Bringing Out the Dead

R

Released Oct 22, 1999

2 hr. 2 min.

Drama

List

73%

113 Reviews

Tomatometer

70%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

After a disheartening and haunting career wears him down, New York City paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) begins to collapse under the strain of saving lives and witnessing deaths. Through the course of a few nights, three co-workers (John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore) accompany Pierce as he grasps for sanity and pushes to be fired. Before Pierce falls off the edge, he still has a hope when he forms a friendship with a victim's daughter (Patricia Arquette).

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Critics Consensus

Stunning and compelling, Scorsese and Cage succeed at satisfying the audience.

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Online A

Fantastic. A misunderstood comedy.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/08/23

Full Review

Brendan L

Another of Schrader's meditations on being a single, white, male frustrated by society at large. This time, the male in question is an EMS responder played by Nic Cage. Cage does a fantastic job as the literally haunted Frank Pierce, whose bloodshot eyes convey too many hours awake on the job. Great supporting performances by Tom Sizemore, Ving Rhames, and even Scorsese himself as the voice of a 911 dispatcher. The plot itself is simple, almost barely there, instead the film is a character study of someone who deals with life and death on a daily basis and the heavy toll such a responsibility can take.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

10/22/23

Full Review

Madie R

If you're looking for a good Nic Cage performance then watch "Bringing Out the Dead". It's not the movie Martin Scorsese will be known for but the camera work is brilliant. It is the journey of a paramedic who must come to grips with the reality that he is not God, despite his ability to save lives.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

10/09/23

Full Review

AB L

One of Scorsese's most interesting and underrated efforts. The vision of New York as a hellscape of madness, is something to behold. Also, this is a great role for Cage as it allows him the perfect outlet for his manic energy.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

08/31/23

Full Review

Tony S

Intense trip over the blurred NYC nights through the insomniac paramedic's eyes haunted by unsaved lifes.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/13/23

Full Review

Paul B

This is a very interesting film. It was less grand than taxi driver but more human.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

06/03/23

Full Review

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Martin Scorsese

Director

Nicolas Cage

Frank Pierce

Patricia Arquette

Mary Burke

John Goodman

Larry Verber

Ving Rhames

Marcus

Tom Sizemore

Tom Wall

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Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - Mr. O the Drunk

1:47

Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - Worst Suicide Attempt Ever

1:52

Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - Ambulance Crash

2:13

Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - Saving Cy

1:55

Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - The City's Burning

1:57

Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - I Be Bangin'!

2:12

Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - Sick Time

2:11

Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - A Virgin Miracle

2:12

Bringing Out the Dead: Official Clip - First Call of the Night

2:13

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Anthony Lane

New Yorker

The new picture comes supplied with the same tension [as Taxi Driver], but, though I hate to say so, it feels like a package.

Apr 14, 2020

Full Review

Lisa Alspector

Chicago Reader

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.

Sep 17, 2008

Full Review

Ian Freer

Empire Magazine

An exciting, invigorating return to old preoccupations. Welcome home, Marty.

Rated: 4/5

Dec 30, 2006

Full Review

Chuck Klosterman

Akron Beacon Journal

It seems like Bringing Out the Dead should be highly complex and multi-layered, but it's unlikely that anyone would walk out of the theater at its conclusion with new insight on anything.

Rated: 2/4

Oct 30, 2023

Full Review

Farah Cheded

A Good Movie To Watch

Anyone who’s seen [Taxi Driver] will find the evolution from bitter cynicism to persisting hope here illuminating, both for what it says about Scorsese’s growth as an artist and as a human.

Oct 21, 2023

Full Review

Calum Baker

Radio Times

A smart, urgent and compulsively entertaining blend of the personal, political and religious, this stands among both Scorsese's and Schrader's most accomplished statements.

Rated: 4/5

May 13, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

After a disheartening and haunting career wears him down, New York City paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) begins to collapse under the strain of saving lives and witnessing deaths. Through the course of a few nights, three co-workers (John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore) accompany Pierce as he grasps for sanity and pushes to be fired. Before Pierce falls off the edge, he still has a hope when he forms a friendship with a victim's daughter (Patricia Arquette).

Director: Martin Scorsese
Executive Producer: Bruce S. Pustin, Adam Schroeder
Screenwriter: Joe Connelly, Paul Schrader
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Touchstone Pictures, De Fina-Cappa, Paramount Pictures
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 22, 1999, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 21, 2010
Box Office (Gross USA): $16.6M
Sound Mix: SDDS, Dolby Digital, DTS, Surround

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