Sleepers Reviews

• Solemn drama gets the all-star treatment

  
  By AFOK05KDCHSHL on 2002-04-08
  By virtue of its all-star cast, handsome production values and solemn subject matter, Barry Levinson's "Sleepers" (1996) was clearly intended as a Major Motion Picture from the outset. Based on the harrowing true-life bestseller by journalist Lorenzo Carcaterra - first published in 1995 - book and film describe the appalling fate of four Hell's Kitchen kids (played as children by Joe Perrino, Brad Renfro, Geoffrey Wigdor and Jonathan Tucker) who, in 1967, were sentenced to confinement in the 'Wilkinson Home for Boys' following a near-fatal accident involving a hot dog vending machine which they had stolen as a prank. Inside the reformatory, all four boys are sexually and emotionally abused by a group of sadistic guards led by the sinister Nokes (Kevin Bacon at his slimiest). More than a decade later, traumatized by their experiences, two of the now grown-up boys (Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup) corner Nokes unexpectedly in a local diner and murder him in cold blood. The other members of the group - one a prosecuting attorney (Brad Pitt), the other an aspiring writer and journalist (Jason Patric) - formulate a daring plan to have their friends acquitted, expiose the reformatory's dark secrets, and take revenge on their abusers...

  Such an extraordinary tale was always going to be controversial, of course, and so it proved. Upon release, book and film drew immediate fire from critics who accused author and filmmakers of embellishment and exaggeration, since no records could be found to prove that the trial depicted in the film ever took place within the Manhattan district, or that the Wilkinson Home for Boys ever existed - even though Carcaterra's book (and Levinson's script) makes it clear that most of the names, dates and locations have been changed or fictionalized to protect those involved, and that the records of all children held in institutions like Wilkinson are routinely deleted after seven years. Further scandal ensued when the movie ignited protests from those who believed the story drew unfortunate parallels between pedophilia and homosexuality, thereby reinforcing the worst kind of homophobic stereotype. The point is certainly valid, given Hollywood's shameful mistreatment of gay themes and characters over the years, but "Sleepers" doesn't seek to draw any kind of parallels, unconsciously or otherwise, merely to recreate events described in Carcaterra's book. Besides, monsters are monsters, whoever their victims may be.

  As a movie, "Sleepers" is competent, briskly paced, and beautifully acted by a dream cast of old pro's (including Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman in key roles) and a new generation of rising stars. It's an ensemble piece, and the lack of grandstanding - in favor of narrative momentum - is admirable. But while the film is consistently intelligent and engaging, it's drawbacks are significant: The kids are terrific, especially Perrino, but the adults are burdened by the gravity of the subject matter, and Patric's sombre narration seems a little too laidback at times, lacking warmth or even genuine emotion, while John Williams' rambling score clashes resolutely with the film's epic visual sweep. Also, for obvious reasons, the moviemakers were unable to depict the kind of sexual atrocities outlined in the original book, with unfortunate consequences: Here, Nokes' murder seems more like the result of a petulant outburst by a couple of thugs, rather than the inevitable outcome of horrendous physical abuse. And during the subsequent trial, it defies belief that the prosecution's key witness - a former guard at Wilkinson - would incriminate himself so readily on the stand, as depicted here. That said, however, the movie is still a worthwhile erntry, but the book is better.

  Warner Bros.' region 1 DVD - one of their first releases on this newfangled disc format - runs exactly 147:00 and is spread over two sides in a manner that wouldn't be acceptable today. The glorious Super 35 compositions are preserved in letterbox format (a little overmatted at 2.40:1), anamorphically enhanced, though the 5.1 Dolby soundtrack is fairly subdued, selling the drama without drawing too much attention to itself. There's a trailer and brief cast biographies, along with English captions and subtitles. Missing from this print is a brief intertitle which originally appeared before the closing credits, outlining some of the criticisms levelled against Carcaterra's original account.
  
  

• Wonderful movie, excellent transfer, appalling DVD

  
  By A326R2P2MC732S on 2004-11-27
  I'm not going to go into the details of this movie much. From reading the reviews on this site, you either like it, or you don't. Frankly, I very seldom like any movie made in the last 20 years or so...but this one really grabbed me and kept my attention. All of the actors came across as very believable characters...something sorely lacking in most movies. The boys, especially, played their parts wonderfully.
  
  The transfer of the film was great...clear, with little grain or other problems. About my only complaint in this area would be the inconsistent sound level. Some sound effects, such as the screaming subway train, would be speaker-rattling with the volume at the proper level for the dialogue.
  
  The worst problem with this DVD, however, is the fact that it is a "flipper". For a movie of only 2-1/2 hours, this is inexcusable. Not only that, the transitions for the end of one side and the beginning of the other are extremely abrupt. Though I can't remember from seeing the movie in the theatre, it certainly appears something was truncated.
  
  4 stars for the movie, 4 for the transfer, 1 for the DVD.
  
  

• Outstanding

  
  By A11PTCZ2FM2547 on 2003-10-11
  With a gripping story, augmented by the moral and ethical dilemmas of a lawyer, a journalist, and a priest, Barry Levinson's SLEEPERS is heart-pounding drama at its finest. Set in New York's Hell's Kitchen--with all of its subsequent turbulence and socioeconomic dysfunction--this film tells the story of four boys, four lifelong pals, who are sadistically brutalized in a reform school and carry the scars into their adult lives.

  It comes as no surprise that two of the four embark on a problematic life of crime; it comes as even less of a surprise that when a former reform school guard is seen eating in a diner the two men extract a brutal and bloody revenge.

  At this point SLEEPERS embarks on a breathless course of twists and turns, with one underlying, consistent theme: the unbroken bond of friendship. With their friends on trial for murder, the other two men, a prosecuting attorney (Brad Pitt) and a journalist (Jason Patric) put their careers and reputations on the line to exonerate the defendants--who are indeed guilty of murder--and to malign the former guard who was killed. The stage is set for courtroom drama that is literally spellbinding.

  Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, and Minnie Driver are exceptional in this film, but the cast is trumped by two "oldtimers," Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. Hoffman plays an alcoholic defense attorney in over his head for the trial, while De Niro--as a loving priest who has been a father figure to all four of the boys--faces a titanic decision as he is called to testify as an important witness. The acting is compelling and absorbing, and so is the story. SLEEPERS is about as good as a drama can get.
  --D. Mikels
  
  

• Powerful, but flawed

  
  By A26TSW6AI59ZCV on 2005-12-23
  The story is already much-summarized on the product-page and by other reviewers, but it is basically a tale of four boys who unintentionally commit a terrible crime, spend time in a juvenile detention facility, are terribly abused by the guards there, and what they do about this as young adults.
  
  I have three, basic comments. First, on a technical level, this is a well-made movie. The script is compelling, the characters are deep, and the acting is quite good. The four young actors, who portray the characters as boys, do a fine job, and the adult quartet follows up nicely. Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman provide powerful additions to the cast.
  
  Secondly, there is some controversy, as this film is based upon a novel, which the author avows is based upon a true story. There is, apparently, little corroborating evidence for its veracity, and it has been denounced by many officials of the State where it allegedly transpires. As a viewer, I have no independent way to judge the truth or falsity of the story, and I proceeded in watching the film, as if it were fiction that might have truth behind it.
  
  Thirdly, there is a significant moral conflict within this movie, and it left me troubled. Regardless of whether or not the story is true, the question arises, "Does abuse of a child excuse later abuse or crime perpetrated by that now-adult person who was abused?" The characters in the film blithely (for the most part) answer that question with a resounding, "Yes!" After two of the four abuse victims get revenge on one of the guards, the other two set out to accomplish two tasks: make sure that all of the abusive guards are exposed and punished; rescue the two who took revenge, from the consequences of their actions. The two (Jason Patric and Brad Pitt) who did not break the law to get revenge, act as if those two, separate purposes are one.
  
  In my view, these are separate issues. Exposing the abuse and making sure the offending guards are punished, is a just cause. With Brad Pitt a prosecuting attorney and Jason Patric working in journalism, they had the means to accomplish that goal. But, why do they condone the actions of the other two, and break the law to rescue them? The where-are-they-now sequence at the very end, shows that the "rescuing" accomplished nothing, except to let their boyhood friends further self-destruct and wreak more havoc. Robert DeNiro, who portrays a priest who tries to help the boys grow up right, amidst poverty and crime, is the only one who struggles with the morality of the situation, and I strongly disagree with that character's eventual decision.
  
  The bottom line, for me, is that this is a well-told and well-acted story, but I have strong reservations about the morality portrayed in the film. I end up seeing no good guys. Perhaps that is true-to-life, but the tale could have been told just as well, but differently.
  
  

• Snuff evil in our midst

  
  By A3UDYY6L2NH3JS on 2000-06-10
  This film is a masterpiece. It starts with a vision of children in Hell's Kitchen, a deprived neighborhood of New York City in the sixties, where four boys, deeply religious or at least deeply influenced by religion and a priest, one day sink into a prank that turns criminal. They destroy the cart of a hotdog vendor, a Greek man who is working hard to bring his family to the US, and by doing so cause severe injuries to an innocent man who is crushed by the cart. They are sent to a boys' institution. This film shows how some young guards or wardens take advantage of the kids to give way to their sadistic violence and their perverted peadophiliac sexual drives. It is hell and not reformation, the hell of rape, beating, torturing, sexual assault in all possible forms. That is the first dimension of the film. The second dimension is revealed by the fact that two of those four boys recognize the worst of these guards in a restaurant one night (twenty or so years later) and just kill him on the spur of the moment and out of cold blood. The other two boys will organize their defense, with the help of some older people of the community and the trial will be rigged by the prosecutor who is one of them and a lawyer hired to go along with the setup. The trial becomes then a full denunciation of the hell those kids have lived in, through the counter-examination of a prosecuting witness, one of the two particularly vicious guards, a good friend of the one who was killed. This witness will later be killed by some black people, because the band of guards he belonged to managed to kill the brother of a black artist because he stood in their way and tried to prevent the « torturing ». This is the second level of the film. The third level comes with the search, by the fourth friend and the girl who was associated to their group, for a witness to give them a perfect alibi on the night of the murder. They find that witness in the person of the priest who had been their close adviser and religious friend all along. He swears on the Bible to tell the truth, but he lies skillfully and unquestionably to give them the alibi they need to be acquitted. But he does not really lie, in the eyes of God, because for him the condemnation of such hellish boys' institutions is more important than the freedom of the two boys. He saves the boys (close to thirty by then) to force public opinion and justice to look into those institutions, thanks to his priestly authority. This reveals that in life you never have to choose between good and evil, the truth and a lie. You have to choose most of the time between two evils, two lies, and you have to ponder in your soul and mind, in your human and religious responsibility, to know which evil and which lie are worse and then decide to support the least evil and the least vicious lie, and then your « lying » is between you and your soul, between you and your ethics, between you and your God, if you believe in God. This level is absolutely superbly done. Finally the film is in a way pessimistic about society that can only move on from lesser lie to lesser lie, from lesser evil to lesser evil. Society improves because the lesser lies and evils are chosen by the men and women who have some kind of humane and humanistic inspiration, based on personal ethics or on their religious beliefs. This film should be shown to all teenagers to demonstrate to them how ugly life can be at times and how they have to react with their souls, minds, thinking and intelligence, rather than with a pre-constructed code of behaviour or a set of pleasure-directed spontaneous feelings. God always forgive a lie if it reveals some evil and enables our human society to correct this evil and hence improve. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Universities of Paris IX and II.
  
  
• Sensational
  By A460YM2JILZGF on 2001-08-28
  This is a film that will stick in the mind of anyone who see's it. Jason Patric gives an excelent performance as Lorenzo, the main character and narrator, and Brad Pitt shows his usual class as Michael, the brains behind the manipulation of the law. Robert De Niro's flawless portrayal of Father Bobby is simply brilliant, and is one of the key's to this film's excellence. The young actors are every bit as good as their adult counterparts, with gripping performances from Joseph Perrino, Brad Renfro, Geoffrey Wigdor, and Jonathan Tucker. This film will shock you with its insight of boys' institution's amd the horror that these young boys were subjected too. If this story is indeed true, which we will never know for sure, then it shows us the brutality hiden deep in the concience of the guards, and in the fear of the victims. The story revolves around four friends from the town of Hells Kitchen, who pull a prank on a street vendor which goes wrong and they end up killing a man. The four are sentenced to time in "The Wilkinson Home For Boys" where they are subjected to routine sexual assaults by the very people supposed to look after them (Kevin Bacon, Terry Kinney). Two of the boys become hardened criminals, and upon seein 'Nokes'(Bacon) in their local bar they shoot him dead. From here the film becomes a legal drama, whereby the other two of the boys work to help their friends get away with their act of revenge. This hardhitting drama is one which you will not forget, and will want to watch again and again.
  
