25 Things You Didn't Know About Die Hard With A Vengeance
23. The Original Ending Is... Pretty Wild
Die Hard with a Vengeance has one of the most notorious alternate endings in Hollywood history, and it's kind of amazing.
Instead of being caught at the Canadian border and dying in a helicopter crash - as was the case in the finished, theatrical cut - the film's original ending saw Simon escape with all the gold from the Federal Reserve. McClane takes the blame for the failure, and spends the next few years tracking Simon down, eventually finding him in a bar in Hungary.
This is where things start to get a tad wild. As the two engage in a bit of friendly banter, McClane reveals how he's actually carrying a Chinese rocket-launcher that has had its sites removed, making it impossible to tell which end will fire. He then decides to play a game called "McClane says" - essentially just Russian roulette with a rocket launcher instead of a loaded gun - and asks Simon a question; what could he have brought to the meeting that would save his life?
Gruber, guessing incorrectly, fires the launcher and kills himself. McClane reveals he was wearing a flak jacket and walks away, his revenge now complete.
The ending didn't really sit well with the studio, according to Hensleigh - mainly because they felt it made McClane seem cold and calculating - and so it was relegated to the DVD extras.