Since his onscreen debut in The First Deadly Sin in 1980, Bruce Willis has gone on to appear in over 100 movies, several of which became iconic blockbusters.
Willis became an unexpected action icon in the late ’80s and ’90s with the hit Die Hard series, but he also showed his impressive acting chops in independent films like Pulp Fiction with John Travolta and Nobody’s Fool with Paul Newman.
Willis retired from the movie industry in 2022 after being diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia.
To pay tribute to the actor, Watch With Us has chosen the five best Bruce Willis movies to watch right now.
5. ‘The Fifth Element’ (1997)
If you’ve already seen The Fifth Element, the first line that may come to your mind is “Leelo Dallas multipass!” In context, that was a very funny moment for Milla Jovovich‘s Leeloo, an enigmatic woman who is reborn in the future just as an unimaginable evil returns to the galaxy. Willis plays Korben Dallas, a former special forces operative turned flying cab driver.
Leeloo literally falls into Dallas’ life and throws him for a loop. She may not speak much English, but Leeloo has a way of getting her thoughts across. Dallas is quickly wrapped up in Leeloo’s mission to save the universe, and it’s going to be a wild ride. This was Willis’ only sci-fi space opera, and The Fifth Element gave the Star Wars prequels a run for their money in terms of pure imagination.
4. ’12 Monkeys’ (1995)
Former Monty Python member Terry Gilliam delivered one of the most harrowing time-travel movies with 12 Monkeys, an adaptation of the classic French short film La Jetée. Willis stars as James Cole, a man who comes from Earth’s desolate future. Or at least that’s what James believes. In the present, James is in an insane asylum under the care of Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe). She’s drawn to James, but she doesn’t understand why he holds on to his delusions so tightly.
One of James’ fellow patients, Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), is a rich man’s son, and he has a connection to the enigmatic army of the 12 Monkeys that supposedly unleashed the plague that nearly wiped out humanity. Before long, Kathryn notices signs that James’ crazy story just might be true, and there’s only a narrow window to prevent his future from ever happening at all.
3. ‘The Sixth Sense’ (1999)
The Sixth Sense was the third film by director M. Night Shyamalan, and it’s arguably the best one he ever made. The funny thing is that Willis wouldn’t have even been in this movie if it weren’t for a lawsuit settlement with Disney over the millions lost when his rom-com Broadway Brawler was abandoned during production and left unfinished. The result was one of Willis’ most affecting performances, the emergence of Haley Joel Osment as a child star and an unexpected blockbuster hit.
Willis plays Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist who is emotionally estranged from his wife, Anna (Olivia Williams), one year after he was shot by a former patient, Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg). Malcolm sees a young boy, Cole Sear (Osment), as his chance to atone for failing to give Vincent the help he needed. However, Cole has a unique problem: He sees dead people, and his supernatural gift is destroying his life. Cole doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he will soon enough.
2. ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994)
Pulp Fiction director Quentin Tarantino cast Willis as an aging boxer, Butch Coolidge, who makes a potentially fatal choice. Butch defies crime boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) by refusing to throw a fight, and his attempt to get out of town is hampered by an unplanned encounter with Wallace himself.
Willis is very good as Butch, but the best parts of this film revolve around Wallace’s enforcers, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson), as well as Vincent’s disastrous night out with Wallace’s wife, Mia (Uma Thurman). Tarantino let the story play out in a non-linear fashion, which transformed the film into a unique experience. Pulp Fiction was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars in 1995, and it should have won.
1. ‘Die Hard’ (1988)
If there’s ever been a perfect action movie, it’s Die Hard. Playing Detective John McClane in this film changed the course of Willis’ career. It also transformed him into one of the top action stars of his era. John’s a New York cop who only came out to the West Coast to reconcile with his estranged wife, Holly Gennaro-McClane (Bonnie Bedelia). Instead of enjoying holiday cheer with his wife, John found himself alone in a skyscraper as terrorists led by Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) storm the building and take hostages.
That leaves John as the only man who can save his wife and the others held captive by Hans. Rickman’s performance is deliciously malevolent, but Willis made the movie by embodying an everyman hero. Unlike some of the Die Hard sequels, John is physically and emotionally vulnerable as he faces impossible odds. The action is incredible, and the script delivers thrills and great character moments all the way to the end.
