''Sleepers'' is a 1996 American
legal
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
written, produced, and directed by
Barry Levinson
Barry Lee Levinson (born April 6, 1942) is an American filmmaker, comedian and actor. Levinson's best-known works are mid-budget comedy drama and drama films such as '' Diner'' (1982); ''The Natural'' (1984); ''Good Morning, Vietnam'' (1987); ' ...
, and based on
Lorenzo Carcaterra
Lorenzo Carcaterra (born October 16, 1954) is an American writer of Italian descent. Hell’s Kitchen is the setting for his most famous book, ''Sleepers'', which was adapted as a 1996 film of the same name. In April 2009, he joined ''True/Slan ...
's 1995 book of the same name. The film stars
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...
,
Jason Patric
Jason Patric (born June 17, 1966) is an American film, television and stage actor. He is known for his roles in films such as ''The Lost Boys'', ''Rush (1991 film), Rush'', ''Sleepers (film), Sleepers'', ''Geronimo: An American Legend'', ''Your ...
,
Brad Pitt
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...
,
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
,
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
,
Minnie Driver
Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in 1995's '' Circle of Friends''. She went on to star in a wide range of films including the cult classic ''Grosse ...
,
Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter.
He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...
,
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro (July 25, 1982 – January 15, 2008) was an American actor. He made his film debut at the age of 11 with a starring role in '' The Client'' (1994). He went on to appear in 21 feature films and won several awards.
Prior to bei ...
,
Ron Eldard
Ronald Jason Eldard (born February 20, 1965) is an American actor.
Early life
Eldard was born on Long Island, New York. He is the sixth of seven children, and has four sisters and two brothers. He is of Irish and Scottish descent. Eldard's mothe ...
,
Jeffrey Donovan
Jeffrey Donovan (born May 11, 1968) is an American actor. He played Michael Westen in the television series ''Burn Notice'', and appeared in films such as '' Hitch'', '' Believe in Me'', ''Changeling'', and ''Come Early Morning''. He played Robe ...
,
Terry Kinney
Terry Kinney (born January 29, 1954) is an American actor and theater director, and is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Sinise, and Jeff Perry. Kinney is best known for his role as ...
,
Joe Perrino
Joseph Perrino (born April 30, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama film ''Sleepers'' in 1996.
Life and career
Joseph Perrino is an American film, television and stage actor, best known for his roles in the fe ...
,
Geoffrey Wigdor
Geoffrey Wigdor (born January 23, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama film ''Sleepers'' in 1996.
Career
Wigdor got his first role playing J.J. Forbes on the soap opera '' Loving'', later called '' The City'' ...
,
Jonathan Tucker
Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1999), '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''Hostage'' (2005), '' In the Valley of Elah'' (2007), '' The Ruins'' ( ...
,
Bruno Kirby
Bruno Kirby (born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu Jr.; April 28, 1949 – August 14, 2006) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in ''City Slickers'', '' When Harry Met Sally...'', ''Good Morning, Vietnam'', ''The Godfather Part II'', and ' ...
and
Billy Crudup
William Gaither Crudup (; born July 8, 1968) is an American actor. He is a four-time Tony Award nominee, winning once for his performance in Tom Stoppard's play ''The Coast of Utopia'' in 2007. He has starred in numerous high-profile films, inc ...
. The title is a slang term for juveniles who serve sentences longer than nine months.
''Sleepers'' was theatrically released in the United States on October 18, 1996 and was a box-office hit, grossing $165.6 million against a $44 million budget.
Plot
Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra, Tommy Marcano, Michael Sullivan, and John Reilly are childhood friends living in
Hell's Kitchen
Hell's Kitchen, also known as Clinton, is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is considered to be bordered by 34th Street (or 41st Street) to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the eas ...
in the 1960s. Father "Bobby" Carillo, their parish priest and a youth offender himself in the past, tries to teach them right from wrong. They still play pranks and start running small errands for local gangster King Benny.
