smiles and lowers his voice as if sharing an inside secret.

McClane starts to open the stairwell door to the 40th Floor when a NOISE above him gets his attention. He moves silently up.one flight to the roof. Quietly, he cracks the door and looks out onto a Machine floor on the lower level of the roof.

61 HIS P.O.V. 61

Three terrorists, JAMES, ULI and HEINRICH, unload the wooden crates we saw in the garage from the service elevator. One of them looks his way and:

62 MCCLANE 62

closes the door and slips back down the stairs, opening the door to the next floor. Like the others, it is dark but we instantly know from the paneling that he has reached an executive floor. VOICES and a light at the end of the hallway draw him in that direction.

CLOSE ON a scale model of a bridge. Constructed to exacting detail. Hans admires it. Behind him are photographs of the gorge where the bridge will be constructed and maps of Central America. Karl, Tony and a wiry terrorist, MARCO, listen. Takagi watches.

Hans straightens, looks hard at Takagi.

Takagi looks confused. Hans puts a friendly arm around Takagi's shoulders and guides him into the adjacent boardroom where Theo types in commands onto a built-in computer console.

A98 (CONTINUED)

Theo types at the console.

64 INSERT: SCREEN 64

It says: NAKATOMI INVESTMENT PENSION PLAN and a list of Serial and CUSIP numbers. In one stroke they are deleted from the screen. Then the next message comes up: ENTER ACCESS NUMBER.

65 TAKAGI 65

He stops as Theo turns and faces him. He knows suddenly what it's all about. Hans smiles at Takagi.

/$^&N Hans slowly takes out his Walther and his silencer. He feels his silencer a moment, as if making a decision, then slips it back into his coat pocket. Takagi sees the gun.

Hans presses the gun against Takagi's lapel.

He gulps. Theo looks hard at Karl, who reluctantly meets his look.

A98

6 5 CONTINUED: 65

Karl gives Theo five dollars — a private bet. Takagi takes heart, but Hans doesn't put up his gun.

He cocks the gun then hesitates, moves the barrel upward off his suit.

I He moves the barrel up Takagi*s neck, seemingly searching for / just the right spot. He pauses below Takagi's jaw, next to his jugular and snuggles the barrel gently into the niche.

Hans moves the barrel from the jugular to a point directly over Takagi's adam's apple and finally seems satisfied. The Exec locks eyes with Hans.

He presses his eye to the crack in the door just in time to see Hans pull the trigger. In the tiny room it sounds like Hiroshima. The blast knocks Takagi backwards onto his butt, a gaping hole in his throat. He remains seated upright for an instant, stunned, before Hans steps up and puts another bullet in his chest.

67 CLOSE ON MCCLANE 67

He is stunned and moves back from the door holding his breath. His gun bumps against the paneling.

He looks up at the sound.

A98

{ Marco turns to the door to the hallway where McClane was and throws open the door. The long, darkened hallway is deserted. He steps into the:

69 HALLWAY 69

and stops in front of the only door near the conference room — a Supply Closet — and tries the door — it is locked.

70 CONFERENCE ROOM 70

Karl stares at the body of Takagi then looks up at Hans as i Marco returns to the room.

' HANS

(to Karl) Go supervise the work on the roof.

In the darkness of the closet we MAKE OUT McClane, pressed against the wall. He listens to the footsteps moving away and lets out a breath.

William is on the car phone. The music is playing.

Hans and Theo enter the safe room. The huge corporate safe looms in front of them. Theo places three kit bags onto a table and rolls up his sleeves.

• •' THEO

(eyeing the safe) Ask me in an hour.

A98

74 37TH FLOOR 74 -i$KJ*>\ McClane moves out onto the 37th floor, angry at himself.

Suddenly he looks up at the ceiling and sees a sprinkler head. His look drops to the wall and focuses on a small red fire alarm switch by the door.

An alarm sounds. Quickly firemen move to their machines as a voice of a 911 Dispatcher drones.

911 DISPATCHER Main Wilshire units. Two alarm fire at Nakatomi —

The voice continues as the station doors open and we:

A fire alarm indicator light showing which floor has sounded the fire alarm — suddenly begins flashing, emitting short, loud beeps. Heinz, the terrorist in the guard's uniform and manning the station, immediately picks up his CB.

McClane stands at windows looking Northward for fire trucks. Suddenly we SEE the flashing red lights of two trucks in traffic two miles away.

