Five Movies You’d Never Know Bruce Willis Was In
He's one of the top action stars from the past three decades. He's made some top ranking Hollywood films, yet sometimes Bruce Willis gets overlooked. I loved him in movies like The Sixth Sense (1999), Armageddon (1998), Sin City (2005) and of course, the Die Hard films, but what about the ones where they didn't even give him credit for? Here are five of those films and you'll be surprised to see that some of these films were made after the last ten years!
The First Deadly Sin (1980)
It was Frank Sinatra's last film and Bruce Willis' first. Ironically, as Ol' Blue Eyes' character, Edward Delaney, is walking out of the restaurant door, Willis' character "Man Walking Into Diner" is...well, walking in. It's almost as if one singer/actor is passing off the baton to another. No one knew who Bruce Willis was at the time - Moonlighting, the television series that would make him a star wouldn't be televised for another five years - everyone knew Sinatra as his career was coming to an end (he would die 18 years later after fading from the limelight for a long time). This movie was a cop drama with Sinatra playing a police inspector, ready for retirement, trying to catch a serial killer before he hangs up his badge. Don't blink or you'll miss Willis' character!
Loaded Weapon 1 (1993)
This National Lampoon comedy was in a spoof on the Lethal Weapon series, but included jabs at other popular action movies at the time - including Die Hard! Bruce Willis made a cameo appearance in this film as "Man Who's Caravan Is Attacked". The film starred Emilio Estevez, Samuel L. Jackson and William Shatner. Other stars made cameos in this film, as well, but only Willis, Whoopie Goldberg, and Christopher Lambert (from Highlander) were uncredited. Funny film!
Oceans 12 (2004)
Bruce Willis makes another cameo appearance in this film. This time, he plays himself, but didn't quite make it to the credit roll. Ironically, Willis had tried out for the part of Danny Ocean (George Clooney's character) when the series was being pitched. He had to pull out of the part when he had a scheduling conflict. He's in this movie as Julie Roberts' companion (who is Tess Ocean, playing Julia Roberts) - yes, it's confusing. Just watch the movie.
The Astronaut Farmer (2006)
At least in this film, Willis plays a character with an actual name. He plays Colonel Doug Masterson (I wonder if that has any relation to Iron Eagle's Doug Masters from the mid-1980s?) who is part of the panel questioning Billy Bob Thornton over the sanity in trying to build a rocket in your backyard. In the movie, it turns out that Willis is an old astronaut buddy of Thornton's character. Unlike Armageddon, he doesn't have to land on an asteroid in this film and it is Thornton going up into space.
Nancy Drew (2007)
Well, at least this is one movie that I can understand why Willis didn't want to be in the credits. In all fairness, I am not in the demographic for this film (7 to 10 year old girls). Willis plays himself in this film and probably does the best acting in the entire movie (for a cameo). The writers really screwed up their opportunity to make this movie comedic by getting rid of all forms of humor. Nancy Drew is a girl living in the present time with 1950s morals, dress, and attitude. It's prime material to make fun at, but they centered all on the mystery. Maybe they SHOULD have let people know Willis was in this film!