  
• Sleepers is an excellent, haunting tale
  By A124CDZ4KVM2HB on 2002-11-16
  Rare is a movie that completely holds your attention for 2 1/2 hours but Sleepers is that movie. Played out by an exceptional ensemble cast (Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Renfro), it tells the tale of four young Hell's Kitchen boys who after pulling a seamingly harmless prank, are sent to a juvenile facility where they face unspeakable horrors at the hands of ther wardens. This trauma follows 2 of the boys into adulthood where they enter a life of crime. When they take their revenge on a particularly sadistic guard, it's up to the other boys, along with a childhood gal pal and a loving priest to save them. Every performance in this movie makes an indelible impression but the standouts are Deniro as Father Bobby, Frank Medrano as neighborhhod shopowner Fatman, Minnie Driver as Carol and Geoffrey Wigdor as young John. I watch this movie every November(it feels like a Fall time movie) and it never fails to amaze me. It is tense, heartwrenching, touching and at times funny. However the final 5 minutes always hit me where it hurts. When I think of how those kids were robbed of a normal life it sickens me. Sleepers is a phenomenal film that will leave a deep impression.
  
  
• An Eye For An Eye?......
  By A2ZSC81MXLBELX on 2003-03-05
  This review refers to the Warner Bros. DVD edition of "Sleepers".....
  
  "Sleepers" is a dark and disturbing film. It is one that will leave you thinking about it for some time afterwards. Not only thinking about the film itself, but maybe about the judicial system as we know it as well. It's a story of friendship. It's a story of abuse. It's a story of Revenge!...
  
  Hell's Kitchen, late 1960's, four young teens on a dare, decide to pull off a horrible prank. Their actions nearly cost a man his life, and another his life's work. The court tries them, and sends them off to the "Wilkinson School for Boys" where they are to be "rehabilitated". Here at the school, they find themselves the victims of the most despicable crimes against human beings one could imagine. The guards, primarly led by Nokes, the most evil of all, cruelly abuse the boys physically, mentally and sexually. Their childhood slips away in those terrifying dark nights, and they make a pact never to discuss it again.
  
  Fifteen years later, we now see them as adults. The time spent at the Wilkinson School, has left it's mark on these four men.
  Two are bitter, tough, criminal types. One works for a newspaper, and one is a lawyer. All have never forgotten, the wrongs done them, but keep it buried deep inside. Buried deep, until the day Nokes makes the fatal mistake of being in the same restaurant as two of them.As they recognize him, we can feel their anger rising, and they take matters into their own hands.
  
  An intricate plan is set in motion to now use the system that destroyed their lives, to uncover the horrible crimes committed at the school and to free them from the charges against them. The courtroom scenes are intense and edge of your seat drama that really have you thinking. When Nokes got his due, we felt the satisfaction they did, we definitely empathize with them BUT..is an eye for eye justice? ... Even their Priest, who has stood behind them all these years must put his faith to the test, when he is asked to be apart of the plan.
  
  Director Barry Levinson, brings us this intense and powerful drama, one that will stay with you for a long time. Performances by such greats as Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Bacon, Brad Pitt, Robert Deniro, Jason Patric and Bruno Kirby are intense and realisitic. Billy Crudup, Minnie Driver and young performers Brad Renfro and Joseph Perrino, will touch you as well. A haunting score and excellent camera work add to the powerfulness of the film. It is not a film for everyone though, as I mentioned above some scenes are dark and extremely disturbing.
  
  The quality of the DVD is excellent. It is presented in widescreen and Dolby Dig 5.1 Surround. The picture is clear, even in the darker scenes and the muscial score, background and dialouge very good. The only problem is having to turn the disc over about half-way through. This is an intense story, not one that should be interrupted. Other than a theatrical trailer, there are no special features. It may be viewed in French and has subtitles in English, French and Spanish.
  
  For DeNiro fans I would also recommend two more with intense drama
  Heat and The Fan
  
  Thank you...Laurie
  
  
• Facing the Past
  By A2XYXK2MRIYOQ3 on 2003-11-08
  You may find "Sleepers" to be just be a well-acted, provocative legal/psychological drama. However, beware. This purportedly true story just might sneak past your guard.
  
  Robert De Niro is, well, Robert De Niro - always worth watching. But this is not a Robert De Niro film.

  With "Sleepers" you won't just HEAR about past rapes of boys by slimy prison guards. "Sleepers" makes you experience (no male nudity shown, thank you) the Hell's Kitchen of childhood mental and sexual devastation. (I think that Joseph Perrino, the young "Shakes," deserves an Oscar.)

  When the movie does a 15 year jump ahead, you are still feeling what they thought they had been able to leave in their past. Major message of the movie - you don't get past your past by trying to avoid it!!!! (That's an exclamation point for each "boy.") The next scene, when John (Ron Eldard) bumps into scumbag rapist former-guard (Kevin Bacon) in a dive diner, shocked me as much as it shocked John. John looking at himself in the bathroom mirror may be the most powerful single event in the movie.

  A close second is when narrator "Shakes" gathers up the courage to go visit his father in desperate hopes of telling his own dad what was done to him while in the juvenile prison. His father is just not on the same page, and Shakes closes back up without telling him. Wow. If that scene doesn't move you.......

  As an attorney, I particularly liked Dustin Hoffman's defensed attorney come-back (required by awesome character, King Benny). Hoffman's unassuming cross-examination of the only unmurdered rapist guard is one of my favorite courtroom scenes of any movie.

