Sleepers (1996)
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Old friendships are tested by the need for revenge after a group of friends faces the trauma of their past.
The story
In the summer of 1967, four childhood friends living in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, find themselves in trouble after a prank involving a hot-dog cart leads to a serious injury. To avoid prosecution, they are sent to a juvenile detention center in Upstate New York. While there, the boys are subjected to systematic abuse and torture by the guards. Years later, the group remains bonded by their shared trauma. When one of the friends encounters one of their former abusers in a pub, the others must decide how to confront the past and seek justice for the crimes committed against them.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
In 1967, four friends in Manhattan are sent to a juvenile detention center where they are abused by guards. After being released in 1968, they vow to never speak of the abuse. In 1981, two of the friends, John and Tommy, encounter one of the guards, Nokes, and shoot him. Michael, now a prosecutor, works to ensure their acquittal while exposing the other guards' crimes. Through a series of legal maneuvers and a perjured testimony from Shakes, the others are acquitted. The remaining guards are punished: one is killed by a relative of a victim, and another is imprisoned. The film ends with the four men meeting one last time before their lives diverge, with some facing tragic ends and others finding a different path.
- First release year
- 1996
- Runtime (minutes)
- 147
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Barry Levinson
- Writers
- Barry Levinson · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Kevin Bacon · Sean Nokes; Robert De Niro · Father Robert “Bobby” Carillo; Dustin Hoffman · Danny Snyder; Bruno Kirby · Mr. Carcaterra, Shakes' father; Jason Patric · Lorenzo 'Shakes' Carcaterra; Brad Pitt · Michael Sullivan; Brad Renfro · Young Michael Sullivan; Minnie Driver · Carol Martinez
- Genres
- crime drama; coming-of-age; courtroom; rape and revenge
- Themes
- friendship; revenge; child abuse
- Tone and mood
- haunting; mournful
- Setting
- Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan and Upstate New York between 1967 and 1981.
- Premise and plot tags
- legal drama; crime; buddy drama; prison drama
- Source material / true-story basis
- Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 book of the same name.
- Content notes
- sexual abuse
- Reception
- The film received positive reviews from critics and was a box-office hit.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 76% · scale: percentage · review count: 62; Metacritic · score: 49 · scale: 100 · review count: 18
- Production trivia
- The title is an American slang term for juvenile delinquents who serve sentences longer than nine months.; Several actors were replaced during casting, including Minnie Driver replacing Sandra Bullock.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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