1. DIE HARD
Directed by John McTiernan (1988)
He's just a guy. That's the amazing thing about Bruce Willis' John McClane, an NYC cop in L.A. to reconcile with his corporate-ladder-climbing wife, who gets trapped in a skyscraper with money-hungry ''terrorists.'' He's not thick with muscles, he's often afraid, and he forgot his shoes. But all of those things — combined with Willis' street-smart insouciance and McTiernan's high-tension camerawork — help make Die Hard the Greatest Action Movie of All Time. We know it, you know it, and Bruce knows it, which is why he spoke with EW's Chris Nashawaty to look back at being the right man in the wrong place at the right time.
Want more movie mayhem? Click here to see Nos. 26-50 on EW.com's extended list of the Greatest Action Films of All Time.