  The movie's ending is either a flaw or a masterful choice by director Barry Levinson. "Sleepers" takes you from tragic childhood to tragic adulthood, but the very final scene is a flashback to pre-trauma childhood. Perhaps this ending is an offer of hope that innocence can be regained. Perhaps it's a thrown gauntlet, to challenge those who need to restart from the beginning - if we can.
  
  

• Morally bankrupt
  By A1JH5J1KQAUBMP on 2005-12-21
  Four friends from the violent New York neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen are sent to a reformatory school where they are beaten and sexually abused by guards. Years later, two of them (Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup), now adults and full-fledged thugs, murder one of their tormentors (Kevin Bacon). This provides an opportunity for the other two, one a public prosecutor (Brad Pitt) and the other a fledgling newspaperman (Jason Patric), to acquit their friends and bring down the other guilty guards.
  
  Superficially, this is a mostly entertaining, though overlong, film. Morally, however, the film is a mess. Early on, it appears to be critical of the culture of violence in which these events occur. The moral compass of the neighborhood is the scrupulously honest Father Bobby (Robert DeNiro). Yet, when the time for payback arrives, the Mafia mentality takes over, murder is approved, and Father Bobby perjures himself to provide an alibi for "his boys," who are guilty of worse crimes than the abuse that was committed against them. I believe that these characters (with the exception of Father Bobby) might behave this way and a perceptive film about such choices could have been made, but such a film would require some evidence that either the characters or the filmmakers were aware of the moral complexity involved. Instead, Father Bobby leaves the witness stand and disappears conveniently from the film, so we never see how he justifies himself. The reunion of the four friends at the end of the film has an uninterrupted tone of triumph and happiness, without a hint of reflection, regret, or awareness that any moral compromises were made.
  
  
• Too slick
  By A1TK6R2JSC97HL on 2002-01-26
  Sleepers purports to tell the story of a group of boys who, growing up in Hell's Kitchen in NYC, straddle the line between good and evil, and are thrown over the line after their brutal stay at an up-state reform school. Sharing an oath while still young to never disclose the cruelties they've endured, especially sexual brutalization at the hands of a group of guards led by the sadistic Nokes (Kevin Bacon), the group grows into scarred and withdrawn men. With their juvenile records sealed, their inner pain is the only sign of their suffering. Lorenzo (Jason Patric) goes to work for the New York Post, and unsurprisingly becomes the narrator for this tale of woe. Two of the other boys aren't so lucky, becoming coke-addicted Westies-like contract killers, doomed to die before they hit 30. In an inexplicable coincidence, the pair happen across the hapless Nokes in a Manhattan eatery, and extract a cruel revenge. .... In a lucky turn, the subsequent murder prosecution is handed to Michael (Brad Pitt), an ADA and the fourth of the unlucky boys. In a bid to enhance the revenge they all want, Michael plots to throw the trial, revealing Noke's uncharted history as a sexual predator to do the defense attorney's job of raising reasonable doubt. Because some of the prosecution's witnesses were also former reformatory guards, the defense has an opportunity to discredit them and reveal their sins. Those not exposed on the stand are tagged by other contract killers, whether related to our heroes or to other boys brutalized at the reformatory. Besides covering the trial, Lorenzo's job is to protect Michael from retaliation for heading the prosecution against his former friends. As the trial progresses, Michael and Lorenzo are forced to break their oath and reveal what they endured to Father Bobby (Robert De Niro) and Carol Martinez (Minnie Driver playing latina), a local girl and single mother loved by each of the four boys.

  Despite the premise, Sleepers loses it for me. The great pains the film takes to jar your senses and convince you of its authenticity makes the flick look shallow and manipulative. The script bathes itself in an underworld cool of local gangsters and dark secrets that looks very Hollywood, and Lorenzo' voice-overs don' help. "It was 98 degrees on the day our lives changed forever" gives you some clue as to the New York Post style realism that pervades the film and undermines its credibility (Carccaterra's position with the New York Post seems about the only credible thing in this movie). The courtroom looks like some unconvincing Hollywood set (probably the reason why the film requires a screaming subway to cut across now and then). What really kills me is the shallow and high-minded moralism of the film, with characters like Fat Mancho pontificating about justice-for-sale, and ignoring the top-flight cast (with matching paychecks) the movie leans on heavily. De Niro and Hoffman are totally wasted here. As a father I can't easily ignore the cries of victimized children, but I found this film's slickness an insultingly manipulative vehicle for dealing with that horror.
  
  

• Yawn!
  By A17L48NQG71TU on 2002-06-29
  Most people only write reviews of movies they really like. But for this movie, I disliked it so much, I felt the need to warn others before they decide what they want to rent.

  How do you make a movie about pedophilia boring? Ask Berry Levinson. Of course, if I'd have known he directed it, I wouldn't have rented it, because I've hated all his movies. All his movies have the following problems, including Sleepers:

  -Inappropriately happy 60's music blaring during most of the film.

  -Unbelievable "pranks" that make you doubt the story and the story teller.
  -Long boring scenes that go nowhere and don't seem to have a purpose.
  -People with obnoxiously fake New York accents.
  -All the women are merely objects or props for the "cool" males to play with.

  The only redeeming quality to this film was that Brad Renfro was in it.
  
  

• Disappointed
  By A3Q6Q28FGK2JDW on 2004-10-13
  This movie has been out for years and somehow I had missed it. I picked it up recently at the movie store and boy it gives new meaning to the term "renter".

  Let me begin by stating that the film was mildly entertaining, thus the two stars I have given it. However, the rest is down hill.

  The overriding problem with this movie is the contrived plot. This could have been a serious drama, with excellent actors, about horendous child abuse, but it was reduced to a second rate revenge plot, that wasn't even convincing. The court scenes were pure non-sense, no Judge in his right mind would allow a trial to unfold like that, I haven't seen a confession from a witness like that since the old Perry Mason episodes on TV, did anyone else want to yell at this guy and remind him of his 5th amendment rights. I'm not even American and I could have figured that one out!

  The young actors were very good, but the story was weak. Some have described the movie as brutal yet what we actually are presented with is a lot of voice over and flashing around. I agree with one other reviewer that a much more compelling and realistic movie concerning institutional abuse was the Boy's of St. Vincent. In that film we feel the victims pain, see the crushed lives and see justice done in a court room, but not in some contrived plot.

