For decades, Bruce Willis’ movies were one of Hollywood’s top-selling films in the action genre, especially in international markets. With his career beginning in the early 1980s, Bruce Willis captured the hearts of film audiences for 42 years until his retirement in 2022. With over 100 films to his credit, Willis was one of Hollywood’s A-list leading actors. At the point of his retirement in 2022, Bruce Willis movies had grossed over $3 billion.
Bruce Willis remains one of the most famous actors in Hollywood. Although he starred in mostly low-budget movies at the end of his career, he is mostly remembered for his blockbusters. Willis retired in 2022 after being diagnosed with Aphasia. An update of Bruce Willis’ health in 2023 revealed he had been diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia. A great way to remember him is by examining the best Bruce Willis movies and his most iconic roles.
1. Die Hard franchise (1988-2013)
The 1980s were filled with action movies with muscular and invincible protagonists like Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo films and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s The Terminator (1984). Interestingly, both actors were offered the role of NYPD detective John McClane in what became the Die Hard film franchise. However, after reportedly turning it down, the studio hired Bruce Willis, a relatively unknown actor at the time. Offering him a high pay of $5 million led to several controversies, with critical reviews being mixed after its release.
However, Die Hard (1988) was an astonishing commercial success. With a $25–35 million production budget, it earned between $139.8–141.5 million at the Box Office. For audiences, Die Hard’s John McClane was easily relatable because of his fallibility and vulnerability as an action hero. Bruce Willis reprised the role of John McClane for its four other sequels between 1990 and 2013. Cumulatively, all five films in the Die Hard franchise grossed over $1.4 billion at the Box Office. John McClane is Bruce Willis’ most iconic role in movies.
2. 12 Monkeys (1995)
Bruce Willis played the lead role in Terry Gilliam’s 1995 science fiction thriller 12 Monkeys. Cast as James Cole, Willis’ character is a prisoner offered a reduced jail sentence if he travels back in time to find the source of a deadly virus. Although only Brad Pitt’s performance received a nod from the Academy for an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, Bruce Willis’ performance was one of his best. 12 Monkeys received mostly generally favorable reviews and was a commercial success. Bruce Willis’ portrayal of a criminal desperate to fulfill his mission for a reduced sentence, as well as putting the pieces of his life/dreams together, makes it a top iconic role of the actor.
3. The Sixth Sense (1999)
The Sixth Sense (1999) was M. Night Shyamalan’s third feature film but his first psychological thriller. Shyamalan directed his own screenplay and cast Bruce Willis in the lead role as child psychologist Malcolm Crowe. The Sixth Sense was critically acclaimed and grossed $672.8 million on a $40 million budget.
Willis’ performance was extraordinary, as a psychologist trying to help a nine-year-old Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment) process his ability to see ghosts. The Sixth Sense’s plot twist revealed Willis’ character had been a ghost for most of the movie’s 108-minute runtime. Again, although Haley Joel Osment and Toni Collette received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress, Bruce Willis not receiving a nomination did not undermine the brilliant performance he played as an unaware ghost.
4. Armageddon (1998)
Bruce Willis led the star-studded ensemble cast of Michael Bay’s 1998 science fiction disaster film Armageddon. The cast included Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Will Patton, Owen Wilson, Steve Buscemi, and many others. Besides only receiving mixed to average reviews from critics, audiences thought otherwise. With Box Office earnings of $553.7 million, Armageddon became the highest-grossing film of 1998. Bruce Willis was cast as Harry S. Stamper, a third-generation oil driller and leader of the drilling team sent to space to drill and insert a nuclear bomb in a massive asteroid. To date, it is still regarded as one of the top must-watch Bruce Willis movies.
5. Red Films (2010-2013)
When Red premiered theatrically on October 15, 2010, it received mostly positive reviews from critics and performed well at the Box Office. In Red, Bruce Willis was cast in the lead role as Francis “Frank” Moses. His character, Frank, is tagged R.E.D for being Retired Extremely Dangerous. Several top actors joined Willis in Red in supporting roles. These include Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Helen Mirren, and Mary-Louise Parker. Red was a perfect way to get acquainted for a newer generation who missed Bruce Willis in action as John McClane in the early Die Hard movies. Although the sequel, Red 2, didn’t outperform its predecessor, it was still a commercial success, but it wasn’t successful enough to produce another sequel.
6. The Fifth Element (1997)
No Bruce Willis movies list would be complete without including the 1997 science fiction action movie The Fifth Element (1997). Bruce Willis starred alongside Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, and Chris Tucker. With the movie set in the 23rd century, The Fifth Element is one of Hollywood’s top films that have portrayed a future with flying cars. Bruce Willis was cast as Korben Dallas, an ex-Major in the Special Forces. When Leeloo (Milla Jovovich) accidentally falls into his flying taxi, Dallas is forced to help her complete a mission to save Earth. The Fifth Element was one of Bruce Willis’ movies that was a commercial hit. It is also one of his most iconic roles for which he’s remembered.
7. Unbreakable & Glass
Bruce Willis led the cast of M. Night Shyamalan’s superhero thriller Unbreakable. He played the protagonist, David Dunn, a former football player who discovers he has superhuman strength and can visualize the crimes of anyone he touches. Unbreakable became the first installment in the Unbreakable film series. In Unbreakable (2000), Samuel L. Jackson was cast as the villain, Elijah Price/Mr. Glass, a mentally ill domestic terrorist with brittle bone disease. Bruce Willis reprised his character in a cameo appearance in the second installment Split (2016). Willis appeared as a major character again in the third and final installment in the trilogy Glass (2019). All three movies collectively grossed $773.1 million at the Box Office.
8. Looper (2012)
17 years after being cast in a lead role in a time travel movie, Bruce Willis starred in a similar movie Looper (2012). However, instead of time-traveling to find a virus, he was traveling back in time to meet himself. Cast as Old Joe, he played the older character of Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character. Looper is also one of Bruce Willis’ highly-rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes. It was also a commercial success, earning $176.5 million on a $30 million production budget. If you are a fan of Bruce Willis movies,here’s more about his age, career highlights, and personal life.
Follow Us
