Bringing Out the Dead
Encyclopedia
Bringing Out the Dead is a 1999 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese
, and based on the novel by Joe Connelly
with the screenplay by Paul Schrader
. The film stars Nicolas Cage
, Ving Rhames
, John Goodman
, Tom Sizemore
and Patricia Arquette
.
Once called Father Frank for his efforts to rescue lives, Frank sees the ghosts of those he failed to save around every turn. He has tried everything he can to get fired-calling in sick, coming in late, delaying taking calls where he might have to face one more victim he can't help- yet he cannot quit the job.
gave it a perfect four star rating, writing, "To look at Bringing Out the Dead--to look, indeed, at almost any Scorsese film--is to be reminded that film can touch us urgently and deeply."
Audiences stayed away from what was perceived in its marketing as a Sixth Sense
-type ghost story.
.
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
, and based on the novel by Joe Connelly
Joe Connelly (writer)
Joe Connelly is an American writer. Connelly is best known for his first novel, Bringing Out the Dead. Connelly grew up in a working class family in Warwick, New York. He dropped out of Colgate University and, before publishing his first novel, worked as a paramedic at St. Clare's Hospital in...
with the screenplay by Paul Schrader
Paul Schrader
Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and former film critic. Apart from his credentials as a director, Schrader is most notably known for his screenplays for Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and Raging Bull....
. The film stars Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage
Nicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
, Ving Rhames
Ving Rhames
Irving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...
, John Goodman
John Goodman
John Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
, Tom Sizemore
Tom Sizemore
Thomas Edward "Tom" Sizemore, Jr. is an American film and television actor and producer. He is known for his roles in films such as Saving Private Ryan, Strange Days, Pearl Harbor, Heat and Black Hawk Down....
and Patricia Arquette
Patricia Arquette
Patricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
.
Plot
It is about 48 hours in the life of a burnt-out paramedic: Frank (Cage) is a Manhattan medic, working the graveyard shift in a two-man ambulance team. He's burned out, exhausted, and seeing ghosts, especially a young woman he failed to save six months before. He is no longer able to save people - he simply brings out the dead. We follow him for three nights, each with a different partner: Larry (Goodman), who thinks about dinner; Marcus (Rhames), who looks to Jesus; and Tom (Sizemore), who wallops people out of frustration. Frank befriends the daughter of a heart victim he brings in. Mary (Arquette) is an ex-junkie, angry at her father but now hoping he'll live.Once called Father Frank for his efforts to rescue lives, Frank sees the ghosts of those he failed to save around every turn. He has tried everything he can to get fired-calling in sick, coming in late, delaying taking calls where he might have to face one more victim he can't help- yet he cannot quit the job.
Cast
- Nicolas CageNicolas CageNicolas Cage is an American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona , The Rock , Face/Off , Gone in 60 Seconds , Adaptation , National Treasure , Ghost Rider , Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , and...
as Frank Pierce - Patricia ArquettePatricia ArquettePatricia T. Arquette is an American actress and director. She played the lead character in the supernatural drama series Medium for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series....
as Mary Burke - John GoodmanJohn GoodmanJohn Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
as Larry - Ving RhamesVing RhamesIrving Rameses "Ving" Rhames is an American actor best known for his work in Bringing Out the Dead, Pulp Fiction, Baby Boy, Don King: Only in America, and the Mission: Impossible film series.-Early life and education:...
as Marcus - Tom SizemoreTom SizemoreThomas Edward "Tom" Sizemore, Jr. is an American film and television actor and producer. He is known for his roles in films such as Saving Private Ryan, Strange Days, Pearl Harbor, Heat and Black Hawk Down....
as Tom Wolls - Marc AnthonyMarc AnthonyMarc Anthony is an American singer-songwriter, actor and producer. Anthony is the top selling tropical salsa artist of all time. The two-time Grammy and three-time Latin Grammy–winner has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide. He is best known for his Latin salsa numbers and ballads...
as Noel - Cliff CurtisCliff CurtisClifford Vivian Devon "Cliff" Curtis is a New Zealand actor who has had major roles in film, including The Piano, Whale Rider, and Blow, and most recently has appeared in NBC's television series Trauma. He is also co-owner of independent film production company Whenua Films...
as Cy Curtis - Mary Beth HurtMary Beth HurtMary Beth Hurt is an American actress of stage and screen.-Personal life:Hurt was born Mary Supinger in 1946 in Marshalltown, Iowa, the daughter of Delores Lenore and Forrest Clayton Supinger. Her childhood babysitter was actress Jean Seberg, also a Marshalltown native...