  Deniro's character also troubled me. I like Deniro a lot but I was not convinced that this priest would throw away all of his ethics and lie to protect a murderer in this revenge as morality play. Perhaps I could have been convinced but this movie did not convince me that this faithful priest would participate in this crime.

  The actual DVD is also a disappointment with a double sided format that needs to be flipped half way through. If you want to see this movie I would suggest you rent it.
  
  

• Hardhitting Emotional Impact
  By A3HETHW2XD3DWH on 2000-02-07
  You will remember this movie and its message long after the final credits. The story is a piercing look at reality in the juvenille detention system. Characters are played to perfection by both the young set of actors in the first quarter of the film, and the older set including Brad Pitt and Jason Patric.

  As always, anything Robert De Niro does sticks with you. His portrayal of the priest with a moral and ethical choice to make in order to save these boys (long time friends from their childhood)will help you understand why this film stirred up such controversy when it was released.

  Whether the book is based on a true story or not isn't relevant. You must believe that the horrors these boys endured at the hands of cruel prison guards, Kevin Bacon is the convincing bad guy!] goes on each hour in facilities like this. The long term negative effects of abuse are undocumented since so much of the pain is hidden deep within the victims and too brutal to ever talk about.

  The frustration for me with this film came in seeing the way is ultimately turned out for the two on trial after all the work the friends did to help. See for yourself -- I won't ruin the story by giving it away.
  
  

• poor
  By on 2000-03-13
  This movie shows why movie stars do not deserve their big pay checks. This movie has three huge stars in it, and two lesser stars, and it was a total flop...and is a poor movie. The direction and the story are contrived and badly done. You can see every moment what emotion you are supposed to feel ("Oh, I'm supposed to be moved here, frightened here"). But you don't feel those emotions. It actually has the feel of a high school play, really, in its ineptness. And the fact that the guys you are rooting for murdered OTHERS, makes it a sour ending.
  
  
• Political drama without characters
  By A15HEIBUXEL14N on 2000-05-26
  If you liked the Shawshank Redemption, this is probably your kind of movie. Personally I hated both. There's no realism here, no characters. Everything in this movie is meant to underline the highly questionable message that society and justice is the main cause of crime, a message that also goes at the expense of good moviemaking.
  
  
• Exceptionally Real - Believable - True Classic Film Material
  By A1XWRL77BNZ6X1 on 1999-11-24
  Sleepers is incredibly real. As a young boy growing up in the juvenile justice system myself, I found this movie to be dead-on-accurate. I wish, and I know that others who view this movie will wish the same, that this movie is taken with great seriousness, as there is definitely a problem in our juvenile justice system. The problems are portrayed in this movie with great ease. The storyline is exceptionally believable. A great movie to watch over and over.
  
  
• Overrated Peice of Film Trash
  By on 2001-08-11
  Lets examine this movie. It starts out expressing how a few kids are pulling boyish pranks and being kids. Oh kay, lets go on, they go on to pull one prank that ends up hurting someone badly. Then they are ordered to endure a jail sentence in a home for boys. They suffer sexual abuse by kevin bacon and a few other guards. Unfortunately the plot advancement is VERY poor. It jumps around like wildfire and is not the least bit steady. This movie screams, look at me! I am incredible! unfortunately, thats how it feels, it feels like this movie was made just for shock value. After the very poor scenes at the home for boys, we are taken to the next disc. The boys are now involved in gangs and are grown up. The adult actors are mediocre at best, the roles are hollow and dont show very much emotion at all. The adults go on to kill kevin bacon in revenge when they notice him at a bar. Then the boys go on to fix the court so that the two adults will get off. Then the movie goes on to say something like "This and that happened", its easy to give a happy ending with about 3 sentences isnt it? Unfortunately this movie was not disturbing as some might put it, it promotes homophobia and has poor plot advancement, Robert Deniro is great but the rest of the cast is no less than "okay". If you like this movie I recommend bless the child... Hrmph
  
  
• Distrubingly intense
  By A1L0HZI35HF8OF on 2002-08-13
  I found this to be an incredibly compelling film, although it took a long time for me to get past the central brutality, and watch it a second and third time. By then, I was hooked.

  The underlying story is a troubling but familiar one, about young boys growing up in the Hell's Kitchen section of New York. Their lives take them on a huge turn when heir "innocent" prank goes bad. For their crime, they are sentenced to a year in a reform school for troubled boys, ostensibly to keep them from advancing into a life of crime.

  Unfortunately, the institution is populated by not only brutally sadistic fellow inmates but also with guards who take the boys' remaining innocence and traumatize them. The boys leave, but
  years later their paths bring them back across a terrible reminder of their past. The remainder of the film is the turning of the law enforcement system, in which the system itself is shown for what it was, and the way it impacts these individuals.

  One of the bit players, Frank Medrano as a neighborhood tough guy has the most timeless line of the film: "On the street, justice got no price. She's blind where the judge sits. But she ain't blind out here. Out here, the ... got eyes."

  Fabulous performances, even if they were critically not acclaimed. Robert DiNero is terrific as a local priest who never gives up hope for "his boys", even to the point of ommitting perjury for them. Kevin Bacon IS the sadistic guard, and there is real joy at seeing his comeuppance. Brad Pitt and Dustin Hoffman appear as dueling lawyers in the courtroom scene, each giving marvelous and understated performances. Ron Eldard steals his scenes as one of the abused boys, all grown up, who serendipitously discovering Bacon in a restaurant has the best line of the movie when Bacon asks him what he wants. His retort, (which I will not quote, to avoid giving away the
  ending) delivered with deadly quiet, and is nothing short of chilling.

  As another reviewer said, this film is stunning with its insight of boys' institution's and its horrors. It makes one wonder if anyone can ever survive the institution which was supposed to be an alternative to jail for kids.

  Growing up in New York around the same time as the protagonists, and getting into just a tad of trouble myself, I kept thinking "There but for the Grace of God go I".

