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Sleeper
1973
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 .. Read more
| Starring | Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Genres | Comedy |
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Sleeper
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.
| Starring | Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory, Bartlett Robinson, Marya Small |
|---|---|
| Director | Woody Allen |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 23 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Dubbed | French, German, Italian, Spanish |
| Hearing-impaired | English, German |
| Subtitles | DVD: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish |
| Released | DVD: 19 Feb 2001 Production year: 1973 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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In one of his most inspired early comedies, Woody Allen plays a jazz musician who comes round from what he thinks was a minor operation only to discover that he has been in cryogenic suspension for 200 years and that it is now 2174. What follows is a silly but often hilarious mish-mash, partly inspired by 1984 (Allen gets involved with revolutionaries opposing the totalitarian government), but mainly a homage to great screen comedians of the past, among them Chaplin, Keaton and Langdon. The sight gags (particularly Allen disguised as a robot) include some of the funniest things Allen has ever done. There is also a rich quota of brilliantly witty lines throughout, with Diane Keaton making a fine foil.
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She: 'You haven't had sex in 200 years!?!?' He: '204, if you count my marriage'. Woody Allen's Rip Van Winkle movie, in... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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11 out of 11 people found this review helpful
It been a long time ...
I couldn't wait to see sleeper again. It must have been 15 years ago or even longer when I first saw it. I thought it was hilarious.
Watching it now it seems much slower, not to the point of being boring, but I just didn't laugh as much as I did before. Maybe it's more of a reflection of me growing, the comedy is afterall quite slapstick.
This may be a case where the memories of the film should not have been disturbed.
It's worth a look, but don't expect laugh a minute. I give it 4 stars for the laugh it gave me when I was young. -
Most recent members' review
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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Early, funny Woody
If all you know of Allen's work is some of his more recent cinematic efforts (mostly either pretentious or unfunny - or both), then "Sleeper" - an early, funny one - is a great introduction to the director and should make you want to see more of his work.
Made at a time when he was very much learning his craft as a director, the film is a take-off of science fiction movies that could be seen as one of the prototypes for later spoofs such as the Airplane films or Austin Powers. Watching his films from the 70s such as this and "Annie Hall" (the archetypal modern rom-com) it's plain to see what a big influence Allen has been on modern cinema, even though he has never had a massive commercial hit.
Equally fun are the out-dated sci-fi conventions that are sent up here. No spaceships, aliens or Darth Vader-alikes are on show. In the pre-Star Wars days of "Logan's Run", "Planet of the Apes" and "2001" Allen sets his comedy in a sterile, modernist future at odds with nature which is reminiscent of those films.
If it's not as funny as I remembered from my first viewing some years ago, perhaps it's just the film showing it's age. The strongest moments are those when Allen gives reign to his stand-up comic's gift for wise-cracking, playing off the sombre-future types around him.
A warm reminder of why I liked Allen's films in the first place. -
News and features
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Whatever Happened to Woody Allen?
- 21 May 2008
He's made (at least!) a film a year since 1970, a record that's all the more remarkable when you realise that he's written and directed all of them, and starred in most. They include some of the best-loved and most quoted comedies in cinema history: Annie Hall, Manhattan and Hannah and Her Sisters take some beating, and that's to ignore "the early, funny ones" (Sleeper, Love and Death, Bananas); the lovely miniatures from what I consider his finest period (the early 80s gave us Broadway Danny... Read more
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