Here is the list:
- Die Hard,
- Predator,
- The Hunt For Red October,
- Die Hard With a Vengeance,
- I was a Republican.
Number 5 isn’t a film. It’s a quote! A comment McTiernan made during a CNN interview about a real life revelation he had in regards to racism, black and brown voter disenfranchisement and the realities of modern day Jim Crow. Of course, like in the movies, this growth of understanding within our hero John did not come easily!
Check out the interview:
With racism seemingly growing in this “Age of Obama”, and on pathetic display recently by the likes of Donald Sterling and Cliven Bundy grabbing headlines, the awakening McTiernan has expressed regarding the politics of race illustrates the exception, not the rule. It seems such new outlooks on the world rarely happen without a life changing event.
It would be awesome if, without serving a jail sentence or needing a dramatic moment to force them to see this reality, others could also begin to see the ways which our penal system is used to silence black and brown voices for political gain. A possibility to aid that would be Mr. McTiernan’s allowing his new knowledge to be reflected when possible in the subtext of his future films. I hope to see some of that in the Third Act of this talented director’s career.
Of course my belief that the messages in film make a difference is reflected in much of my work, and definitely in my effort to see the film White Water, the story of a young black boy circa 1960 who becomes obsessed with drinking water from the “whites only” water fountain, make its way to the screen.
Favorite quote from the interview:
I’m way more angry than I was when I was eighteen or nineteen. I am much more upset. – John McTiernan
Amen, John McTiernan. Amen.