  That alone was enough to make me say "Damn! What a movie"
  
  

• This movie will make you think....
  By A2MS6UV7ZGTMLR on 2004-12-25
  Sleepers is a very powerful and disturbing movie. It chronicles the life of four boys growing up in "Hell's Kitchen", New York in the 1960s. It is told through the eyes of one of the boys, "Shakes" (Joe Perrino). Hell's Kitchen was a very rough place to grow up. However, a strict code of honour existed, and crimes against the person were not tolerated. A central character in this human drama was the parish priest, Father Bobby (Robert De Niro), a no-nonsense rough-and-ready representative of God.
  The four boys - Shakes, Michael , John and Thomas - are inseparable, and they all get up to the usual adolescent hijinks, until one day something goes horribly wrong and they find themselves sentenced to incarceration at the Wilkinson Home for Boys. The Home is a brutal place, with physical, mental and sexual abuse almost a matter of routine, particularly by a foursome of guards headed by Nokes (Kevin Bacon).
  Their time passes, and the four are released. They grow up, but their lives are forever damaged. One day, the adult John and Thomas happen across Nokes in a bar, a seemingly perfect setup for revenge.
  Sleepers will disturb you. The imagery is often very graphic, and the subject matter is unpleasant. The movie takes a no nonsense and no glamour approach to its subject matter. The acting is absolutely top notch, and a superb ensemble cast make this story all the more dramatic and tragic.
  
  
  
• Big Box Office Draws do not a Great Movie Make...
  By A3JLKDUV0B6O5U on 2005-06-14
  I went out and bought this dvd used, for about five dollars. Here are ten - Count `em - (10) observations:
  
  1. When the Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup characters confront the Kevin Bacon Character in a Hell's Kitchen tavern near the middle of the story, "Sleepers" is absolutely electric. This scene is worth the price of the dvd alone. (Would the two hoods have killed the former reformatory guard in this manner? Probably not, but what is shown makes for better theater, and an easier transition.)
  
  2. Alas, "Sleepers" does not continue with the same sort of intensity as the above-mentioned murder scene. The story begins and moves along at an even pace, but once the trial of the Eldard and Crudup characters begins, the story becomes more ambiguous and ends rather abruptly.
  
  3. Which brings us to the foundation and integrity of the film: The story appears to be mostly believable up to the above-mentioned murder. After that, it gets pretty dicey.
  
  4. Also, the timeline in "Sleepers" is sort of weird. The characters seem to have been born around 1950 - 1952, but are still preteen kids by 1967 or 1968, which, judging from the background music ("Alone Again Or" by Love) appears to be when they were sent to the boy's reformatory. By 1981, which is when the killing of the Bacon Character takes place, they are all supposed to be in their mid-twenties.
  
  5. A City or County Prosecutor in his mid-twenties, even in New York, is rather rare. Maybe he might have had some type of connection with some alderman or some old Irish Democrat, but if he did, he would never have been sent to the reformatory in the first place. Anyway, Brad Pitt looked like he was about ninteen when this film was made.
  
  6. Robert DeNiro played himself with his "Regular New York Guy" routine, but his character's motives for lying under oath was too contrived. I'm not saying that a priest would be incapable of doing something like this; After all, beside having dedicated their live to the pursuit of spirituality, priests are human beings as well and vulnerable to the same feelings about situations that we all face from time to time. However, under the given circumstances, this sort of "feel good" ending was slightly unbelievable and too gimmicky.
  
  7. The popular music sprinkled throughout the soundtrack really does not fit what was happening visually in the film. I was also surprised to find that the soundtrack CD only contained the background music. "Walk Like a Man" by the Four Seasons, which was so prominently used in the film, never made it to the soundtrack CD.
  
  8. It's hard to believe that so many good actors were assembled for this film. Dustin Hoffman, DeNiro, Minnie Driver, Brad Pitt, Jason Patrick and all the rest of the cast did their part to live up to the billing. This all-star cast was what probably saved "Sleepers". With lesser actors, one wonders what the final outcome would have been.
  
  9. "Sleepers" is not a bad film, it's just not a great one. This is the sort of thing that happens when you get three or more big box office draws working the same project. The final product appears to be mediocre, because it can't possibly live up to the advance billing.
  
  10. I wish Levinson had made more of the tavern murder scene throughout the film, i.e. flashbacks, different camera angles, etc. Eldard and Crudup, along with the direction of this scene are simply amazing. They were right on target with their portrayal of two young hoods.
  
  Bonus comment: Why do directors like Levinson persist in trying to portray old Mafia Dons as wise, stoic old men? Most of these guys would just as soon kill you as look at you...
  
  
  
  
• Fiction or Nonfiction - Still A Compelling Story
  By A1KT01DYA3C067 on 2000-05-26
  A lot of controversy surrounded "Sleepers" regarding the author's claim that his work was based on a true story which actually took place in New York's Hell Kitchen in the 1960's. The New York State Juvenile Authority and the New York City Police Department deny the story's veracity.

  Nonetheless, the story is outstanding. Set in the 60's, it involves the lives of four boys and a girl from different families living in Hell's Kitchen on the West Side of Manhattan.

  The story does a fine job or portraying the fact that these kids don't come from one of the "finer" New York neighborhoods of the day. They are the kids of single parents and hardworking blue collar folks. There is too much drinking at home, domestic disputes, and other glimpses of a hard life growing up.

  The story kicks into high gear as the kids pass summer days sunning and getting into hijinks. One of their antics is to cheat the hot dog vendor out of his hot dogs. They do this once too often and a serious chase ensues where the hotdog vendor pursues one of the kids for blocks after he's been ripped off. The other three boys decide to move his hot dog stand so he'll have to look for it when he returns.

  Tragedy occurs when there is a serious mishap with the hotdog cart that ends up hurting a man.

  The boys are charged with stealing the hot dog cart and associated charges. They are sent to juvenile training school for rehabiliation together.

  The Training School is hellish. Guards led by a mean, hateful Kevin Bacon; the kids are subjected to humiliation, solitary confinement, verbal abuse as well as physical and sexual abuse. Bacon does a masterful job of portraying a truly horrible human being who enjoys abusing kids.

  Years later the boys get a chance for payback against the guards.

  The story steps up from here as Brad Pitt (now an attorney) masterminds the punishment of the four guards who abused the boys most.

  His tactics are effective. Yet, each of these men remain psychologically marked as a result of the destroyed innocence of their youth.

