Features: DVD, Pan and Scan (TV Format), Widescreen, Theatrical Version, Trailers
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. Starring Diane Keaton (directed by Allen for the first time), Sleeper is "a bizarre mixture of New York neuroses, splendidly lunatic sight gags, Alice-in-Wonderland illogic, and too-funny-to-be-painful satire" (Los Angeles Herald-Examiner)! When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap, he discovers the future’s not so bright: all women are frigid, all men are impotent and the world is ruled by an evil dictator…a disembodied nose! Pursued by the secret police and recruited by anti-government rebels with a plan to kidnap the dictator’s snout before it can be cloned, Miles falls for the beautiful -- but untalented -- poet Luna (Diane Keaton). But when Miles is captured and reprogrammed by the government -- to believe he’s Miss America! -- it’s up to Luna to save Miles, lead the rebels, and cut off the nose... just to spite its face.
"Divine comic madness! ...an inspired work!" The Hollywood Reporter
"Hilarious! Superb!" Variety
Editor's Note
The sci-fi satire SLEEPER is often hailed as the best of Woody Allen's early comedies, which relied mostly on slapstick and quick verbal asides, but still had more than their share of comic intelligence. SLEEPER tells the tale of Miles Monroe (Allen), who is accidentally cryogenically frozen following a minor operation. Released 200 years later, in 2173, Miles blunders his way through a bizarre future, featuring plenty of props and situations for Allen to mine for laughs. Eventually he meets vapid, hedonistic "poet" Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton), with whom he eventually joins a rebel group opposed to the oppressive government. As in his earlier BANANAS and LOVE AND DEATH, Allen's character stumbles into a revolutionary plot, revealing the anti-authoritarianism that will appear again and again in his films. Loosely based on H.G. Wells' novel WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES, the film features a strong parodic bent, particularly of the type of science fiction that was being written and filmed when it was made in 1973. Oppressive, faceless governments and the technological dominance over human life (altering even the most fundamental natural actions, such as sex) are the main tropes Allen skewers, as well as playing off the futuristic production design of films like A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and THX-1138. However, SLEEPER was still considered a strong work of science fiction, winning both the prestigious Hugo and Nebula Awards, which are given to the finest works in the genre.
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