Wow! Just because Die Hard is a fictional movie doesn’t mean there isn’t a real-life John McClane out there. Check out Ted McGannon, a Denver City Police Officer who harasses his ex-wife Betty who has made it clear she wants nothing to do with him, just like Bruce Willis in his most iconic role.
Watch out, any groups of sophisticated, high-tech international thieves, as long as they happen to be near Betty, whose many complaints to her ex-husband’s superiors have been ignored!
In Die Hard, John McClane flew cross country to confront his estranged wife Bonnie Bedelia in front of all her coworkers at a Christmas party. In real life, Officer McGannon drove by his ex’s parent’s home on Christmas morning over and over again, so she knows she can never escape him, just like Alan Rickman could not escape the long arm of New York City justice.
In this case, justice is named Ted MacGannon and he uses the twice-a-month weekend visitation with his and Betty’s 11 year-old son Ted Junior as a form of control over his former spouse’s schedule. Just like John McClane, Officer MacGannon’s behavior has estranged himself from his son to the point that Ted Jr. has begun to call himself Theo just to avoid being associated with his father. That’s dedication!
Remember how Bonnie Bedelia’s scummy coworker was doing coke at the Christmas party in Nakatomi Tower? Well, Officer McGannon did one better by planting cocaine on his ex’s new boyfriend at his job, getting him fired, arrested, and held in county lock-up for 48 hours without charges being officially filed so no one could identify where he actually was.
And just like John McClane, this cop waited hours for a plane with his ex-wife on it to land, except that she didn’t know he was arriving and had a panic attack when she saw him. And even though they were in another city far from Officer MacGannon’s jurisdiction, local Police Officer Al Howard completely took him at his word and refused to intercede when the panicked Betty tried to get their assistance.
Also, Officer Howard shot a kid but still kept his job and his ability to wield a deadly weapon with no consequences.
Yippee ki yay, motherfuckers!