Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie? The age-old question. The answer is the same answer to that of another question: Is Top Gun a “chick flick”? Although Hallmark holds dominion over Christmas movies, as well as most holiday themed movies, there are a few outliers that hold true with the genre. This ranges from movies like Elf and The Santa Clause to older classics like A Christmas Carol, or of course Die Hard. Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie, and not only because it’s set during Christmas. Sure, every average Christmas movie follows the same cookie cutter plot of main protagonist learning to appreciate family, overcome greed, or of course find the perfect gift. Everybody’s favorite governor Arnold Schwarzenggar dealt with that last one in Jingle All The Way. All these standard movies all follow the main concept of the “Christmas Lesson”, in which the main character learns to be a better person in time for the holidays. Some examples are Ebineeze Scrooge in A Christmas Carol in which he is shown the downsides to his greed and changes his ways in time to treat Tiny Tim on Christmas day. Or Chevy Chase’s character in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation where he must get past his bickering family and tricky extension cords to finally relax and enjoy the family Christmas he always wanted. In the Polar Express, the young main character finally sees the true beauty of Christmas and believes in its spirit. With all these examples there will always be a few loopholes, like how in Groundhog Day Bill Murray learned to be a more friendly and thankful person in time for everyone’s favorite holiday. Now the wondrous time-repeating movie does not fit into the Christmas movie category. However, it does meet its standards. Not many movies fit into a certain subgroup of Christmas flicks; a subgroup which contains classics like Home Alone and, of course, Die Hard. Die Hard is the compelling story of a police officer named John McCain who is in a bad relationship with his wife. On Christmas Eve, McCain heads to the hotel where his wife works in an attempt to rekindle their marriage and spend time with his kids. During this attempt to become closer with his family, John is thrust into a hostage situation with German terrorists. All the action and thrill of McCain taking down bad guys and delivering memorable movie quotes is all good and fun, but the real juice of the movie is his connection with his family. After the fighting ceases and *spoiler alert* McCain saves the day, he gets back together with his wife. He then lives happily ever after, until Die Hard 2-5. After all of that elaboration, let’s look at the requirements for a Christmas movie. Does the movie take place around Christmas? Yes, it takes places on Christmas Eve. Does the hero learn a Christmas lesson? John McCain overcomes a great turmoil and he and his wife learn to fully love each other again, and not get distracted with work. Finally, does everyone live happily ever after? Well, the German terrorists were all defeated, McCain got his family back, and money wasn’t stolen. Sure, the building owners may not have been happy with the damages, but that’s not the point of this article.