Sleepers
Tags: cruelty, murder, neo noir, sentimental, thought-provoking, sadist, violence, flashback, revenge, storytelling, prank

Plot synopsis:
Told through the narration of a grown-up "Shakes", four young boys: Lorenzo "Shakes"(Joseph Perrino), Michael (Brad Renfro), Tommy (Jonathan Tucker), and John (Geoffrey Wigdor) are the best of friends growing up in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. Their family lives are hard, involving broken homes and spousal abuse, and the boys turn to street antics and volunteering as altar boys to escape. Father Bobby (Robert De Niro), an ex convict turned priest, watches out for them and tries to mold them into upstanding members of society. Despite their good hearts the boys get into all kinds of trouble, including sneaking into confessionals and pretending to be priests and playing pranks on nuns. Shakes becomes an errand boy and fast friends with a street kingpin named King Benny who runs all the illegal activity in Hell's Kitchen.One fateful day Michael suggests they knock off a hotdog vendor out of boredom. When Shakes runs off with a hotdog the vendor gives chase, leaving the stand unsupervised and allowing the three other boys to feast in his absence. Michael suggests that they leave the cart teetering on the edge of the subway entrance so when the vendor comes back he'll have to struggle to keep it from falling, giving them time to escape. In a tragic turn of events, the cart crashes down the stairs hitting and almost killing an elderly man.The boys are sentenced to a year in the Wilkinson Home for Boys. Because Shakes arrived at the scene of the cart crash later than the others (and because of the vouching of Father Bobby), he's only sentenced to 6 months. The boys hardly fit into the home which is filled with boys who have committed much more serious crimes and are subject to their ridicule and beatings. Worst of all is a guard named Sean Nokes (Kevin Bacon) who quickly turns the boys lives into a living hell. He begins by humiliating them along with three other guards, Henry Addison, Adam Styler and Ralph Ferguson (Jeffrey Donovan, Lennie Loftin and Terry Kinney respectively). Nokes embarrasses them in front of the other inmates by making them eat off the floor. The abuse escalates to beatings at night. He and the three other guards drag the four boys into the basement of the home where they repeatedly beat and rape them. It's suggested that this abuse becomes a nightly occurrence for the boys.The boys, no longer innocent and filled with shame, write to their parents to tell them not to visit; afraid they'll know what's been going on. Father Bobby refuses to stay away and urges Shakes to not let the home change him for the worse.The home holds a football game between the guards and inmates once a year for all the town to see. Michael convinces Rizzo, an intimidating black inmate to not let the guards win this year out of fear of the consequences but instead fight back as hard as possible. Rizzo agrees and the four boys and a few other inmates fight dirty and beat the guards in front of the whole town. Disgraced and angry, Nokes and the other guards throw the four boys into solitary confinement, starving them for two weeks straight. Shakes wakes up in the infirmary and is told by Michael that the guards beat Rizzo to death.As Shakes' release date nears, the four boys agree that once they get out of the home they won't breathe a word about what happened there to anyone and bury it as deep in their minds as possible.---------More than ten years later, two men walk into a pub and order a drink. Shakes' narration describes them as two of the most dangerous men in Hell's Kitchen. Both are members of the gang The West Side Boys. Both are murderers and drug users. The blonde man walks towards the bathroom and notices Nokes sitting by himself and eating dinner. He stares him down and Nokes reacts with annoyance. The blonde man tells him to enjoy his dinner and enters the bathroom. He returns to his dark-haired friend at the bar and tells him to look closely at Nokes. The dark-haired man recognizes him too and they both approach him. They sit down and introduce themselves as grown-up Tommy and John (Billy Crudup and Ron Eldard). Nokes says they were wimpy kids and he tried to make them tough. They point their guns at him. He tells them they're going to burn in hell. John says "You first", before they shoot him dead. Several people in the bar witness the shooting and hide their heads as Tommy and John walk out.Meanwhile, Shakes (Jason Patric), now a newspaper columnist, meets with Michael (Brad Pitt), now an assistant district attorney. Michael says he's going to take the Sean Nokes murder case as the prosecuting attorney. Shakes reacts with anger before Michael tells him he's going to take the case to lose. Not only that, he's planning on revealing the corrupt Wilkinson Home for what it really is. He asks Shakes to help him bring his plan to fruition. Michael