He rides the elevator back to 32nd floor with Tony.

/"**> the alarm...then disable the system.

He ponders the problem of McClane, looks across at Tony, and presses the talk button again.

A98

McClane stands silhouetted against the window. In the distance he can see another fire truck swing off Santa Monica onto Avenue of the Stars.

Suddenly the red light on the first truck goes out, then on the second. McClane watches in disbelief. The trucks slow and turn down separate side streets, heading for home.

Just then the elevator bell rings and we HEAR the ELEVATOR DOORS OPEN. A figure (Tony) slips into the shadows — his machine gun drawn. We MOVE WITH HIM from the elevator area until he reaches the light switch and throws it illuminating the entire floor. McClane is gone.

80 ON MCCLANE 80

under a desk. He takes in his options.

81 HIS P.O.V. 81

the feet of Tony. They move slowly in his direction. McClane looks down the aisle next to the windows. It leads to a series of office cubicles at the other end of the floor and is a clear path if he can make it past Tony.

82 TONY 82

He moves steadily toward the area where we saw McClane.

He fingers the trigger of his machine gun.

A98

C* Moving more confidently, he steps up to McClane's desk, then around it and fires a blast into the space. It is empty. As the SOUND OF THE MACHINE GUN FADES he listens and hears another SOUND — a low HUMMING NOISE coming from the other end of the room near the cubicles.

Tony heads toward the noise. Sensing a trap, he moves past each cubicle carefully, checking each office until he reaches the doorway of the last one. The sound is just around the partition. He tenses, then spins into the cubicle.

83 TONY'S P.O.V. 83

an electric typewriter left on.

84 TONY 84 i grins at his nervousness. He turns it off as McClane steps i INTO FRAME behind him, his gun aimed at Tony.

Tony slowly turns around and sees McClane*s detective badge pinned to his shirt.

Tony doesn't. McClane cocks his Beretta. Tony watches him calmly.

Tony spins to the side and McClane fires, hitting him in the arm, but the big man's momentum slams McClane into a filing cabinet and sends his pistol into the hall. Tony reaches for his machine gun, but McClane kicks him into the desk. He locks his arms around the big man's neck in a hold that sends Tony reeling into the hall. McClane holds on as they slam into the glass door of a fire hose cabinet shattering the glass. They careen across the hall into the stairwell door, opening it, and crash into:

A98

85 STAIRWELL LANDING 85

then down the concrete steps into the wall on the landing below. For a moment, both men lie still, then McClane moves and we SEE the concrete becomes wet under the'big man as Tony's bladder opens. McClane, still holding onto Tony's neck, releases it and the man's head flops sickeningly to the side.

For a moment McClane just looks at the dead man, stunned, then a HISSING SOUND coming from Tony's kit bag gets his attention. He opens it and finds the terrorist's CB.

Tony's body sits slumped in a secretary's chair — a note attached to his chest. McClane sits on the floor in front of him hurriedly lacing up the dead terrorist's boots on his own ; feet. He ties the last lace and tries to take a couple of i steps. He nearly falls flat. Quickly he starts taking the boots off.

He yanks off the boots and tosses them on Tony's lap, then pushes buttons for the 33rd and 32nd floors. He slings Tony's kit bag over his shoulder along with the dead man's machine gun. A wooden desk ruler protrudes from McClane's back pocket.

The elevator doors close and the car starts down. After it's dropped only half a floor, McClane forces the doors open with his fingers — stopping the car between floors.

Using the ruler he blocks open the inside doors, then opens the outside doors of the floor above (34th) with his fingers and pulls himself up onto the carpeted floor, then up onto the roof of the car. Once on the roof of the car he reaches over the edge and removes the ruler, closing the inside doors and setting the car in motion again.

The elevator bell rings and Fritz, guarding the area, sees Tony's body in the chair. Hans comes to the elevator with Franco, lifts Tony's chin and sees that his neck has been snapped. He removes the note and reads it aloud.

/tfnl£*\

A98

Hans lifts Tony's chin again, lets the head flop over.

Hans sighs and looks at the dead man.

As Fritz calls Karl on his CB, Hans looks at Franco.

On top of the car, listening to the conversation below. Franco and Fritz step into the car and the doors on the elevator close. The car accelerates upward and McClane grabs onto the heavy, grease-coated cables to keep his balance. Already his clothes are soiled; his face and feet, arms and hair are dark from the dirt and sweat.

