Bringing Out the Dead Page #2

Synopsis: After a disheartening and haunting career wears him down, New York City paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) begins to collapse under the strain of saving lives and witnessing deaths. Through the course of a few nights, three co-workers (John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore) accompany Pierce as he grasps for sanity and pushes to be fired. Before Pierce falls off the edge, he still has a hope when he forms a friendship with a victim's daughter (Patricia Arquette).
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Production: Paramount Pictures
  2 wins & 4 nominations.
 
IMDB:
6.8
Metacritic:
70
Rotten Tomatoes:
71%
R
Year:
1999
121 min
Website
537 Views


Frank's training takes over: he injects the long steel

laryngoscope down Burke's throat, he finds a vein, injects

epinephrine, followed by atrophine, followed by another epi:

no response on the monitor. Larry pulls out the paddles:

FRANK (CONT'D)

Clear! Clear!

Larry activates defibrillator, shock--Burke's body heaves.

Sweat drips from Larry's nose onto Burke's chest.

MARY:

No more, please don't!

They shock him again. This time the body moves less. Frank

glances up:
Mr. and Mrs. Burke's wedding photo sits on the

nightstand. Other pictures: a day at the beach, a young

serviceman, happy parents. Frank's mind drifts:

FRANK (V.O.)

In the last year I had come to believe

in such things as spirits leaving

the body and not wanting to be put

back, spirits angry at the awkward

places death had left them. I

understood how crazy it was to think

this way, but I was convinced if I

turned around, I'd see Old Man Burke

standing at the window, watching,

waiting for us to finish.

Frank feels Burke's heart beneath cracked ribs. The EEG

remains flat. He's dead. It's time to quit.

FRANK (CONT'D)

(to Larry)

I'll take over. Call ER and ask for

an eighty-three.

(to Mrs. Burke)

Sorry.

Larry stands, breathing heavy, looks for a phone. Frank turns

to notice relatives and neighbors standing around.

FRANK (CONT'D)

Do you have any music?

MARY:

What?

FRANK:

Music. I think it helps if you play

something he liked.

MARY:

John, play the Sinatra.

John enters crying. Mary repeats softly:

MARY:

Play the Sinatra.

John exits. Frank notices Mary for the first time: blond

hair dyed black, cut short, loose fitting tank dress, black

makeup running down her cheeks. He notices her prom picture,

glances back to Mary: it seems she hasn't smiled since that

day eight years before. Something special about her, that

something that hits you right away.

"September of My Years" plays from the other room. Frank

continues massaging Mr. Burke's chest (now to Sinatra beat),

even though it's hopeless. Larry returns:

Rate this script:3.5 / 4 votes

Paul Schrader

Paul Joseph Schrader is an American screenwriter, film director, and film critic. Schrader wrote or co-wrote screenplays for four Martin Scorsese films: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and Bringing Out the Dead. more…

All Paul Schrader scripts | Paul Schrader Scripts

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Submitted by shilobe on March 28, 2017

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