“I see dead people.”
Those four words – spoken by Haley Joel Osment in his Oscar-nominated role as 9-year-old Cole Sear in “The Sixth Sense,” which was released Aug. 6, 1999 – became part of the pop culture lexicon. This line is considered an iconic part of film history and is often repeated or parodied in other media.
“Osment delivered one of the all-time best child performances. He is so creepy and vulnerable in this movie,” said Robert Fox, who teaches film production and media arts in the Ann Arbor Public Schools.
For its 25th anniversary, “The Sixth Sense” will return to the big screen for one night only on Monday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. at the Michigan Theater as part of the “Like it’s 1999…” series of movies.
In “The Sixth Sense,” which occurs in Philadelphia, child psychiatrist Dr. Malcolm Crowe (Bruce Willis) works with his patient (Osment), who claims he can see the ghosts of dead people. The son of a single mom named Lynn (Toni Collette in her Oscar-nominated role), Cole is an outcast at school and gets in trouble frequently. In one instance, the ghosts tell Cole that his teacher Mr. Cunningham (Bruce Norris) used to be called “Stuttering Stanley” in his youth.
Meanwhile, Malcolm is having marital troubles. His wife Anna (Olivia Williams) is depressed and has grown distant from him. They no longer talk, despite his best efforts. The previous fall, a former patient of Malcolm’s named Vincent Grey (Donnie Wahlberg) broke into their house. Grey accused Malcolm of failing him before shooting him and then committing suicide immediately after.
Malcolm believes Cole is seeing ghosts and helps him come to grips with it. In the end, Cole finally reveals to Lynn of his extrasensory perception in a powerful, tear-jerking scene. Malcom finally reconciles with Anna in a twist ending nobody saw coming. NOTE: Even though the movie is 25 years old, no spoilers about the ending will be revealed. Suffice to say, writer/director M. Night Shyamalan had initial audiences fooled.
Fox was certainly fooled.
“I saw it in the theater shortly after it had come out and, fortunately, I did not know about the twist – nor did I guess it,” he recalled. “It was a film not on my radar that summer. I don’t believe Entertainment Weekly included it in their summer movie preview, which was such a vital source for me at that time as to what movies to watch. The reveal of the twist was definitely a Top 10 movie experience for me.”
“The Sixth Sense” was the sleeper hit of 1999. It grossed $673 million at the box office on a $40 million budget. It spent five weeks at No. 1, becoming the second film to gross more than $20 million every week for five weeks (the first being 1997’s “Titanic”). It was the No. 2 movie of 1999 (the first was the long-awaited prequel “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” which grossed $1 billion). It was released on home video on March 28, 2000 and went on to become the top-selling DVD of 2000, with more than 2.5 million units shipped, and the all-time second best-selling DVD title up until then, as well as the top video rental title of all-time.
“Word of mouth was the key to this movie’s box office… but – most importantly – word of mouth was what kept the secret safe,” explained Fox. “This was before the explosion of social media that makes spoilers almost impossible to avoid. This particular movie, (1999’s) ‘Fight Club’ and (1992’s) ‘The Crying Game’ are three movies from the 1990s fueled by that same secrecy pact.”
“The Sixth Sense” was nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director (Shyamalan), Best Original Screenplay (Shyamalan), and Best Film Editing (Andrew Mondshein). Besides Osment, Fox praised the performances of Collette, Wahlberg, and Willis.
“This was the movie that made (Collette) a true American movie star, despite her Aussie successes prior to this,” said Fox. “(Wahlberg) is fantastic and my understanding is he lost a lot of weight, despite only being on screen for a couple of minutes. I’m still shocked that it’s him.”
According to Fox, this role was out of Willis’ comfort zone, which is good.
“He gives a more vulnerable, sad performance than we were used to seeing from him,” said Fox. “He was still in action movie mode at this point in his career, but perhaps more on the tail end of it. Of course, (1994’s) ‘Pulp Fiction’ just a few years prior certainly helped get him roles he might not otherwise have been considered for. It wasn’t long before ‘Pulp Fiction’ that both he and John Travolta did the ‘Look Who’s Talking?’ movies.”
“The Sixth Sense” was also nominated for two Golden Globes, among many other awards and accolades. Shyamalan won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Screenplay. The film raised the profiles of Shyamalan (as well as Osment and Collette). In fact, Shyamalan became one of Hollywood’s preeminent directors.
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“So many great filmmaking skills are evident in it to learn from, especially when it comes to story structure and shot composition,” said Fox. “Of course, now with Shyamalan films, we expect the twist. No twist he has done since has come even close to having that same impact.
While some of his subsequent projects have been successful (2000’s “Unbreakable”) and others have been bombed (2006’s “Lady in the Water”), Shyamalan has not experienced the same degree of success he’s had since “The Sixth Sense.” Some critics have even gone so far to say that he is a victim of his own success and is competing with his own success.
“He certainly ‘suffered’ the same fate as Orson Wells after his debut, (1941’s) ‘Citizen Kane.’ He made some great films after, but each film was always compared to ‘Citizen Kane.’ This also happened to (Quentin) Tarantino after (1992’s) ‘Reservoir Dogs’ and ‘Pulp Fiction,’ though he certainly went on to crank out several other masterpieces… but part of the reason (1997’s) ‘Jackie Brown’ landed with a thud was because it came out just a few years on the heels of ‘Pulp Fiction.’ These filmmakers have always had to live in the shadow of their early masterpieces,” explained Fox.
Even if people who haven’t seen “The Sixth Sense” yet know what happens, Fox still encourages them to see it.
“It is just such a fantastic thriller, even if you know the ending. There are some really creepy scenes and images, combined with stellar performances from the leads,” he said. “One thing to note is that a second viewing of ‘The Sixth Sense’ is just as enjoyable – if not more so – as well as essential. The seeds of foreshadowing (Shyamalan) plants along the way are so expertly crafted.”
Watch “The Sixth Sense” in Ann Arbor
“The Sixth Sense” will play at the Michigan Theater, located at 603 E. Liberty in Ann Arbor, on Monday, Sept. 23, at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $9.75 to $11.75. For questions or more information, call (734) 668-8397.
