Bruce Willis is the go-to action star for many film buffs. When Willis took the role of John McClane in Die Hard, his fate was set as Hollywood’s next action star. Die Hard was a huge success and launched a franchise that is still producing sequels to this day. Willis would go on to star in several action movies including The Fifth Element, The Siege, Armageddon, and many more. Although Willis is known for his action movies, he is also a very talented dramatic actor. His career has spanned across all genres including comedy, science fiction, and drama. Throughout his career, Willis has won two Primetime Emmys and a Golden Globe for his performance in the television series, Moonlighting.
Updated, February 2022: To keep the article fresh and relevant by adding more entries, this article has been updated by Stephen Rosenberg.
Willis was born in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany in 1955 to a working-class family. Willis’s love for acting sparked upon joining his high school drama club. He attended the Drama Program at Montclair State University but left school in 1977 to pursue an acting career in New York City. There, he supported himself by bartending at the Manhattan bar, Kamikaze. In 1984, Willis took the lead role of Eddie in the off-Broadway production of Fool For Love. He continued his career in California and made appearances in television series like The Twilight Zone and Miami Vice. His first big break would be in 1985 when he was cast in the television series, Moonlighting. Since then, Willis has been lighting up the screen with several iconic roles and is now one of the biggest movie stars in Hollywood.
Let’s dive into ten of Willis’s best films.
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13 Armageddon (1998)
Touchstone Pictures
Although Michael Bay’s 1998 science fiction disaster film was ripped apart for its scientific inaccuracies, it is undoubtedly an action-packed ride from beginning to end. Willis plays the rough and tough oil digger, Harry Stamper. When NASA discovers a planet-killing asteroid hurtling towards Earth, Stamper, along with his oil crew of misfits, must travel to space to destroy the asteroid. Armageddon has a fantastic cast including Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi, Owen Wilson, Michael Clark Duncan, Billy Bob Thornton and Liv Tyler. In real life, NASA shows this film in their management training program, tasking their new hires to find as many scientific inaccuracies as possible. They have now found 168.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
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MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
12 Hostage (2005)
Image via Miramax Films
Florent-Emilio Siri’s 2005 crime-thriller Hostage is an artistic, well-acted, and suspenseful film. Willis portrays Jeff Talley, an ex-hostage negotiator who becomes entangled in a hostage situation after a home invasion goes wrong. Talley learns that there is more to the story, and he soon realizes it is up to him to save the family. Unfortunately, the film was not a financial success, but Willis gives a fantastic dramatic performance as a desperate man pushed into a corner.
11 Looper (2015)
TriStar Pictures
Rian Johnson’s science-fiction thriller Looper gives us a look into the future where time travel is possible. The film follows Joe (Joesph Gorden-Levitt) who is a “looper”; someone who kills people that are sent from the future. Eventually, Joe is assigned the job to kill his future self, played by Bruce Willis. Things go wrong, and Joe is sent on a quest to destroy his future self before it is too late. The thought-provoking film was a huge success and launched the directing career of Rian Johnson to a new level, eventually allowing the director to make massive financial successes, like Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Knives Out.
10 16 Blocks (2006)
Warner Bros
16 Blocks follows Jack Mosley (Willis), an alcoholic cop who must escort a witness, Eddie Bunker (Mos Def), to the courthouse. Things do not go as planned and Mosley finds himself in a violent battle as corrupt cops try to stop him. The film was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Richard Donner and showcases a terrific supporting performance from Mos Def. This film is a remake of the 1977 Clint Eastwood film The Gauntlet. Bruce Willis’s character has a noticeable limp throughout the film, and to achieve the realism, the actor put a large pebble in his shoe while shooting the film.
