Author | Roderick Thorp |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Thriller novel |
Publisher | W. W. Norton & Company |
Publication date | 1979 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
ISBN | 0-393-01249-2 |
OCLC | 5101628 |
813/.5/4 | |
LC Class | PZ4.T55 No 1979 PS3570.H67 |
Preceded by | The Detective |
Nothing Lasts Forever is a 1979 action thriller novel by American author Roderick Thorp, a sequel to his 1966 novel The Detective . The novel is mostly known through its 1988 film adaptation Die Hard , starring Bruce Willis. In 2012, the book was brought back into print and released as an ebook for the 24th anniversary of the film.
Retired NYPD detective Joe Leland is visiting the 40-story office headquarters of the Klaxon Oil Corporation in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve, where his daughter Stephanie Leland Gennaro works.
While he is waiting for his daughter's Christmas party to end, a group of German Autumn–era terrorists take over the skyscraper. The gang is led by the brutal Anton "Little Tony the Red" Gruber. Joe had known about Gruber through a counter-terrorist conference he had attended years prior. Barefoot, Leland slips away and manages to remain undetected in the gigantic office complex. Armed with only his Browning pistol and in communication with Los Angeles Police sergeant Al Powell and his belligerent supervisor, Dwayne Robinson, Leland fights off the terrorists one by one in an attempt to save the 74 hostages, his daughter, and grandchildren.
Gruber and the terrorists kill Mr. Rivers, the CEO of the Klaxon building, and proceed to steal documents that will publicly expose the Klaxon corporation's dealings with Chile's junta. They also intend to deprive Klaxon of the proceeds of the corrupt deal of $6 million in cash by attempting to access a safe. Leland interferes with this plan by stealing explosives and progressively killing terrorists and receiving multiple injuries in the process.
Leland kills most of the terrorists and, despite no help from the police, faces off with the leader of the terrorist group, Anton Gruber, who is holding his daughter hostage. Gruber falls to his death after being shot by Leland, taking Stephanie with him. Blaming Klaxon for the terrorist attack and his daughter's death, Leland throws the cash out of the window himself. Once Leland is back on the street, the last terrorist, Karl, who was presumed dead earlier, returns and starts a shooting rampage, killing several police officers (including Robinson) and a doctor in the process, before Sgt. Powell finally kills him, allowing Leland to receive medical care.
This section may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience.(December 2018) |
This article needs additional citations for verification .(September 2014) |
In 1975, author Roderick Thorp saw the film The Towering Inferno , about a skyscraper which catches on fire. After seeing the film, Thorp fell asleep and had a dream of seeing a man being chased through a skyscraper by men with guns. He woke up and later took that idea and turned it into The Detective sequel, Nothing Lasts Forever.
Roderick Thorp decided for the book to be a sequel to The Detective so it could be made into a follow-up film starring Frank Sinatra as Joe Leland. Thus, the storyline hypothetically takes place some decades after its predecessor (as Leland was age thirty-six in that novel and he's retired by this one). Sinatra declined the offer. It was then offered to Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and a number of other actors until Bruce Willis signed on for the role. [1]
Although the film (re-titled Die Hard ) was altered to be a stand-alone film with no connections to Thorp's novel, and does not follow the source material very closely, some of its memorable scenes, characters, and dialogue are adapted directly from the book. Some of the biggest changes in the film included the older hero of the novel becoming 25 years younger, his name changed from "Joe Leland" to "John McClane", the person he is in the skyscraper to visit changing from his daughter to his estranged wife, and the American "Klaxon Oil Corporation" becoming the Japanese "Nakatomi Corporation". The "terrorists" in the film are actually professional thieves seeking $640 million in negotiable bearer bonds kept in the building's vault and are only posing as terrorists to draw attention away from the robbery. In the film, most of them are German (including their leader), the rest being of varying ethnicities and nationalities. The novel also features women amongst the terrorists. The overall tone of the novel was far darker, with underlying themes of guilt, alcoholism and the complexity of a disturbed human mind. The ending of the novel is also different in that it suggests that the wounds Joe sustained were so severe that he could possibly succumb to them and die.
Similarly, Willis explained in a 1988 interview with KXAS-TV's entertainment reporter Bobbie Wygant that he acted out McClane with enough fear, anxiety, and vulnerability to make audiences believe that he could indeed possibly be killed because of what happened in the story, as Joseph Leland could possibly have died of his injuries in the book. [2]
Some of the most famous action sequences taken from the book are:
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2018) |
The Los Angeles Times called Nothing Lasts Forever "a ferocious, bloody, raging book so single-mindedly brilliant in concept and execution it should be read at a single sitting". [3]
Die Hard is a 1988 American action film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jeb Stuart and Steven E. de Souza based on the 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. It stars Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov, and Bonnie Bedelia, with Reginald VelJohnson, William Atherton, Paul Gleason, and Hart Bochner in supporting roles. Die Hard follows New York City police detective John McClane (Willis) who is caught up in a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper while visiting his estranged wife.
Die Hard with a Vengeance is a 1995 American action thriller film directed by John McTiernan and written by Jonathan Hensleigh, which is based on the screenplay Simon Says by Hensleigh and the characters created by Roderick Thorp for his 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever. Die Hard with a Vengeance is the third film in the Die Hard film series after Die Hard 2 and was later followed by Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard.
