Back in the fall of 1996, no movie had a higher profile than Barry Levinson’s Sleepers. Based on the book by Lorenzo Carcaterra, it told the story of a group of boys from Hell’s Kitchen who are sent to reform school, and while there are subjected to horrific sexual abuse by their sadistic guards. Thirteen years later, one of the guards (Kevin Bacon) is murdered by two of the now grown boys (Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup), who are put on trial for murder. This kicks off a revenge plot orchestrated by two of the other survivors, Shakes (Jason Patric), a journalist, and Michael (Brad Pitt), who is actually the prosecuting attorney, but plans to sabotage the case in order to uncover just how deep the abuse went. They are helped by a sympathetic priest (Robert De Niro), a Mafioso (Vittorio Gassman) and a drunken attorney (Dustin Hoffman).
It’s easy to see why Sleepers, despite the grim subject matter, was so anticipated. Levinson’s track record was nearly spotless, with him having directed Diner, Good Morning Vietnam, Avalon, Rain Man, Bugsy and many more incredible movies of the era. Jason Patric’s star was rising, with the heat off this movie landing him the lead replacing Keanu Reeves in Speed 2: Cruise Control (which proved to be a mixed blessing), but even with a cast that included De Niro and Hoffman, it was Pitt’s presence that made Sleepers a movie everyone wanted to see. After all – it hit right in the middle of his first wave of stardom, with him having blasted to the top of the A-list thanks to the one-two-three punch of Legends of the Fall, Interview with the Vampire and Twelve Monkeys.
While a decent-sized hit in North America and a blockbuster overseas, Sleepers didn’t quite live up to expectations that it would become a potential Oscar-winner, with the film marred by controversy once it was revealed that writer Lorenzo Carcaterra’s book – which was supposed to be a true story – might have been embellished.
Barry Levinson, who spoke to us for the film’s 30th anniversary, remembers the outrage:
“We got caught in all kinds of things, whether this actually happened and all of that stuff, and whether or not this sacrilegious or whatever.” He noted this was only really controversial in North America, remembering “the film did very well here. In Europe, it was huge, because they didn’t get caught up in the controversy of it, as it was here initially. Thirty years later, it’s a different world, and we understand more than we did then in certain regards.”
One of the things Levinson is most proud of is the exceptional cast they were able to pull together, including Patric and Pitt, who were stereotyped as heartthrobs, but were able to show some real chops in this. “ They both were incredibly talented. In the early part of their careers people who would write things who didn’t know much about them then. They went on to have substantial careers. Brad’s done all kinds of things since. We had an exceptionally good group of actors from De Niro to Dustin and Minnie Driver who I thought was really good in the piece as well. Vittorio Gassman – it was a real joy to be able to have him. Such a legendary actor and he was wonderful as King Benny. And so we had a very good group who worked well together. It’s not like we had a whole lot of time to shoot this movie and we were on a reasonably tight schedule. It’s one of those times everything sort of came together and the actors got along quite well and we were able to do the film in a timely fashion as well.”
One thing worth noting is that Sleepers became a favorite on VHS, cable and later DVD – leading to this 4K release, while other movies that received more acclaim at the time have faded into obscurity. Levinson says it’s impossible to know beforehand what will stand the test of time.
“Just recently I was with somebody and we were talking about Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, which was a flop at the box office initially. And it’s when it came to television seven or eight years later or whatever and it caught on, and now it’s become a classic.” Indeed, Sleepers is a movie many of us love and it looks great on Warners’ new 4K (which you can buy HERE). If you haven’t seen it in a while, it’s well worth a revisit as it holds up really well and, in my opinion, contains one of Robert De Niro’s most underrated performances.
Do you remember Sleepers? Let us know in the comments.
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