The Good, The Bad & The Badass: Bruce Willis

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Last week, we took a look at the career of seventies and eighties megastar Burt Reynolds. This week's subject is a guy who arguably owes his stardom to the fact that Reynolds turned down what became a career-defining part for an actor who's been able to maintain his popularity for a quarter of a decade…

Now here's an entry I've agonized over. I've been meaning to do a column about Bruce Willis for awhile now, and with Christmas having just passed and DIE HARD getting major yuletide airplay, the timing seemed right. While Willis has done more than enough great work to wind up in this column, I must admit that over the years I've become much less of a Bruce Willis fan than I used to be. I grew up watching the guy, from MOONLIGHTING, through DIE HARD, PULP FICTION, to more recently LOOPER and so on. While his choice of roles has been questionable at best over the last five years or so, given the right part (MOONRISE KINGDOM) he can still excel.

The reason I'm not as big of a fan of his these days is due more to the major jerk-vibe he gives off than his choice of roles. I can forgive the guy for doing some shitty movies. It happens, and a comeback part is always just around the corner. It's more the fact that his ego seems totally out of control, and that infamous RED 2 junket interview where he came off as the world's biggest prick makes it tough to root for the guy. Sure, maybe he was having a bad day, but stories of his jerk behavior aren't really anything new, and this interview seems to prove that all the worst stories we've heard about him over the years (such as Kevin Smith's COP OUT nightmare) are true. At any rate, judging him purely by his work, no one can deny that Willis is one of the most iconic figures of his era, and with him only in his late fifties, it's not hard to imagine that with a couple of good roles Willis could reestablish himself as a big-time film star, provided he takes a break from DTV crap. He should also stop doing junket interviews and let the work speak for itself unless he's able to treat it as something other than a chore (which, let's not forget, he's handsomely paid for).

This one's pretty much a no-brainer. While I still think PULP FICTION has the edge as Willis' best overall film, when it comes to starring-roles, DIE HARD cannot be beat. It's crazy to think that Burt Reynolds was the original choice for John McClane, as the part seems tailor-made for Willis, who at the time was known as a TV guy with MOONLIGHTING (as well as he's ill-conceived 1987 Motown album, 'The Return of Bruno'). You can always recast James Bond, Superman or Batman, but there's only one John McClane, and that's Bruce Willis. What made McClane such an immediately iconic hero was that in contrast to the over-the-top heroes of the eighties (Arnie & Sly) Willis' McClane was regular guy, capable of getting hurt and really just wanting to save his wife and reunite his family. It also didn't hurt that the guy looked cool in an undershirt, and could throw-off a one-liner better than any action star in history making him a cool, wise-guy hero and the part that Willis – for better or worse – will always be identified with. As for the sequels, DIE HARD 2 is good fun, and DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE (with John McTiernan returning from the first film) is a damn fine actioner in its own right. The less said about the 21st century DIE HARD's, the better.

I never really got the love for RED. While it was an OK action movie, there's nothing especially memorable about it, save for John Malkovich's scenery chewing and Helen Mirren. Otherwise, it's a pretty routine action flick, and Willis himself isn't all that great in it. The sequel is obviously far worse, but I was surprised the first one caught on the way it did and it certainly doesn't deserve to be mentioned as one of Willis' better movies. LOOPER, which came out not long after, is about a thousand times better.

Call me crazy, but I've always had a soft spot for HUDSON HAWK. Yes, I know it's nothing but a vanity project, but this was Willis circa 1991, and he was at the top of his game. As a crooning jewel-thief, he's just so damn charismatic, the movie itself is completely bonkers insane, but in the best way possible. It's crazy to think that a studio would finance a blockbuster action film where Willis would romance a nun, sing the theme song (as well as a Bing Crosby cover) and features Sandra Bernhard and Richard E. Grant as the villains. Crazy shit, but so worth watching.

Of course, I was going to throw in 'Yippie Kay-Yay Motherf**ker” from DIE HARD, but the guy that converts the videos for this column, Nick Bosworth, made a really good case for this classic scene from THE LAST BOY SCOUT (a stone-cold classic) where Bruce has to teach a thug (played by SONS OF ANARCHY's Kim Coates) a deadly lesson about why he should not be screwed with.

5. THE FIFTH ELEMENT
4. UNBREAKABLE
3. TWELVE MONKEYS
2. PULP FICTION
1. DIE HARD

Sadly, Willis' upcoming films do not inspire confidence, with most being more DTV-style crap, with VICE looking like a pretty quickie action movie where he plays a small role. He's also in Bill Murray's next movie, ROCK THE KASBAH, which has great buzz, so fingers crossed it's a good part.