It’s hard to think of a more definitive, all-round American action-hero Dad than John McClane. This Father’s Day, John McClane teams up with his son to take out Russian terrorists in A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD. To celebrate the ultimate action-hero Dad, we take a look back at the franchises’ best ‘McClane’ moments as we celebrate today’s DVD/Blu-ray release of the latest instalment. And don’t forget, we’re giving away TWO copies of the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack to a couple of lucky BTM readers, so check out the link on the bottom of the post to register to win!!! Yippee-ki-yay, marquee’ologists!!!

McClane Grabs a Gun From a Moving Sidewalk (Die Hard 2: Die Harder)

McClane has to crawl through a ventilation shaft (harking back to the original) to stop a team of bad guys killing an armed team who are escorting a comms expert to re-configure an antenna so the airport’s tower can talk to the planes above them. No biggy.

It’s business as usual for Die Hard but we’re given that little bit extra with McClane stuck under scaffolding, trying to reach a gun on the moving walkway before the last bad guy does him in. Normally any person pinned down to the ground in an airport would accept defeat, but not John McClane, who uses a moving sidewalk to make his handgun come to him.

The Vent Scene (Die Hard)

If this scene is iconic enough to be the inspiration for a Die Hard mural, here’s why: It epitomises McClane’s character as a whole – a man of espionage, a down-and-dirty blue-collar hero and most importantly, a cocky smartass.

The Bloody Feet (Die Hard)

A tense and unique sequence in the original Die Hard shows Gruber and his cohorts shoot the glass once they notice McClane is running around the skyscraper bare-footed. Although seeing McClane plucking of the glass out of his feet isn’t easy to watch, it’s one of the things that makes the original Die Hard so iconic. Sure, there are 13 terrorists against one rogue New York cop who is low on ammo, rest and patience. But why not throw in a set of torn-up feet to make the victory all the sweeter?

Ejector seat: (Die Hard 2: Die Harder)

There are a lot of awesome explosions in Die Hard 2, but this one was the money shot for the trailer. Trapped in a plane and surrounded by bad guys throwing grenades at him, McClane straps himself into the pilot’s seat and pulls the ejection lever, just before the plane blows up. This shot of McClane flying through the air sums up everything we love about our favourite action hero.

McClane Takes Out a Helicopter…With a Car (Live Free or Die Hard)

I’ll say it again.  McClane takes out a helicopter…with a car.

In the big D.C set sequence, the movie’s cyber terrorists get wind of McClane and Ferrell’s whereabouts and send a chopper to finish the job.  As our heroes become trapped in a tunnel, McClane drives a DC metro straight at the chopper while being shot at, finding an incline, and then launching the car into the air for a direct hit. Priceless. Who would have thought to use a cop car as a makeshift missile? Oh wait, that would be Lieutenant John McClane.

Simon Says “Take A Trip to Harlem” (Die Hard with a Vengeance)

Supposedly looking to avenge his brother’s death, Simon Gruber has his heart set on making life miserable for NY’s finest via an array of well-thought out tasks. Though it turns out that these are merely red herrings to distract the NYPC from the villain’s actual masterplan, they do happen to provide some of the most inventive plot devices in the entire Die Hard canon. Potentially the most dangerous of the tasks, this specific sequence requires McClane to stand in the middle of the notorious urban-centric district wearing a sandwich board with the words: “I Hate N____s.” To ratchet things up, Harlem shop owner Zeus (Samuel L. Jackson) acknowledges the cop before a group of Black males notice him, to which he warns McClaine with the line: “You are about to have a very bad day.” Classic McClane replies with “tell me about it.”

Now I Have a Machine Gun. Ho-Ho-Ho (Die Hard)

Although McClane is often bound by the rules of varying bad guy’s games, that doesn’t mean he can’t make them sweat! Case in point: one of his most effective, anxiety-producing statements, made to Hans Gruber in the first Die Hard, was the big reveal of a white-shirted terrorist bound to a chair, with McClane’s statement scrawled across it: “Now I have a machine gun. Ho-Ho-Ho.” It’s high-five inspiring enough, but hearing Alan Rickman as Hans read the whole thing off makes it doubly enjoyable. Displaying the personality trait that made John McClane such a well-loved character, rather than just dumping the body for the bad guys to find, McClane’s sense of humour turns Die Hard into a battle of wits, as well as a battle of one man against a building full of men with machine guns.

Yippee-Ki-Yay Mother F**ker! From: Every Die Hard, and we wouldn’t have it any other way

From the first appearance of the infamous quote in Die Hard 1 (It’s not necessarily a massive catchphrase the first time, with McClane whispering it into a walkie-talkie to Hans Gruber) to the gunshot that muffles an f-bomb and qualifies the fourth movie as PG-13, to the time he’s having yuks with Sam Jackson, or when he’s lighting an airplane on fire from a stream of jet fuel.  Whichever film it is in the franchise, you know, this is the definitive Die Hard moment. It’s what qualifies John McClane as our own modern day John Wayne—er, Roy Rogers—a rogue badass hero who’s the right guy at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Nakatomi Plaza Rooftop Explosion Film: Die Hard

After rescuing hostages and dodging FBI helicopter fire, our hero needs an escape route before Gruber detonates explosives on the roof of Nakatomi Plaza. How does he escape? Simple. Bungee jump off the side of the roof, strapped to a fire hose and crash through the window of an executive’s office. Name another onscreen hero ballsy enough to do that.

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW YOU CAN WIN ONE OF TWO BLU-RAY/DVD COPIES OF “A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD” FROM TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT… (CONTEST ENDS THIS FRIDAY!!!)

Arriving on Blu-ray and DVD June 4