hands Shakes years of research on the three other guards who had tortured them all those years ago.Shakes meets with Carol (Minnie Driver), a childhood friend of the boys and ex-girlfriend of Michael, and asks for her help finding files for the case since she has access as a social worker. She tells him that she's with John now and asks why he never asked her out. He said he never had the guts because she was Mikey's girl.Shakes enlists the help of King Benny who makes sure the fallen and disgraced drunk, Danny Snyder (Dustin Hoffman), is Tommy and John's defense lawyer, making it seem even less likely the two men will walk. Shakes meets with an internal affairs agent to give him information on Adam Styler, who has now become a cop, and his cocaine habit as well as his illegal trafficking activity. King Benny meets with drug kingpin Little Caesar, revealed to be Rizzo's older brother, and tells him the truth of Rizzo's death at the hands of Henry Addison in the Wilkinson home. Little Caesar was told Rizzo died of pneumonia.Shakes and Carol meet with Father Bobby and ask him to be Tommy and John's alibi for the night of the murder. Father Bobby doesn't want to swear to God and then lie on the stand. He asks why he should lie to let two guilty men, who will surely kill again, go free. He asks why Nokes' life means nothing to Shakes. Shakes tells him and Carol everything that happened while he, Michael, Tommy and John were at Wilkinson's. Afterward, Father Bobby says he has some thinking to do and tells them goodnight.In court, Michael successfully begins to throw the case, conveniently forgetting to present the jury with a motive. With the help of a list of questions and answers Michael previously provided him, Snyder successfully displays one of the witnesses as a "scared woman who had too much to drink", making it questionable whether Tommy and John were ever in the bar to begin with. Michael calls a character witness for Nokes by the name of Ralph Ferguson. Ferguson tells the jury that Nokes was a good man and didn't deserve to be killed by two street punks. Snyder uses Michael's question list to grill Ferguson on the goings-on of the Wilkinson Home for Boys. He asks him about the beatings and rapes and whether he and Nokes participated. Ferguson, realizing who the defendants are, breaks down and confesses. He's dismissed by the judge but told not to stray too far from home since there are people who will "want to talk to him".The next day Father Bobby gets on the stand, swears to tell the truth, and says that Tommy and John were with him at a Knicks game the night of the murder. Michael asks him if he has any proof. Father Bobby produces three ticket stubs.The jury finds Tommy and John not guilty.Addison's body is found in a swamp by La Guardia airport. Shot to death by Little Caesar's men. Adam Styler is arrested by internal affairs.The four friends and Carol meet for a private party. They share stories of their childhood and sing "Walk Like a Man" for Carol. Shakes' narration explains that this was the last night they would ever be together. Not long after that, John's body is found in an apartment stairway next to a bottle of booze that killed him. About a year after that, Tommy's body is found by the river with five bullets in his head. Both of them never reached thirty. Michael moves to England, becomes a carpenter, and never marries. Shakes still lives in Hell's Kitchen and writes for the paper. Carol is an unwed mother, compliments of John, and named her son John Michael Thomas. She calls him 'Shakes'.

Review: I believe that one reason that Sleepers(1996) didn't get the praise it deserved is the film deals with things that were already present in Mean Streets(1973) and Once Upon a Time in America(1984).
I wasn't expecting it to be so deep and emotional but the story is told in such a way that you can really feel the fear and other feelings that the characters are experiencing.Of course I think the cast was fantastically chosen, I especially give praise to Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Joe Perrino and Dustin Hoffman for their great acting.
Who knows.All I can say is, this film is quite special because without having action-packed scenes and surprises round every corner, it still keeps me glued to the seat.The last thing I just HAVE to mention is that this movie introduced me to Ron Eldard who is a sensational actor.All in all....
A well-adapted, epic story of the childhood innocence of four boys brutally snatched away, and the subsequent revenge that took place so many years later.
Perfectly paced, it is a long film whose length is never an issue; exciting courtroom drama, realistic sense of time and place, gritty yet sleek cinematography, and convincing performances from a cast that is actually to die for: Jason Patrick, Billy Crudup ("Big Fish") Dustin Hoffman, Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Minnie Driver and Brad Pitt in the same movie; it is a rare lineup.