  Robert DeNiro does an excellent job as the local parish priest who looks out for the boys. DeNiro plays a tough, caring man who is a wonderful minister for the kind of neighborhood his parish is located in.

  Sleepers is memorable. Although there are some very difficult scenes, I believe the abuse portrayed within the Training School is not overly exaggerated. In a past time when guards were minimally screened or trained, the treatment kids received wasn't always the most professional.

  I believe this will become one of tomorrow's classic movies.
  
  

• The best revenge rampage!
  By AJYGQV81FSFE2 on 2000-10-27
  Many of the previous reviewers covered the plot of the film. Some mentioned that the story is allegedly true, yet the NY State corrections board, or whoever governs the subject matter, denies it.

  Is it true? Who knows. I doubt it is word for word. But even if only conceptually true, it was a wonder of revenge.

  I think those denying the story's truth do so because the young guys who'd been miserably abused while youngsters in a "reform school" in New York essentially planned--and succeeded at!-- revenge. The opportunity slipped into their hands when two of the guys--older, and real thugs with murder raps longer than a linebacker's arm--ran across the chief abuser in one of their Hell's Kitchen watering holes. They did him in, and stood trial for it. One of the other abusees--and I'm talking about real abuse, not some recovered nonsense of Aunt Tilly spanking you when you were five--just happened to be a prosecutor. He was the real planner. He, and the character of the guy who wrote the book--then a budding journalist--worked with the Internal Affairs Dept. of the police, drug dealers, mobsters, and an inept, alchoholic attorney (Strange bedfellows? Also a reason to deny its truth?) to LOSE the case against the murderers, to expose other abusers (and the system), and make more public what they had undergone while in the state's "care." The planning, like any planning, had its weak points, in this case the key witness, a priest portrayed by none other than Robert DeNiro, who'd always stood by the boys from the time they were relatively harmless to now when they were dangerous.

  As someone pointed out, DeNiro, after much painful discernment, perjured, and that was the key to a not guilty verdict.

  I could see why they'd deny it: the justice system is supposed to work to ensure justice. How could one successfully PLAN to use it to ensure personal vengence??

  Agreed with many a reviewer: the acting was great (though I admit I think Brad Pitt is one of the most overrated actors in Hollywood). The film is almost remarkably similar to the book; there were a few details left out of the film, and the religion of Dustin Hoffman's character was different in the film. (If I recall correctly, in the book he's an Irish Catholic, in the film he is probably Jewish). Maybe there are so many Irish Catholic attorneys in NYC that the producers feared a legal suit.

  Sure, it's not a real happy ending. The murderers were dead before they were 30. But what sweet revenge! Come on, admit it. You've all sometimes felt that desire...

  Within the couple of hours the film takes enough was shown of the background of the characters that describe where many of their attitudes and lifestyles may have come from. Bruno Kirby did a great job as Carcatarra's dad, an ex-con with a hot temper, and anecdotes of revenge. So, while there some inferable influence of the abuse on the murders' chosen career path (!) there wasn't a tone of "if it weren't for the abuse, they might have been life insurance salesmen in Westchester County." They probably would have spent the rest of their lives in Hell's Kitchen anyway!

  An aside: I liked the reference too in the guys' background that they were altar boys (Dominus vobiscum...been there, done that...)at the funerals of Hell's Kitchen's Vietnam deaths. They may have seen us demonstrators on the tube, but they were too busy surviving--or getting drafted and NOT surviving--to worry about the stuff many of us had the opportunities to do.

  Well done, Mr. Carcatarra (forgive my probable misspelling) and Mr. Levinson. I'll show it to many when we want a "good film" to watch, and I still hear the soundtrack frequently.
  
  

• Get The VHS Version
  By A3U3W7URZU9259 on 2002-04-21
  If you want to see this great movie without having to get up after one hour to turn the DVD over, then get the VHS version!! This ... disc (typical of many Warner Brothers DVDs!!) is mono layered, and they don't tell you on the DVD case.Why would anybody want a 2-sided DVD ?? The movie is only 148 minutes long, and there aren't bonuses included on the DVD, so go figure!! ...
  
  
• Sleepers
  By A2LYNTLX1GA7D8 on 2004-01-19
  Sleepers is a phenominal movie that shows a group of boys growing up and the loyalty they have for each other. All they have is each other and their neighborhood. They protect each other and witness the protection of their neighborhood. The book is one of the best written and the movie follows suit with the spectacular word for word narration of Jason Patric which seems pull the movie into the classic realm. Pay particular attention to the acting job done by Robert Deniro. This is quite possibly his best acting job to date. A good movie with great acting in a well presented package. A+
  
  
• NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH, BUT A GRIPPING FILM
  By A1L8HRCM60W0W7 on 2004-03-20
  Making a movie of such a controversial account that is told in the stunning book (with the same name) must have been a daunting task, especially when you fill it with A-list movie stars, some of which are not known for their sentimental sides.

  However, Levinson has created a masterpiece, and a film that everyone should watch. Sleepers might've not been the most eloquent courtroom drama, and the tactics used might be unrefined, but I absolutely loved it. It showed the consequences of prison guards' sadism, which affected the boys for the rest of their lives.

  All the actors give mindblowing performances, with no conceivable weak link. This includes the four child actors, who dominate half of the movie, but obviously don't receive as much press as their older counterparts. These four kids were outstanding in roles that must have been truly harrowing to play, especially the young boy who played John. Even Brad Pitt shows that under the right direction he can be more than a candy face.

  Add to this a great score from John Williams, and you will come back to this film time and time again. The DVD has great features too so in all a very worthy purchase.
  
  

• EXCELLENT MOVIE/Guaranteed to shed a tear!!!
  By A3KB1H0S7T6JX1 on 2005-05-06
  Sleepers brings to the screen the story of four boys from Hell's Kitchen, N.Y., in the late 60's, who end up at Wilkinson School for Boys, where they are systematically and repeatedly abused by several of the prison guards.
  It is a film about human relations, hope, and second chances, but most importantly about trust, innocence, friendship, divine justice, and inner strength.
  All the actors, (Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon and Dustin Hoffman among others) without exceptions, give it their 100% and it really shows (the chemistry is AMAZING)! Very well written and very well presented, the movie is without a doubt guaranteed to provide more than just a few tears. Consequently, it is an entertaining film that can be watched over and over again.
  The film is simple enough, but does a great job of describing people's every day lives and the problems they face. It just goes to show that simplicity is often far better than complexity, when trying to present issues of a human nature.
  I strongly disagree with the "official reviewer," Jeff Shannon, about the film's "dubious emphasis on homophobic revenge." No further comment is needed...
  The setting, the plot, the dialogues and the music are all wonderful!
  In short, Sleepers is a movie definitely worth watching and one to seriously consider adding to your movie collection!
  
