Sleepers

Sleepers is a 1996 American legal drama film written, produced, and directed by Barry Levinson, and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 novel of the same name.

Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra, Thomas "Tommy" Marcano, Michael Sullivan, and John Reilly are childhood friends in Hell's Kitchen, New York City in the mid-1960s. The local priest, Father Bobby Carillo (De Niro), plays an important part in their lives and keeps an eye on them. However, early on they start running small errands for a local gangster, King Benny.

In the summer of 1967, their lives take a turn when they nearly kill a man after pulling a prank on a hot dog vendor. As punishment, the older three are sentenced to serve 12 to 18 months at the Wilkinson Home for Boys in Upstate New York while Lorenzo is sentenced to 6 to 12 months. There, the boys are systematically abused and raped by guards Sean Nokes, Henry Addison, Ralph Ferguson, and Adam Styler.

Fourteen years later, John and Tommy kill Nokes in a Hell's Kitchen pub in front of witnesses. Michael, now an assistant district attorney, arranges to be assigned to the case, secretly intending to botch the prosecution. He and Shakes (Patric), a newspaper reporter, forge a plan to get revenge on all the guards who abused them. With the help of friends, including Carol, a social worker, and King Benny, they carry out their revenge using information on the Wilkinson guards compiled by Michael. They hire Danny Snyder, a washed-up lawyer, to defend John and Tommy to make it seem as if the case is hopeless.

To clinch the case they need a key witness who can give John and Tommy an alibi. Shakes has a long talk with Father Bobby, who agrees to lie on the stand by saying John and Tommy were with him at a New York Knicks game on the night of the shooting. As a result, they are acquitted, and Ferguson exposes himself and Nokes as abusers when called as a witness in court. The remaining guards are punished for their crimes: Addison is killed by a drug gang; and Styler, a corrupt policeman accused of extorting and killing a drug dealer, is exposed and arrested. After the case is over, Michael quits his job and moves to the English countryside where he becomes a carpenter. Tommy and John both die before their 30th birthdays.


Directed by Barry Levinson
Produced by Barry Levinson
Steve Golin
Screenplay by Barry Levinson
Based on Sleepers
by Lorenzo Carcaterra
Starring Kevin Bacon
Robert De Niro
Vittorio Gassman
Dustin Hoffman
Jason Patric
Brad Pitt
Brad Renfro
Minnie Driver
Music by John Williams
Cinematography Michael Ballhaus
Editing by Stu Linder
Studio Polygram Filmed Entertainment
Propaganda Films
Baltimore Pictures
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s)
October 18, 1996
Running time 147 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $44 million
Box office $165,615,285