If you're in my age group of mid 40s, Bruce Willis was a regular staple in your household from Die Hard to Fifth Element to The Sixth Sense. What can this man not do? He is funny and serious and everything in between. This is a great collection of information from all his memorable films. Bruce had to quit acting in 2023 due to developing dementia. It was a sad end to an extraordinary career. A must read for Bruce fans and those wanting to relive their younger years and what this man offered in the entertainment industry.

Growing up in the 80s and being a big movie fan during that time, seeing Bruce Willis movies was simply a fact. Therefore, when this book came along and focused on his career, I thought it would be really entertaining to read. I think the author did a very nice job getting in-depth with the movies that Willis performed in, and sharing some unique trivia and anecdotes about those movies and roles along the way.

The book is broken down into different areas for his films - Comedy, Action, Sci Fi, and - of course - Die Hard. I liked the look back at the films that made up the career of Bruce Willis, and in light of his recent diagnosis and retirement from acting, this was a sentimental journey. Great job!

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this Advanced Reader Copy. All opinions are my own.

I always loved Bruce Willis growing up. I always watched, the die hard movies with my dad. They are Christmas movies.

I loved, learning more about his career, and the different kind of films, he did throughout his life. I’m saddened to hear he is unwell.

Very informative and entertaining biography of Bruce Willis. Instead of going by each of Bruce's films in order, O'Connell discusses the different genres of movies that Willis has made.

I received a free copy of, Bruce Willis, by Sean O'Connell, from the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is a book about movie star, Bruce Willis. Bruce has been in many movies and tv shows throughout his career. Bruce has retired because of a devastating illness, that will not let him work anymore. I enjoyed reading about Bruce Willis, and his career.

Every casual movie fan “knows” Bruce Willis, but if you ask them to name some Bruce Willis movies, many will have difficulty once they get past “Die Hard” and “The Sixth Sense.” And if you asked them to name an excellent acting performance by Willis, they would be completely stumped. Even films people immediately recognize, like “Pulp Fiction,” are remembered for John Travolta riffing with Samuel L. Jackson, not for Willis’ contribution to the movie. Author Sean O’Connell is a Willis fan, but he’s also a nationally known film critic. He tries to rectify this slighting of Willis’ career with his new study, “Bruce Willis.” The book gives film buffs like me in-depth analysis and fascinating trivia about some of Willis’ career-shaping performances. At the very least, it will give movie fans a few new titles to add to their streaming wish lists.

“Bruce Willis” is not a biography of the actor. It gives readers a brief look at the beginning of Willis’s career, including his early appearance as an extra in the Paul Newman film, “The Verdict.” It also briefly discusses the sad end of that career, with Willis retiring from acting because of aphasia that has progressed to dementia. But for the many years in between, readers will need to look elsewhere for the incidents that made Willis and his ex-wife, Demi Moore, tabloid fodder for decades. Nor is “Bruce Willis” a comprehensive analysis of every role the actor ever took on. (The book includes an appendix with Willis’ complete filmography. The author devotes a paragraph to every movie Willis made, including the dreadful direct-to-video shlock in his last years.) Instead, the author highlights a relative handful of movies that he believes capture the essence of Willis as an actor.

The author divides Willis’ filmography into five genres: comedy, action, science fiction, auteur works (for celebrated directors), and, of course, “Die Hard.” He focuses on 25 movies, devoting an entire chapter to most of them. Willis’ hits are included, like “Armageddon” and “Ocean’s 12” (in which he has a memorable comic cameo as himself). But so, too, are notorious flops like “Hudson Hawk” and “Bonfire of the Vanities.” For each movie, the author looks at the film as a whole and at Willis’s specific contribution. He discusses why certain films work and hold up well on repeated viewings (“The Last Boy Scout” is one of my guilty pleasures) and others don’t. He gives Willis the benefit of the doubt several times; his opinions of “Hudson Hawk” as a movie and a Willis performance are much higher than mine or those of most others who have seen the film. However, there’s no question that Willis often gave solid performances in movies that were otherwise debacles, like “Bonfire.”

Several patterns emerge from reading “Bruce Willis.” The actor often played the straight man to his co-stars, letting them get the laughs in comedies like “Blind Date” or Oscar recognition in films like “12 Monkeys.” According to a “New Yorker” profile cited by the author, Willis engaged in “strategic minimalism” in many of his performances. When Willis was at the top of the box office and could get almost any role he wanted, he did not just take paycheck films the way Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone often did. Instead, he chose roles that interested him, either for the script, the director, or his co-stars (like Paul Newman in “Nobody’s Fool”). Willis’ unselfishness didn’t cost him at the box office, but it did in terms of critical recognition. The author believes, with some justification, that Willis deserved an Oscar bid for roles like “Pulp Fiction,” “12 Monkeys,” and “The Sixth Sense.”