as Nurse Constance - Aida TurturroAida TurturroAida Turturro is an American actress probably best known for playing Janice Soprano, sister of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, on the HBO TV series The Sopranos .-Personal life:...
as Nurse Crupp - Phyllis SomervillePhyllis SomervillePhyllis Somerville, born 1944, is an American stage, screen, and television actress. Her most prominent role to date was in 2006 as the mother of the sexual predator played by Jackie Earle Haley in Todd Field's Little Children....
as Mrs. Burke - Queen LatifahQueen LatifahDana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
as Dispatcher Love (Voice Only) - Martin ScorseseMartin ScorseseMartin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
as Dispatcher (Voice Only)
Track listing
- "T.B. SheetsT.B. Sheets"T.B. Sheets" is a blues-influenced song written and recorded by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison, recorded for the Bang Records label in 1967 and included on his first solo album, Blowin' Your Mind!. It later appeared on the Bang compilation, T.B. Sheets.-Recording:"T.B...
" - Van MorrisonVan MorrisonVan Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
- "Janie JonesJanie Jones (song)"Janie Jones" is a song by the Clash on their eponymous debut album. The subject of the song, Janie Jones, was a famous madam in London during the 1970s and had been a pop singer during the 1960s....
" - The ClashThe ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
- "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a MemoryYou Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory"You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory" is a song released in 1978 by ex-New York Dolls member Johnny Thunders. The title was taken from a line in the "Better Living Through TV" episode of the sitcom The Honeymooners, and was written for his close friend Fabienne Shine.Considered by many his...
" - Johnny ThundersJohnny ThundersJohnny Thunders, born John Anthony Genzale, Jr. , was an American protopunk guitarist, singer and songwriter.He came to prominence in the early '70s as a member of the New York Dolls...
- "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?What's the Frequency, Kenneth?"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" is a song by the American alternative rock group R.E.M. from their 1994 album Monster. It was the first single taken from the album, released three weeks later. It peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. Due to its...
" - R.E.M.R.E.M.R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...
- "I'm So Bored with the USAI'm So Bored with the USA"I'm So Bored with the U.S.A." is a song by British punk rock band The Clash, featured on their eponymous 1977 debut album, which was released in the United States in July 1979 as their second album after Give Em Enough Rope...
" - The ClashThe ClashThe Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
- "Red Red WineRed Red Wine"Red Red Wine" is a song written and originally recorded by Neil Diamond. It has been covered by Tony Tribe, Jimmy James & the Vagabonds, and more famously by British reggae group UB40, whose version topped the U.S. and UK singles charts...
" - UB40UB40UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
- "Nowhere to Run" - Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
- "Too Many Fish in the Sea" - The MarvelettesThe MarvelettesThe Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label. Motown's first successful female vocal group, the Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first #1 Pop hit, "Please Mr...
- "Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am a Japanese SandmanThe Japanese SandmanThe Japanese Sandman is a song from 1920, composed by Richard A. Whiting and with lyrics by Raymond B. Egan.-Content:The song is about a sandman from Japan, who exchanges yesterdays for tomorrows...
)" - The Cellos - "Rivers of BabylonRivers of Babylon"Rivers of Babylon" is a rastafarian song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970. The Melodians' original versions of the song appeared in the sound track to the 1972 movie The Harder They Come and the 1999 Nicolas Cage movie...
" - The MelodiansThe MelodiansThe Melodians were a reggae band formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Jamaica in 1965, by Tony Brevett , Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton... - "Combination of the Two" - Big Brother & The Holding Company
- "Bell BoyBell Boy (song)"Bell Boy" is a song recorded by The Who for the 1973 album Quadrophenia and 1979 movie of the same name. It was never released as a single....
" - The WhoThe WhoThe Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...
Reception
The film was generally well received by critics and holds a 71% 'Fresh' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 104 reviews. Roger EbertRoger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
gave it a perfect four star rating, writing, "To look at Bringing Out the Dead--to look, indeed, at almost any Scorsese film--is to be reminded that film can touch us urgently and deeply."
Audiences stayed away from what was perceived in its marketing as a Sixth Sense
Sixth sense
Sixth sense may refer to:* Extrasensory perception , commonly called the sixth sense* Equilibrioception , the commonly accepted sixth physiological sense* SixthSense, a wearable gestural interface...
-type ghost story.
Box office
Bringing Out the Dead debuted at #4 in 1,936 theaters with a weekend gross of only $6,193,052.Laserdisc release
This motion picture, along with Sleepy Hollow, were the final feature films released on LaserdiscLaserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
.