Bringing Out the Dead

Bringing Out the Dead is a 1999 American psychological drama film. Martin Scorsese directed it, and Paul Schrader wrote the screenplay. It adapts Joe Connelly's 1998 novel. The story follows 48 hours in the life of Frank Pierce, a depressed New York City paramedic played by Nicolas Cage. The cast also includes Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, and Tom Sizemore.

Paramount Pictures released the film in the United States on October 22, 1999. Internationally, Touchstone Pictures handled distribution through Buena Vista International. It was the final movie released on LaserDisc in the U.S. Critics gave it generally positive reviews, but it performed poorly at the box office, earning $16 million against a $32 million production budget.

In Manhattan, paramedic Frank Pierce suffers from depression, insomnia, and burnout after failing to save a homeless teenager named Rose. He has not saved any patients in months and begins hallucinating Rose's ghost. One night, Frank and his partner Larry respond to a call for Mr. Burke, who is in cardiac arrest. Frank befriends Burke's distraught daughter Mary, a former drug addict, and learns she knew Noel, a drug addict and delinquent frequently hospitalized.

After several minor calls, Frank and Larry respond to a shooting. Frank notices two vials of "Red Death" heroin fall from a surviving victim's sleeve. In the ambulance, the victim tries to repent for his drug dealing but dies before reaching the hospital.

The next day, Frank is paired with Marcus, a charismatic, religious paramedic. They respond to a man reported in cardiac arrest at a club. Frank diagnoses an overdose from Red Death and injects Narcan. Marcus starts a prayer circle with club-goers, and just as his preaching peaks, the man regains consciousness.

On the way back, Frank visits Mary's apartment to say her father is improving. Mary tells him her family hosted Noel for a year, and her father cared more for a stranger than his own children. Frank and Marcus then respond to a call about a woman giving birth to twins. They rush the mother and infants to the hospital. Marcus takes the mother and one healthy twin to the maternity ward, while Frank tries to revive the other twin with hospital staff. The smaller twin dies. Dismayed, Frank starts drinking, and Marcus joins him, crashing the ambulance into a parked car. Both are unharmed and laugh it off.

The next morning, Frank sees Mary leaving the hospital and follows her to an apartment block. She says she is visiting a friend. Frank waits, then barges in and finds a drug den run by a dealer named Cy Coates. Mary admits she has turned back to drugs to cope with her father's condition. As Frank tries to get her to leave, Cy offers him pills. In desperation, Frank takes the drugs and hallucinates, seeing more ghosts of his patients. Once sober, he grabs Mary and carries her out. Visiting a comatose Burke, Frank hears Burke's voice telling him to let him die, but Frank resuscitates him instead.

In his third shift, Frank is paired with Tom Wolls, a violent, messianic paramedic. They respond to a shooting at Cy's drug den and find Cy impaled on a railing. Frank holds onto Cy as emergency services cut the railing. Both nearly fall off the edge but are pulled back. Cy thanks Frank for saving his life, making him the first patient Frank has saved in months.

Afterward, Frank agrees to help Tom beat up Noel. They chase him down. Frank starts hallucinating again but snaps out of it as Tom beats Noel with a baseball bat. Frank saves Noel. Visiting Burke again, Frank hears the voice pleading for death. He removes Burke's breathing apparatus, causing Burke to fatally enter cardiac arrest. Frank goes to Mary's apartment to tell her her father has died. He hallucinates Rose's ghost one last time and obtains her forgiveness. Mary accepts her father's death. She invites Frank in, and he falls asleep with her.

The idea of casting Nicolas Cage came to Scorsese after a conversation with Brian De Palma, who had worked with Cage on Snake Eyes.

The soundtrack includes songs such as "T.B. Sheets" by Van Morrison, "The September of My Years" by Frank Sinatra, "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" by Johnny Thunders, "Bell Boy" by The Who, "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" by R.E.M., "Too Many Fish in the Sea" by The Marvelettes, "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing" by Stevie Wonder, "So What!" by Jane's Addiction, "These Are Days" by 10,000 Maniacs, "Nowhere to Run" by Martha & The Vandellas, "I and I Survive (Slavery Days)" by Burning Spear, "Rivers of Babylon" by The Melodians, "Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)" by the New York Philharmonic, "Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am a Japanese Sandman)" by The Cellos, "Combination of the Two" by Big Brother & The Holding Company, "Hasta Ayer" by Marc Anthony, "Janie Jones" by The Clash, "Red Red Wine" by UB40, and "I'm So Bored with the U.S.A." by The Clash. Elmer Bernstein contributed the tracks "Mr. Highway" and "Threat."

The film premiered in Los Angeles and New York on October 22, 1999. On Rotten Tomatoes, Bringing Out the Dead has a generally positive critical response.