PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — In a career spanning five decades, Bruce Willis has done just about everything an actor can think of doing. He’s been a smoldering romantic lead, an action and thriller star, a supporting player and a comic highlight.
The family of the South Jersey native announced last week that he is stepping away from acting after he was diagnosed with aphasia, a brain condition that impairs the ability to communicate and speak.
To honor the career of this Hollywood legend, we named our favorite Willis performances, with a special nod to a few movies that brought him back to the Philadelphia region. (Thank you, Terry Gilliam and M. Night Shyamalan.)
Willis may be an icon on Planet Hollywood, but he’s a hero in Philly.
From “I see dead people” to “wazzup,” 1999 contributed plenty of catchphrases to popular culture. “The Sixth Sense” gave us the former and took us on a wild psychological ride. Director and suburban Philadelphia native M. Night Shyamalan tapped Willis to star in one of his first big successes, but certainly not the last. It is a Philadelphia story through and through — Willis plays a child psychologist in the city, and much of the filming takes place in recognizably Philly locations. Rewatch and look for shots of St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church, several Center City restaurants, and one Southwest Philly neighborhood.
“The Sixth Sense” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Unbreakable, Split and Glass
Shyamalan teamed up with Willis again for “Unbreakable” (2000) and “Glass” (2019), the first and the last movies in a superhero trilogy. Willis plays Philadelphia native David Dunn, a security guard at a college football stadium (hello, Franklin Field), who turns out to be one of the few superhumans in the world who are “unbreakable” — in contrast to his mentor, Elijah Prince/“Mr. Glass” (Samuel L. Jackson), whose osteogenesis imperfecta makes his bones brittle. The 2000 film introduces the superhuman vigilante and his archnemesis, and the 2019 film wraps up the saga, with David and Elijah forced to prove their abilities, both to themselves and to those who want to stifle them.
Spoiler alert: Willis has the briefest of cameos in “Split” (2016), the second installment of the trilogy. Reprising his “Unbreakable” character, he is revealed only in the final scene to ultimately advance the series to the 2019 finale. In “Split,” James McAvoy (X-Men series) shines as dissociative supervillain Kevin Wendell Crumb — and the dozen personalities that come with the character — alongside Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”), who plays Casey Cooke, a teenage girl who is kidnapped by one of Kevin’s personalities.
The trilogy takes place in Shyamaland, filmed in and around Philadelphia: a North Philly comic book shop, Manayunk’s Pretzel Park, even the since-shuttered and very creepy Allentown State Hospital. Another spoiler! — the entire facility where Casey is imprisoned turns out to be underneath the Philadelphia Zoo. Keep your eyes peeled in “Split” for additional shots in Rittenhouse Square, King of Prussia, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 30th Street Station and more.
“Unbreakable” is currently streaming on Tubi. “Split” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. “Glass” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
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“Twelve Monkeys” (1995) is based on the 1962 French short film “La Jetee,” about a man who is forced to explore the past to prevent the nuclear devastation of World War III.
Prisoner James Cole (Willis), living in 2035, has a chance to earn parole if he agrees to travel back in time to gather information about the origin of a virus, so future authorities can prevent it from causing a plague that wipes out the majority of humanity.
Landing in 1990, and talking about apocalypse, James is locked up in an asylum. There, under the care of Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe), he meets a patient named Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), the only one who believes James is from the future. And because of what James tells him about that future, Jeffrey dreams of one day decimating the human race to restore control of the planet to the animals.
When James is sent to 1996, believing Jeffrey to be the cause of the plague, he kidnaps Kathryn to get her help finding him. She begins to believe James, but the closer they get to the Army of the 12 Monkeys, an apparent animal rights cult, the more they begin to doubt their ability to fix the future by changing the past.
The movie is packed with Philadelphia Easter eggs, with asylum scenes shot at Eastern State Penitentiary and the final airport scene shot at the Philadelphia Convention Center. The two newscasters in the movie were real NBC10 anchors Janet Zappala and Art Fennell.
Other filming locations included City Hall, Girard College, the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts (known at the time as Ridgeway Library), Macy’s (then Wanamaker’s Department Store), Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, the Met Theatre, Renfrew Center in Roxborough, the Delaware River Generating Station, and the Richmond Power Plant.
Director Terry Gilliam has said his decision to cast Willis was inspired by his ad-libbed performance in “Die Hard,” when John McClane is talking about his wife while pulling glass out of his feet.
“Twelve Monkeys” is currently streaming on Peacock.
Once upon a time, Willis was largely known as a romantic comedy star, thanks to his breakout performance on the hit television series “Moonlighting.” From there, he jumped onto the silver screen in “Blind Date,” and it seemed like his career trajectory was set.
And then, “Die Hard” happened.
In only his third lead role, Willis reshaped the action hero template as New York City cop John McClane, whose attempt to reconnect with his estranged wife in Los Angeles is interrupted by a highly trained gang of international criminals.
It’s hard to believe now, but “Die Hard” was seen as a risk for 20th Century Fox in 1988 — centering a major action movie on a TV actor, especially in the era of big budgets and bigger biceps. Willis’ McClane was the anti-Rambo — a smart-aleck everyman forced to use his wits to prevail.