Brad Pitt and Dustin Hoffman try like heck to make their plotline ring true, while Jason Patric and Minnie Driver just sit there and whine as if the story itself provides the tension they lack.Plotwise, the second half provides only one real moment wherein the wounds begin to heal, with the testimony of one of the villains.
Based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 novel of the same name, this legal drama comes in-tact with skilled direction & proficient performances to lead it's narrative.After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized, physically & mentally.
Disturbing drama about four kids sent to a juvenile jail where they were sexually abused, only for them to grow into men years later and seek vengeance on the man (Kevin Bacon) who abused them.
A good effort on all accounts, but the film falls apart somewhere in the second half, and seems a bit too bent on making the audience cringe during flashbacks than really trust the story as it sits.
With revenge on their minds, DA Michael takes the case with the aim of making getting his friends off while also exposing Noakes for who he was; meanwhile Lorenzo sets out to help him with the set-up, while also taking revenge on the rest of the guards.Sold on the back of the heavy star cast, I went to see this film at time of release and must admit that I wasn't that impressed by it that much.
Rewatching it recently I had no reason to change my mind with a film that lives on the surface and, although providing some powerful moments to get the audience on its side, has much a simplistic moral outlook that it significantly damages the telling of the story.
The final third brings matters to a close and is easily the most engaging as many viewers will find the flow of the story enough to hold their interest.However for me what I couldn't shake off was the lack of questioning in the film; other than a thoughtful Father Bobby silently wrestling with his conscience (in just one scene!) the film never even hints that what the men might be doing is morally wrong.
Very likely the answer is yes, but with Levinson driving we are not to know; for him this is a straight drama with right defeating wrong in a manner that makes for a nice courtroom drama.The simplicity of the writing and delivery leaves the cast with very little to do in the main group of roles.
Minnie Driver is present for some reason I didn't get but the only performance that gets close to being interesting is that of an older Kinney; despite everything else he gets the closest to producing genuine interest in me (sadly the film has no interest beyond him doing this as part of moving the story forward).Overall then a star-heavy film that wears it's worthy credentials on its sleeve and refuses any debate or examination in favour of a straight drama.
"Sleepers" is about four boys who grow up in Hell's Kitchen, get sent to reform school, are abused by the guards, and seek revenge as adults.
De Niro is superb as always but has great support in Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Minnie Driver and Dustin Hoffman.
Powerful, thought-provoking story of four boyhood friends growing up in the crime-ridden neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen New York during the late 1960s, until being sent off to reform school following a childhood prank that went awry.
The youngsters are incarcerated into a boys' detention home for 18 months after a prank on a hot dog vendor goes horribly wrong; there, they are molested regularly by a group of guards, and twenty years later two of the kids--now hell-raising adults--get their revenge by shooting the most vicious guard to death in a restaurant.
The way the plot plays out, with a genuinely original take on the whole courtroom procedure, is rather brilliant...yet, on the other hand, the details of this story make the film difficult to wade through, and Levinson's style (flashing back to the attacks in blue-tinted staccato takes) is off-putting.
Dud movie from dud director Barry Levinson.Levinson can manage to suck the life out of any story he decides to commit to film, because he tries to apply the same sheen of tasteful artistic prestige to everything whether it's appropriate or not.
Presented as a true story that depicts the revenge of 4 boys who were brutalized by sicko guards while in a state correctional facility.I don't understand why you cant just say you made something up.
The story keeps evolving until one point, when the movie shifts into a courtroom drama, that has not the qualities a traditional trial should have, and dramatically changes pace from the fast lives of the Hell's Kitchen boys.
As I said, the real thing that keeps our viewing interested is Robert deNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver, Brad Pitt, and Jason Patrick, and that ethereal John Williams' score that triumphs again with a unique work.
Sleepers was one of the best movies I have ever seen.The strongest scenes which were very moving were when the four boys were at the Wilkinson school.This exposes us to the kinds of possibility that can happen at reform schools, although I doubt it ever occurs.To me the abuser got back what he needed, and he got it good.It was not the best way for revenge, I agree.
I was kept on my seat for the entire 2+ hour duration.However, the movie's biggest flaw is character development - I had trouble even telling the four main characters apart for a lot of the movie, and I wish they had been given more fleshed out personalities to go with the intricately woven storyline.This is still a great film, though, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone with time on their hands and an insatiable lust for a full-throttle thriller..