9 Sin City (2005)
In Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller’s gritty noir crime thriller Sin City, based on Frank Miller’s graphic novels, Willis plays Officer Hartigan, an aging cop hellbent on stopping a child-killer from claiming his fourth victim. Willis plays the role to perfection, capturing the grit needed for Miller’s ultra-violent and dark storyline. Willis would later reprise his role as Hartigan in the prequel, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014)
8 The Fifth Element (1997)
Image via Gaumont Buena Vista International[
In one of the most fun and action-packed science-fiction films of the 1990s, The Fifth Element follows futuristic cab driver Korben Dallas (Willis) as he teams up with Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) to stop a cosmic evil from getting into the hands of Zorg (Gary Oldman). This is one of Willis’s most gun-happy films, and the aesthetics and set designs are some of the best in the science fiction genre. The film was nominated for Best Effects in Sound Editing at the Academy Awards, and had an incredible cast of supporting actors, including Chris Tucker and Ian Holm. Though Willis was a little hesitant to take the role after Hudson Hawk and Billy Bathgate performed poorly for the critics and box office, he took the role just two hours after reading the script.
7 Moonrise Kingdom (2012)
American Empirical Pictures
Willis plays a different type of cop in comparison to his past roles in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom. The film received positive reviews from critics and audiences alike and currently holds a 94% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and recevied an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The story follows Sam (Jaren Gilman), a rebellious child who runs away with the love of his life, Suzy (Kara Hayward). Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis), along with others, must try to track down the young couple and bring them home. This would also be the second film where Bruce Willis co-starred with Harvey Keitel, the first being Pulp Fiction in 1994.
6 Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995)
Image via 20th Century Fox
Though now as well-loved or as good as the first film, Die Hard with a Vengeance was quite a step-up from Die Harder. John McTiernan returned to direct an added Samuel L. Jackson to the cast, as well as Jeremy Irons, who played the brother of Hans Gruber, the iconic villain from Die Hard. The chemisty between Willis and Jackson is fantastic, and some of the best lines from the franchise popped up in this film. The action was great, and the film blew the doors off its budget, making back $366 million dollars against its $90 million-dollar budget, making it the highest-grossing worldwide film in 1995. There was some backlash to the subject matter of the film, as the terrorist plots were very similar to the Oklahoma City bombing, which took place exactly one month before the film’s release.
5 Unbreakable (2000)
M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable follows David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a security guard who discovers that he has superhuman stength and endurance. Through the guidance of Elijah Price (Samuel L. Jackson), Dunn navigates his newfound powers and learns how he can use them for good. Shyamalan’s film was an interesting take on superhero mythology and the filmmaker would go on to create two sequels: Split and Glass. Willis and Jackson also starred together in both Pulp Fiction and Die Hard with a Vengeance.
4 Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Universal Pictures
Terry Gilliam’s science-fiction epic tells the story of James Cole (Bruce Willis), a convict sent back in time to retrieve information about a man-made virus that nearly wiped out the entire human population. Twelve Monkeys is directed brilliantly by Gilliam and Willis gives a fantastic performance. The film was critically acclaimed and currently holds an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and was nominated for Best Costume Design at the Academy Awards. Brad Pitt earned his first Oscar nomination for his supporting performance.
3 The Sixth Sense (1999)
Hollywood Pictures
The Sixth Sense put M. Night Shyamalan on the map and the film would go on to be nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture. The story follows Cole (Haley Joel Osment), a boy who can see and communicate with ghosts, and seeks help from a child psychiatrist named Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis). Willis gives a fantastic dramatic performance opposite Osment and the film gave us one of the most iconic twist endings in history.
2 Pulp Fiction (1994)
Miramax
Willis plays Butch, a tough boxer on the run, in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. The film is an all-time classic and has drama, violence, comedy, and more. Pulp Fiction would go on to win the Palme d’Or in 1994 as well as earning seven Academy Award nominations, winning for Best Original Screenplay. Butch is the main focus of “The Gold Watch” chapter in the film and Willis delivers a bloody and gritty performance. Though Matt Dillon was originally wanted for the role, Tarantino offered it to Willis after he was disappointed that John Travolta was cast as Vincent Vega, instead of him.
1 Die Hard (1988)
20th Century Studios
Bruce Willis will be forever known for his role as John McClane, the quick-thinking cop who rescues an entire office from a group of terrorists on Christmas Eve. Die Hard has thrills from beginning to end, but the movie mostly shines due to its fantastic script written by Jonathan Hensleigh, interesting characters, and a well-balanced blend of drama and comedy. Die Hard is a classic action film and although there are skeptics, it could be considered a great Christmas movie as well.
