Character Analysis
Most folks, when thinking of all the so-called terrorists on Gruber's team, remember Karl and Theo and…
… that's about it.
But, frankly, there are a lot of henchmen to keep track of. In the beginning, the multinational crew are a well-oiled machine—each completing his part of the plan with ease. But as the movie progresses and John McClane becomes the proverbial fly in the ointment, their oiliness starts to get a bit stickier.
And as that happens, their quirks and shticks emerge, which helps us tell them apart and remember their roles. We'll give you the lineup in the order in which they get killed.
The Line-Up
There's Tony, whose main usefulness in the movie seems to lie in getting killed by McClane and then used as provocation so that Karl can launch his revenge vendetta. He's hard to forget because (1) he wears the world's tightest sweatpants (why didn't Gruber ever give him fashion advice?), and (2) he has some seriously amazing grandpa glasses.
And then we have Heinrich, the explosives expert. You'll remember him because he has a glorious blond, curly mullet. He dies rather abruptly when he and Marco head down to the boardroom to find McClane.
Speaking of Marco, he's the Italian of the group, and he gets shot in the legs and, um, other places when McClane ices him from underneath the table. Marco also receives the dubious honor of being the body that McClane hurls out the window to "welcome" Sergeant Al Powell "to the party."
We call James and Alexander the rocket launchers. Why? Because that's pretty much all they do. They launch two rockets at the SWAT vehicle that attempts to infiltrate Nakatomi Plaza, and then they die when McClane sends a C-4-strapped computer down the elevator shaft to greet them.
It took us a few viewings to finally realize that the man we all call "Fabio Hair" does in fact have a name: Fritz. He's the one with the long, luscious locks who helps Karl go after McClane in the air vent and then dies when McClane discovers that Bill Clay is, in fact, Hans Gruber, and a shootout ensues.
Franco is the guy who pours Harry Ellis his final Coca-Cola. He's pretty much your garden-variety lackey in every way, although he does meet a spectacularly gruesome end when McClane shoots out his knees with a machine gun. It's exactly as gross as you imagine.
The Candy Man, also known as Uli, meets a rather gnarly and unceremonious death at the hands of McClane's Beretta as he descends from the roof toward the end of the movie. But that's not before he oh-so-awesomely grubs on a pilfered Crunch bar while waiting for the SWAT teams to storm the building. Dude's cool as a cucumber, until he's dead as a doornail. Fun fact: Al Leong, the actor who portrayed Uli, improvised that little candy detail. Genius, don't you think?
Theo, the tech-savvy vault-cracker, is a walking snark machine. He knows what he's doing, but he's not afraid to have fun while he's doing it. He cracks jokes all the time—including when it's least appropriate. He's pretty cold-blooded, but his cocksure attitude makes for some pretty great one-liners. Our favorite?
"You didn't bring me along for my charming personality."
Theo meets a rather poetic end when Argyle, still hanging out in the limo in the parking garage, sees him trying to make a getaway in an ambulance, and blows straight into the driver's side door. We can't say for sure whether Theo's dead (Argyle punches him, just for good measure), but it's clear he won't be bothering McClane anymore.
Little Kristoff is Theo's assistant in cracking the vault, and he almost makes it to the end. As the movie approaches its climax, Gruber sends Kristoff, well, off with an armful of bearer bonds, presumably to go make his getaway with Theo. But McClane, desperate to finally save his wife, decks poor Kristoff and the bonds go sprawling. His fate—like that of his boss man Theo—is left unknown.
Huey Lewis 2.0, also known as Eddie, makes it the longest out of all of Gruber's henchmen. He stays safely ensconced behind the reception desk in the lobby for much of the movie and is with Hans for the final showdown with McClane. He finally meets his maker when McClane rips his cleverly taped Beretta off his back and shoots Eddie, after turning his gun on Gruber.