John McClane (Bruce Willis) is now almost a full-blown alcoholic and is suspended from the NYPD. But when a bomb goes off in the Bonwit Teller Department Store the police go insane trying to figure out what's going on. Soon, a man named Simon calls and asks for McClane. Simon tells Inspector Walter Cobb that McClane is going to play a game called "Simon Says". He says that McClane is going to do the tasks he assigns him. If not, he'll blow off another bomb. With the help of a Harlem electrician, John McClane must race all over New York trying to figure out the frustrating puzzles that the crafty terrorist gives him. But when a bomb goes off in a subway station right by the Federal Reserve (the biggest gold storage in the world) things start to get heated up.

otsoNY Comments: The filmmakers decided to shoot the entire film in New York City rather than opting for Toronto purely on the basis that they thought Toronto, which often stands in for New York to keep costs down, didn’t quite work because the people seemed wrong and didn’t move like New Yorkers on the street. The film’s opening sequence, where terrorist Simon’s attention-grabbing bomb destroys a Bonwit Teller department store was one of the first scenes shot. Bonwit Teller had just gone out of business, so the production team decided to use their name. An almost empty building on lower Sixth Avenue stood in for Bonwits with twenty five windows rigged to explode on cue with seven cameras positioned around the set to capture the explosive moment, which was shot on a very early Sunday morning, so not to cause too much disruption to the resides of New York. However, even with the planning in place and the support of the City of New York and the NYPD, the shoot caused more disruption than most Manhattanities cared to endure.

otsoNY Comments: When the bomb goes off in the Bonwit Teller department store, there is an "Atlantic Courier" truck parked in front of the store that gets flipped over. In Die Hard (1988), Hans Gruber and the other terrorists arrive at Nakatomi Plaza in a "Pacific Courier" truck.

The O'Neill Building, 655 6th Avenue (btw West 20th and 21st Streets) Manhattan.

otsoNY Comments: Though the street sign clearly says W 137st, which would be in Harlem, the film-makers actually changed the sign as the actual address is in Washington Heights at 176th Street.

West 176th Street and Audubon Avenue, Washington Heights, New York.

otsoNY Comments: The camera pans over a street sign that clearly states address as Lenox Avenue and West 138th Street, but in fact it is neither. The film-makers changed the signs as the actual address is in fact Audubon Avenue and West 175th Street.

188 Audubon Avenue (btw West 174th & 175th Streets) Washington Heights.

Audubon Avenue and West 175th Street, Harlem.

otsoNY Comments: The telephone booth is no longer outside the station.

otsoNY Comments: Watch as the same extras continously walk pass the actors in either direction during this scene, especially when switching camera angles.

72nd Street Subway Station, West 72nd Street and Broadway, Manhattan.

West 72nd Street and Broadway, Manhattan.

West 96th Street and Central Park West, Washington Heights, New York.

Central Park (Adjacent to Central Park West) Manhattan.

Central Park South (btw 7th Avenue and Columbus Circle) Manhattan.

Columbus Circle and Central Park West, Manhattan.

Subway, East 8th Street and Broadway, Manhattan.

Nassau Street and Maiden Lane, Manhattan.

William Street (btw Pine Street and Cedar Street) Manhattan.

otsoNY Comments: The park on top of the Wall Street station in the film was a vacant lot that was made into a park for the film. It was turned back into a vacant lot after filming was completed.

William Street (btw Cedar Street and Liberty Street) Manhattan.

otsoNY Comments: Though it looks like the cryptic terrorist Jeremy Irons and his team enter the Federal Reserve Bank in this scene, it was actually a vacant bank on Wall Street that they enter as no interior shots inside the Federal Reverve were allowed.

otsoNY Comments: The film crew were not allowed to film inside the Federal Reserve Bank and so for the interior shots, a vacant bank on Wall Street was used.

(Exterior) Federal Reserve Bank (btw Liberty and William Streets) Manhattan.

otsoNY Comments: Notice the crowds of onlookers to the right of the shot watching as Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson jog along the street.

otsoNY Comments: The World Trade Center towers are prominent throughout the film and a gentle reminder to their absence. Between the late 1970s and 1990s, they often appeared in films to give reference to where the scenes were being filmed. They were also a helpful landmark for tourists to find their way to Lower Manhattan as they could be seen from afar. Now sadly missed from the Manhattan skyline.

LaGuardia Place and Bleecker Street, Manhattan.

Tompkins Square Park, East 7th Street and Avenue A, Manhattan.

otsoNY Comments: The actual fountain was fake and only used for the film.

otsoNY Comments: There are two solutions to the water jug riddle in the park, at the elephant fountain. To place exactly 4 gallons of water on the scales when you only have two jugs which hold 3 and 5 gallons respectively, you must do either of the following:

1. Fill the 5 gallon jug and decant the water into the 3 gallon jug. This leaves two gallons in the big jug. 2. Empty the 3 gallon jug and pour in the two gallons from the 5 gallon jug, leaving space for one gallon in the small jug. 3. Refill the 5 gallon jug and pour water from it into the 3 gallon jug until the small jug's full. 4. That leaves exactly four gallons in the big jug; put it on the scale and the bomb is disarmed.

The second method is: 1. Fill the 3 gallon jug and pour the water into the 5 gallon jug. 2. Refill the 3 gallon jug, and pour into the 5 gallon jug until the big jug is full, leaving one gallon in the small jug. 3. Empty the big jug, and transfer the one gallon from the small jug to the big jug. 4. Refill the small jug and pour all three gallons into the 5 gallon jug, resulting in four gallons in the big jug. Place the big jug on the scale and the bomb is disarmed.

Tompkins Square Park, East 7th Street and Avenue A, Manhattan.

Avenue A (btw East 7th Street and St Marks Place) Manhattan.

Gold Street and Maiden Lane, Manhattan.

(Below Brooklyn Bridge) Slip Road to FDR Drive, Manhattan.

Slip Road and S St Viaduct (FDR Drive Adjacent to Jackson Street) Manhattan.

Yankee Stadium, East 161st Street and River Avenue, Bronx.

otsoNY Comments: Alexander Humboldt School on West 176th Street in Washington Heights doubled for the fictional Chester A Arthur Public School.

School, West 176th Street and Saint Nicholas Avenue, Washington Heights.