The car speeds up the shaft — passing the car bringing Karl down to the hostage floor — and stops at the 40th floor. The doors open and McClane hears them roll the chair with the body off the car. McClane looks up.

89 MCCLANE'S P.O.V. 89

A metal catwalk runs around the inside of the elevator shaft.

90 MCCLANE 90

pulls himself up onto it. As he moves along the catwalk looking for a way out, he passes an unmarked metal door, 2'x3'. McClane pushes it open and looks in.

91 MCCLANE'S P.O.V. 91

Total darkness.

A98

92 MCCLANE 92

z**^ takes out a rifle cartridge from Tony's kit bag and lobs it

into the void. It is a full four seconds until we hear its nonexplosive chatter on the ground below. You don't have to be a mathematics whiz to know it's a long drop.

He moves cautiously around a corner and we SEE a metal ladder leading up to a door marked PUMP ROOM. Opening the door McClane enters a darkened:

93 PUMP ROOM 93

damp and full of pipes and goes to another door. He cracks the door and looks out.

94 MCCLANE*S P.O.V. 94

The lower level of the roof. Open and deserted. Only a heliport above him is higher.

CLOSE ON A PAIR OF LARGE HANDS as they squeeze into fists so ^ tight it drains all color from the fingers. Controlled rage. ( We PULL BACK TO REVEAL the hands belong to Karl, who stands in Hans' office.

McClane climbs to the heliport and leans against the leeward side of a wall surrounding it. Shielded from wind, he pulls out the CB, turns to channel nine, and starts broadcasting.

DICK THORNBURG, local TV news reporter, talking on the phone to his girlfriend also hears the distress call. He stops listening /i»«»\ to her for a moment and turns up his scanner.

A98 (CONTINUED)

Hans'and Karl also hear the clear signal over Hans' CB.

A SUPERVISOR weaves her way back from the break room toward a DISPATCHER who is monitoring the call.

She plugs in her headset.

listening more closely. On a hunch he reaches over and starts recording the conversation.

with Franco and Fritz.

It's an order and the look he gives the other two backs it up. He fits a fresh magazine into his rifle as the elevator opens to the roof. A98

He is almost breathless as he finishes his call.

He releases the talk button. There is a pause and then his radio crackles to life again with the Supervisor's voice.

Suddenly machine gun shells rip into the concrete wall in front of him. The noise is deafening as we:

Both Supervisor and Dispatcher reach for their headsets in pain from the INTENSE SOUND and:

Thornburg immediately hangs up on his girlfriend and yells over his shoulder to his assistant in the next room.

Running. Tracer bullets rip into the wall behind him. He reaches the corner and sees the two other terrorists moving toward him. Before they see him, he leaps down to the next level out of range of Karl.

The Supervisor and Dispatcher listen in stunned silence^ The shots sounded real enough...

A98

f* He puts two packs of pink Hostess "Twinkies" and his police radio down on the counter in front of a young male CLERK, who stifles a smile. Another teenage employee behind the counter also smothers a laugh.

He tries not to look at Powell for fear of breaking up altogether.

The clerk nods and puts them in a bag. Suddenly Powell's Police Radio crackles to life.

DISPATCHER'S VOICE/RADIO 6421 to One Adam Ten, over.

Powell picks up the radio.

DISPATCHER'S VOICE/RADIO

yA|IT?i'*\ Investigate a code two at 15433

Avenue of the Stars.

Powell grabs the bag and immediatley heads for the door as the two employees break into laughter.

running for his life, from Fritz and Franco, doesn't realize he is being herded around the building toward Karl. Suddenly McClane turns a corner and sees Karl. The big man fires a burst and McClane ducks back stopping at the exterior door to the pump room he used before. It is locked from the inside. He blows the lock off with a burst from his machine gun and slips into the darkness of the:

Moving quickly through the pump room, McClane picks his way over the same ground as a few minutes before and opens the door to the elevator shaft. The dimly lit shaft yawns before /?W?>\ him. He starts down the ladder back to the catwalk.

A98

\ Franco and Fritz reach the pump room door and wait for Karl, who leads the way into the darkness of the pump room.

on the far stretch of catwalk. He turns the corner, out of view of the pump room door, moves down the back side of the catwalk past the small air shaft door, and stops — he's reached a dead end — the catwalk ends, the elevator is gone.

