The Sixth Sense (1999)

The Sixth Sense is a masterfully told and slow-moving but rewarding telling of a ghost story – that’s where the suspense comes in. Due to a very unrevealing, but appetizing trailer, which is as it should be, audiences knew very little about the film when they went in (such as myself). It’s another one of those films with a twist somewhere along the line, which is always enjoyable.

 

The Sixth Sense stars Bruce Willis as psychiatrist Malcolm Crowe, and a boy named Cole Sear who “sees dead people,” this being his unwanted sixth sense, whom Crowe talks to and tries to identify with. Though some critics wrote unabashedly horrible reviews about the film, such as James Berardinelli, The Sixth Sense is a quality suspense film that most people enjoyed seeing, or will enjoy seeing.

 

The boy who plays Cole Sear is Haley Joel Osment (“Little Forrest” from Forrest Gump (1994)), and he turns in an excellent performance, especially when you take his age into consideration. The film has good performances all-round, good direction, and good pacing, never revealing too much until the end.

Related Links:

• The Sixth Sense (1999)
• The Sixth Sense - Official Site
• The Sixth Sense - MovieWeb
• The Sixth Sense (James Newton Howard)
• Roger Ebert's review
• Upcomingmovies.com: The Sixth Sense
• Info, reviews, many pictures
• Dedication Page
• Bomis: The Sixth Sense Web Ring
• The Sixth Sense - Screen It! Guide

 

Trivia about The Sixth Sense:

 

• This is the second movie with Bruce Willis in a leading role where one of the main characters is named “Cole,” whom nobody believes and is considered to be insane or unusual. The first was 12 Monkeys.
• Ex-New Kid on the Block, Donnie Wahlberg, makes a powerful performance in this picture, looking absolutely NOTHING like he used to in the days of "hanging tough" with his now-defunct band. Such an immense physical transformation, I have not seen in a long while. Donnie apparently dropped 30 pounds for his minimal role. Robert De Niro would be proud. Donnie has eight brothers and sisters, including his one other famous sibling, Mark Wahlberg, another once-a-singer-now-a-want-to-be-serious-actor in his own right. Donnie also has a son named Xavier by a member of his brother's band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch.
• Willis' wife in this movie is played by Olivia Williams, the apple of Max Fischer's eye in last year's comedy hit, RUSHMORE.
• You may remember child actor Haley Joel Osment from his roles as Avery Brown, son of TV's “Murphy Brown,” Matt Foxworthy son on TV's “The Jeff Foxworthy Show,” and Forrest Junior from, you guessed it, Forrest Gump (1994).
• Actress Toni Collette is Australian. In 1994, she won the Australian equivalent of the Academy Award for Muriel’s Wedding, a role for which she gained 40 pounds in seven weeks, with the help of a dietician.
• Pay close attention, and you will notice writer/director M. Night Shyamalan in his role in this film as Dr. Hill. Mr. Shyamalan is born in Madras, India, and wrote/directed his first autobiographical film, Praying With Anger, when he was only 22 years old. This is his third picture.

 

 

Quotes from The Sixth Sense:

 

Anna Crowe: I never told you, but you sound a little like Dr. Seuss when you're drunk.

 

Cole Sear: We were supposed to draw a picture, anything we wanted. I drew a man who got hurt in the neck by another man with a screwdriver.

Malcolm Crowe: You saw that on TV, Cole?

Cole Sear: Everyone got upset. They had a meeting. Mom started crying. I don't draw like that any more.

Malcolm Crowe: How do you draw now?

Cole Sear: Draw... people smiling, dogs running, rainbows. They don't have meetings about rainbows.

 

 

Cast overview, first billed only:

Haley Joel Osment ....  Cole Sear 

Bruce Willis ....  Malcolm Crowe 

Toni Collette ....  Lynn Sear 

Olivia Williams ....  Anna Crowe 

Glenn Fitzgerald ....  Sean 

Mischa Barton ....  Kyra Collins 

Donnie Wahlberg ....  Vincent Gray 

Trevor Morgan ....  Tommy Tammisimo 

Bruce Norris ....  Stanley Cunningham 

Peter Tambakis ....  Darren 

Jeffry Zubernis ....  Bobby 

Greg Wood ....  Mr. Collins 

Angelica Torn ....  Mrs Collins 

Lisa Summerour ....  Bridemaid 

Firdous Bamji  ....  Indian fiance buying ring