In the summer of 1967, the four boys steal a hotdog cart, which they accidentally roll down the subway stairs, severely injuring an elderly man. They are all sentenced to serve time at Wilkinson Home for Boys in
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...
; Shakes is given 6 to 12 months, while the others are given 12 to 18 months. During their stay, they are constantly subjected to sexual abuse and torture by head guards Sean Nokes, Henry Addison, Ralph Ferguson and Adam Styler.
While at the facility, they participate in Wilkinson's annual
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
game between the guards and inmates. Michael convinces inmate Rizzo Robinson to help win the game. Humiliated, the guards move the boys to
solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a form of imprisonment in which the inmate lives in a single cell with little or no meaningful contact with other people. A prison may enforce stricter measures to control contraband on a solitary prisoner and use additi ...
for weeks, where they are systematically beaten. Rizzo does not survive and his family is told that he had died of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
.
In the spring of 1968, shortly before Shakes' release from Wilkinson, he suggests the boys publicly report the abuse. The others refuse, with Michael asserting that no one would believe them or care, and they vow never to speak of it again. The night before Shakes is released, Nokes and the other guards arrange a "farewell party" in which the four boys are again brutally abused to a higher extreme.
In 1981, John and Tommy, now career criminals, unexpectedly encounter Sean Nokes in a Hell's Kitchen pub. Confronting him, he dismisses the abuse he put them through, and John and Tommy shoot him dead in front of witnesses. Michael, now an assistant
district attorney
In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a l ...
, gets himself assigned to the case; he secretly intends to botch the
prosecution
A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
and expose what the guards at Wilkinson's did. With Shakes, now a reporter, they form a plan to free John and Tommy and get revenge on the other Wilkinson abusers. With the help of King Benny and Carol, their childhood friend, they carry out their plan using information compiled by Michael on the backgrounds of the guards, helped by Danny Snyder, an alcoholic lawyer, to defend John and Tommy.
Michael secretly drafts scripted questions in advance, so Snyder casts significant doubt on the testimony of a woman who witnessed the murder, and two other witnesses are intimidated into silence. For Michael's plan to fully succeed, however, he must damage Nokes' reputation and convincingly place John and Tommy at another location at the time of the shooting. Ferguson, when called as a witness, admits that Nokes, like the other guards, used to abuse the boys. To clinch the case, however, a key witness was still needed for John and Tommy's
alibi
An alibi (from the Latin, '' alibī'', meaning "somewhere else") is a statement by a person, who is a possible perpetrator of a crime, of where they were at the time a particular offence was committed, which is somewhere other than where the crim ...
. Shakes has a long talk with Father Bobby, who resists at first, but after learning the truth, reluctantly agrees to
perjure himself. At trial, Father Bobby testifies John and Tommy were with him at a
New York Knicks
The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Associat ...
game at the time of the shooting and shows three ticket stubs to prove it. As a result, John and Tommy are
acquitted
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
.
The remaining guards are also punished for their crimes: Henry Addison, now a politician who still
molests children, is abducted and killed near the local
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
by gangsters led by Rizzo's older brother, Eddie "Little Caesar" Robinson, who heard the truth about Rizzo's death from King Benny; Adam Styler, now a corrupt police officer, is imprisoned for taking
bribe
Bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With regard to governmental operations, essentially, bribery is "Corr ...
s and murdering a drug dealer; and Ralph Ferguson, a social worker, loses his job and family and is left to live alone with his guilt for the rest of his life.
Michael, Shakes, John, Tommy, and Carol meet at a local bar to celebrate. It is the last time the four are together. Shakes remains in Hell's Kitchen as a reporter; Michael quits the DA's office, moves to the
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
countryside, becomes a carpenter and never marries; John and Tommy both die before age 30 – John succumbs to alcohol poisoning due to excessive consumption while Tommy is ambushed and murdered by rival criminals. Carol remains in Hell's Kitchen as a social worker; she has a son, naming him John Thomas Michael Martinez, with the nickname "Shakes".