His flashlight beam dances around the interior of the room. He starts to open the door to the elevator shaft when suddenly their radio crackles with Hans' voice.

Karl doesn't answer.

Karl turns off his radio. In the light of their flashlights, the two other terrorists look at Karl in stunned disbelief. He opens the door to the elevator shaft.

He backtracks to the air shaft door, strikes the lighter from Tony's kit bag and looks in.

114 MCCLANE'S P.O.V. 114

The air shaft. The lighter dimly illuminates four walls of smooth aluminum disappearing into darkness. Moving the light in further, he sees something else — the dark outline of a horizontal air conditioning duct — nine feet down the side and leading into the guts of the building.

115 MCCLANE 115

f* extinguishes his light, looks at the strap on his kit bag.

Karl steps off the ladder to the catwalk and unslings his machine gun.

from McClane's kit bag. One has been clipped to each end of his machine gun making a long sling.

118 MCCLANE 118

braces the gun across the outside opening of the air shaft door and lowers himself into the:

119 AIR SHAFT 119

holding onto the canvas sling with his elbows bent, like doing a chin-up.

His feet slowly move down the smooth aluminum walls until they reach the top of the air duct, then dangle in the open space. He straightens his arms to give him length enough to touch the /fiflJPv, bottom edge of the duct. Suddenly he feels something give way above him and looks up.

120 CLOSE ON THE CLIPS 120

Slowly the brass clips start bending under McClane's weight.

121 ON KARL 121

He moves steadily toward the corner.

now only inches from the bottom edge. McClane's arms are fully extended now. He hears Karl on the metal catwalk. His muscles strain and quiver.

123 THE CLIPS 123

They are opening wider until one side bends all the way back — and snaps.

124 ON MCCLANE 124

falling. He grabs the ledge of the air duct as he falls and his body slams into the aluminum wall with.a echoing BOOM. Above him on the catwalk the rifle rattles on the metal outside the door.

A98 .

125 ON KARL 125

{***• Around the corner Karl freezes, unsure of the sound, then starts slowly for the corner.

126 ON MCCLANE 126

holding onto the ledge by his hands. With every ounce of strength he tries to pull himself up into the horizontal duct, clawing for a hold.

127 ON KARL 127

He rounds the corner and sees McClane's rifle lying beneath the doorway. He moves to the small door, shines his light and aims his rifle down into the air shaft ready to fire.

128 HIS P.O.V. 128

The shaft is deserted. Moving his light around he sees the air duck. Without hesitation he turns and backtracks to the pump room door.

He lies exhausted and motionless in the narrow crawl space. He awkwardly fishes out the lighter from his shirt pocket and ^rx flicks it on.

130 HIS P.O.V. 130

Not for claustrophobics — a long, dark and narrow corridor. There's no light at the end.

He turns out his lighter and starts crawling.

Karl climbs the ladder to the pump room door where Franco and Fritz wait.

He moves through the pump room and goes outside.

McClane crawls to a'junction. To his right he sees a vent twenty feet away. The light looks' wonderful to him and he moves towards it.

A98

Karl opens the door from the roof Franco and Fritz behind him. He points to a series of rooms near the elevator shaft and the three men split up, each going to a separate room. Karl opens the door to the:

134 MACHINE ROOM 134

and looks up. The ceiling is crisscrossed with air ducts. He fires a burst into the ducts.

McClane remains motionless in the air duct. Three quarter-sized holes inches from his face show how close Karl came to nailing him. Sweat covers his face, drips silently onto the aluminum.

136 MACHINE ROOM 136 * / Karl listens patiently for sound. Just then the two other terrorists return.

Karl hesitates a moment, fighting his instincts before finally /$£\ turning to go. Suddenly the duct McClane is in groans slightly under his weight. Karl stops and looks up at the matrix of aluminum duct work, trying to single out the source of the sound, He steps back into the room and raises his rifle. Holding it upright he presses the barrel up into the belly of McClane's air duct, feeling for weight — the weight of a body.

137 INSIDE THE AIR DUCT 137

McClane sees the indention of the barrel pressing into the aluminum fifteen feet away. There is a pause and another indention three feet closer. He can hear Karl's footsteps on the concrete — moving slowly below the duct.

138 ON KARL 138

His eyes are fixed above him on the air duct. He presses the barrel up again. Still nothing.

139 ON MCCLANE 139

Silently he moves his hand to his breast and slowly draws his Beretta. The next indention presses up six feet away. McClane points his gun downward and waits.

