Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Reviews Counted: 105
Fresh: 75 | Rotten: 30
Stunning and compelling, Scorsese and Cage succeed at satisfying the audience.
Average Rating: 6.5/10
Critic Reviews: 27
Fresh: 19 | Rotten: 8
Stunning and compelling, Scorsese and Cage succeed at satisfying the audience.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 37,560
My Rating
Movie Info
This tense urban drama stars Nicolas Cage as Frank Pierce, a paramedic on the brink of physical and emotional collapse. Frank has worked for years in one of New York's most brutal neighborhoods, and the pressure of his job has taken its toll; plagued with self-doubt, he is haunted by the spirits of the people he couldn't save, and while he desperately wants to quit his job, outside forces won't let him walk away. Bringing Out the Dead brought director Martin Scorsese back to the streets of
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Cast
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Nicolas Cage
Frank Pierce -
John Goodman
Larry -
Patricia Arquette
Mary Burke -
Ving Rhames
Marcus -
Mary Beth Hurt
Nurse Constance -
Tom Sizemore
Tom Wolls -
Marc Anthony
Noel -
Cliff Curtis
Cy Coates -
Nestor Serrano
Dr. Hazmat -
Aida Turturro
Nurse Crupp -
Afemo Omilami
Griss -
Cynthia Roman
Rose -
Cullen Oliver Johnson
Mr. Burke -
Arthur J. Nascarella
Captain Barney -
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All Critics (112) | Top Critics (27) | Fresh (78) | Rotten (31) | DVD (20)
Its hard-to-pin-down tone is frighteningly original -- simultaneously world-weary and adolescent with an aura of perpetual anxiety, as if the characters and filmmakers were in pursuit of a catharsis everyone knows will never come.
Of course, it's immaculately crafted and exhilaratingly paced, but in the end it's never as emotionally involving as it could and should be.
Scorsese doesn't trust the power of simplicity to rock us.
The auteur has definitely left his distinctive mark, but too seldom and too narrowly.
Top CriticA fiery masterpiece!
Scorsese has delivered a film that's both savage and sorrowing.
I congratulate Martin Scorsese on this miraculous triumph over his personal demons, and pray for the swift recovery of his art.
A frankly disturbing experience since Cage is at his most manic, the images are brutal, the documentary-style background intense and the (inevitable) theme of redemption a long time emerging.
Scorsese is married to a script that drags him down, keeps him from taking wing as a pure artist.
Martin Scorsese is a wonderful filmmaker. And he loves New York. He is at his best, though, when he has an interesting story to tell.
An exciting, invigorating return to old preoccupations. Welcome home, Marty.
However muddled the story gets, Scorsese guarantees Bringing Out the Dead remains a pulsating trip.
It's assuredly the work of a master filmmaker.
It's another burnout role for Nicolas Cage, to which he brings his vast repertoire of grimaces and shuffles, as if he were variously impersonating a gargoyle on amphetamines and late Elvis on downers.
I don't recommend it, unless you care to see the best Nicolas Cage performance in several years, or some more of Scorcese's brilliant camera work.
Everyone looks dead and they speak as if they live in a nightmarish dreamworld. Well, they do.
A very different and, in many respects, very impressive film.
Overlooked Martin Scorsese movie has grim humor, grit and grace.
Give it to Martin Scorsese to keep coming back and hitting one out of the park.
Audience Reviews for Bringing Out the Dead
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Larry: [to Frank] What you gettin'?
- Frank Pierce: I'm not hungry.
- Larry: Oh yeah, you don't eat food.
- Frank Pierce: I eat, I just haven't had coffee yet.
- Larry: Coffee and whiskey, lucky you ain't dead with that diet.
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- Cy Coates: [to Frank] Relax, you're in the oasis now.
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- Frank Pierce: You cannot be near the newly dead without feeling it.
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- Cy Coates: Tell me somethin', Frank--does killing your clients make good business sense to you?
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- Frank Pierce: I'd always had nightmares, but now the ghosts didn't wait for me to sleep.
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- Griss: Don't make me take off my sunglasses!
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| The last decent Scorsese film | 14 days ago | 0 |
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Foreign Titles
- A tombeau ouvert (FR)
Bringing Out the Dead is a very interesting film that is another character study from Martin Scorsese, much like Raging Bull or Taxi Driver. Now, it isn't as good as either of those, but it's still Scorsese and all the signs of his presence are there. Much like Taxi Driver, he brings the city of New York into the story as another character, almost. The city is filthy, the hospitals jam packed. Many people can't even get treated because there's just too much for the doctors to handle.
Frank is an ambulance driver in New York City. He hasn't been getting much sleep lately and we see three nights of him on the job. He's being haunted by those who have died on him, especially an 18 year old girl named Rose that he lost 6 months earlier. He's cracking, he's losing his mind, and he's an alcoholic. The first night we see him take in an older man who just had a heart attack. Frank soon forms a sort of bond with the mans daughter.
Nicholas Cage is perfect in the role of Frank Pierce. This is the type of role that he was born to play and that he thrives in, as it plays right to his strengths. It allows him to be eccentric, but also lazy. It's much like his performance in Leaving Las Vegas. The rest of the cast is well picked too. John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore, and even Patricia Arquette(who I am not a fan of) are great in their respected roles.
In the end, this is always going to be a forgotten Scorsese film. It doesn't quite live up to his standard, but it's still an extremely well made and tense film. So what it's labeled "lesser-Scorsese." Whenever Scorsese is in the directors chair, you can be certain it's going to be a film worth watching, and Bringing Out the Dead is no exception. Don't expect another Taxi Driver or Raging Bull. Just expect some more solid filmmaking from one of the greats.