To the sadness of a considerable number of moviegoers, Bruce Willis announced his retirement due to a serious health problem. The diagnosis of aphasia, which the actor and his family made known to the public a few weeks ago, put an end to a long and successful career. The one that has also marked a good part of contemporary pop culture and made the actor an icon of action cinema. This despite the questionable nature of his decisions in the projects in which he has participated in recent years. But Willis continues to be an idol for his particular personality and for having been part of projects of considerable interest.
Currently, Bruce Willis is best known for his large collection of films without much relevance in the cinematographic panorama. But, for more than thirty years, the actor was a symbol of success. Since its appearance in crystal jungle John McTiernan in 1988, up to his performance in the horror classic The sixth sense by M.Night Shyamalan. Willis’ career has touched all registers and genres of cinema. It also showed the performer’s versatility to create amazing characters in a simple and surprising way.
So his retirement ends in a way, perhaps prematurely, a long story full of ups and downs but always full of imagination and creativity. Bruce Willis managed to push the boundaries of what commercial cinema is supposed to be. And he managed to create a collection of titles that includes great plot experiments, absurd boldness and also mocking humor.
To remember the importance of the actor in the seventh art, we leave you a list with five of his best films and where you can see them. A tribute to a long career, most of the time unusual and on some occasions even inexplicable. But always with the mocking gaze of Willis on the limits of traditional cinema. A gesture of rebellion that his fans will thank him forever.
crystal jungle
John McClane (Bruce Willis) just wants to have a peaceful Christmas with his wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) and maybe set things right between them. But the plan falls through when Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) decides the time has come for the heist of the century. The big ’80s action flick didn’t make much of a revamp of the genre.. It also doesn’t change how the traditional action hero has been understood up to this point. But it did both and achieved it with an unexpected twist: humanizing its protagonist.
Willis’ John McClane is a cop who wants to do the right thing. The one who goes barefoot and only with his regulation weapon in tow to face a sophisticated criminal organization. But he will do it because it is his duty and also because he has no other choice. The new take on the traditional “one man army” trope struck with its honesty, mocking irony, and vulnerability. But also, to be a sizable success that made Willis one of the great action genre actors of the 80s and several following ones.
crystal jungle is available on Disney+.
the big falcon
Although known for his long filmography in the action genre, Bruce Willis has devoted time to humor. And above all, in a strange, always mocking and with a touch of strange cynicism that has become the actor’s trademark. the big falcon It’s not only one of his best comedies, it’s also a total change of record from Willis’ best-known.
As if that weren’t enough, it’s also a singular foray into a mocking look at the action mixed with sarcasm. The result is a black comedy that has become a unique classic of a type of cinema that now surprises with its strange combination of registers. Sure, it is also a film in which Bruce Willis deploys his strange charm.
With his lopsided smile, the actor’s Hudson Hawk is a mixture of thief, seducer and also a strange interpretation of the rogue criminal. For its famous second part, the film even offers itself the luxury of making fun of itself and creating a kind of particular universe. Director Michael Lehmann would later say that the actor managed to bring a complicated character to life without overdoing the singular tone. A feat that Willis would repeat several times in the following years.
the big falcon is available on Netflix.
The sixth sense
Cole (Haley Joel Osment) has a secret. One so strange, terrifying and disconcerting that it made him an outcast, fearful and traumatized boy. Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Willis), will try breaking his patient’s iron silence and take a look at what’s hidden in their terrified looks and silences. But when he finally does, he won’t just find new insight into the world as he knows it. Also, about himself and about the very nature of reality.
Become an action hero no one expected Willis to be able to deliver a sensitive, deep and eerie performance like the one he made for this horror classic. Considered one of the most terrifying films of all time, it’s also a painful combination of drama, an exploration of fear and time. In addition, of course, to a splendid story with supernatural accents that ranges from emotional suffering to mourning.
The actor was able to show the full range of his character’s emotions with disarming sincerity. Also build an anguished and fragile gaze on a type of inexplicable emotion that he develops with careful confinement. Made into an iconic film, Willis starred in what is considered the story that revitalized the horror genre for decades to come.
The sixth sense is available on Disney+.
pulp Fiction
The movie that became an instant cult classic and gave Wilis the chance to show off his talent for creating unique characters. Director Quentin Tarantino has constructed an interconnected map of brilliant narrative threads and also the story that has redefined cinema as plot construction. Considered one of the great pieces of the 20th century, the film revolutionized the way of telling complex plots. Also, the fine nose of Tarantino to create extraordinary characters so astonishing and unclassifiable, that they have their place in the cinema.
One of them is Bruce Willis’ Butch Coolidge. With few words and several bloody action scenes, the actor created a paradigm that seemed to combine action with something murkier. Tarantino has managed to combine in the face of the tormented character, not only a complicated past but at the same time, a completely different perception of violence.
The result is several iconic moments from a film transformed into a masterpiece of screenplay and editing. Tarantino played with his stories like pieces on a complex board and gave Willis the opportunity to immerse himself in dark thoughts, with only a few minutes on screen. Another great triumph in the actor’s career.
pulp Fiction is available on HBO Max.
the protected
Before Marvel and DC hit theaters with their respective franchises, M. Night Shyamalan made a tough short on the subject. And he created one of the weirdest and deepest trilogies about the superhero world of cinema. The protected is an exploration of the world of beings with extraordinary abilities, whose gaze is focused on everyday life. But beyond that, it also creates a harrowing and chilling glimpse into the terrors and darkness of a singular world.
Willis portrayed David Dunn with a deep sadness and sorry humanity that once again surprised critics. And although the film was despised at its premiere and criticized for its inexplicability, it gradually found its way into a cult work. Shyamalan managed to bring deep beauty to wounded, lonely, dark and relentless characters. Do it too, in a carefully lengthened plot to tell a story in the shadows. Decades later, the character would be the common thread through the story sequels. Also his most recognizable face. Again, almost by accident, the actor managed to recast a genre with a brilliant performance.
the protected is available on Disney+.
