Sleepers
BLU-RAY 
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Director:
Barry Levinson Actors: Jason Patric Kevin Bacon Brad Pitt Dustin Hoffman Robert De Niro Rating:
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WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
In Hell’s Kitchen, circa 1968, four boys are sent to a reformatory after a prank backfires and almost kills someone. While imprisoned, the four boys are repeatedly tortured and sexual assaulted by a group of guards, led by the sadistic Nokes (Kevin Bacon). Thirteen years later, two (Billy Crudup & Ron Eldard) of the now adult boys, encounter Nokes in a bar, and murder him. They’re put on trial, but two of the other now-grown boys, Shakes (Jason Patric) and Michael (Brad Pitt) put in motion a plan to not only get their friends acquitted, but to also finally get revenge on the other three guards who ruined their lives.
IS IT A GOOD MOVIE?
SLEEPERS came out in the fall of 1996, when I was about fourteen years-old- the same age as the boys in the film. I remember seeing it on video a few months later, and it having a major impact, and in the years since it’s been a film I’ve eagerly revisited from time to time. I think its Barry Levinson’s best film by a long shot (only RAIN MAN comes close). Surprisingly, the critical reaction to SLEEPERS was mixed, and in the fifteen years since its release it’s been more or less forgotten.
The reason for this is without a doubt the fact that just prior to the film opening, it was revealed that Lorenzo Carcaterra, who wrote the memoirs the film was based on (with him being the Shakes character) pretty much made up the whole story, with no New York records existing that mention any allegations of abuse, nor a trial such as the one depicted in the film. For what it’s worth, Carcaterra has stood by his story, but the film now carries a disclaimer it didn’t when I saw it back in ‘96.
Truth or fiction, the events in SLEEPERS could have happened, and I’m sure there’s hundreds of similar stories out there that just haven’t been told. It’s a powerful film, and one that always shakes me up, no matter how many times I see it. The cast is superb, with De Niro having a great part as the boys’ streetwise priest, and Dustin Hoffman hamming it up as a cokehead lawyer who comes into play later in the film. Jason Patric was so good in SLEEPERS that everyone thought he’d be the next Tom Cruise, although an ill-advised turn as an action hero in the disastrous SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL made sure that never happened, although he’s still brilliant from time to time, in films like NARC. Brad Pitt also got a lot of buzz off this, but truthfully, Pitt hadn’t yet evolved into the actor he is now (that only happened in ’99 with FIGHT CLUB), and he’s a bit of the weak link here. Ron Eldard really steals the show for me, even though he only has one really big scene (a great one, where he looks in a bathroom mirror and debates whether or not to kill Bacon).
That said, the best part of SLEEPERS is the first half of the film, which concentrates on the boys, and features a powerhouse performance from Brad Renfro, who tragically died young after wrestling with demons of his own for many years.
The reason for this is without a doubt the fact that just prior to the film opening, it was revealed that Lorenzo Carcaterra, who wrote the memoirs the film was based on (with him being the Shakes character) pretty much made up the whole story, with no New York records existing that mention any allegations of abuse, nor a trial such as the one depicted in the film. For what it’s worth, Carcaterra has stood by his story, but the film now carries a disclaimer it didn’t when I saw it back in ‘96.
Truth or fiction, the events in SLEEPERS could have happened, and I’m sure there’s hundreds of similar stories out there that just haven’t been told. It’s a powerful film, and one that always shakes me up, no matter how many times I see it. The cast is superb, with De Niro having a great part as the boys’ streetwise priest, and Dustin Hoffman hamming it up as a cokehead lawyer who comes into play later in the film. Jason Patric was so good in SLEEPERS that everyone thought he’d be the next Tom Cruise, although an ill-advised turn as an action hero in the disastrous SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL made sure that never happened, although he’s still brilliant from time to time, in films like NARC. Brad Pitt also got a lot of buzz off this, but truthfully, Pitt hadn’t yet evolved into the actor he is now (that only happened in ’99 with FIGHT CLUB), and he’s a bit of the weak link here. Ron Eldard really steals the show for me, even though he only has one really big scene (a great one, where he looks in a bathroom mirror and debates whether or not to kill Bacon).
That said, the best part of SLEEPERS is the first half of the film, which concentrates on the boys, and features a powerhouse performance from Brad Renfro, who tragically died young after wrestling with demons of his own for many years.
THE EXTRAS
Zip- other than the trailer .
FINAL DIAGNOSIS
If you’ve never seen SLEEPERS, I recommend picking this one up sight unseen, as it’s an extremely compelling drama that deserves more of a following than it has. If you haven’t seen it in a while, but remember thinking it was only so-so, give it another shot. You’ll be amazed how it’s improved over the years.
