5 Favorites: Bruce Willis

Yip-ee-ki-yay, it is Bruce Willis' birthday! That rhymed! Not only is the man celebrating his birth, but he has 6 films being released this year! Whether they are good is a different story. Here are my 5 favorite performances from Rumer Willis' dad.

5. Blind Date (1987)

Because I couldn't put "Moonlighting" on this list, I will put the next best thing on it. Blake Edwards, director of films such as "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and 'The Pink Panther", made this wonderful 80's romantic comedy about a man (Willis) who gets set up with his sister-in-law's cousin (Kim Basinger), who happens to go wild when alcohol is entered into the situation. Willis is the straight-man in this madcap comedy, and plays against his wise-cracking type from his television series. Watching him break down during the worst date ever is amusing and pathetic at the same time.

4. Unbreakable (2000)

It was really a toss up between this and "The Sixth Sense", but Willis' performance in "Unbreakable" is strong and silent. His David Dunn is as vulnerable personally as he is invulnerable physically. He is slowly losing his family, and his love for his wife cost him his future as a football star. Watching him come to grips with the fact that he has super-human powers is, at times, heartbreaking. Joseph, his son, is fascinated by his father's new found powers, and this leads to some of the most memorable scenes in Shaymalan's filmography. The tense scene with the gun comes to mind.

3. Pulp Fiction (1994)

Any man who is willing to be ball gagged for a film should get a list like this. Butch Coolidge, a down and out boxer, is paid to take a dive, but kills his opponent instead, and has to go on the run. His time on the lamb is cut short when literally rams into Marcellus Wallace, the man who bribed him, and they both taken hostage by a sadistic pawn shop owner named Zed. What happens next is utterly disturbing, and equally memorable. It is so disturbing, in fact, that when shown on cable, it is completely edited out. Willis is badass as Coolidge, and when he finally unleashes with a samurai sword, the audience has no other choice but cheer him on.

2. 12 Monkeys (1996)

I don't talk about 12 Monkeys enough on this page. Terry Gilliam's masterpiece (yes, masterpiece) is so breathtakingly awesome that it still ranks among my favorite films. Brad Pitt remains my favorite part of this film, but Willis holds his own as James Cole, a prisoner sent back in time to stop an army of activists from destroying the Earth. Cole is given almost no information to help his mission, and jumps in and out of time trying to gather what he can on the Army of the 12 Monkeys. When the conclusion unravels at the airport, it blows your mind unlike anything you may have ever seen.

1. Die Hard (1988)

What else would it be? It's the greatest action film of all time, AND the greatest Christmas film of all time. Willis is Detective John Mclane, the man who was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Mclane is a wise-cracking New York cop visiting his estranged wife in L.A. for the holidays, when her office party is hijacked by terrorists. It is up to John to stop them, and he is outgunned, out manned, and shoeless. The level of badassery that Willis exudes in this film has never been matched, except maybe by Liam Neeson when he was punching the crap out of wolves, no matter how many times they try to duplicate it... cough cough "Live Free or Die Hard".