Wayne K
Before he had his real cinematic breakthrough with Annie Hall in 1977, Woody Allen directed and co-wrote Sleeper, a slapstick dystopian satire set mostly in the Allen mould. As a performer, Allen is definitely not to everyone's tastes. His weedy, garrulous, perpetually insecure onscreen persona certainly rubs many, myself included, the wrong way. He can be very funny at times, but you can only listen to his rueful ramblings for so long before you want to punch him. In Sleeper, he performs something of a balancing act, wringing most of the comedy out of his trademark verbal wit, but also chucks in a few segments which pay obvious homage to the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers. These moments don't always hit, but its nice to see Allen trying something different, not to mention giving the audience a break. Diane Keaton doesn't make the same impact she would make in the aforementioned Annie Hall, but her and Allen work well off each other. It makes some funny and insightful points about dystopias, dictatorships and oppressive police states, but the film is, first and foremost, an Allen picture, so much of it is spent listening to extended routines from a man whose onscreen character is invariable built around being jealous and whiny. It wisely keeps the runtime short and doesn't go off on too many bizarre tangents, so it's unlikely you'll be too bored watching it. Allen has written better scripts and given better performances, but for those who want to see him doing something a little different, Sleeper might just be the films you're looking for.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
10/19/23
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gurken s
Truly a masterpiece and classic!
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
10/03/23
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Matthew B
Sleeper has the unusual distinction of being the only Woody Allen movie that has a scientific adviser listed in the credits. Ben Bova gave his assistance, but Allen also had an informal meeting with Isaac Asimov, one of the most famous sci-fi writers of all time.
Such research seems unusual for an Allen comedy, even if Sleeper is the comedy writer/director/actor's only foray into science fiction. On the whole though, I doubt Allen took the science element of his film too seriously.
The story owes more to science fiction than it does to science, and even the film's nods to existing sci-fi works are more tongue-in-cheek than reverential. The film's most obvious borrowing is from a lesser-known early work by H G Wells called The Sleeper Awakes. As in Allen's film, the sleeper in the novel is a person from contemporary times who wakes up in a dystopian future where he is a figurehead for a rebel movement that is fighting an oppressive government.
At the time of its release, sci-fi buffs would have noticed similarities in Allen's film to recent movie releases. Many of these references have dated now, but it is worth noting that the voice of the medical computer is provided by Douglas Rain, more famous as the voice of HAL, the psychotic computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Of course the more obvious influence on Allen (as with most sci-fi writers) is contemporary events. He uses amusingly incongruous public figures. The film's dystopia is the result of a catastrophe when a madman called Albert Shanker got hold of a nuclear device (Shanker was the president of the American Federation of Teachers, known for his role in organising strikes).
The picture of Our Leader is one of psychologist and counter-culture guru Timothy Leary, notorious for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. I suspect that this evil leader owes a debt to Richard Nixon too, that most unpopular of 1970s presidents.
Ever the jazz lover, Allen throws in a number of allusions to his favourite music genre. I am sure it is no coincidence that the protagonist is called Miles. The word ‘cool' has been replaced by Cugat. Many of the comic sequences also play out with jazz music in the background, performed by the band in which Allen himself played.
One of the most nostalgic of all film directors, Allen looked not only to futuristic or contemporary influences, but also to the past. Allen said that he intended the film as a tribute to Groucho Marx and Bob Hope.
The fast-talking dialogue recalls those two great comics, but the more obvious influences here are Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. Allen throws in a number of slapstick scenes played without dialogue, and had considered setting the film in a world where people are forbidden to speak as a way of making a modern silent movie.
It is eleven minutes before Allen speaks a line of dialogue. Some of the scenes of Miles causing disruption in this new technological world recall Chaplin's Modern Times. The incompetent law enforcement officers act as a futuristic version of the Keystone Cops.
Sleeper is pure comedy with no pretentions to profundity. Nonetheless it contains recognisable themes in Allen's work that anticipate later films. The society in Sleeper is entirely hedonistic. Allen himself is often drawn to hedonism, but it might be said that he enjoys his neuroses, and that his misery is part of his hedonism.
Such a society of zombiefied happiness is not appealing to him therefore. In any case Allen wants a world of physical sensation. "My brain is my second favourite organ," Monroe remarks. The mechanised sexual experience of the Orgasmatron is no substitute for the messy and dysfunctional reality of actual sex, which Allen would rather experience.
In many ways, Sleeper fits into the worldview that Allen espouses in several of his early films. The idea of rebels fighting a dictatorship formed the subject of his earlier film, Bananas. Indeed the resistance movement even sing the same song, ‘Rebels Are We' in both movies. Allen's later release, Love and Death, follows a similar plot trajectory, with Allen and Keaton taking on a powerful leader, Napoleon.
For Allen, all ideologies are dangerous, past, present and future. His heart is with the rebels and against tyranny, but his brain says that he should not trust any movement for change. To Monroe, Erno is merely a "tall, blonde, Prussian, Nordic, Aryan, Nazi type", no better than the dictatorial leader he wishes to replace:
Look, don't you understand? In six months, we'll be stealing Erno's nose. Political solutions don't work. I told you that. It doesn't matter who's up there. They're all terrible.
In their place, Allen only offers a philosophy of general nihilism, and a concern for the individual rather than the institutions that make up our society. Politics, science and religion are guff. All that is left are sex and death, "But at least after death you're not nauseous".
I wrote a longer appreciation of Sleeper on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2021/09/16/sleeper-1973/
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
09/18/23
Full Review
Randy B
I loved this film, raunchy and over-the-top silly.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
05/09/23
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sue b
Sleeper is required viewing for me every two or three years for the last LOL 50 now, along with Some Like it Hot. And a few others.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
Woody Allen borrows quite heavily from the silent comedians in "Sleeper" and, although he can't replicate their brilliance, his physical comedy is largely amusing. The futuristic sets are also rather well done. However, the good scenes are spread out and separated by unremarkable stretches of average, almost dull storytelling: the satire is nothing that hasn't been done better before, the romance feels forced and Miles's lines occasionally sound more like stand-up instead of character building.
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
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