Classic Woody Allen showing us that he can do physical comedy plus a hilarious and fun collaboration with actress Diane Keaton. A wonderful, early Woody Allen comedy classic!
Images courtesy of © 1973 Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
TITLE: Sleeper
DURATION: 1 Hr., 27 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Color, 1:85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Dolby Digital Monaural, Subtitles: French and Spanish
RATED: PG
COMPANY: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Released Dated: July 5, 2000
Directed by Woody Allen
Written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
Executive Producer: Charles H. Joffe, Jack Rollins
Producer: Jack Grossberg
Associate Producer: Marshall Brickman, Ralph Rosenblum
Music by Woody Allen
Cinematography by David M. Walsh
Edited by O. Nicholas Brown, Ron Kalish, Ralph Rosenblum
Casting by Lynn Stalmaster
Production Design by Dale Hennesy
Set Decoration by Gary Moreno
Costume Design by Joel Schumacher
Starring:
Woody Allen as Miles Monroe
Diane Keaton as Luna Schlosser
John Beck as Erno Windt
Mary Gregory as Dr. Melik
Don Keefer as Dr. Tryon
John McLiam as Dr. Aragon
Bartlett Robinson as Dr. ORva
Chris Forbes as Rainer Krebs
Mews Small as Dr. Nero
Peter Hobbs as Dr. Dean
Susan Miller as Ellen Pogrebin
Drawing on the great tradition of silent comedy, Sleeper is Woody Allen’s first film to tame his verbal wit and showcase his emerging skill with visual and physical comedy.
One of best comedy films of all time, Woody Allen’s “Sleeper” is wonderful and will continue to stand the test of time generations later!
“Sleeper”, the 1973 sci-fi comedy directed and written by Woody Allen along with co-writer Marshall Brickman, a film loosely based on H.G. Wells novel “The Sleeper Awakes” and George Orwell’s “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and nearly 40-years-later, is still regarded as one of the top comedy films of all time (American Film Institute ranks the film at #80 for their “100 Years…100 Laughs”).
The sixth film directed by Woody Allen would be the first official collaboration between Allen and actress Diane Keaton (the two would collaborate on several films together including the Academy Award winning 1977 film “Annie Hall”) and the DVD was released in 2000 individually and as part of the first Woody Allen Collection box set featuring eight films including “Annie Hall”, “Bananas”, “Interiors”, “Love and Death”, “Manhattan”, “Stardust Memories” and “Everything You Always Wanted to Know ABout Sex But Were Afraid to Ask”.
“Sleeper” takes place in 2173, during a time when humans are heavily watched over by a major dictator. A group of scientists aiding an underground movement have decided to illegally revive a man that was cryonically frozen (without his consent) back in 1973.
The man is Miles Monroe (played by Woody Allen), a jazz musician and owner of the Happy Carrot Health Food Store in Manhattan who is shocked that he went in for surgery and finds out that he was frozen and brought back to life 200 years later. The scientists tell him that because he is a man without an identity, he can easily infiltrate the Aires Project which is about to be implemented by the current dictator.
As the dictator’s forces find out about the plans by the scientists, Miles manages to escape and hides in a delivery van in which robot servants are being delivered to new owners. Miles pretends to be a servant robot and is delivered to the home of socialite Luna Schlosser (played by Diane Keaton). But she is not too pleased by her new robot butler’s head and wants it replaced.
So, the following day she takes him to have her robot serviced and Miles knowing that he can lose his head, decides to escape and take Luna hostage. This leads to an uneasy partnership as Miles must depend on a frightened (and not so smart) socialite in order to infiltrate the Aires Project.
VIDEO:
“Sleeper” is presented in both widescreen (16×9, 1:85:1) and full screen format (a flipper disc). It’s important to note that this DVD was released back in 2000 and has not been re-released at this time.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Sleeper” is presented in Dolby Digital monaural (English and Spanish) . Audio comes through the center channel quite fine. I preferred to have my audio setting set at stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.
Subtitles are in French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
Unfortunately, Woody Allen video releases do not come with special features (note: Woody Allen is against special features) but does come with the film’s trailer.
“Sleeper” is a fantastic sci-fi comedy film that will no doubt stand the test of time, generations later and make people laugh.
Watching this 1973 film all over again, is just a fun experience as Woody Allen was magnificent with his quick exchanges of comic banter, his hilarious one-liners, especially with his first major film collaboration with actress Diane Keaton.
Woody Allen demonstrates his ability to do physical comedy and many decades after Keaton, Chaplin and Lloyd were showcasing their talent, one can’t help but watch and be amused by Woody Allen and think that he was paying homage to the silent cinema’s greatest comedians.
This is slapstick comedy done right and it’s a film that I don’t think I can ever get bored of as memories of Miles Monroe is seen flapping his arms while escaping from the bad guys or bouncing up and down with an inflatable suit, but it’s the intelligent comedy that comes out of his lips, sometimes I wonder if these were improvised words coming out of his mouth and literally surprising Diane Keaton.
But “Sleeper” was a film that showed us that Woody Allen can take on slapstick and physical comedy but if anything, showing us how he and Keaton had wonderful yet an awkward style of chemistry onscreen.
As for the DVD, like many older films and earlier DVD releases, you get a flipper and it doesn’t help all that much when Woody Allen is not big on special features. But the good news is that you can find this DVD alone quite cheap these days but I recommend purchasing his four box sets for a more better value if you want to experience Woody Allen films.
Overall, “Sleeper” is simply a wonderful and fun Woody Allen early classic worth watching!