Question: Can someone please explain the scene where McClane and Hans are alone near the roof. Hans says his name is "Bill Clay" and the camera zooms in on a board with the name Clay on it. What is the significance of this? Does this give Hans away? And if so how?
posty
22nd Mar 2004
Die Hard (1988)
Answer: John already knew what Hans looked like. He saw him through the vent on the top of the elevator (after sending Karl's brother down wearing the sweater) - He also saw Hans shoot Takagi (which is why he says "Just like you did with Takagi" after Hans says he's gonna count to three).
He never sees Hans' face in either scene. In fact, once the scene where they meet on the roof was added (midway through filming, once the director realised Alan Rickman could do a passable American accent), the scene where Hans shoots Takagi was reedited in such a way as to be clear that McClane never gets a good look at Hans' face, only hears his voice.
18th Jun 2023
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Continuity mistake: After Cowboy and company hook up with Mother, there are seven soldiers. When Cowboy gets shot, there are seven against the wall, not including Cowboy.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: Funny thing is, there are 8 whilst there should be 9. When they go to get Mother, Cowboy points out 5 to come with him, and then Joker and Rafterman volunteer to come along. That's 8. Including Mother that would be 9. But there are only 8 in later shots. I can count 8 at the 2:30 timestamp. What is even funnier is that at 2:02 there are only 6 running, not 8. And lastly, when they hook up with Mother, they are 6 in total against the wall (2:24). Maybe someone could confirm this for me so it can be edited.
Actually, he tells four to come with him: No-Doze, Scutter, Donlon, and Rock. Joker and Rafterman join, so that should be seven going to mother, but only six are shown. There was an entry for that here, but it is under corrections, saying that the viewer is one of the seven, which is totally incorrect.
5th Aug 2006
Firefly (2002)
Corrected entry: When leaving the hospital on Ariel, Jayne is arrested along with Simon and River. His hands are cuffed behind his back. However, when he is stunned by the police officer a moment later and falls to the ground, his hands are in front of him and there is no sign of the cuffs. (00:25:30)
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Answer: No, this doesn't give Hans away - the zoom represents McClane checking the board out - getting proof that there is indeed a person in the building with that name (listed as W. Clay, for William). Hans has obviously done his homework, but McClane doesn't trust him anyway, hence the trick with the empty gun.
Tailkinker ★
Actually, it said "Wm. Clay", which is for William. W. Clay could have been for Wanda or Walter or Wesley or Waldo, etc.
posty
It's most likely "WM" for William Mark Clay or similar - no reason William would have an extra letter tacked on but others wouldn't.
Wm is commonly the initials for "William", as opposed to W for "Will." On the board, it shows WM simply because they don't have/use any lower-case letters; they're all block letters.
Bishop73