The Many Vests of Bruce Willis

Born 19th March 1955 as Walter Bruce Willis on a military base in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany, it can’t be denied that Bruce Willis is, and probably always will be, one of Hollywood’s most recognised and popular actors.

Although not his first starring role, it was with the character John McLane in Die Hard that Willis put himself on the Hollywood map. Everybody instantly loved the wise cracking, gutsy New York cop visiting L.A. to see his estranged wife & family. Of course, what ensued was the tense, suspense thrill ride which we all know and love, although the producers of the film chose Willis because they felt he brought warmth and humour to an otherwise cold and humourless character!

Even today it seems that people don’t realise just how ground breaking the first Die Hard film was. Granted, it wasn’t the first film ever to portray a terrorism storyline but the way in which it was filmed and exhibited to audiences put a whole new angle on the genre, a testament to Bruce Willis for his portrayal and the movie’s director John McTiernan. Now we find that almost all terrorist related films are likened to Die Hard. In 1992 we had Steven Seagal trying to use the whole terrorism angle to further himself in Under Siege and what did the critics call it – “Die Hard on a Battleship”. 1994 was the same when we saw the release of Speed with Keanu Reeves – “Die Hard on a Bus” they called it. Speed 2 – "Die Hard on a Cruise Ship". Under Siege 2 – "Die Hard on a Train". Need I go on?

Of course, with all the critics likening these films to the Bruce Willis classic, it left Willis in a seemingly “can’t put a foot wrong” situation. Not all of Willis’ film history is covered in glorious successes, but it would seem that his growing pedigree helped him through the unimpressive movies and carried his career forward with a steadiness not often found in the jungle that is Hollywood.

After demonstrating to the unknowing world that Willis can do comedy as well as action through voicing the baby Mikey in Look Who’s Talking, it was only 2 years after Die Hard in 1990 that Bruce reprised his most famous role in Die Hard 2 (The film with the most ridiculous tagline of all of Willis` films in my opinion – Die Harder). Die Hard 2 was not considered to be anywhere near as impressive as it’s predecessor; but, at the same time, it was always going to be a very tough act to follow in the first place, so it would seem that the producers were doomed from the start. All in all, I agree that the sequel wasn’t as good as the first but, at the same time, I do feel that it is a very good action flick in itself.

By this time, Willis was probably one of the most popular actors in Hollywood but not all his following films were to be massive hits. The highlights include: Look Who’s Talking Too (1990), The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Hudson Hawk (1991), The Last Boy Scout (1991), Death Becomes Her (1992) and Striking Distance (1993). It was in 1994 that Willis had his next, rather unsuspected hit. Although not a lead character, Willis was back in the Hollywood news for his character Butch Coolidge in the ever-popular Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarantino, not so much because of the character or his portrayal, but for the controversy surrounding the film itself. Not only that, Willis was back in the Hollywood news later the same year with the “did they, didn’t they?” story surrounding the sexual scenes with Jane March in Colour of Night.

It seemed at the time that Bruce’s negative publicity from Colour of Night might just lower his popularity in Hollywood, but all that seemed to be forgotten the very next year with the release of the third instalment in the Die Hard franchise; Die Hard with a Vengeance. As the cries from the public asked the question; “How on earth can John McLane get himself in to another one-man army situation?”, Hollywood changed the direction of the plotline. We saw the introduction of a new character into the fray in the form of Samuel L Jackson and instead of being stuck in one location, producers decided it was time for John McLane to get “out and about”. Of course there was only one way to get John Mclane “out and about”… you give him a tight deadline for getting there, let’s say perhaps; a bomb! And who better to be orchestrating it all than Hans Gruber’s brother – perfect. Well, it was good, but it wasn’t perfect!

With the release of the third Die Hard movie, Bruce Willis was back in the limelight. Then followed: Twelve Monkeys (1995), Last Man Standing (1996), The Fifth Element (1997), The Jackal (1997), Mercury Rising (1998), and who better to save the world from certain destruction than an oil driller - Armageddon (1998). Just to top all of that off, Willis demonstrated later in 1998 that he wouldn’t always be seen in the hero guise, by playing the villain’s role of General Deveraux in The Seige alongside Denzel Washington.

It was in 1999, that we were treated to a film of cinematic genius and it was Bruce Willis who helped bring it all alive (sorry) in The Sixth Sense. Although it can’t be denied that it was the super clever storyline written and directed by M Night Shyamalan that made it a massive success and not just the fact that Bruce was good in the role, it is an impressive movie to have on his CV! We mustn’t forget though, that it wasn’t just Bruce Willis that brought the movie to its dizzying height of popularity. Equal credit needs to be levied in the direction of Haley Joel Osmont who was superb in the role of Cole Sear (the 9 year old boy who “sees dead people”). In my opinion, this is Bruce Willis’ best film behind Die Hard. It was superbly acted by everyone and will be remembered as an all-time classic.

If it was ever in doubt before, it was about this point that no-one could possibly deny that Bruce had quite rightly now cemented his place in Hollywood history. He was showing a flair for versatility and yet stability in his own personal performances which finds him still now being cast for major Hollywood movies.

After The Sixth Sense his highlights include: The Story of Us (1999), The Whole Nine Yards (2000), The Kid (2000), Unbreakable (2000 – another M Night Shyamalan movie but not as good as his first), Bandits (2001), Hart’s War (2002), Tears of the Sun (2003), The Whole Ten Yards (2004), Hostage (2005), Sin City (2005) and Lucky Number Slevin (2006).

And so we arrive at present day and yes, you guessed it, we find ourselves on the cusp of another Bruce Willis blockbuster. 16 Blocks has now been released and can be seen in cinemas across the UK. It tells the story of aging New York cop Jack Mosley (Willis) who, hungover and tired, is given the last task of his night shift of escorting a “fast-talking” witness from police custody to the courthouse 16 blocks away in just 118 minutes during the morning rush hour. Little does Jack know that his witness has seen something that makes his court appearance something that mustn’t happen under any circumstances, thus making him the target for assassination.

Although, 16 Blocks was only recently released in the UK, early indications seem to suggest that we on the verge of seeing another success for Bruce Willis to look back on. Box Office takings for 16 Blocks in the US on 5th March 2006 was over $11,000,000.

And just to finish us off, I will leave you with the news that; just this week, rumours of a Bruce Willis movie with a worse tagline than Die Hard 2: Die Harder might just be due to surface in 2007. Yes folks; latest news indicates that Die Hard 4 : DIE HARDEST has gone from rumour in to pre-production. The latest news on this item suggests that Len Wiseman (Underworld, Underworld: Evolution) has been pencilled in to direct the fourth instalment in the Die Hard franchise. Other stories filtering through are that, it could be centred around John McLane coming out of retirement in order to take on terrorists who are Internet based, also Willis has shown a keen interest in Justin Timberlake being cast as McLane’s son based on his performances in Edison and Alpha Dog. What do I say about it? Well, I hope that the rumours of another Die Hard are true, but hope that all the other one’s aren’t!