38 Cuts and Revisions That Changed Your Favorite Films

What was cut: The original ending is quieter, darker and better. John McClane, who was made the scapegoat for the earlier events of the movie, picks up where he left off after the (successful robbery). He tracks Simon down in Hungary and forces Simon to play Russian Roulette using a rocket launcher. Simon loses but John has stacked the odds because he knew how to. 

Studio thought the ending lacked a proper (ie. John looked too cruel, and the studio decided to scrap the explosive finale. Rich is a remarkable man, considering what a jerk the sequels made him. Apart from that, the rocket launcher ending featured a fantastic allusion to the Lavender Hill Mob with Simon smuggling money in the form souvenir statues of The Empire State Building. 

Sometimes studios are monsters. 

It Would Have Stayed In McClane’s untimely death would have allowed the film to have a more memorable, distinct and iconic ending.