Bringing Out the Dead **** (1999, Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman) – Classic Movie Review 701

Director Martin Scorsese returns in 1999 memorably and stylishly to the smoky New York mean streets he explored so famously in Taxi Driver, with a screenplay by that film’s writer Paul Schrader, based on the novel by Joe Connelly.

Nicolas Cage is excellent as a burnt-out paramedic, once nicknamed Father Frank for his efforts to rescue lives. But now Frank Pierce sees ghosts of those he has failed at every turn. He has tried everything he can to get fired – calling in sick, delaying calls when he might have to face another victim he can’t help – but he cannot quit the job on his own. Now his only hope of saving his sanity is through saving someone’s life.

A stark, gruelling and visceral ride into hell, this somehow is not quite among Scorsese’s best films, but it’s near, and it’s definitely still scalding stuff.

A great cast includes Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore, Marc Anthony, Mary Beth Hurt, Cliff Curtis, Nestor Serrano and Aida Turturro.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 701

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