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Sleeper |  | Director: Woody Allen
Actors: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Howard Cosell, John Beck
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy New: $5.65
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Rating:  72 reviews
Sales Rank: 7195
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), Spanish (Original Language), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Picture Format: Array
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: MGMD1000684D
ISBN: 0792846117
UPC: 027616850157
EAN: 9780792846116
ASIN: 0792846117
Theatrical Release Date: December 17, 1973
Release Date: July 5, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com essential video
If Interiors was Woody Allen's Bergman movie, and Stardust Memories was his Fellini movie, then you could say that Sleeper is his Buster Keaton movie. Relying more on visual/conceptual/slapstick gags than his trademark verbal wit, Sleeper is probably the funniest of what would become known as Allen's "early, funny films" and a milestone in his development as a director. Allen plays Miles Monroe, cryogenically frozen in 1973 (he went into the hospital for an ulcer operation) and unthawed 200 years later. Society has become a sterile, Big Brother-controlled dystopia, and Miles joins the underground resistance--joined by a pampered rich woman (Diane Keaton at her bubbliest). Among the most famous gags are Miles's attempt to impersonate a domestic-servant robot; the Orgasmatron, a futuristic home appliance that provides instant pleasure; a McDonald's sign boasting how-many-trillions served; and an inflatable suit that provides the means for a quick getaway. The kooky unthawing scenes were later blatantly (and admittedly) ripped off by Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. --Jim Emerson
Product Description
Movie DVD
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 72
 Classic November 25, 2009
William R. Nicholas (Mahwah, NJ USA)
I am told when I was three, I saw this at the drive-in in back of mom and dad's Country Squire, and rolled on the carpet, laughing. Eventually, I wet my pants
Obviously, baby Bill did not understand the mix of slapstick, political comment, and high art in sleeper. And I sure did not get the whole idea of an orgasmatron.
But I do now, and Sleeper is as fresh and funny now as it was on realease, in drive-ins as well as theatres, in 1973. How many people could mix an underground army with a grown man being chased by a mutated pudding?
Only Woody could, and it shows his literacy at its widest range. A political underground army was still a plausable thing to joke about in 1973 America, and Allen transfers the anti-Nixon couter-culture element into 2073 perfectly. Yet he also uses a lot of slapstick and vaudville gags, referancing the past. This mix of old and new, past present and future, is brillant.
The sets here are great, a white, bauhaus space age concept of what 2073 may look like. Now that 2073 is ALMOST in our reach and we realize that we will not be living like the Jetsons, as many still beleved in 1973, the sets seem, ironically, dated, but for the time, the design is brilliant.
I still don't understand one thing. I have looked all over the internet and no luck.
Where CAN I get MY orgasmatron??
Slapstick rarely looks this fresh... November 16, 2009
Andrew Ellington (Mulholland Drive)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's like Chaplin (or Keaton if you will) meets Godard with that undeniable Allen touch. `Sleeper' is equal parts slapstick and political satire with enough `Alphaville' thrown in to make it a complete delight of a film. You team up this solid scripting with the talented duo of Woody and Diane and you have a surefire hit that is hilarious from start to finish.
These two need to work together again soon.
The film is a hilarious romp from start to finish that tells of cryogenically frozen Miles Monroe who is thawed out 200 years into the future only to be thrust into a conspiracy, being chased by police who want to erase his memory and make him a `model citizen', while he struggles to uncover a secret government project that will change the lives of everyone. When he disguises himself as a robot servant to the ditzy Luna he finds a partner in crime so-to-speak, who helps him (at first begrudgingly) join `The Underground' to foil the evil plots to the new world leader.
The gags here are nearly all flawless (the initial thawing scene is just brilliant) and even when they don't really work (I found the cloning scene a little longwinded) there is a charm that Allen and Keaton possess that makes the scenes likable despite their flaws.
Anyone who wants to know why Allen is so loved as a film director should really see this movie. It represents a different side of Allen, a talented filmmaker who understands how to stay true to himself while unveiling many different shades of his skill. His films all contain a similarity, yet none of them really feel old-hat to me. One can watch `Hannah and Her Sisters' or `Interiors' or `Sleeper' and instantly recognize Allen's distinct voice, yet each film is a film unto itself. He has mastered his craft and continues to do so (albeit a little sloppily these days; aside from the BRILLIANT `Vicky Cristina Barcelona').
`Sleeper' is a marvelous satire that delivers on just about every front!
 Childish comedy from Woody Allen October 29, 2009
One-Line Film Reviews (Easton, MD)
The Bottom Line:
Made during Allen's less mature phase of including every gag he could think of in a film without regards for plot or consistency, Sleeper has a few laughs but its vision of the future dated quickly (as they tend to do) and its scattershot construction doesn't help matters--all things considered, it's a decidedly imperfect film from a director still learning about cinema.
2.5/4
Comedy as comedy should be January 24, 2009
Jim R (MA)
This is comedy as comedy should be, and not what today's directors try to pass off as funny.
Hopefully no one will try to do a remake today with one of today's so called comedians ... that would be the same as trying to replace Peter Sellers as the Pink Panther. Can't be done.
Order this, sit back for some slapstick and comedy without flesh and four letter words - a chance to use your imagination again.
Lotsa laughs without the PG-13 or R rating! Woody Allen when he was at his best.
 The best of the 'funny' Allen movies November 17, 2008
Kerry Walters (Lewisburg, PA USA)
I'm generally not a fan of the early "funny" Woody Allen movies. I'm sure he does them very well. I just don't have a taste for slapstick. But even I, who seem to have a big chunk of funny bone missing, can appreciate "Sleeper." It's really a funny film.
Of course it has the slapstick that I just don't get, and the slapstick is enhanced by the musical score, played by Allen's own Ragtime Rascals ensemble. Some of it is genuinely funny, others of it I can do without. But what I especially appreciate is the social satire embedded in the film's gags: the silliness of celebrityhood and conventions seen from a distant (future) perspective, the cult of personality that builds up around leaders, the deadly seriousness of freedom fighters, the pretensions of the artistic and beautiful crowd, and the new heights to which we jaded insisters on immediate gratification will go (the orgasmatron and the drug ball) to get our next fix. Good stuff all.
Allen in character is what fans of his earlier movies have come to expect and love: neurotic, over-sexed, and lovable. But for my money, the primary selling point of the film is the performance put in by Diane Keaton. Her metamorphosis from spoiled and bubble-headed member of the dystopian society to hard-boiled but still a bit bubble-headed guerilla fighter is masterfully portrayed. The chemistry between her and Allen, which culminates in "Annie Hall," is already obvious.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 72
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