Author Sean O’Connell knows what true film fans like, and he has written the type of book I’d like to think I would have written myself. “Bruce Willis” is extensively researched and annotated. It includes many interesting anecdotes about Willis (He got the chance to star in “Die Hard” because his “Moonlighting” co-star Cybill Shephard was pregnant, causing a production delay.) However, some anecdotes have little to do with Willis or the film being discussed. Before discussing Willis’ role in “The Whole Nine Yards,” the author talks about why co-star Matthew Perry’s TV series “Friends” was such a hit (whose success can’t be duplicated in today’s streaming environment). Later, the author ties this digression back to Willis by mentioning that Perry bet Willis that “The Whole Nine Yards” would be a box-office hit. When Willis lost the bet, he appeared on “Friends” (winning an Emmy for his efforts).

Sometimes, the author goes off on tangents that may lose some readers. He makes a convincing case in the annual debate of whether “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie. (The author and I agree it is.) However, he then enters an extended discussion of which sequel was better: “Die Hard II” or “Die Hard with a Vengeance.” He follows that with another extended debate on the relative merits of the last two “Die Hard” movies. You’d have to be a real “Die Hard” fan to get into that level of detail and analysis on a subject few are interested in. The author also ignores an important aspect of the actor’s later career. Why did Willis appear almost entirely in direct-to-video junk in the last decade? Ultimately, Willis’ limitations made it difficult for him to complete even a handful of scenes in a movie, but for years, he could have appeared in bigger and better films. Unfortunately, the author provides no answers.

Despite my quibbles about “Bruce Willis,” I really enjoyed the book. I admit I hadn’t viewed Willis’ career the way the author has, and the book should give many fans a greater appreciation for Willis’ acting ability and his body of work. Moreover, the book doesn’t read as a scholarly analysis. Instead, it’s a work written by a film fan for film fans, filled with the sort of fascinating trivia about movies that we eagerly devour, page after page. You can summarize my opinion of the book in three words: “Yippee ki yay.”

NOTE: The publisher graciously provided me with a copy of this book through NetGalley. However, the decision to review the book and the contents of this review are entirely my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Applause Books for the digital copy of this book; I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I distinctly remember being on the playground at Douglas A. MacArthur Elementary School and re-enacting scenes from Moonlighting the day after it aired. LOVED Bruce Willis as David Addison, the wise-cracking P.I. I was so happy to see his success with Die Hard (which is a Christmas movie) and subsequent films.

This book, written by what you can call an uber-fan, discusses the many roles that Bruce Willis portrayed on film over the last four decades. I’ll admit, since my high school and college years, I have less and less interest in action films, so I haven’t seen many of the films mentioned in this book. But the cool thing about Willis’ career is that he wasn’t JUST an action film star. He could turn in comic performances, as well as nuanced portrayals. He really was multi-faceted as an actor.

You only have to be a film fan to enjoy this book. If you’re a Bruce Willis fan, you’ll love it!

Sean O'Connell has written a couple of books that I really enjoyed, so when I saw this one available for request, I jumped on it. It tells the story of Bruce Willis's career as told through excellent discussion and review of movies across his career interspersed with tidbits of great trivia that maintains excellent concentration and focus, never dwelling too long on any one movie. Highly recommended and I can't wait to see what subject Mr. O'Connell will tackle next.

Special Thanks to Globe Pequot and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

"What took you so long?" asks Julia Roberts's whey-faced death row inmate. "Traffic was a bitch!" quips her last-minute rescuer, a gun-toting Bruce Willis in the final scene of the film within a film in Robert Altman's great Hollywood satire, The Player.
Now ill-health has now brought a sad premature end to Bruce Willis's film career, this book from Sean O'Connell takes another look at his prolific and varied back catalogue. The book is organised on thematic terms and covers all the highs (Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, Twelve Monkeys, The Sixth Sense) as well as the lows (Hudson Hawk, Bonfire of the Vanities, North, most of his later career). Despite grossly overeating the notoriously dreadful sequel, Ocean's 12, O'Connell provides a good general summary of Bruno's life's work.

If you like Bruce Willis and want to know all about his career, this is the book for you. I didn't realize how many things he had been in. Very well written and easy to read.

Thank you NetGalley and Applause Publishing for my E-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A really interesting and enjoyable read.
I didn’t realise how many films he had been in and I learned so much.
Excellent photographs of Bruce’s career were also included which really added to the book
Thanks to NetGalley, Sean O Connell and Globe Pequot for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

If you enjoy being a movie nerd, you’ll love this book! It’s based around the movies and characters picked by Bruce Willis, similarities between some of his roles, the people he worked with, and so much more. Enjoy a remarkable career of movies through the acting of Bruce Willis, including capsule reviews of every film he was in.

Beyond excited to share my thoughts on this beautiful book about one of the best actors of our time. I cannot wait to share many more thoughts soon. Slight delay due to being in the hospital.