Nicolas Cage: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Frank Pierce - Bringing Out The Dead (1999)

When looking at their extensive, impressive resumes, you wouldn't signal out Bringing Out the Dead as either Martin Scorsese's best film or as the film that featured Nicolas Cage's best performance. It's a film that has, rather sadly, slipped under the radar somewhat. That is a shame, because it is a damn fine movie and Nicolas Cage gives one of his most underrated performances in it. Cage plays Frank Pierce, a burned-out, alcoholic insomniac paramedic who speeds around the streets of New York responding to whatever horrible tragedy has taken place on them that day (a shooting, an overdose etc.). As troubling as this is, Frank is troubled further still by hallucinations of the lives he failed to save, haunting him as he edges further and further towards the edge. That's about the extent of the plot - Bringing out the Dead is a character study, and Frank is an intriguing, tragic character. The pained expression in his eyes is utterly believable and his unshaven, hangdog expression looks like the result of a wild three-day bender (I'm sure it's not and that it was just good acting, but you can never be sure with Cage). The film was well-received critically but bombed at the box-office and didn't get a look-in come awards time. It hasn't really gained much of a cult following since its release, either, which is a crying shame. If you haven't seen this, you really should. I mean, it's Scorsese and Nicolas Cage, for goodness sake - why wouldn't you watch it?