/&*• 140 KARL 14 0

stops directly below him. The barrel starts up and just touches the duct under McClane when Franco returns to the door and calls.

A98

/fffift\

Karl hesitates then lowers his gun and leaves.

He hears the door close and lowers his head.

Dick Thornburg and his news editor, SAM, in the control booth where we're in the countdown to the 11 o'clock news.

/ SAM

I mean people want to go home for christsake...it's Christmas Eve.

From behind the news desk pretty-boy anchorman, HARVEY JOHNSON, looks up at the booth, calls to Sam over his mike.

Sam finds the news report in his stack of papers and starts out of the booth with Thornburg on his heels. We FOLLOW.

A98

Both news anchors, Sam and all the floor personnel look up. They're in their final seconds. The FLOOR MANAGER worriedly counts off, "9...8.. .7. .. " Harvey looks angrily at Thornburg.

He points at Harvey who automatically smiles as the red light goes on, but it's obvious Thornburg has wrecked his concentration

The program rolls its intro tape and Harvey shoots Thornburg a look that could kill. Thornburg smiles at his handiwork.

The street is empty, quiet. A lone police black-and-white pulls out of the shadows of a side street and begins a slow cruise toward the Nakatomi building.

A98

144 ON POWELL 144

f* Driving, alone. He stares up at the dark tower. It seems calm. Lights on the 32nd and 40th floors. Powell slows to a stop and scans the premises. In the lobby we SEE Heinz, sitting behind the desk. Powell reports to his radio.

He pulls in and parks in the front.

McClane punches out a ceiling vent and drops down into the machine room. For a moment he stands, listening for sounds of movement. The floor is quiet. He goes to the stairwell.

The edge of the roof. Suddenly a tall terrorist, HEINRICH, moves along the wall and looks over at Powell's car.

The elevator doors open and Karl, Franco and Fritz step out onto the darkened floor. We SEE large number "3" painted on the doors of this floor. They move quickly toward the windows on the Avenue of the Stars side where a terrorist, ALEXANDER, with a BAR rifle has set up a machine gun nest. Directly below him we SEE Powell's car.

Hans watches from above. He raises his CB.

Heinz picks up his CB. He watches Powell coming up the stairs toward the door.

A98

Powell tries the front doors. Locked. Heinz comes hustling across and unlocks the door.

Powell steps in and looks around.

McClane makes his way to the Avenue of the Stars side of the building, enters the board room where Rivers was shot. McClane goes to the windows and looks down at the street. i

Powell's car.

^ N He lifts one of the big chairs and swings it at the window. , ( The tempered glass whitens on the first blow.

HEINRICH, the terrorist on the roof hears a SOUND and looks down and sees the board room window crack from McClane's blow. He lifts his CB.

Heinz watches confidently as Powell moves through the lobby looking for signs of trouble. Suddenly, Heinz notices a pool of blood from the shooting of the desk guard next to sign-in table. He looks up just as Powell starts toward him.

McClane draws the chair back for the final hit when a terrorist (MARCO) appears at the door. Both men react, but Marco already has his gun up. He fires a round at McClane. The bullets rip into the table top and the chair, and McClane goes down behind the table.

Theo, now in goggles, uses a huge machine to bore quarter-size holes into the safe. He turns it off hears the gunshots on the floor above. He moves into the outside room to listen better, then looks back at.his kit bags of equipment as if making a decision. A98

Marco smiles and moves around to the other side of the table, but finds no body. He looks around frantically then squats beneath the table and sees:

158 MCCLANE 158

lying prone, his pistol trained on him.

159 BOARD ROOM DOORWAY 159

Just then Heinrich, the terrorist on the roof, steps into, the doorway. He sees McClane and starts to fire, but McClane fires twice and kills him. Marco springs on top of the huge table. McClane rolls on his back so he can cover either angle but it is clear that Marco is in the more enviable position. / 160 ON MARCO 160

on the tabletop slams in a fresh magazine and smiles.

/«"*, you had the chance...

He leans his machine gun over the edge.

161 MCCLANE 161

aims directly above him and fires twice into the underside of the table. The bullets rip through the table and Marco.

On the SOUND OF THE GUNSHOTS, he stops, listens.

Powell comes back to Heinz — moving steadily toward the table and the pool of blood. He pauses next to the table, his shoe just touching the blood, but he doesn't see it.

A 9g (CONTINUED)