Of course, we can’t mention this movie without bringing up the late Alan Rickman, in his feature film debut, as Hall of Fame villain Hans Gruber. Rickman excelled as the oily, intelligent Gruber, and made him almost as likable as McClane.
“Die Hard” not only spawned four sequels, it also created a cottage industry of imitators, as “ ‘Die Hard’ on a [insert mode of transportation]” became a go-to format for Hollywood action movies, including “Speed” and “Under Siege.”
But the original movie is justly regarded as the best, and not just for its often-studied screenplay, razor-sharp direction and stellar supporting cast. It provided Willis with his signature role, which defined him for many years after.
“Die Hard” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” is currently streaming on Tubi. “Die Hard with a Vengeance” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. “Live Free or Die Hard” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. “A Good Day to Die Hard” is streaming on HBO Max.
For “camp” value, “Death Becomes Her” (1992) is right there next to Robin Williams’ “The Birdcage.” It’s a true departure for Willis, playing Dr. Ernest Menville, the frumpy plastic surgeon-turned-mortician caught between two women embroiled in an immortal catfight, instead of a gun-busting action hero.
Ernest is engaged to novelist Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) — until he meets her lifelong frenemy and rival, the famous actress Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep). Ernest leaves Helen and goes for Madeline, and Helen just goes mad. Years later, Helen is obese and deperately unhappy. But when she arrives on Madeline and Ernest’s doorstep one day, she looks more fabulous than ever.
Helen has been taking a magic potion to stay young and beautiful forever, and she finally has the means to outdo Madeline. Of course, Madeline wants the same treatment — but there is a high price to pay. What ensues is a morbid romp.
Willis’ humorous side gets to shine here, and there’s still a little bit of silly stunt work to keep him grounded in his genre of choice.
“Death Becomes Her” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
In 1994, Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” gave Willis a huge boost in his career. In true Willis fashion, his role as Butch sees plenty of action, all while donning a sleek suede motorcycle jacket and slim white tee underneath. From the car crash to the gunpoint foot chase to … being gagged and almost gruesomely assaulted (we’ll leave out those details) … Willis’ chunk of the film is so grippingly fast-paced and enthralling that you almost forget how long you’ve been sitting on the couch watching the 154-minute movie.
“Pulp Fiction” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Beavis and Butt-Head Do America
No one expected a star of Willis’ stature to show up in the Beavis and Butt-Head movie, but true fans know he loves to surprise people. That probably explains why he and then-wife Demi Moore co-starred as Muddy and Dallas Grimes in “Beavis and Butt-Head Do America” (1996).
When Beavis and Butt-Head’s television is stolen, the dimwitted duo’s search leads them to Muddy, who offers them $10,000 to “do” his wife Dallas. Not knowing Muddy actually means kill her, the two set off on a cross-country voyage, ping-ponging between Mr. and Mrs. Grimes, who are out to retrieve a stolen bioweapon from each other.
It’s all very silly, but what would you expect from a feature film starring Beavis and Butt-Head? Fortunately, the whole thing is hilarious, even for people who didn’t care for the TV series. What’s more, Willis really leans into the absurdity of the entire enterprise. Action, animation, what couldn’t he do?
“Beavis and Butt-Head Do America” is currently streaming on Paramount Plus.
Taxi driver Korben Dallas (Willis) is a retired special forces major, simply living his life in New York City, 250 years in the future, when the fate of humanity literally falls into his lap. A mysterious woman, Leeloo (Milla Jovavich), is the human embodiment of the “fifth element” and needs to reunite with the four other elements in order to save the world. Together with help from Earth’s military, Korben and Leeloo board a luxury spaceship to seek out the elemental stones and save humanity from the great evil.
“The Fifth Element” (1997) is as classic action-packed Willis as it gets, and he is aided by a wild setting, courtesy of director Luc Besson, an all-star cast that includes Ian Holm, Chris Tucker and Gary Oldman, and one iconic opera performance that will make you see stars.
“The Fifth Element” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.
Don't watch Michael Bay’s “Armageddon” (1998) for scientific accuracy, provocative social commentary or clever dialogue. The only real reason to watch this movie is its pure red-blooded, cocksure, blue-collar, post-Cold War, America-first, feel-good, “better living through bombing” patriotism. And it is embodied by none better than Willis.
NASA discovers that a Texas-sized asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, and humanity has 18 days to do something about it. Space boss Dan Truman (Billy Bob Thornton) decides the thing to do is hire deep-core driller Harry Stamper (Willis) to lead a team that will fly out to the asteroid, punch a hole in the thing, drop a nuclear bomb inside, and blow it up.
Things look great — until they don’t. After the misfit team commits a series of horrific and irreparable accidents, word of the planet’s imminent demise inspires chaos on Earth. Harry distracts himself from his doomsday mission by strongly disapproving of a member of his team, A.J. Frost (Ben Affleck), who is dating his daughter (Liv Tyler) and is not good enough for her.
Then, Harry encounters an impossible choice that allows him to be the American hero — and dad — the world deserves.
“Armageddon,” nominated for four Oscars — including best song for an Aerosmith tune you might have heard once or twice — was the highest-grossing film of 1998, though critics didn’t like it as much as “Deep Impact.” But what do critics know?
“Armageddon” is currently streaming on Tubi.