Sleepers (DVD)

Available from	£1.60	Compare 4 prices
User rating		31 Reviews

	Offers for Sleepers (DVD)

User Reviews

for Sleepers (DVD)

Rating Summary based on 31 reviews

		19

		12

		0

		0

		0

Detailed rating

Characters / Performances
Did you enjoy it?
How does it compare to others by the same director?
How does it compare to similar films?
Soundtrack

	4.8

	4.5

	2.8

	3.9

	3.5

Review attribute filters

Reviews with images

Page 1 of 4 | 1 to 10 out of 31 Review(s)

Show most helpful reviews first
Newest first

45 of 45 Ciao users found the following review helpful

christianfilmcritic

Member since 21/01/2006

Reviews written: 263

Fact or Fiction - its still a good film 30/01/2006

User recommends the product

Advantages Good performances and sympathetic direction
Disadvantages Shame that these horrors go on in the world

The Storyline ----------------- Four teenage friends, who have no direction in life, enjoy having fun and causing mischief in an area of New York called Hell's Kitchen. The boys have a friend in the local priest, who is more suited to the street than the pulpit. He tries to give them guidance and is concerned as they strike up a friendship with the Boss of Hell's Kitchen. One day, an attempt to get free food goes terribly wrong and the four boys end up being sent to a reform school for a minimum of one year. Whilst here, the guards subject the boys to ciolence, humiliation and sexual abuse ... more
24 of 24 Ciao users found the following review helpful

Great_reviewer07

Member since 10/01/2009

Reviews written: 436

Revenge Is Sweet 10/12/2009

User recommends the product

Advantages Compelling first half, very astute
Disadvantages Lacklustre in parts, uncomfortable viewing at times

Hells Kitchen, New York has always been a difficult place to live let alone grow up in, with drug dealers, murderers and rapists at every corner, but that’s just the surroundings that four young boys grow up in, in 1967. The mischievous boys play a prank on a hot dog vender however what at first was a juvenile prank turned into something much more serious when the prank goes horribly wrong. The four boys end up in a juvenile prison for at least a year of their lives. At 14 years old the boys are introduced to daily beatings and sexual assaults. Needless to say the scars run deep and 13 years ... more
60 of 60 Ciao users found the following review helpful

e.j.kingham

Punishment is severe and in some cases final.
Review with images
15/06/2005

User recommends the product

Advantages A deep and moving plot based on a real story & exceptional actor performances.
Disadvantages Some disturbing scenes of sexual and physical assult.

Sleepers (DVD) ~~~The Cast~~~ The main characters: Group of four boys - John Riley (Geoffory Wigdor), Thomas (Jonathan Tucker), Michael Sullivan (Brad Renfro) and Shakes (Joe Perrino) and their adult counterparts Ron Eldard, Billy Crudup, Brad Pitt and Jason Patric. The boys' uncompromising friends Carol Martinez (Mini Driver) and Father Bobby (Robert De Niro). The leader of the prison guards Nokes (Kevin Bacon), lawyer Danny Snyder (Dustin Hoffman) and Hell's Kitchen King Benny (Vittorio Gassman) ~~~The Plot~~~ The film opens in Hell's Kitchen in the summer of 1966, populated by a ... more
30 of 30 Ciao users found the following review helpful

atticusuk

Member since 22/02/2004

Reviews written: 310

stealing hotdogs and getting revenge 16/07/2004

User recommends the product

Advantages powerful performances from a great cast
Disadvantages pretends to be a true story

Most of the time Hollywood manages to take a really good piece of fiction and convert it into a disappointing film. Thankfully this is not the case with Sleepers. The original best-selling book by Lorenzo Carcaterra was successfully transported to the big screen by Barry Levinson along with co-producer Steve Golin and under the direction of Michael Ballhaus. This is a rare film that actually manages to stay true to the sentiments of the book and does not mess with the main characters or storyline. It’s success is also supported by the mega star cast which includes Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro ... more
75 of 75 Ciao users found the following review helpful

