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Sleepers |  | Director: Barry Levinson
Actors: Kevin Bacon, Billy Crudup, Robert De Niro, Vittorio Gassman, Minnie Driver
Studio: Warner Bros.
Category: Movie
Buy New: $2.99
as of 9/9/2010 11:11 CDT details
Seller: Amazon Video On Demand
Rating:  136 reviews
Sales Rank: 12830
Genre: Drama
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 148 Minutes
ASIN: B000HF0ISC
Theatrical Release Date: October 17, 1996
Release Date: March 15, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Synopsis:
The judicial system is supposed to protect them. But when a youthful prank in New York's Hell's Kitchen spins out of control, the punishment doesn't fit the crime. Sentenced to the Wilkinson School for Boys, four pals are mistreated at will by a cadre of sadistic guards. Now, 15 years later, they have an unexpected opportunity to use that system - for revenge. Friendship. Loyalty. Retribution. |
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| Customer Reviews:
 AN EXCELLENT "MOVIE" August 14, 2010
Franco Maric (New York City)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have watched this movie a few times and really enjoy the themes of friendship. loyalty, revenge, retribution, justice and moral dilemmas. I also read the book and the movie pretty much follows the book almost verbatim...so watching the movie is good enough although some of the detail is missing from the horrendous abuse suffered by some of the main characters. The acting by all is great and well worth the time and effort to see.
Reading some of the reviews though is quite disturbing. IT'S A MOVIE BASED ON A NOVEL BASED ON SOME EXPERIENCES IN THE LIFE OF THE AUTHOR! When words like homophobic get thrown around about some aspects of this movie when there is no reference or even the slightest hint to anything to do with homosexuality it makes one wonder as to the sensitivity level of some viewers. I'm not a psychiatrist but in my humble opinion if this movie makes someone who sees it think that one of the messages being conveyed is that it's ok to murder a serial child rapist because the bad guy must have some homosexual tendencies that obviously soar above the depraved evil of the acts committed then that viewer may be a little too sensitive to offer an objective review. This is not intended to offend anyone just to help some realize that an objective review of this movie should be just that without inserting perceived slights and imagined motives.
Reform schools like prisons are not nice places and terrible things happen there for all sorts of reasons. The justice system is not perfect and is manipulated almost on a daily basis. Just look at the O J Simpson and Robert Blake murder trials for some of the most famous cases. So all is within the realm of possibilities.
In any case if you're going to watch this movie with an open mind and your sensitivity meter turned down a bit I think you will enjoy a well written and well acted movie, especially if you're from the Hell's Kitchen area of NYC.
Sleepers August 3, 2010
tonto62
Awesome movie. Glad to own it. Very fast shipping and very reasonable cost wise. It is nice to find movies you cannot find in stores. I will definately be buying more!
Very Well Done. May 3, 2010
Thomas Ferreira
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I don't get how the initial review of this movie refers to it as a homophobic revenge. What is homophobic about being raped as a child? They didn't revenge on these guards because they were homophobic. It had nothing to do with the story. These people were getting revenge on people that took their innocence away as the movie clearly portrays. This homophobic garbarge needs to stop.
Sorry that just pissed me off.
Whether or not the story is true or false is left up for questioning.
The movie was superbly acted and should be watched whether or not the story is true and shouldn't effect the reasoning to see or not to see the movie because if it didn't happen there is no reason to think it couldn't have in some form.
Powerful Story - April 21, 2010
Loyd E. Eskildson (Phoenix, AZ.)
"Sleepers" is a gripping drama of four teenage boys growing up together in Hell's Kitchen, New York. The beginning of the film is set in 1967 and they are happy-go-lucky, yet somewhat careless and unthinking with some of their pranks. They are always looking for some excitement and one day their prank changes their lives forever. When playing games to get free hot dogs, a vendor's cart unexpectedly is set loose down subway stairs and a man is killed. The boys are given a "lenient" sentence to serve at the Wilkinson School for Boys, since Father Bobby (Robert De Niro), the neighborhood priest puts in a good word for them. The home turns out to be a nightmare where they are raped and tortured by four guards. Noles (Kevin Bacon) is the worst and the ringleader of the group.
Fifteen years later, the boys, now men, Shakes (Jason Patrick), Michael (Brad Pitt)l, Tommy (Billy Crudrup), and John (Ron Edard) come together under the same judicial system that was supposed to protect them, but failed. They are still dealing with the memories and psychological issues surrounding the tortures and sadistic rapes. Tommy and John are now criminals and they happen to see Noles at a local bar. Noles is now a security guard eating by himself, so Tommy and John shoot him in front of a few patrons and leave the bar, soon to be arrested and brought to trial.
Shakes is now a newspaper reporter and Michael is a lawyer with the district attorneys office. They want to save their two childhood friends, while keeping the secret of their friendship and times at Wilkerson together.
An alcoholic lawyer (Dustin Hoffman) from Hell's Kitchen is hired to prosecute the case. Father Bobby is entwined in the plot for retribution as the story unfolds.
Overall "Sleepers" is a very powerful and gripping story that gives the victims one last chance to use the judicial system that failed them for revenge.
very involving March 27, 2010
Fallon Scott (Bethesda,MD)
Kevin Bacon was so evil man, like heartless to these boys..at least until they met him years later to ask WHY?! Some people told me that they should have gotten over the abuse but my thing is it aint easy at all, especially if it occurred everyday for a long time! Its a great film depicting Karma and good childhood gone wrong
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