Four teen friends from the Hills Kitchen are sent to the reform school after they made a big mistake and killed a man. After arriving at the school of reform, they were treated brutally by guards who were arrogant. After a long time, John and Tommy grow up and become men who may look worse than the past, retaliating after 10 years in prison. They are sued by another member of their gang and is now DA's assistant, under mysterious circumstances.
29 August 1929, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
28 December 1968, Kansas City, Missouri, USA
18 December 1963, Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA
22 September 1921, San Antonio, Texas, USA
8 August 1937, Los Angeles, California, USA
25 December 1958, Pontiac, Michigan, USA
5 August 1962, Quincy, Massachusetts, USA
8 January 1939, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
17 August 1943, New York City, New York, USA
8 December 1924, Brooklyn, New York, USA
20 February 1965, Long Island, New York, USA
10 September 1954, Lafayette, Indiana, USA
22 May 1981, Bronx, New York, USA
31 May 1982, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
8 March 1931, Newark, New Jersey, USA
19 August 1921, Italy
April 27, 2015
It plays out as a stylish and lurid amoral vigilante thriller, one that never earns the viewer's confidence that this is the real thing.
February 09, 2006
Levinson has done nothing to sift the half-truths from the melodrama...
June 18, 2002
At times the images are agonizing to behold, men in their most desperate, hateful depths preying on children. The film, exceptional on many counts, ultimately is sad in a hopeless, haunting way.
August 14, 2009
It is all legally preposterous. But Levinson is a slick craftsman, his actors are insinuatingly real, and cinematographer Michael Ballhaus casts a disarmingly believable light on these proceedings.
May 12, 2001
Idealized? You bet. That's why the loss of this world must be avenged with the same broad strokes that you'd expect from the Count of Monte Cristo.
August 02, 2011
Despite it all, just try to take your eyes off this movie: skillfully crafted by Levinson, Sleepers is eminently watchable, deeply emotional, and populated with top acting talent. [Blu-ray]
January 01, 2011
Powerful story of child abuse. Not for kids.
August 16, 2011
...it's more than a bit disconcerting to see how the narrative makes serious wrongdoers sympathetic. Therefore, a qualified success.
November 13, 2013
Views the gray tones of good and evil and what lengths people are willing to go through to re-claim the dignity they lost as children.
August 23, 2009
Boasting a glorious multi-generational cast (De Niro, Hoffman, Brad Pitt, Jason Patric), Levinson's tale of sexual abuse and revenge is just decent, lacking dramatic energy and relying too much on voice-over narration and conventional courtroom procedures
June 24, 2008
If audiences aren't bothered by this disturbing subtext, there's a lot to enjoy in this impeccably structured, handsomely produced saga.
February 14, 2001
In craft terms alone, Sleepers is considerably better than average filmmaking, but it's difficult to take this film as seriously as it takes itself.
