Bruce Willis Made A Splash As A Villain On This Crime Thriller Series Before He Was Famous

Bruce Willis requires no introduction. Apart from the (epic) "Die Hard" franchise, the actor has appeared in a wide range of mega-popular films — from "Sin City" to "The Expendables" — and established himself as a bonafide action hero. While Willis' career is peppered with more than one hundred performances, it's time to go back in time and look at one of his first acting roles before he got launched into stardom. Before his breakout role in "Moonlighting," Willis had a guest post in an episode of "Miami Vice," titled "No Exit." This season one episode would end up becoming prominent for more than one reason, as it proved to be a turning point in cementing the show's recurring themes and narrative archetypes.

This formulaic quality unique to "Miami Vice" might be perceived as stale by contemporary standards, but even when the series stumbled to find its footing, it was constantly pushing boundaries. As a result, Willis' turn as an antagonist in "No Exit," which is considered one of the more entertaining entries in the first season, feels undoubtedly significant. This episode, as usual, follows undercover Metro-Dade police officers Sonny (Don Johnson) and Ricardo (Philip Michael Thomas), who are now investigating a deal involving military hardware. After the dealers are arrested, all fingers are pointed at Tony Amato (Willis), an elusive supplier planning to sell stolen missiles. Things get uglier once Amato's wife Rita (Katherine Borowitz) gets involved and reveals Amato's obsessive, abusive nature when dealing with everything he feels he's owed.

Let's take a closer look at Willis' Amato in "No Exit," and how the episode offers much more than your standard police procedural by diving into deeply existential waters.

The episode's title references philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's book of the same name, and this is beyond such a cursory nod. "No Exit" explores the Satrean outlook of all relationships being based on a struggle for dominance, where the inevitable presence of conflict drives our defining worldviews. The popular, and oft misinterpreted quote "Hell is other people" stems from this book, essentially underlining how the gaze and actions of the "other" (as opposed to the self) can influence our choices and rob us of freedom. Sartre argues that once this instinct to make choices prompted by self-volition is taken away, it is akin to denying our humanity.

Willis' Amato embodies the extreme manifestation of the "other," as he is the one pulling the strings and influencing those around him to their detriment. He is the kind of villain with no (self-justifiable) principles and views people as objects that are either worthy of being coveted or doomed to be discarded. Because of these skewed power dynamics, Amato robs people of their choices, and by extension, their freedom to be rid of his noxious influence. Willis plays this unsavory character by juxtaposing a swagger-heavy attitude with truly heinous acts, with an obnoxious wardrobe to drive the performance home. You can't help but detest Amato for being such a prick, which makes the moment of his inevitable downfall deliciously cathartic.

There is a lot to like about "No Exit" even beyond a pre-"Moonlighting" Willis, so I will leave it up to you folks to check it out, in case you haven't already. Also, it is no wonder that the actor became an absolute sensation as Detective David Addison once "Moonlighting" started airing on ABC a year later, although a sizable chunk of the show's appeal can be attributed to the character's electrifying chemistry with Cybill Shepherd's Maddie Hayes. Needless to say, "Moonlighting" makes for great television, and you can catch it on Hulu in case you want to cleanse the existential vibes of "No Exit" with something more comforting.