Let's Celebrate Bruce Willis' 8 Best Military Roles

Bruce Willis' family has released the heartbreaking news that the 67-year-old actor has retired from movies and television, effective immediately, after he was diagnosed with aphasia. The brain disorder makes it difficult for a patient to understand spoken language and communicate in an effective way.

"To Bruce's amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities," the statement reads. "As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him."

In recent years, Willis has made a series of appearances in straight-to-video action movies in roles that seemed little more than cameos. As we're learning more about his condition, there are suggestions that filmmakers were reducing the size of those parts to compensate for his illness. A report in the Los Angeles Times includes some details about his struggles.

Willis will be forever loved for his performances in such movie classics as "Die Hard," "Pulp Fiction," Moonrise Kingdom" and "The Sixth Sense." Let's remember all those movies where the glint in his eye let the audience know he was on their side, no matter how suspect the material.

Willis is a military kid, born in Germany to an American soldier and a German mother. He's honored his father's military career by playing some notable military roles in the movies. Here are eight of the best.

1. Col. William McNamara -- "Hart's War" (2002)

Willis plays an American prisoner of war in a German detention camp during World War II opposite Colin Farrell as a young G.I. who gives up intel to the Nazis under interrogation.

There's a very elaborate plot about a racist murder by one of the prisoners and the trial that McNamara engineers to supposedly find justice for the dead soldier. In fact, the trial is a distraction for a secret mission to take out an enemy munitions plant.

Moviegoers weren't sure they wanted to see Willis play such a serious role back then, and the movie wasn't a hit. Two decades later, it now looks like one of his best.

2. Lt. A.K. Waters -- "Tears of the Sun" (2003)

Is it a rule that all modern Hollywood action heroes are required to prove their credentials by playing a Navy SEAL? Willis leads a team into Nigeria to rescue an American doctor after a military coup d'etat.

Antoine Fuqua ("Olympus Has Fallen," "Training Day") directed, and the aircraft carrier scenes were filmed aboard the USS Harry S. Truman. Former SEAL Harry Humphries, fresh off "Black Hawk Down," served as military technical adviser on the production.

Willis really should've made more no-nonsense combat movies, but critics never liked it when he dialed down the humor and audiences didn't necessarily follow, either. This is another one that looks better now than it did upon release.

3. Korben Dallas -- "The Fifth Element" (1997)

In the massive sci-fi hit "The Fifth Element," Willis plays former Special Forces Maj. Korben Dallas, who's left the Earth's military and just wants a quiet life as a taxi driver. He gets pulled into an elaborate mission to save the planet that involves secret weapons and an ancient Egyptian tomb.

Don't try too hard to follow the insanely complicated plot and just enjoy Willis as he stands as a beacon of winking calm amidst all the chaos.

4. Gen. William Devereaux -- "The Siege" (1998)

"The Siege" was a big hit movie in 1998 with an all-star cast that featured Wills, Denzel Washington, Annette Bening and Tony Shalhoub. The movie has been mostly unseen since the 9/11 attacks, which is perhaps due to the fact "The Siege" was about a terror attack by Islamist radicals on American soil and asks some tough-to-answer questions about the rule of law.

Willis' Gen. Devereaux oversees the 101st Airborne Division and, after the president declares martial law, takes charge of a mission to round up all Arab men in New York and detain them in Downing Stadium on Randall's Island.

Devereaux enthusiastically embraces enhanced interrogation techniques in an effort to track down any remaining terrorists and kills a young man in the process. After Bening's CIA operative tracks down the actual terrorist, FBI agents Washington and Shalhoub confront Willis with his crimes.

5. Emmett Smith -- "In Country" (1989)

Based on the novel by Bobbie Ann Mason, "In Country" follows Samantha Hughes (Emily Lloyd), a young girl who never met her father, a soldier killed in the Vietnam War. After finding some letters and medals, she wants to learn more about her dad.

Her uncle, Emmett Smith (Willis), also served in the war and is now dealing with combat-related post-traumatic stress. Samantha starts spending time with Emmett in hopes he can help her learn more about her family. The film ends with a moving visit to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

6. Lt. Muldoon -- "Planet Terror" (2007)

Robert Rodriguez's outrageous sci-fi action movie was originally released as part of "Grindhouse," a double-feature package with Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof." Conceived as a tribute to the cheap drive-in movies of the 1970s, the movie is supposed to look like it's playing from a tired and damaged film print.

Willis is Lt. Muldoon, a special forces operative who allegedly killed Osama bin Laden in the caves of Afghanistan. Since his men were also accidentally dosed with a secret biochemical agent called DC2, they never got medals for their mission, and in fact, the government wants everything kept under wraps because of the DC2.

In the movie, Muldoon wants to release a massive amount of DC2 into the wild so that a pandemic will inspire government scientists to find a cure. Who could imagine that such a plot would eventually be defeated by Cherry (Rose McGowan), a one-legged stripper who replaces her wooden leg with an M134 minigun and uses her dancing moves to mow down the bad guys?

7. Frank Moses -- "Red" (2010)

In "Red" and its excellent sequel "Red 2" (2013), Willis plays Frank Moses, a former CIA black-ops asset who must've learned his skills in the military. Aside from Court Gentry in author Mark Greaney's "Gray Man" series, every single CIA black-ops character learned his skills courtesy of the United States military.

Staring down boredom in retirement, Moses reaches out to his former colleagues after someone tries to take him out. Willis is joined by Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Brian Cox and Morgan Freeman as the old spies try to figure out who's behind the hit squad. Moses still has it, and the "Red" movies stand with "Looper" (2012) as his last great action pictures.

Related: 'Gray Man' Author Mark Greaney Talks 'Sierra Six' and Why He's Excited About the Upcoming Movie

8. Gen. Joe Colton -- "G.I Joe: Retaliation" (2013)

The "G.I. Joe" movies are based more on the '80s cartoon series and the accompanying shorty action figures than they are on the imaginary war games that older Americans played back in the '60s and '70s with the full-size models.

"G.I. Joe: Retaliation" may stand as the least memorable movie that either Dwayne Johnson or Channing Tatum ever made. In fact, the only reason to remember the movie is the excellent scene where the Joes return from a botched mission in North Korea to regroup with their leader, Gen. Colton (Willis).

The team needs to rearm if they're going to have a chance against Cobra Commander, and it turns out that Colton has hidden a massive arsenal in his suburban home. The scene just gets more ridiculous as the men open cabinets and drawers to reveal the general's massive collection of firepower. Wills knows how silly this scene really is and plays it with his signature combination of a straight face with a twinkle in his eye, letting you know just how ridiculous things really are.

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