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List Price: $29.99 | | Label: Paramount
Salesrank: 43010
Released: May 9, 2000 |
| Our Price: $4.61 |
| Used Price: $1.85 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Martin Scorsese comes home to the mean streets of New York with Bringing Out the Dead, the hyperkinetic tale of an ambulance driver (Nicolas Cage) on three sleep-deprived, adrenaline-fueled nights amongst the dead and dying of the city. Less a coherent narrative than a mood piece, the film is a welcome return to form for Scorsese, who takes Joe Connelly's memoir and spins it into a slightly surreal, darkly comic tale of one man's redemption. Frank Pierce (Cage) is a man who feels impotent in his job as an EMT--less a lifesaver, he's more of a grief mop as he sardonically puts it, bearing witness to the pain and suffering of others. Haunted by the specter of a young homeless girl, something stirs in Frank when he meets Mary (Patricia Arquette), the daughter of a heart attack victim Frank attends to. In a world where human interaction usually means putting someone on a stretcher, or bantering frenetically with his coworkers, Frank seems headed for certain physical and nervous collapse.
Scorsese, screenwriter Paul Schrader (of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull), and cinematographer Robert Richardson put a vivid spin on the New York of the early 90s with amazing visual flair and keen, economical storytelling. The film practically pulses with life, and hits the perfect note of ragged exhaustion. Cage, after a recent career slump, turns in an exceptional performance, by turns manic and weary. In fact, this is one of the best casts ever assembled for a Scorsese film: in addition to the quietly effective Arquette, there are great performances by John Goodman, Ving Rhames, and Tom Sizemore as Cage's ambulance partners, as well as Mary Beth Hurt (as an ER doctor), pop star Marc Anthony (as a drug addict), and especially Cliff Curtis (as a drug dealer who winds up in an unusual scrape). It's not a masterpiece in the vein of Taxi Driver, but Bringing Out the Dead ranks as a stunning Scorsese joyride. --Mark Englehart
Bringing Out the Dead Reviews:
A movie well worth your time 
2009-10-12 - As someone who is going into the EMS field this movie has a special place for me. But even though it has EMS as a back drop, the real focus of the movie is the evolution of the main character Frank, who is paramedic who hasn't saved anyone in months. I really love the way this movie blends together his troubled life, his failure at work and sleep deprivation. It also has some very good looking scenes that really give you this jaded, stressed out view of the world of an EMT. On top of all the it flows seamlessly, is never over the top, and still has a few traces of dark humor tied in. This movie is in no way a comedy, but a really good story of several people being "saved". (no that is not a god reference)
Worst Cage film ever 
2009-08-07 - I am a Nicholas Cage fan, with all of his quirkiness and odd stuff he does, but this movie sucks,is boring, and not worth a free watch. Did i say very boring.
If you want a movie to go to sleep to this is the one.
I liked it, most don't. 
2009-05-27 - This movie pretty much killed Laser Disc (for those of you that remember those). It is that bad. However, I am a fan of Cage so I had to own it.
A Lost Masterpiece
2009-04-29 - Seems like if Scorsese isn't making a film about criminals waving guns then nobody wants to notice. But this is definitely one of his best movies, and one of the best films of the last 10 years. Nick Cage is a paramedic and we follow him around for two hours, over a few days. But it's so much more than that. The movie goes inside his head, outside his soul, over the top, and under the sewer. You see characters who are unclassifiable as good or bad, crazy or sane, provider or thief, on all sides. People say Scorsese stopped making personal movies, but the only more personal movie I can think of that he made is "Mean Streets", which is practically auto-biographical (and great). But what the two movies have in common is Scorsese's unique relationship with New York Gritty, something that usually gets shown only as white knight cops confront worthless scum in back alleys. But in both movies Scorsese goes beyond the facade and into the humanity underneath the hoods and dope peddlers, exposing pain and its treatment as the chief motivator for unpleasant human behavior. So, in some respects, this movie is a response to "Mean Streets", as we see a man coming to those streets not as judge or participant, but as healer - a healer overwhelmed with pain, from within and without. And yet Scorsese isn't afraid to still be messy and heavily stylized, merging the real and the unreal - my favorite moment is when the skewered drug dealer turns sparks into fireworks. It's completely unnecessary and absolutely essential at the same time. Sums it up really.
Just beautiful
2008-11-26 - Great dark comedy. Great characters. Other reviewers have already said it better than I could.
