In the decade leading up to the announcement that he has dementia, Bruce Willis made around 35 “D” movies. The “D” does not stand for dementia, it’s for denigrating the earlier part of his career which included “Moonlighting,” “Die Hard,” and “The Sixth Sense,”
Every one of these “D” movies was a colossal embarrassment in which the previously agile, glib, athletic Willis spoke a few words, brandished a gun, and played second or third fiddle to D list actors.
There are few I didn’t count, like “Motherless Brooklyn” and “Glass,” in which name actors and directors covered for him. They were bad movies anyway, and Bruce’s name and likeness were just as exploited in them as they had been in other really dreadful releases.
Many toward the end were just released to video on demand, or in countries or on planets no one ever heard of. The last of these, called “Assassins,” is set for some kind of launch on March 30th, next week. And that, presumably, is the end of a long period in which Bruce Willis was exploited for some financial gain. Not one of them will be remembered.
Bruce’s illness– dementia– was evident at least since 2015, but was admitted to just a month ago. It sounded like a surprise but the statement was offered on the website for the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. Willis’s wife, Emma, who has no doubt suffered for the last few years seeing her husband’s condition deteriorate, is now holding live Instagram broadcasts with specialists in the field to bring attention to this insidious condition. You could of course wonder why this took so long, and why 37 films were made while Willis appeared in more and more diminished capacity. But we may never have that answer.
At least the D movie era is over. And Bruce is getting substantial care and attention. Everything is a learning process.
