The detective film “Head On”, led by Frank Sinatra and Faye Dunaway, presents quite a particularity. Released in theaters in 1980, it marks the very first appearance on screen of a certain… Bruce Willis!
Today, for no real reason, just like that, we want to talk to you about Bruce Willis. Because he is an actor who rocked our childhood. Because he is an actor that we love, who is part of our lives, and each time we are a little sadder to know that he is in such bad shape… So let’s focus, to celebrate this Hollywood legend, on the VERY first on-screen role of Bruce Willis !
He meets… Sinatra!
The very first film appearance of Bruce Willis (who starred in the worst SF film of all time), it dates from 1980. And you have to be quite observant to see it in the thriller Full Force, released in French cinemas two years later.
Led by Frank Sinatra and Faye Dunaway, the feature film Full force immerses the viewer in New York, while a killer terrorizes the city by killing his victims with an ice axe. Edward Delaunay, a near-retired cop, must resolve this latest case but the investigation is stalling: his boss seems to be doing his best to hinder his research, his sick wife is waiting for his visits to the hospital, and the evidence to bring down this sadist are almost non-existent.
Bruce Willis hidden under his hat
In Full force, Bruce Willis, then aged 25, does not speak. His role is purely figurative and we can’t even completely see his face! As you can see in the player below, the man who would become one of the biggest stars of action cinema a few years later crosses in a rush Frank Sinatrahidden under a hat.
Eight years after this fleeting appearance in Full force, Bruce Willis will indeed become an international star thanks to his role as John McClane in Crystal Trap. A role that was initially supposed to go to… Frank Sinatra, the latter having played in The Detective, adaptation of another novel by Roderick Thorp, and being under contract with Fox. But too old for the role, he declined the offer.
What could be better finally, with this first appearance of Bruce Willis with our skull screwed under a hat, what about pulling ours off in turn with this modest news? Yippee-ki-yaylegend !
False Connection: the blunders and errors of “Crystal Trap”