The film follows medic Frank Pierce, played by Nicolas Cage, over 48 hours on the job. As he works on one broken body after another, he struggles to prevent his own world from breaking down. Cage is supported by screen veterans John Goodman, offscreen wife Patricia Arquette, and Ving Rhames.

Native New Yorker Scorsese is back on home turf in this film, creating memorable characters shaped by the grit, violence and humor of the city.

Over the years, Scorsese's images of prostitutes and misfits, gangsters and priests have had a role in not only defining how the outside world perceives New York, but how the city defines itself.

Twenty-five years ago, Scorsese directed Taxi Driver, the film launchpad for actor Robert DeNiro and an essential ingredient to the New York mythology.

The screenplay for Bringing Out the Dead is tailor-made for Scorsese - dark, slightly comic and New York to the core. Based on the 1998 novel of the same name, the story was written by former New York City paramedic Joe Connelly.

As Connelly wrote (on amazon.com) about his quasi-autobiographical first novel, "From the start, the job was about driving fast, the gunsmoke still in the air, up the stairs, out the window, down the alley, under the train. I was 22-years-old, and time was measured equally in seconds and months, the month of fires, of stabbing victims named Jesus, the April I brought back to life everyone I met."
Cage returns to the screen as a damaged, world-weary character, struggling with his own inner demons.

Ving Rhames, who previously worked with Cage on Con Air, has delivered a number of potent performances over the last decade. With frequent guest appearances on the television series ER, he's probably best known for his portrayal of Marsellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction in which he delivered the classic line, "I'm gonna get medieval on your ass."

- Don Marston