Stars: Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Ron Eldard, Billy Crudup, Minnie Driver, Bruno Kirby, Brad Renfro, Jeffrey Donovan, Jonathan Tucker, Joe Perrino, Geoff Wigdor

Director: Barry Levinson

Summary: A group of men come together to put right a wrong from their childhood.

Tommy, John, Michael, and Shakes are four young teenage punks growing up in the streets of Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen in the mid-1960s. When these four friends pull a prank that that goes awry, they find themselves serving time at the Wilkinson School for Boys, where they are repeatedly and sadistically violated and tortured by four guards--the most menacing being Noles, portrayed by Kevin Bacon. Fifteen years later, the foursome is still dealing with the emotional repercussions of their abuse. Tommy (Billy Crudup) and John (Ron Eldard) have become common criminals, and when they spot Noles in a local watering hole they can't pass up the chance for revenge. It's up to Shakes (Jason Patric), a low-profile newspaper employee, and Michael (Brad Pitt), a lawyer with the district attorney's office, to save their friends while keeping the details of their tortured childhoods secret. Dustin Hoffman appears as Danny Snyder, and Robert De Niro stars as Father Bobby, the local neighborhood priest who is as comfortable on the streets or in a bar as he is behind the pulpit. Based on the allegedly true story by Lorenzo Carcaterra, the film is directed by Barry Levinson (DINER, RAIN MAN).

WIN DVDs by rating this DVD

Average User Rating:

WIN DVDS by being amongst the first to review this DVD. Reviewing DVDs earns you bonus entries and lets you WIN DVDs!Please login before reviewing this DVD. If you're a new user, register for free and enter to WIN FREE DVDs!

The first thing you need to know about Sleepersis that it's based on a novelby Lorenzo Carcaterra that was allegedly based on a true story. The movie repeats this bogus claim, which was attacked and determined by a wide majority to be misleading. Knowing this, Sleepersbecomes problematic because it's too neat, too clean, too manipulative in terms of legal justice and dramatic impact to be truly convincing. And yet, with its stellar cast directed by Barry Levinson, it succeeds as gripping entertainment, and its tale of complex morality--despite a dubious emphasis on homophobic revenge--is sufficiently provocative. It's about four boys in New York's Hell's Kitchen district who are sent to reform school, where they must endure routine sexual assaults by the sadistic guards. Years after their release, the opportunity for revenge proves irresistible for two of the young men, who must then rely on the other pair of friends (Brad Pitt, Jason Patric), a loyal priest (Robert De Niro), and a shabby lawyer (Dustin Hoffman) to defend them in court. Despite the compelling ambiguities of the story, there's never any doubt about how we're supposed to feel, and the screenplay glosses over the story's most difficult moral dilemmas. At its best, Sleepersgrabs your attention and pulls you into its intense story of friendship and the price of loyalty under extreme conditions. The movie's New York settings are vividly authentic, and Minnie Driver makes a strong impression as a long-time friend of the loyal group of guys. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1996
Release Date:	August 3, 2009
Runtime:	141 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	9035909
Keywords:	General, Drama, Sleepers
Genre:	Drama