स्लीपर

I think I am going to have to rank this as Woody Allen's second-best (and second-funniest) movie... after the unbeatable "Annie Hall". Even after having seen the movie 3 or 4 times I still find myself amused by some of Allen's shtick... and his rarely-demonstrated adeptness at physical comedy. So many classic physical bits: riding around in the wheelchair... eating the rubber glove... the future scientists trying to force his slack body into a futuristic vehicle. After this movie Woody started to get a little too cerebral... this was his last attempt at a just-plain-funny movie... and probably his most satisfying of his early comedies... only because there was a sort-of storyline. Woody is cryogenically frozen after a botched operation in the 1970s and is awoken 200 years later to find himself in a repressive Orwellian future. He meets up with a spoiled rich chick (Diane Keaton) and influences her (not really intentionally) into becoming a revolutionary activist.

We are blessed that Woody was around, making movies as interesting as this when he was.

Already with this one, he began his vast exploration of movie techniques and devices that would last 25 years or so.

The idea is simple in this one: he wanted to use film slapstick from a bygone era. How better to situate that than to move the whole picture into a future era?

We have some truly classic stuff here. The banana joke, The mirror joke. The robot pantomime. The acting out of the Jewish dinner (done in later movies too). The inflated man joke. You can find all these in any number of Keaton. Marx, Laurel & Hardy movies.

The unifying string of time travel, a romance, the leader and his nose is too weak to make this a solidly recommended outing. And it wouldn't be for a couple years until Woody cared about the cinematography at all.

I had forgotten how pretty Diane Keaton was. Very.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

No question that Woody Allen's earliest films were the most unpretentiously humorous, and Sleeper stands out among them. The conception of a frozen Allen waking up centuries in the future allows for plenty of biting satire on America in the 70's, not that we don't have plenty of good old-fashioned slapstick to boot. The bit with the Jewish robot tailors knocks me out no matter how many times I see it ("o-KAY, ve'll take it IN").

A futuristic comedy from Woody Allen in 1973 has him waking up from an operation 200 years later (in 2173) to find society has gone berserk.

Clever, witty, and very funny. Allen is hysterically funny as the "sleeper" who gets to give history lessons on the 1970s, pose as a robot, and become a revolutionary to be near Diane Keaton.

Filled with sight gags galore and great one-liners. The giant vegetables and chicken are funny. And so is the "1984" political humor that fits the Bush era better than it did the Nixon era. Also very funny is Allen's extended Blanche du Bois speech.

Allen is excellent as is Keaton. John Beck plays a revolutionary. Mary Gregory is the doctor. George Furth is a party guest. Jackie Mason does the voice of the Jewish tailor.

A must see.

Sleeper was a very interesting project for Allen. He had spent time doing stand up, and up until this, his movies had been written around the jokes. With the exception of Play it Again, Sam, they were a series of sketches loosely tied into a weak plot. Sleeper was the beginning of the end of this. While the plot is somewhat "sit-com-ish", it was still there, and viewers always kept it in mind. It was also loose enough that Allen could incorporate scenes paying homage to the early silent film stars (the scene with the flying suits is my personal favorite). Miles Monroe was also a rip off from Bob Hope's cowardly hero personalities, but Allen gave it his own twist, and, in my opinion, made it much better. All in all, Allen achieved the perfect blend of slapstick and substance for those in need of a simple comedy. It lacks the depth of some of his better films, but if you want to laugh, this is for you.

Oh, and if you find it somewhat intellectually devoid, try Love and Death. It was his next film, and he added less slapstick and more highbrow comedy, as well as a little more real drama and substance.