Cast
*
Billy Crudup
William Gaither Crudup (; born July 8, 1968) is an American actor. He is a four-time Tony Award nominee, winning once for his performance in Tom Stoppard's play ''The Coast of Utopia'' in 2007. He has starred in numerous high-profile films, inc ...
as Tommy Marcano
**
Jonathan Tucker
Jonathan Moss Tucker (born May 31, 1982) is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Virgin Suicides'' (1999), '' The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003), ''Hostage'' (2005), '' In the Valley of Elah'' (2007), '' The Ruins'' ( ...
as Young Tommy Marcano
*
Ron Eldard
Ronald Jason Eldard (born February 20, 1965) is an American actor.
Early life
Eldard was born on Long Island, New York. He is the sixth of seven children, and has four sisters and two brothers. He is of Irish and Scottish descent. Eldard's mothe ...
as John Riley
**
Geoffrey Wigdor
Geoffrey Wigdor (born January 23, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama film ''Sleepers'' in 1996.
Career
Wigdor got his first role playing J.J. Forbes on the soap opera '' Loving'', later called '' The City'' ...
as Young John Riley
*
Jason Patric
Jason Patric (born June 17, 1966) is an American film, television and stage actor. He is known for his roles in films such as ''The Lost Boys'', ''Rush (1991 film), Rush'', ''Sleepers (film), Sleepers'', ''Geronimo: An American Legend'', ''Your ...
as
Lorenzo 'Shakes' Carcaterra
**
Joe Perrino
Joseph Perrino (born April 30, 1982) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama film ''Sleepers'' in 1996.
Life and career
Joseph Perrino is an American film, television and stage actor, best known for his roles in the fe ...
as Young Shakes
*
Brad Pitt
William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...
as Michael Sullivan
**
Brad Renfro
Brad Barron Renfro (July 25, 1982 – January 15, 2008) was an American actor. He made his film debut at the age of 11 with a starring role in '' The Client'' (1994). He went on to appear in 21 feature films and won several awards.
Prior to bei ...
as Young Michael Sullivan
*
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...
as Sean Nokes
*
Robert De Niro
Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...
as Father Bobby Carillo
*
Minnie Driver
Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in 1995's '' Circle of Friends''. She went on to star in a wide range of films including the cult classic ''Grosse ...
as Carol Martinez
** Monica Polito as Young Carol Martinez
*
Vittorio Gassman
Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter.
He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...
as Benny 'King Benny'
*
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
as Danny Snyder
*
Terry Kinney
Terry Kinney (born January 29, 1954) is an American actor and theater director, and is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Sinise, and Jeff Perry. Kinney is best known for his role as ...
as Ralph Ferguson
*
Peter McRobbie
Peter McRobbie (born 31 January 1943) is a Scottish-born American character actor, best known for his roles as John C. Twist in the 2005 romantic drama film ''Brokeback Mountain'', Mike Sheenan in the 2006 action film '' 16 Blocks'', Pop Pop Ja ...
as lawyer
*
Bruno Kirby
Bruno Kirby (born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu Jr.; April 28, 1949 – August 14, 2006) was an American actor. He was known for his roles in ''City Slickers'', '' When Harry Met Sally...'', ''Good Morning, Vietnam'', ''The Godfather Part II'', and ' ...
as Shakes' father
* Frank Medrano as 'Fat' Mancho
*
Eugene Byrd
Eugene Byrd (born August 28, 1975) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Wink in the film '' 8 Mile'' and Dr. Clark Edison on the FOX series '' Bones''.
Early life
Byrd was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Gre ...
as Rizzo Robinson
*
Jeffrey Donovan
Jeffrey Donovan (born May 11, 1968) is an American actor. He played Michael Westen in the television series ''Burn Notice'', and appeared in films such as '' Hitch'', '' Believe in Me'', ''Changeling'', and ''Come Early Morning''. He played Robe ...
as Henry Addison
*
Wendell Pierce
Wendell Edward Pierce (born December 8, 1963) is an American actor and businessman. Having trained at Juilliard School, Pierce rose to prominence as a character actor portraying roles both on the stage and screen. He first gained notoriety portra ...
as Eddie 'Little Caesar' Robinson
*
Aida Turturro
Aida Turturro ( ; born September 25, 1962) is an American actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Janice Soprano on the HBO drama series ''The Sopranos''.