LIZKEMPO

Member since 11/09/2003

Reviews written: 266

You won't sleep well after this.
Review with images
03/05/2006

User recommends the product

Advantages Interesting film, important topic
Disadvantages Disturbing Story

Last week I was flicking through the channels and a film had just started called 'Sleepers' I had no idea what it was so decided to watch, once I started I was hooked. As I watched this on TV I am unable to tell you if the DVD has and special features. 1996, Sleepers Writer/Director/Producer: Barry Levinson is a great director; he has been responsible for films such as 'Rain Man' for which he received the 1988 Best Director Oscar, in 1987 he directed 'Good Morning Vietnams' starring Robin Williams. The Story Set in the 1960's this film follows the life of four young boys who are great friends ... more
54 of 54 Ciao users found the following review helpful

sunmeilan

Member since 05/05/2005

Reviews written: 1138

Payback time 20/07/2008

User recommends the product

Advantages The first half of the film is excellent
Disadvantages Second half drags

Growing up in Hell's Kitchen in the mid sixties is great fun for Tommy, John, Michael and Shakes. They play hard, but they are generally good kids, much liked in the neighbourhood. But a prank one day changes their lives for ever - they steal a hot dog vendor's stand and let it go at the top of some stairs, seriously injuring someone who got in its way. Sent to a detention camp for a few months, they are bullied and brutalized at the hands of the wardens. None of the boys recover, but it affects Tommy and John most of all, who end up in and out of prison. Then one day, Tommy and John come ... more
33 of 33 Ciao users found the following review helpful

dchurch

Revenge is a dish best served cold 14/01/2002

User recommends the product

Advantages Great cast, great script and a moving story.
Disadvantages That it ever happened.

Okay guys get ready for probably the most biased review ever to find its way onto the hallowed screens of ciao! Yes, before I begin to tell you why I'll start by saying that I LOVE this film. Sleepers is a dark movie based on the book of the same name. Written by Lorenzo Carcaterra, it is the story of his life growing up in Hell's Kitchen, a violent and disturbing neighbourhood in New York. The story centres around Carcaterra and his three best friends, Michael, John and Tommy and the event that changed their lives forever. In the summer of 1967 the four boys were involved in a tragic accident ... more
22 of 22 Ciao users found the following review helpful

JVL

Member since 28/07/2000

Reviews written: 156

Sleeping with the light on 09/11/2001

User recommends the product

Advantages A compelling story of violence, abuse, revenge and above all, friendship
Disadvantages A harrowing story, definitely not light viewing

Sleepers is a chilling story, and one that is made all the more powerful simply because everything in it is based on real events. It is the story of four young friends who live in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan, a tough area full of tough men, run by a respected gangster known as King Benny, and populated by a mix of immigrant families from all over Europe. The boys – Shakes, Tommy, John and Mikey – spend their summer days running errands for King Benny, and catching some sun on the roof of their apartment block, while Shakes tries to avoid his father’s violent ... more
17 of 17 Ciao users found the following review helpful

TheNeil

Member since 03/10/2000

Reviews written: 231

Hard hitting but ultimately empty 12/07/2001

User recommends the product

Advantages See review
Disadvantages See review

Some films carry a sense of grandeur, some films carry a sense of gravity, and some films TRY to carry a sense of gravity and grandeur. Despite the best of intentions, they final product doesn't quite live up to the hype. For whatever reason they just don't 'feel' right. Oh dear, we're in for a roasting now... Four childhood friends from the Devil's Kitchen area of NY have spent their entire lives drifting in and out of contact with each other but why is their bond so string? Sent to juvenile hall in the late 1960's the four share a disturbing secret of abuse and torture at the hands of the ... more
13 of 13 Ciao users found the following review helpful

clumsy221

These children didn't get much sleep (sleepers dvd) 14/02/2010

User recommends the product

Advantages Everything about the film
Disadvantages None for me

~~~Sleepers~~~ In the long hot summer of 1967, four childhood friends growing up in Hells Kitchen play a seemingly harmless prank on a hot dog vendor, however it all goes disastrously wrong when they nearly kill a man who is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sentenced by the courts they boys are sent to the Wilkinson Home for boys for up to 1 year's punishment. Beaten, brutalised and sexually assaulted by the guards that are responsible for them, the boys leave detention centre a shadow of their former selves and holding a secret tryst they swear to forget once on the outside. Scarred by ... more