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SLEEPERS (1997)

Dir: Barry Levinson

Kevin Bacon, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Billy Crudup, Ron Eldard.

SLEEPERS is the story of four mischievous but naïve boys who live in New York amongst various characters like the local gangster and their father-figure-type priest, Bobby (Robert De Niro). After a run-in with a hotdog vendor they end up serving a short but unforgettable sentence in borstal where they encounter brutality and buggery dished out by the warders instigated by the evil Kevin Bacon.

Years after the boys are released two of them bump into one of the warders and blow him away. This is where the story becomes extremely clever. The other two (Jason Patric, Brad Pitt) devise an imaginative plan to get their killer buddies off which involves some local friends and an alcoholic lawyer (Dustin Hoffman). In the process of doing this they aim to spill the beans on the borstal too. But all this depends on whether Father Bobby is willing to lie in court.

With his outstanding performance, Sleepers is another indication that Brad Pitt is far more than a sex symbol. He will no doubt soon gain the same respect as the flawless Hoffman and De Niro. The film's only drawback is that some irrelevant scenes tend to drag, especially the final one. Apart from that, this is one of the best stories I've seen for ages, and the grim scenes of borstal are very moving.

JOHN MARSHALL
18 January 1997