Product Details

• Actors: Marc Anthony, Patricia Arquette, Marylouise Burke, Nicolas Cage, Cliff Curtis
• Directors: Martin Scorsese
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: May 9, 2000
• Run Time: 121 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (175 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305816131
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #343,822 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

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

From The New Yorker

The prospect of Martin Scorsese's teaming up with Paul Schrader-his screenwriter on "Taxi Driver" and other pictures-for a return to New York is a hugely enticing one. This time, the means of transport is an ambulance rather than a taxi, and the hero is a weary paramedic by the name of Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage). Frank keeps losing more patients than he saves; indeed, his world has gone into decline before the story even begins, and Cage's dour, dark-eyed resignation sits uneasily with the restive, high-energy look of the film. It's not so much plotted as peopled with recurring figures, both alive and dead: a practicing lunatic, a young asthma sufferer who dies in Frank's arms, and a numb ex-junkie named Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette), who just won't leave him alone. Then there are the other paramedics, played by John Goodman, Tom Sizemore, and Ving Rhames. Of these, only Rhames takes the movie by the throat and finds the black farce within it, mocking the somnolence (and the lyrical voice-overs) that prevails elsewhere. This could only be a Scorsese film; nobody else can get off on the stimuli of a city with quite such panache. As for the identity of the city, that's another matter; few New Yorkers will recognize the round-the-clock hellhole in which the picture dwells. Stuck in the days of "Taxi Driver," it's more of a period piece than a contemporary drama; could Scorsese ever imagine streets that were not mean? Would we want him to? -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 79 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ridiculously Underrated Movie Deserves Second Look on DVD, March 7, 2000

By 

T.S. Morris (Austin, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)

Bringing Out the Dead is one of Martin Scorsese's better movies. It is not quite up to the level of Mean Streets, Goodfellas, or Raging Bull; but is is better than most of his other works. Personally, I liked it more than Taxi Driver, the movie to which it is most often compared, but it may be too early to tell which is truly the better film. Nicholas Cage gives the best performance of his career, and the other actors are perfect for their roles. My favorites were Tom Sizemore, Cliff Curtis, Mary Beth Hurt and Ving Rhames. The screenplay is much better than it got credit for being, and is thought provoking, darkly hilarious, and maybe even profound. As expected, the cinematography and film editing are astounding, and the soundtrack is amazing. No other director could have handled this material as well as Martin Scorsese. So many other directors would have made it into some kind of tearjerker, but he takes a huge risk by making it funny (this risk didn't seem to pay off commercially, as BOTD didn't do too well at the box office)as well as dramatic. This was one of the very best movies of 1999 and it deserves to be remembered for years to come.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars As perfect as life itself...., May 17, 2000

By 

"strdogmoon" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bringing Out the Dead [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Life is not perfect and neither is this film. Having been a 911 dispatcher at one time and now, having just watched this movie twice, I can tell you that that is the whole point.

Closer to "Taxi Driver" than any of Scorsese's other films, this movie is far better: Better camera work, better screenplay, better supporting actors, and more interesting and sympathetic characters. For those of you who like a movie that ties everything up in a nice little bow - this ain't it! If you want to see a movie that treats you like an intelligent human being and challenges you, then see it. I liked how this movie presents it's characters with ambivalence, not in Hollywood stereotype. The viewer gets to develop his or her own perceptions of the characters and events.

This movie is adapted from a book of the same name by Joe Connelly. It follows paramedic Frank Pierce over the course of 3 hot night shifts in a scummy part of NYC, and he is gradually coming apart at the seams. Nicolas Cage gives such an honest, moving, and believable portrayal of Frank that it's amazing. In other roles, John Goodman is his first partner and is (as usual) instantly engaging and interesting. Ving Rhames is Frank's second partner and he gives a stirring, forceful and poetic performance - larger than life yet still believable. Tom Sizemore then comes along as that crazy guy you knew at some point in your life and you can't believe he wound up a paramedic. I have to deduct one star for Patricia Arquette's performance: Compared to the performances of everyone else it seemed she was "acting" while they were "being".

I suggest watching "Bringing Out The Dead" twice, because the first time around it may seem to have no real ending. But, if you look at the movie as you would look at real life, you'll see their's only one true ending.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Soul Purging Realism, November 11, 2005

By 

J. Thompson (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Bringing Out the Dead (DVD)

I should start this with a disclaimer...bad behaviour is bad behaviour, and drunken criminal activities are far from the norm in EMS. However, if you put this movie in context, a true "insiders" context, it serves much the same purpose as the original book: cathartic release of the BS that builds up over years of cleaning up society's messes. As a long time paramedic who has worked in big city EMS for several cities I have to say this movie digs down almost a little too deeply into the dregs of my psyche. The movie gets it right, if not in a documentary like depiction of a real "day in the life", it is an excellent glimpse into the mind of a medic who needs some time off and shows you all the reasons why. Anyone who is considering a career in EMS should avoid this movie...it's really not this bad most of the time. Anyone already in EMS should see this movie with a bunch of your co-workers, you'll laugh your a$& off.