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| The movie poster for the classic 1988 action movie "Die Hard". |
The recent death of James Shigeta, who played Joseph Takagi, a doomed businessman in the first “Die Hard” movie way back in the summer of 1988,
reminded me of a pivotal summer in my life. There was something old, something
new, something borrowed, and something blue.
Something old
I had gone off to university in the fall of 1987 full of trepidation.
I needn’t have worried, because I had one of the greatest years of my life. It
still ranks near the top. Then, in the flash of a trip in a Pinto from
Edmonton, it was over. I was back on the same old farm, working the same old
job at the greenhouse. Awaiting me in the fall at university was a new job I
was really excited about, so the days went by so slowly. Worse yet, my best
friend Chris Vining had gone up north for the summer to work and stay with his
dad, so I didn’t have my homey to hang out with.
Something new
There were several new things that ultimately made the time pass, and
eventually just a little bit sad to leave, when I finally did.
In the eight months I was away, Lethbridge had undergone some
significant changes, especially downtown. Mall space had almost doubled, with
the opening of the Park Place Mall and the addition of a second floor to the
Lethbridge Centre, or Woodward’s Mall, as we called it. Beyond all the new
stores, which did not excite me that much, was the addition of more movie
theatres.
Up to that point, Lethbridge was served by a total of six screens: the
Paramount Theatre downtown had two; the Lethbridge Centre Theatre, also
downtown had two; and College Mall, had two called “College Cinema 2”. And, I
believe, they were all owned by the same person. In any event, they were all
Famous Players theatres. And there was the Green Acres Drive-In, but that was
not an option a) in the winter; and b) without a car.
The new mall had six screens, and was a Cineplex-Odeon, meaning way
more movie selection. It opened not too long before I got home from university,
and would become a frequent destination over the next four months. I would see
“Cocktail”, “Sunset”, and others.
I also renewed a friendship I had made the previous summer with a
buddy named BJ, or Bill. He was the younger brother of my neighbour and lifelong friend.
We hung out a fair bit, taking in a bunch of movies. We also listened to a lot
of music together.
Something borrowed
Near the end of that summer, I bought a tape I had wanted for a long
time: Richard Marx’s debut, self-titled album. Me and Bill used to joke about one of the
Richard Marx songs, “Don’t Mean Nothing” so he chuckled when I told him I
bought it.
At the same time, we were getting into Honeymoon Suite’s latest
single, “Love Changes Everything”. We both loved their last album, “The Big
Prize”, and BJ’s brother actually had also bought their self-titled debut album
through Columbia House. Needless to say, BJ bought “Racing After Midnight”, the
aforementioned latest album from those rockers from Niagara Falls.
So, we decided to swap tapes. In essence we were borrowing from each
other. Sadly, I left for university before we could trade back, and I still
have “Racing After Midnight” sitting in my closet. I’m sure Richard Marx is
living in a landfill, somewhere or, at best, at the bottom of a closet or a box
in someone’s basement.
Something blue
The funny thing was, that I got into a pretty good routine as the
summer went on. I really had a good time with Bill. He was still in high
school, going into Grade 12, so I still had contact with that scene. Plus he
was a bit of a chick magnet, so girls were around more than I had ever
experienced (which had been never, to be honest). So, when I finally did get to
leave, I was a bit blue. I was saying goodbye to a buddy.
The funny thing is, I have never seen him since, in the almost 26
years that have passed.
"Die Hard"
Amid all this, the movie “Die Hard” came to town. I was curious to see
it because it starred Bruce Willis who, up until then had been starring in
“Moonlighting” opposite Cybill Shepard. I really had not seen much advertising
on the movie but, because Willis’ role in “Moonlighting” was so goofy, I was
really curious to see him in something else. Plus, Bill wanted to go, we had
either seen everything else or didn’t want to, and movies were dirt cheap to go
to. Whatever the reason, we were not disappointed.
“Die Hard” is set during the Christmas season, making the summer
release a bit odd. John McClane (Willis) is a policeman estranged from his
wife, looking to meet up with his children. Through some misfortune, he ends up
trapped inside a skyscraper, the Nakatomi Plaza, just as some crooks are
trying to rob it, under the guise of a terrorist attack. What ensues is a man-against-the-odds battle. McClane uses
his skills and instincts as a police officer to slowly whittle down his enemy,
find out what their ultimate goal is, and stop them – while trying to survive.
The pacing of the movie is perfect, and Willis shows that he was more
than David Addison, his wisecracking, laid back character on “Moonlighting”.
Oh, he’s still cracking wise, but he is much more wound up, high strung, and
intense.
And he provides some of the best one-liners of the year. The best of
course was, “Yippy kiyay mother fu--er”, along with, “I have a gun too”, and
“That’s Helsinki, Sweden.” “Die Hard” ended up providing me and Bill the slang and
inside jokes we used for the rest of the summer (“Batman” did the same thing
for me and my friend Sean the following summer).
“Die Hard” would go on to spawn a bunch of sequels over the next 25
years. I only saw one, and it was pretty good too, two summers later, but nothing beats the
original, which is still one of my favourite action movies of all time.
Parting thoughts
It’s funny that I have been using this wedding metaphor, because it
was often described in the succeeding three years I was married to my job and
life in res.
The summer of 1988 really did have something old, something new,
something borrowed, and something blue. It was the end of my old life on the
farm. When I left, I never lived there again. I spent the next three school
years and two intervening summers in res. Amid that, my parents sold their
farm. It was also the time to find a new friend, visit a new theatre, and see
new movies. There was something borrowed, that Honeymoon Suite tape. I still
see it every so often, and it reminds me of Bill and the summer of ’88. And
there was something blue, my farewell to a friend and ultimately, although I
did not know it at the time, a way of life.
I will always associate “Die Hard” with that period, and it always
brings back memories. It’s unfortunate that it took the death of James Shigeta
to remind me again.
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