Sleepers
| Sleepers | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Barry Levinson |
| Produced by | Barry Levinson Steve Golin |
| Screenplay by | Barry Levinson |
| Based on |
Sleepers by Lorenzo Carcaterra |
| Starring | |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Michael Ballhaus |
| Edited by | Stu Linder |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. (USA & Canada) Buena Vista Pictures (International) |
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Release date
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Running time
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147 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $44 million |
| Box office | $165.6 million |
Sleepers is a 1996 American legal crime drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 novel of the same name. The film starred Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, and Vittorio Gassmann among others.
Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra, Tommy Marcano, Michael Sullivan, and John Reilly are childhood friends in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the mid-1960s. The local priest, Father Robert "Bobby" Carillo, serves as a father figure to the boys and keeps an eye on them. However, they start running small errands for a local gangster, King Benny.
In the summer of 1967, their lives take a turn when they nearly kill a man after pulling a prank on a hot dog vendor. As punishment, the boys are sentenced to the Wilkinson Home for Boys in Upstate New York; Tommy, Michael and John sentenced to 12-18 months, while Shakes is given 6-12 months. There, the boys are systematically abused and raped by guards Sean Nokes, Henry Addison, Ralph Ferguson, and Adam Styler. The horrifying abuse changes the boys and their friendship forever.
During the boys' stay at the facility, they participate in Wilkinson's annual football game between the guards and inmates, one that the latter lose on purpose to avoid reprisals from the former. Michael convinces Rizzo, a black inmate, that they should play as hard as they can to show the guards they can fight back. Rizzo agrees, and helps to win the game. As a result of this, Shakes, Tommy, Michael, and John are all beaten and thrown into solitary confinement for several weeks, and the guards beat Rizzo to death.
Later, shortly before Shakes' release from Wilkinson, he insists that the boys should publicly report the abuse, but the others refuse, not wanting to keep reliving the horrors of it, and knowing that their claims–despite being genuine–would never be believed or cared about by the legal system. They all therefore vow never to speak of the horrors and abuse the guards put them through once they are all out.
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Wikipedia