  
• Homophobic Garbage
  By AQQFI7YHMRL7S on 2005-11-08
  Before I begin, let me state that in no way do I condone child abuse nor do I excuse adults who sexually victimize children. But neither do I condone vigilante-style justice. This author of the book and the makers of this film seem to be of the opinion that sexual predators deserve to die a violent death, and that their killers should be allowed to get away with it. The picture disturbed me greatly for its lack of a sense of true justice, as well as the cheap exploitation and ignorance that the script espoused. I couldn't have been more shocked if this film had condoned mob lynching, genocide, serial killing - or child abuse, for that matter. Morally wrong is morally wrong, and the defense of vigilantism is morally wrong.
  
  Some people continue to insist that this film is based on a "true story" even though the author has never presented credible evidence that it's based on fact. Some have suggested that this was a matter of publicity seeking, but I believe that his insistence that it's based on truth is merely a way of lending its unbelievable plot line more credibility. In this film, Kevin Bacon plays a low-life security guard in a Catholic reform school. He and two other guards routinely victimize and intimidate their young charges, forcing themselves on teenage boys in horrendous acts of sexual abuse. Years later, one of their victims spots the Kevin Bacon character in a restaurant and shoots him dead in cold blood. Unfortunately, there's nothing unbelievable about the plot up to this point. Child abusers do exist, and people do kill for revenge. It's what follows next that is so incredible.
  
  The murder is followed by a cover-up at all levels to protect the murderer. We are asked to believe that, in order to exonerate a killer - a GUILTY killer - a Catholic priest would lie under oath and a prosecutor would throw a capitol murder case, all on the basis of the idea that the "fag" child molester got what was coming to him. Of course, most well-read and enlightened people know that sexual predators who victimize children are almost always heterosexual. And although there is no indication in the film that the Kevin Bacon character is homosexual, many people (probably a majority of people in the US) still wrongly believe that most gay men are child abusers and most child abusers are gay. I believe that this homophobic reasoning underlies the author's conviction that the murderer is justified in his actions; this opinion is further underscored by the fact that the mood of the film when the killer is acquitted is nothing less than celebratory. I also believe that it's one reason why so many people think that a movie in which someone literally gets away with murder is a "great" film.
  
  For me, this picture was bad in a dozen different ways that I found offensive - the storyline reflects bad logic, bad judgment, bad justice, bad morals, bad lessons and bad drama. All combined, this film annoyed me from the first scene forward. The conclusion that murder can be justified struck me as absolutely barbarian, and I was flabbergasted at the fact that such a distinguished group of fine actors would lend their skills to this bigoted, puerile garbage. The more I watched, the more I got the impression that this film, and the book it was based on, was created only to please homophobic adolescents. If you are the sort of ignorant Neanderthal who would think it's OK to commit murder as long as you're blowing away a "sexual deviate", then this film is for you. If you further believe that murder in the name of revenge is not only defensible but perfectly just, then you will find this film rewarding.
  
  With all the talk in the news these days about sex abuse victims coming forward to accuse their tormentors, I would have liked this film much more if the boys had simply banded together and accused Bacon and the other guards of the abuse, bringing charges in adulthood for what they suffered as adolescents. Surely if real life victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests can find relief though genuine legal means and have their accusations believed (as so many have done) why not the teens depicted here? A far more satisfying ending would have been for Kevin Bacon (and his cohorts, who escaped any retribution at all, including the vigilante killing) to receive exposure and proper legal punishment.
  
  
  
• The past comes back
  By A2HEJQ6ETN8BQH on 2005-12-05
  This is an outstanding movie based on a true story
  even though the city of new york denies this ever happened.
  You will not regret viewing this movie, it is a keeper....
  I have viewed it atleast 4 times, and I still get my
  emotions going big time.
  If it had a 10 star rating I would give it that.....
  
  
  
• Entertaining well made film about a difficult subject
  By A3VIOCJZ22JZXT on 2006-11-28
  This film deals with a topic that continually arises in our culture, the sexual molestation of children by adults in authority positions. In some ways the film compliments the more contemporary film "Mysterious Skin" which deals with a similar theme. I will first discuss an overall assessment of the film and then return to the theme of sexual molestation and the long path to recovery from sexual molestation.
  
  As a dramatic engaging film, this product is very good. The acting of Robert DeNero, Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Minnie Driver, Billy Crudup, Brad Pitt, and Dustin Hoffman is super. DeNero is wonderful as the priest put in an ethical dilemna. Jason Patric holds the second half of the film together as the most psychologically sound of the victims. Kevin Bacon is creepy and realistic as the sadistic molester. Dustin Hoffman is a rare talent as he plays an incompetent alcoholic drug addicted second rate lawyer. Also note that the child actors were very good also. The plot is well developed and engaging, especially the division of the film into childhood and adulthood experiences. The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas is also used as a unifying theme of imprisonment, escape, planned revenge, and redemption from pain. The cinematography was very good (notice the camera angels and techniques used on the city streets, the courtroom, and especially in the youth facility) and sound track (with serious almost tragic overtones) are first rate. Overall the film gets 5 out of 5 points.
  
  The theme of sexual molestation of children by adults is a difficult and disturbing topic. In this film, 4 boys are molested, with two emerging as angry killers and two emerging with intact emotional stability. Brad Pitt plays the young lawyer who uses the court room to unearth the sexual crimes committed by several guards in the correctional facility. Jason Patric however plays the victim with the the strongest emotional stability and who is capable of developing loving relationships and moving forward with his life. Revenge was the theme that holds the second half of the film together, carefully plotted and executed by two of the victims, impulsively and self defeating by the other two.
  
  A fine film worthy of your time.
  
  

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