{2jtab: Movie Review}
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With inspired gonzo guffaws and slapdash guerrilla filmmaking stylings, Sleepers is the funniest Woody Allen film to appear before his artistic vision made him a household name. Allen, a longtime fan of silent clowns like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, throws everything – including Howard Cosell and a Volkswagen – at the future as he pulls a Kubrick by way of Rip Van Wrinkle and parodies the future as envisioned from his 1973 surroundings. The impromptu bits are golden and the energy is contagious, Sleeper is the comedic romp the future deserves.
Allen stars as Miles Monroe, a clarinet player and co-owner of a Health Food Restaurant, who wakes up 200 years after a minor ulcer operation to a future that is cold and confusing. He’s revived by a couple of rogue doctors who plan to use him in their fight against their oppressive leader but Miles, who was once beaten up by Quakers, wants no part of it and takes every opportunity he can to get away from the doctors…even if that means disguising himself as a robot.
At a well-to-do party, he meets Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton), composer of greeting cards, and the two – after his robot disguise fails thanks to The Orgasmatron - hightail it toward the hills, in a couple of Mack Sennet-inspired chase sequences, and hook up with the Underground. Written and directed by Allen, Sleeper features inspired performances from Don Keefer, Mary Gregory, John Beck, and Don McLiam.
Allen owns physical comedy in his performance as Miles Monroe posing as a robot. There are few scenes in cinematic history that are as funny as Allen fumbling his way through a party as a supposedly mechanical robot while holding a globe that delivers one high after another. As if communicating with Laurel & Hardy, Allen delivers some fine slapstick and wit that sees him slipping on an overgrown banana peel and bouncing his way past police officers in an inflatable suit.
Allen’s hush-hush behavior about the script meant most of the actors had no clue as to what was happening and this plays well on the screen. With a cold delivery, most of the future-talk lines zip by with Kubrickian flavor and this suits the meanness of Allen’s future world just fine. The comic chemistry between Keaton and Allen, as unrehearsed as it is, shines in their impromptu moments; one of which ends with Keaton reciting Marlon Brando’s famous lines from A Streetcar Named Desire.
Sleeper might be a little rough around the edges but - with sight gags galore and zippy jokes being hurled at the camera with machine gun precision – there’s not much to dislike about it. This is easily an early classic of Woody Allen’s.
{2jtab: Film Details}
MPAA Rating: PG - Parental guidance is suggested.
Runtime: 87 mins.
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman
Cast: Woody Allen; Diane Keaton; John Beck; Don Keefer; Mary Gregory
Genre: Comedy
Tagline: A love story about two people who hate each other. 200 years in the future.
Memorable Movie Quote: "I think we should have had sex, but there weren't enough people."
Theatrical Distributor: United Artists
Home Video Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Official Site:
Release Date: December 17, 1973
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: January 15, 2013
Synopsis: After a sudden underwater tremor sets free scores of the prehistoric man-eating fish, an unlikely group of strangers must band together to stop themselves from becoming fish food for the areas new razor-toothed residents.
{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}
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Blu-ray Details:
The Woody Allen Collection
Available on Blu-ray - January 15, 2013
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit); Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono; French: Dolby Digital Mono
Discs: 25GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region encoding: A, B
MGM's 1080p, AVC-encoded transfer is impressive for the age of the source. In fact, the transfer is perfect, grain and all, and has been reproduced naturally and accurately, without filtering or reduction. This is as Allen and cinematographer David M. Walsh intended. The bright colors are vivid and the detail in the futuristic sets and costumes (designed by Joel Schumacher) is nearly finite. Blacks are accurate without bleeding through the image. Contrast is at a pleasing level. This is a mono release and was always intended to be presented in mono. Allen’s films usually are. That being said, the DTS-HD MA 1.0 is dynamically rich without being overloaded. It won’t rattle the walls but it does the job.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- None
Special Features:
Only a trailer is provided.
{2jtab: Trailer}
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