Die Hard, director John McTiernan's action thriller par excellence, adapted for the screen by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza, from the novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp, opens in 17 cities before going wide the following week. Bruce Willis stars as John McClane, a New York City cop who flies in to Los Angeles to join his estranged wife at her office Christmas party only to find the high rise office complex has been take over by a heavily armed group of corporate terrorists.