Die Hard 2 is a 1990 American action thriller film directed by Renny Harlin, written by Steven E. de Souza and Doug Richardson, co-produced by Joel Silver, and starring Bruce Willis as John McClane alongside Bonnie Bedelia, William Sadler, Art Evans, William Atherton, Franco Nero, Dennis Franz, Fred Thompson, John Amos, and Reginald VelJohnson. The second installment in the Die Hard film series, the film was released on July 4, 1990, in the United States.
Hostage is a 2005 American action thriller film directed by Florent-Emilio Siri. The film was based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Robert Crais and was adapted for the screen by Doug Richardson. The film stars Bruce Willis, who co-produced the film, as the police chief who takes place as the negotiator when the family of a wealthy accountant is held hostage by three teenagers.
Live Free or Die Hard is a 2007 American action thriller film directed by Len Wiseman, and serves as the fourth installment in the Die Hard film series. It is based on the 1997 article "A Farewell to Arms" written for Wired magazine by John Carlin. The film's name references New Hampshire's state motto, "Live Free or Die".
Die Hard: Vendetta is a 2002 first-person shooter video game developed by Bits Studios and published by Fox Interactive and Vivendi Universal Games for the GameCube. It was later released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox only in Europe in 2003. Taking place after the first three Die Hard films, players take on terrorists as John McClane. Reginald VelJohnson reprises his role as Sgt. Al Powell. McClane's daughter, Lucy, is an L.A.P.D. member in the game. The game received mixed reviews from critics.
John McClane Sr. is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Die Hard film series, based on Joe Leland from Roderick Thorp's action novel Nothing Lasts Forever. McClane was portrayed in all five films by actor Bruce Willis, and he is known for his sardonic one-liners, including the famous catchphrase in every Die Hard film: "Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker". Per the franchise's name, he confounds repeated attempts to kill him, driving his enemies to distraction, by adding up and exploiting dumb luck.
Die Hard is the name of three video games, one released for the Commodore 64 in 1990, one released for the TurboGrafx-16 in 1990 and the other for the NES in 1991 by Activision. Its gameplay is based on the 1988 film of the same name. During the game, the player rescues hostages and battles with terrorists from a top view perspective at Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.
Roderick Mayne Thorp Jr. was an American novelist specializing mainly in police procedural/crime novels. His novel The Detective was adapted into a film of the same name in 1968. Thorp is also better known for its sequel, the bestselling novel, Nothing Lasts Forever, which later served as the basis for the film Die Hard, thus Thorp became a creator of the entire media franchise of the same name. Two other Thorp novels, Rainbow Drive and Devlin, were also adapted into TV movies.
The reluctant hero is a heroic archetype typically found in fiction. The reluctant hero is typically portrayed either as an everyman forced into surreal situations which require him to rise to heroism and its acts, or as a person with special abilities who nonetheless reveals a desire to avoid using those abilities for selfless benefit. In either case, the reluctant hero does not initially seek adventure or the opportunity to do good, and their apparent selfishness may induct them into the category of antiheroes. The reluctant hero differs from the antihero in that the story arc of the former inevitably results in their becoming a true hero.
The Detective is a thriller/detective novel by American author Roderick Thorp, first published hardcover in 1966. It was made into the 1968 movie of the same name, starring Frank Sinatra, as Detective Joe Leland. Billed as "an adult look at police life", The Detective went on to become one of the highest-grossing films of 1968 and one of the strongest box-office hits of Sinatra's acting career.
Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu is the third novel by writer Lee Goldberg based on the television series Monk. In this novel, in response to a blue flu, the mayor of San Francisco reinstates several police officers who suffer from debilitating mental issues, including Adrian Monk. The squad of half-crazy detectives must contend not only with each other's eccentricities and a series of murders linked only by missing left shoes and shared birth dates, but their former friends on the other side of the labor dispute. Like the previous two books, the book is narrated by Natalie Teeger, Monk's assistant.
Die Hard is an American action film series that originated with Roderick Thorp's 1979 novel Nothing Lasts Forever. All five films revolve around the main character of John McClane, a police detective who continually finds himself in the middle of a crisis where he is both the only hope against disaster and the culprit's target.
The Detective is a 1968 American neo-noir crime drama film starring Frank Sinatra. Directed by Gordon Douglas and produced by Aaron Rosenberg, it is based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Roderick Thorp.
A Good Day to Die Hard is a 2013 American action thriller film and the fifth installment in the Die Hard film series. The film was directed by John Moore and written by Skip Woods, and stars Bruce Willis as John McClane in his final film in the franchise. The main plot finds McClane traveling to Russia to get his estranged son, Jack, an undercover CIA agent, out of prison. He is soon caught in the crossfire of a global terrorist plot. Alongside Willis, the film also stars Jai Courtney, Sebastian Koch, Cole Hauser and Yulia Snigir.
58 Minutes is a 1987 thriller novel by American novelist Walter Wager. The novel was the basis for the 1990 film Die Hard 2.
"Work Hard or Die Trying, Girl" is the first episode and season premiere of the fifth season of the animated comedy series Bob's Burgers and the overall 68th episode, and is written by Nora Smith and directed by Jennifer Coyle. It aired on Fox in the United States on October 5, 2014.
Hans Gruber is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the 1988 action film Die Hard, portrayed by Alan Rickman.
Sergeant Al Powell is a fictional character from the 1988 action film Die Hard and the novel on which it was based, portrayed by Reginald VelJohnson. Powell is an off-duty police officer who gets called into work to investigate a potential hostage situation at Nakatomi Plaza. Powell then becomes a central character in the conflict, and a source of moral support for protagonist John McClane. VelJohnson would reprise his role in the sequel film Die Hard 2 (1990) and the second season of the action comedy/spy-drama television series Chuck (2008).