I wished the writer-director Barry Levinson had rewritten the script one last time.But this is a decent film with a cool plot and characters.
Kevin Bacon was superb in a role that he must feel he is being type-cast into, while Hoffman had no presence or place in the film to speak of, Pitt gave a simplistic, if steady performance while Patric didnt look like he wanted to be there.
Sleepers is a great film talking about four boys living in Hell's Kitchen, New York during the 1960's.
As adults, two of them, John(Ron Eldard) and Tommy(Billy Crudup)are killers, another one, Michael(Brad Pitt), is an attorney, and the main character Lorenzo "Shakes"(Jason Patric)is a journalist(I think) and soon, all four men seek their revenge against the same guards who robbed their childhood.
The movie had great actors also including Kevin Bacon, Robert DeNiro, Minnie Driver, and Brad Renfro.
Hardly convincing tale of revenge that was based on the book by Lorenzo Carcaterra of how two childhood friends, one is a district attorney (Brad Pitt) and the other (Jason Patric) who works at the New York Post when they decide help two others childhood pals of theirs (Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup), now hoodlums who are accused of savagely shooting a former guard (Kevin Bacon), who had tortured the trio several years ago at a boys' home.I had the misfortune of watching this movie as a sophomore in high school and how it irritated (and absolutely offended) me hasn't left my mind.
The scenes at the boys' home weren't only difficult to watch, but pain-staking especially what happened at night.If there's one bright spot that manages to rise above the mess of a badly organized movie, it's the performances given by Patric, Robert De Niro, Minnie Driver, and the late Vittorio Gassman that make the film somewhat watch-able.What "Sleepers" resembles here isn't only a waste of great cast and director Barry Levinson, but simply a terrible waste of time.For anyone who was insulted by this movie's weak attempt as a revenge part dramatic thriller, try "In the Name of the Father", "The Shawshank Redemption", or "Escape from Alcatraz"..
An absolute waste of a night at the movies.I was looking forward to seeing this film because of the cast alone.What I got was one of the most contrived (true) stories ever, I've seen better storylines on some TV movies,and I thought the actors knew this as well, they were just going through the motions.
Barry Levinson directs this film based on the book by Lorenza Carcattera about four friends growing up in Hell's Kitchen, New York...
An excellent cast including Robert De Niro, Kevin Bacon, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Patric and Brad Pitt make this film an absolute must for any film fanatic.
Although two Hollywood greats are present in this film (Hoffman and De Niro), the parts they play are such, that you don't really notice them and that's a good thing.
Dustin Hoffman is fun as a washed up lawyer who gets involved, Minnie Driver shows up as a tough NYC gal who gets involved with Patric, Robert De Niro has a nice bit as a kindly priest who counsels the boys even until adulthood, and there's further supporting work from Jonathan Tucker, Bruno Kirby, Frank Medrano, Brad Renfro, Terry Kinney and more.
When a prank with a hot dog vendors cart goes horribly wrong, four young friends from New York's Hell's Kitchen district are sentenced to serve time at the Wilkinson Home For Boys.
These traumatic events change the boys and their friendship forever, notably in 1981 when the four of them are pulled back together as the sleeping ghosts from their past are awakened.Sleepers is directed by Barry Levinson and boasts an all star cast to tell its three tiered story.
In the adult section are Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Billy Crudup, Minnie Driver, Ron Eldard, Robert DeNiro, Kevin Bacon, Dustin Hoffman & Jeffrey Donovan.
Based on the novel written by Lorenzo Carcaterra (here played by Perrino & Patric), who unremittingly states that the story is based on true incidents, Sleepers has however been renounced by both the New York correctional authorities and the Manhattan District Attorney's office as being a work of fiction.
Average drama movie with a great cast.The movie has average production quality and although there is a great cast,these well known actors here were merely going thru the motions.The story was good but destroyed by a bad script/screenplay.There are also questionable scenes that causes intelligent viewers to not buy into or care about the main characters or the seriousness of the story.This movie could have been much better.Only for big fans of New York area crime dramas,child abuse dramas and fans of the lead actors here......
And then what happened to some of the now grownup boys might be seen be some as justice for what they did to the guards as well.All in all, this is a movie which, even with a priest in it who never seemed to put a foot wrong, hinges on revenge, in its many forms.
