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Finally solved?... how DID McClane identify Bill Clay as Gruber

posted 8 years ago by laplante-co-672-297856
26 replies | jump to latest

There is often a lot of discussion about how McClane identified Gruber when he encounters him on the top floor.

Many people -- myself included -- think it happens when McClane offers Gruber a cigarette, but no satisfactory explanation to my mind has ever been put out there.

My opinion is that a few seconds of film ended up on the cutting room floor that might have definitively solved this mystery.

I just watched this again last night for probably about the 10th time. I noticed a few things that had never jumped out at me before.

i. Early in the movie, McClane takes out two separate "terrorists" and goes through their effects, pocketing their cigarettes.

A few minutes later his is talking to Al for the first time on the radio and he tells him:

"These guys are mostly European judging from their clothing labels and---"

At this point, Willis very deliberately pauses and looks over his shoulder as if he's had some sort of realization.

"-- cigarettes."

It's not clear what it is about the cigarettes that made him pause. I wonder now though if it ties into his later attempt to identify Hans.

ii. When Gruber inhales on the cigarette he holds it between the tips of his thumb and index finger which is common among Europeans.

The camera cuts back to McClane who is holding his cigarette low between his index finger and his middle finger, the way that North Americans normally hold their cigarettes.

So that too may have tipped off McClane.

iii. Finally, on another board, someone else had a very clever explanation too. Earlier in the movie McClane above the elevator looking down through the grill. Below him is the terrorist that he killed -- "Now I have a machine gun..." -- and Gruber is reading the words on the sweater.

McClane can't see Gruber's face, but he CAN see his hands. When Gruber reaches forward to the body, his watch is exposed.

Later he offers the cigarette to Hans and when Hans reaches forward, his sleeve pulls back, revealing the watch that McClane saw earlier.

Again, confirmation that Bill Clay is Gruber...

[–] GTizzle 8 years ago

People- it's all very simple.

John OF COURSE suspects it could be a terrorist no matter what "Bill Clay" says- he has to under the circumstances- period.

The scene (and entire movie) is brilliantly written. Not only does Hans *somehow* have a name to give John (we don't see him looking at the name board, but it seems he clearly had the opportunity off camera), but he actually goes a step further to add validity to his lie, offering "Bill" in place of "William". And the reason whyyyy that was written into the scene (to answer the question of why John would go through the test only to still maybe not believe him in that he handed him the empty gun anyway) was for us, the VIEWER to believe that John may have been convinced with such a convincing answer. WE were being duped, not John, so when he hands Hans the gun, we the viewer are led to be thinking "Oh nooo, don't do it!", only to learn that John was smarter than all of us.

The fact is this- if Hans had no name to give John, John would have just skipped giving him the empty gun (test #2) and outed him as Hans right there and then. But Hans passed test #1, and John moved on to test #2.

So the cigarette, the watch, the accent, the name board (which is the REAL head-scratcher in this scene- why on EARTH would an employee name board be outside on the roof?? There is probably a total of zero bldgs in the world that have that)- they were all red herrings (if I'm using that the right way). The only thing that mattered was that John had 2 tests to give Hans, and Hans passed the first one but failed the second one.

Cool?

[–] sneezer (166) 7 years ago

The question i have is this. John realized Clay was Gruber. He had more than one gun on him, i think. He coulda shot Gruber dead right then and there and helped save the day.