Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: SLEEPER (1973)

From: [email-masked] (Ted Prigge)
Date: 23 Jun 1997 15:07:34 GMT

SLEEPER
                       A film review by Ted Prigge
                        Copyright 1997 Ted Prigge

Director: Woody Allen
Writers: Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Brian Avery, Douglas 
Rain

One of the many things Woody Allen is good at is making comedies funny 
the entire way through without loosing steam.  His cure for it is 
locomotion: he always keeps the story moving and is always introducing 
various jokes, whether they be academic witticisms, bathroom humor, sly 
witty remakrs, sight gags, what have you.  He also expresses all his 
hostile beliefs in his comedies, but not in a dramatic way.  Most of his 
comedies have some sort of inner meaning to them which make them 
hilarious and thought-provoking at the same time.  With the exception of 
"Annie Hall," no other of his comedies has ever come close to providing 
a message while still being hilariously funny.

"Sleeper" is his version of "1984" or "Brave New World," presented as a 
slapstick comedy a la Chaplin or any of the other silent slapstick 
films.  To make it pretty authentic, Woody gives us a soundtrack done by 
the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, swing music that perfectly makes the 
situations seem comical as they are all done silently.  The rest of the 
time, we get Woody's famous dialogue with quick wit and 
pseudo-intellectual one-liners ("This is a picture of Norman Mailer.  He 
dedicated his ego to the Harvard Medical School for study...").

The plot centers around Miles Monroe (Woody), a neurotic (is there any 
other kind of Woody-given character?) health food store owner who likes 
to play clairinet in a local jazz band ("I've always felt you had to be 
black to play jazz.  I'm only a malatto.  Yeah, my mother was white, and 
my father was black...and vice versa.").  The film opens in 2173 in a 
utopian society where the government "is worse than California," as 
Woody puts it.  A group of scientists thaw out Miles who has been frozen 
for the past 200 years after going to the hospital for an ulcer 
operation (but something went wrong...).  He gets the fish-out-of-water 
treatment when he is awakened as he tries to adjust to that long sleep. 
 Soceity is worlds away from what it was before.  For one thing, tobacco 
is revered as a healthy product, as well as deep fat and hot fudge, etc. 
 When the scientists ask him to help them with data from the 20th 
century that they don't understand, he gives them joke answers.  For 
example, they show him a tape of "The Wide World of Sports" and say 
their theory on it was it was used as a form of government torture.  
Miles says, "Yes, that's exactly what it was."

But Miles soon learns the scientists had ulterior motives for thawing 
him out: they are part of the rebels who want to overthrow "the Great 
Leader."  His job is to find the Underground in the "western district" 
since he has no data compiled in him.  Before he can really say no, the 
"Security Police" come by and erase their minds for treason.  Meanwhile, 
Miles escapes in a series of comical bits and ends up disguising himself 
as one of their android butlers.  He is dropped by the house of a vapid 
poetess, Luna Schlosser (Diane Keaton, in their first pairing in a 
Woody-directed film - "Play it Again, Sam" was NOT directed by him, 
contrary to popular opinion).  She is duped by his amazing disguise and 
gets him ready for a party, which gets him wound up in a fight with 
giant pudding.  

Soon, he has Luna involved in the rebellion as he forces her to take him 
to the Underground.  They eventually fall in love, are parted, switch 
motives, and then get together to stop "Aries Day," a top-secret 
government experiment, which has them posing as doctors to steal the 
nose of the Great Leader who was blown up in an assasination attempt and 
is only a nose now.  The climax has them in love again, and rejoicing as 
they have saved the day.

First off, Woody and Diane make a perfect team.  They have such 
chemistry that it's reminiscent of great comedy teams Laurel and Hardy 
and Abbot and Costello.  And Woody's dialogue is right on, with great 
banter and hilarious one-liners.  He also tackles some serious topics, 
some which he has already tried out.  His rebellious nature against an 
unfair government is reminiscent of "Bananas" and would come again in 
"Love and Death."  But his cloning satire is fresh and more effective 
than any other cloning films I've ever seen.  The people who cloned 
"Daisy" should have watched this film first.  And he also does some 
"Clockwork Orange" recconaissance work as the government reprograms 
Miles when he is caught.  He also spoofs several films.  For one thing, 
the film is very reminiscent of Chaplin's "Modern Times."  But it also 
spoofs "2001" (for the voice of the computer in one scene, they use the 
voice of Douglas Rain, who provided the errie voice of HAL) and "A 
Streetcar Named Desire" (with Woody as Vivien Leigh and Diane doing a 
mean Brando impersonation).  

"Sleeper" works so well as a satire because it takes the other route 
when presenting it: it goes for slapstick laughs, mixing the message in 
nicely and still being hilarious the whole time.  Even a non-Woody fan 
would appreciate this one.  Slapstick is pretty much the universal form 
of laughter, and he does it brilliantly.  He also gives us hilarious 
lines, and some comical romantic melodrama: Luna runs into the 
Underground and meets the leader, Erno (John Beck), who teaches her 
marxism and romances her, causing jealousy to rise in Miles ("He's got 
capped teeth, you know?  He's got capped gums!")  The characterization 
is also on here, as it wasn't really in his previous comedies.  Miles is 
insecure and it gets in his way many times.  He is a big chicken when it 
comes to being the helper for the rebellion and when a big man comes 
into his romantic ways, he just can't help but try to do everything in 
his power to show he's a better man.  And Luna is very easily-led and 
switches partners with ease.  She also easily goes from loving her 
utopian way of life to believing in the teachings of Karl Marx.  

The use of sight gags and futuristic occurences also adds to the humor. 
 For one thing, sex has been handled so it's quick, efficient and 
doesn't cause any diseases or pregnancies.  Seems like "Demolition Man" 
ripped this movie off a bit.  Instead, they have things called 
"Orgasmatrons," machines that do the sex for you with your clothes on in 
a matter of seconds.  Miles makes fun of it later on, saying, "What do 
you do if it breaks?  Switch to manual?"  And as far as drugs, they have 
"The Orb," a large metal ball that gives off drugs when you touch it.  
And when in the woods, Miles goes to get food and finds a large plant 
where they make large food products, including celery, bananas and even 
a giant chicken.

This is also the first time Woody could construct a narrative and move 
his jokes easier.  The main flaw in "Bananas" was it was way too 
episodic.  "Sleeper" is episodic, but it at least moves to its new 
places easier and more smoothly.  And the jokes are actually funnier 
than any of his other films and the satire more poignant.  This is 
basically one of the most universally great Woody Allen comedies.

"Sleeper" is probably Woody's funniest film.  For that, I will say it 
deserves to be placed around the top of his oeuvre, with his other 
masterpieces "Annie Hall," "Manhattan, "Hannah and Her Sisters" and 
"Crimes and Misdemeanors."  "Sleeper" is my fave Woody Allen film, and 
undoubtedly a great work of comic art.

MY RATING (out of 5): *****