"Sleepers" (1991) starts out as a coming-of-age film about four boys in 1966-1967 from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, and then morphs into a juvenile prison picture, which covers the first hour.
So this movie could have been great I mean what a cast which includes Deniro, Patric, Pitt, and Hoffman.
This movie is supposedly a real life fictionalized version of events that happened to the author of both the screenplay and the novel this film was based on, writer Lorenzo Carcaterra.
until I read the book and discovered a whole other dimension to it.The movie is about the revenge they gain after their torment in the correctional facility, and allows Kevin Bacon and Brad Pitt maximum air-time.
I found that the whole point of the book was to connect with the characters in their childhood and then see them changed as adults, but with such big names as Robert DeNiro, Brad Pitt and Kevin Bacon, they reduced the teens story (with the true actors being those of the tormented and struggling teenagers) and hurried on the courtroom scenes.
The talents of Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Minnie Driver and Dustin Hoffman weren't exploited like they could have, they just did their job, nothing more.All in all, there really are better (more independent) films with the same uplifting theme.
and then we get Jason Patric with his clear speaking voice and no trace of New York in him at all!Besides that, this is a good movie about four kids who pay dearly for a childhood prank gone wrong, undergoing severe physical and emotional abuse in the juvenile corrections facility that they serve time in.
The fact that this account was written by Mr. Carcaterra, one of the survivors strengthens the impact of the film.Besides the outstanding child actors whom I have mentioned, Brad Pitt does a fantastic job as an embittered attorney and Robert DeNiro is great as a wiseass priest.
Of course they know what the real story in the killing is and set in motion a plan for revenge after a fictional hero they learned about in The Count of Monte Cristo.The flaw with Sleepers is the fact it is based on the premise that because of juvenile records are sealed, no one will get the connection between Pitt and Patric, the defendants, and the victim in the case.
Doesn't prevent it from being a well done film and the same is the case with Sleepers.DeNiro and Bacon come off best as the two influences on the kid's lives for good and evil respectively.
By this point, Sleepers is legendary, not only as a film that told of the shocking true story of abuse inside of juvenile prisons, but for launching the careers of some of today's best known stars.
I would desperately feel the need for some justice too, logically.Sleepers showed me from the beginning to the end, as an example and replacement to all similar stories, how the live of abused victims could turn out, and if you take revenge, crucify and kill the offender, it only eases your pain for a certain moment, but the wounds will never really heal.
I personally have a strong feeling for justice, maybe that's way I like the movie so much, next to the fact that the actors are convincing in their roles and the story lives without unnecessary action-overloaded scenes, it's never lame nor boring, you will like it, if you can be touched with serious subjects in live..
Those afflicted, herein at the "Wilkinson Home for Boys", are four childhood friends, from New York's "Hell's Kitchen": Joe Perrino and Jason Patric (as Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra), Brad Renfro and Brad Pitt (as Michael Sullivan), Jonathan Tucker and Billy Crudup (as Thomas Marcano), and Geoffrey Wigdor and Ron Eldard (as John Reilly).
I first saw the movie years ago and i have always liked it then i bought it and watched it again and it became one of my favorites.The way Lorenzo, John, Tommy and Michael get along together as best friends in Hells Kitchen in the 60s is what i loved about it and why i liked movies such as "stand by me," and "stephen King's IT."I just read the novel "Sleepers," and how the movie took all the neccassary scenes from the book.
Sleepers follows four young boys from Hell's kitchen in the mid-late sixties, care-free and cheeky until one of their minor scams ends up nearly killing a man.sentenced to no less than a year Wilkinson juvenile detention centre, the kids witness and receive horrific acts from the guards- random beatings, humiliation, sexual abuse etc, particularly by one guard- Nokes (kevin bacon).
Sleepers portrays the lives of four young boys when they are sent to a detention center for a stupid prank and ended up being brutalized and sexually abused by the guards while there.
Sleepers is a great movie, because it show us and make us feel the situation of this kids in a world(a kind of jail) that is not for them, no matter that their life is not the better.
Real good: Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt and the kids..
I enjoyed the earlier segments more than the later and felt somewhat cheated out of a great movie's promising second half.The film details the lives of four friends growing up in Hell's Kitchen as well as the mistakes they make.
Such individuals are Jason Patric, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon, Minnie Driver and Barry Levinson.