When Sleepers opened in 1996, I was still working at a movie theater. Actually, I was home from college but still working at the movie theater. Sleepers opened on two screens because it was a big ticket movie.
I miss when they made dramas for grown ups with ensemble casts, let alone when they were the top of the box office. This one is character actor palooza. Besides the billed cast and young names about to blow up, John Slattery is here before he went gray. One of the boys is Jonathan Tucker. Jeff Donovan is one of the guards.
The 4K UHG captures what I remember about those two alternating film prints. You see the grain and the vivid depiction of Hell’s Kitchen 1966 via 1996 production. There are some deep shadows in the basement of the boy’s prison where the traumatic events happen. And sitting in the window creates a striking silhouette. Jason Patric and Brad Pitt meet at 5th and Queens in the deep night of 1981 slick streets.
It’s not a major surround sound movie but gunshots do echo when they kill the abusive guard (Kevin Bacon).
Director Barry Levinson, who also adapted the book, talks in two 6-minute features about adapting (and building period streets for the hot dog cart chase), and casting. He’s got two actors for each role here so it’s more than just auditioning.