List of Movies That Inspired Die Hard

The original Airport film.

This is a detailed list of all the films that inspired the Die Hard Scenario movies out there. For a list of actual Die Hard scenario films, see here. Any film that also resembles the DHS formula is also included here as well.

For a list of actors and actresses who appeared in these films, see here.

This list is incomplete. You can continue to help us by expanding it. 

0-100

• 36 Ghante (1974): Bollywood remake of the original Desperate Hours.

A

• Airplane! (1980): Popular parody of the Airplane disaster films.
• Airplane II: The Sequel (1982): Sequel to the first parody film.
• Airport (1970): The first of many airline disaster films that inspired various DHS films including: Die Hard 2, Passenger 57, Executive Decision, Air Force One, Con Air, Turbulence, Flightplan, Snakes on a Plane and Non-Stop among others. [1]
• Airport 1975 (1974)
• Airport '77 (1977)
• Aliens (1986)
• Assault on Precinct 13 (1976): Action thriller by John Carpenter that's based on the premise of 1959's Rio Bravo. Remake later on in 2005.
• At Gunpoint (1955): Another rip-off of the High Noon formula. [2]
• Avalanche (1978) [3] [4]

B

• Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979)
• Black Sunday (1977)
• The Blazing Tower (1974 TV movie) (A.K.A. Terror on the 40th Floor) [5]
• The Bullet Train (1975): Japanese action thriller that inspired many DHS films set on moving vehicles with bombs on them. One such example is 1994's Speed.

C

• Cave In! (1983 TV movie): Hostages are taken by a man inside an interior earthquake laden cave. [6]
• City on Fire (1979) [7]
• Commando (1985): Hit cult action film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and which began Steven E. de Souza's series of scripted action films which featured a one-man army. Also features the fictional country Val Verde which was later used in Die Hard 2. Unlike previously believed, it wasn't meant to be a sequel to the original Die Hard.
• The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979)

D

• The Dark Past (1947): Another pre-Desperate Hours type film.
• Day of the Wolves (1971) [8]
• Death Before Dishonor (1987)
• The Delta Force (1986)
• Desperate Hours (1955) [9]
• Disaster on the Coastliner (1979 TV movie)
• Dog Day Afternoon [10]

E

• Earthquake (1974)
• Enemy Territory (1987): Another film that is influenced by the Assault on Precinct 13 and Rio Bravo formula.
• Escape from New York (1981)

F

• The Final Option (1982) (A.K.A. He Dare Wins)
• Fire! (1977 TV movie) [11] [12]
• Flight to Holocaust (1977 TV movie) [13]
• Flood! (1976 TV movie) [14] [15]

G

• Goldfinger: Many have noted the resemblances in the main villain's heist in both this James Bond film and the 1995 sequel Die Hard with a Vengeance.

H

High Noon movie poster

• He Ran All the Way (1951): Noir film that appears to be based on some of the true-life material that inspired the play and 1955 original version of The Desperate Hours.
• High Noon (1952); Later had a made-for-television remake in 2000. [16]
• High Noon, Part II: The Return of Will Kane (1980 telefilm): Made for television sequel to the original 1952 film.
• Hostage (1987): Wings Hauser action film in the late eighties.
• Hostage Flight (1985 TV movie)
• The Hostage Tower (1980 TV movie)

I

• Inferno in Paradise (1974) [17]
• Invasion U.S.A. (1985)

J

• Juggernaut (1974)

K

• Key Largo (1948) [18]
• The Kidnapping of the President (1980)

N

• The Night Holds Terror (1951) [19]
• Nighthawks (1981)

O

• Outland (1981)

P

• People's Hero (1987): Hong Kong remake of 1975's Dog Day Afternoon. [20]
• The Petrified Forest (1936)
• The Poseidon Adventure (1972) [21]
• Puzzle (1986): A bank robbery goes wrong. The robbers, two of them unemployed family men, take two hostages, one of them needing heart medication, and leave them in an apartment, tied to a bomb. Notable for also starring a young Antonio Banderas.

R

• Rabid Dogs (1977) [22]
• Red Dawn (1984): Action-War Thriller about a hokey scenario involving the Russians invading the United States in a World War III scenario. Later remade in 2012.
• Rio Bravo (1959): John Wayne Western film which in many ways impacts what films feel like rip-offs of Assault on Precinct 13 or any other DHS films. [23]
• Rollercoaster (1977) [24]
• Rosebud (1975)
• Runaway Train (1985)

S

• Saboteur (1942): In this Alfred Hitchcock thriller, the ending is clearly references in the original and fifth Die Hard films.
• Silver Lode (1954): Western often considered to be a film that capitalized on the success of High Noon. [25] [26] [27] [28]
• Silver Streak (1975)
• Skyjacked
• The Soldier (1982)
• SST-Death Flight (1977 TV film): A made-for-TV film capitalizing on the success of the Airport series of films.

T

The original 1974 version of Taking of Pelham One Two Three

• The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974): Later remake as a TV movie in 1998 and as a DHS film in 2009.
• Taps
• The Terrorists (1974; A.K.A. Ransom): Action thriller starring Sean Connery.
• Time Bomb (1984 TV movie)
• The Towering Inferno (1974) [29] [30]
• Thunder Run (1986)
• Two Minute Warning (1976) [31]

W

• When Time Ran Out... (1980) [32]