Die Hard (1988) - 9 questions

Question: After Karl and his henchmen go up to the 33rd floor to help Hans, one of the henchmen is shot in his legs and dies. Then Hans throw himself to the floor to take his machine gun, while he's saying something in German. Can someone translate what he said, please?

Answer: Hans tells Karl, "Schiess den Fenster" - "shoot the window.

Question: Has Die Hard, Die Hard 2, Die Hard 3 and Live Free and Die Hard ever been spoofed? If so which ones and what is the film that spoofed it/them?

Answer: There was never 1 movie that spoofed Die Hard but they were spoofed in many movies. Here is the IMDB link where you can see all the movies they were spoofed in: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/movieconnections

Question: When Karl is cutting the phone lines with the chainsaw, what is his brother yelling at him in German?

Answer: He is shouting "No, no, I'm not finished here!" as he knows Karl will be electrocuted if he doesn't finish with the wires.

Question: What is the name of the song which plays when the safe is unlocked and the camera pans around inside?

Answer: "Ode to Joy" from Beethoven's 9th Symphony.

Question: On the some versions (TV), when Al walks in the lobby to check it out, right before he gets to the elevators and then leaves, the camera pans to the left and you see a terrorist with a machine gun waiting for him. On other versions (VHS) you don't see this terrorist. Why? NOTE: I've seen both on the same TV set.

Answer: The most likely reason is that the two versions have been "panned and scanned" differently. In the original theater version, both things are on screen at the same time at opposite sides of the screen. In one version, the person who did the TV P&S (not someone associated with the making of the film) chose to move the view from one side of the original picture to the other, showing the terrorist, while the person who did the VHS P&S stayed focused on one side of the frame, only showing Al.

Question: I don't understand one thing in the movie. When McClane finds Hans near the roof, Hans acts as if he was a hostage that escaped from the others. John asks his name, and Hans says "Bill Clay". Then we see McClane looking up on a list of names, where it says "Clay, Wm" (or similar) Isn't "Wm" an abbreviation of William? That would explain McClane's trick with the gun.

Answer: Which bit don't you understand? McClane asks him his name - Hans says "Bill Clay". McClane checks out the board - there is indeed somebody there with that name (William Clay). Obviously Hans has done his homework. Doesn't matter, because McClane decides not to trust him, so he pulls the trick with the gun, which works.

Question: In the scene where McClane kills the first terrorist,why doesn't he just shoot him? He wastes bullets and risks his life by fighting him. He's got a gun on him at point blank range,it would've been so much easier to just shoot him.

Answer: As it is said during that scene, John is a cop, he won't shoot unless its neccessary. He is smart enough to try get information first. You can't get any information from a dead terrorist. Then when he tries to use force, the struggle eventuated. John actually didn't mean to kill him, he just so happened to be holding onto the right part of his head as they were rolling down the stairwell.

Question: Can someone please explain the scene where Mclain and Hans are alone near the roof. Hans says his name is "Bill Clay" and the camera zooms in on a board with the name Clay on it. What is the signifcance of this? Does this give Hans away? And if so how?

Answer: No, this doesn't give Hans away - the zoom represents McClane checking the board out - getting proof that there is indeed a person in the building with that name (listed as W. Clay, for William). Hans has obviously done his homework, but McClane doesn't trust him anyway, hence the trick with the empty gun.

Question: When McClane kills one of the terrorists and sends him down the elevator, why the elaborate plan to send him down? He hits the buttons for floors 31 and 30, hits the stop button, props open the doors of the elevator and floor 32, crawls out, then flips the swith to run. As long something is in the door, it won't close. Why didn't he just put a chair in the doorway, put the bad guy in the elevator, hit floors 31 and 30, exit the elevator and remove the chair?

Answer: He wants to ride on top of the elevator. If he did it the way you propose, he'd have to time it just right to reopen the doors on his floor and get on the roof without the elevator being too far down. By riding down in it, he allows himself to stop it past the point where the open doors on 32 will interfere with elevator operation, get out on 32, hit the switch to start the elevator again and still get on top before the elevator begins to descend to 30. It's all a matter of timing.