Early life and education
Aida Turturro was born in Buffalo, New York, daughter of ...
as Mrs. Salinas
*
Dash Mihok
Dashiell Raymond Mihok (; born May 24, 1974) is an American actor and director best known for playing Brendan "Bunchy" Donovan in the Showtime drama ''Ray Donovan''.
Early life
Mihok was born in New York City, the son of theater actors Andrea Mi ...
as K.C.
* Angela Rago as Shakes' mother
*
John Slattery
John M. Slattery Jr. (born August 13, 1962) is an American actor and director widely known for his role as Roger Sterling Jr. in the AMC drama series ''Mad Men'' (2007–15), for which he was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award fo ...
as Mr Carlson
Production
The first words spoken in the film are: "This is a true story about friendship that runs deeper than blood".
However, the truthfulness and factual accuracy of the film—and the book upon which it is based—were challenged by the Sacred Heart of Jesus Church and School in Manhattan (the school attended by Lorenzo Carcaterra) and by the Manhattan District Attorney's office, among others.
Carcaterra has acknowledged that most details in the book were fictionalized, but maintained that the events described in the book actually occurred.
Release
Box office
In its opening weekend the film grossed $12,305,745 in 1,915 theaters in the United States and Canada, debuting atop of the box office. ''Sleepers'' grossed $53,315,285 domestically and $112,300,000 internationally for a worldwide total of $165,615,285.
Critical response
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gives the film an overall approval rating of 73% based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 6.60/10. The consensus summarizes: "Old friendships are awakened by the need for revenge, making ''Sleepers'' a haunting nightmare burdened by voiceover yet terrifically captured by Barry Levinson." Review aggregator
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gives it a
weighted average
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
score of 49 out of 100 based on 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
Critics praised the performances of De Niro, Hoffman, Bacon, and the young cast,
as well as the cinematography and production design.
However, multiple critics said the film loses focus in its second half.
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' wrote, “''Sleepers'' wants to do something impossible — merge the mournful, drenched-in-shame emotions of child abuse with the huckster gamesmanship of a contraption like ''
The Sting
''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw).''Variety'' film review; December 12, 1973, page ...
''.”
David Ansen
David Ansen is an American film critic. He was a senior editor for ''Newsweek'', where he served as film critic from 1977 to 2008 and subsequently contribute to the magazined in a freelance capacity. Prior to writing for ''Newsweek'', he served a ...
of ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
'' criticized Levinson’s script and reasoned the adult characters of Shakes, Michael, John, and Tommy were not fully fleshed out.
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
awarded the film three out of four stars, but said it did not engage enough in the moral issues it purported to be about.
Steve Davis of
''The'' ''Austin Chronicle'' wrote, “What a more interesting film this would have been had Levinson found a way to integrate the past and the present so that one informed the other.”
When the film was released there was major controversy over how much of the novel had been invented by its author.
Accolades
Home media
The film was released on VHS by
Warner Home Video
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros.
It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video ...
in 1997. The film was released in DVD on November 3, 2009 and also in Blu-Ray on August 2, 2011.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sleepers
1996 films
1996 crime drama films
American coming-of-age films
American courtroom films
American crime drama films
American prison drama films
1990s English-language films
Films about child sexual abuse
Films about pranks
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Barry Levinson
Films produced by Steve Golin
Films scored by John Williams
Films set in 1967
Films set in 1968
Films set in 1981
Films set in New York (state)
Films set in New York City
Films shot in Connecticut
Films shot in New York City
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment films
American rape and revenge films
Warner Bros. films
Films about the Irish Mob
1990s American films