O Dorminhoco

Woody Allen's films are generally treasured among other comedies because of their wit and charm. Many critics would agree, though, that Allen's earlier films were among his best. One of those movies was a lighthearted film called `Sleeper,' which starred a younger version of Allen and a younger, but always beautiful Diane Keaton. Although `Sleeper' leaves a person in stitches from laughter, its one flaw is that it lacks an ending. But don't let that stop you from seeing this comedy classic. In the end, who cares where it goes because it's just flat out funny. `Sleeper' is the story of Miles Monroe (Allen), who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 after having a procedure in a hospital. He is awoken nearly 200 years later by a group of scientists who want Monroe to help them defeat the leader of their society, as America's future consists of a totalitarian state. While on his adventure through this futuristic world, Monroe meets a beautiful woman named Luna Schlosser (Keaton) who he begins to have a love interest in. The two team up to try to oust their tyrannical government and bring about freedom and prosperity. `Sleeper' was hysterical from beginning to end. The very opening scene shows Monroe covered in tin foil-clearly scientists in 1973 found new and amazing uses for this wonderful kitchen product. As soon as Monroe awakens, he is disoriented, smiling aimlessly into space and walking backwards and into people. Allen's comical blend of intellect and charm shows up soon after. The futuristic society is comprised of people who have no historical references for the events of the past 200 years, as their leader has undoubtedly outlawed certain forms of knowledge that could lead to rebellion. They use Monroe to fill in the historical gaps by showing him pictures of famous twentieth century individuals, such as Joseph Stalin. Monroe provides his own synopsis of their contributions to the world in his own clever way, as he does also for former President Nixon. Allen's writing, direction and performance were hilarious. Rarely do we see writing as clever and sidesplitting in today's comedies. The only other comic director today that could even compare to Allen would be Christopher Guest, whose mockumentary films such as `Best In Show,' and the recent `A Mighty Wind,' have a real source of comedy. Most present comedies are trivial, filled with rehashed jokes that depend more on toilet humor than any form of real wittiness. The film's only problem is that after an hour and a half, it doesn't seem to know what to do with itself. It ends on a clever note about love with the protagonists somehow managing to save themselves, but not really the day. They realize that perhaps the only thing worth fighting for, in the end is love. All in all, `Sleeper' was a very funny farce on science fiction stories, and it cemented Allen's ability to be an engaging and funny in his films. ***

In this early comedy, Woody Allen plays Miles Monroe, a twentieth century healthfood restaurant owner and jazz clarinettist who is cryogenically frozen after surgery and awoken two centuries later. The America of 2173 is a totalitarian state ruled by an oppressive dictator, and Miles has been reanimated by a group of rebels fighting to overthrow the government. For reasons too complex to set out here, Miles is forced to go on the run disguised as a robot and finds himself falling in love with his new owner, an attractive but intellectually vacant young woman named Luna. The film recounts how Miles wins Luna over to the rebel cause and tells the story of their fight against the regime.

Unlike some of Woody's later films, this is a pure comedy. It does not try to explore philosophical issues or to analyse the human condition in the same way as, say, "Hannah and her Sisters" or "Crimes and Misdemeanours". Although I normally think of Woody as a master of verbal wit, much of the humour in "Sleeper" is physical slapstick, based upon (and no doubt deliberate homage to) the comedians of the silent era such as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton. (I particularly liked the scenes where Woody is disguised as a robot and those where the villains are attempting to clone the dictator, killed in a bomb explosion, from his nose). The links with that era are reinforced by the musical score, composed by Woody himself, in a jazz/ragtime style reminiscent of the 1910s and 1920s. The sets, by contrast, are very futuristic, with the clinical glass-and-chromium look of many science-fiction films. The combination of a futuristic theme with a traditional style of comedy is doubtless why the film was advertised under the slogan "Woody Allen takes a nostalgic look at the future".

This is not, however, simply a pastiche of silent humour like the one Mel Brooks was to attempt a few years later in "Silent Movie". This being a Woody Allen film, there is also a good deal of verbal humour, particularly one-liners along the lines of "I haven't seen my analyst in 200 years. He was a strict Freudian. If I'd been going all this time, I'd probably almost be cured by now". (As that line suggests, Miles is the typical, neurotically insecure Woody Allen character). As is often the case with humorous science-fiction (such as Douglas Adams's "Hitchhiker" books), the humour is frequently used to make satirical points about twentieth-century society as seen from the viewpoint of an imagined future. Contemporary worries about our diet are neatly satirised by a joke about how the science of two hundred years hence has proved that fatty foods and smoking are actually beneficial to health whereas what we now think of as healthfoods are regarded as unhealthy. This joke has remained topical because anxiety about what we eat is, if anything,even greater today than it was in 1973. There is perhaps also a dig at seventies "radical chic" as the vacuous conformist Luna becomes an equally vacuous revolutionary. (The plot of "Sleeper" seems to owe something to another tongue-in-cheek science-fiction film from a few years earlier, "Barbarella", which also dealt with rebellion against a dictator and even featured similar "orgasmatron" machines; the star of that film, Jane Fonda, had by 1973 become Hollywood's most famous radical chic actress).

The humour of "Sleeper" is often directed against figures from the sixties and seventies- perhaps too much so, as this type of humour tends to date very quickly. Some of it is still funny (such as Diane Keaton's Marlon Brando impersonation), but some can now be difficult to understand, particularly for non-Americans. (I had no idea, for example, who Howard Cosell was- apparently he was a sports commentator). That is, however, a minor quibble. Overall, this is an entertaining film and, in places, very funny, combining successfully two very different styles of humour. 7/10

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.

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.