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Sleeper (1973)
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton team for the third time in a zany futuristic comedy from 1973 called Sleeper that, despite a couple of confusing detours during the final act, provides genuine belly laughs thanks to Woody's flawless ear for comic dialogue and some incredible set pieces.
The film opens in the year 2173 where Miles Monroe (Allen), a jazz clarinetist and health food store owner wakes up after being cryogenically frozen for 200 years after entering St. Vincent's Hospital in the village for a minor operation. Miles learns that he has been awakened in order to infiltrate the oppressive 2173 government in order to find out about something called the Aires Project. Miles apparently is the only one who can infiltrate because everyone in the future has been numbered and programmed and denied government access.
Allen co-wrote this wickedly funny satire with Marshall Brickman, with whom he also collaborated with on Manhattan and the Oscar-winning Annie Hall. Despite it being set 200 years in the future, the story is basically a different platform for Allen to publicize his well-known views on politics, religion, sex, relationships, and ecology. Only in the demented mind of Woody Allen would we actually find a futuristic society where vegetables are the size of trees and people have sex inside a machine.
The first two thirds of this movie are especially funny as we watch the Miles Monroe character try to adapt his 1973 sensibilities to 2173 society. I loved one of the opening scenes where he is asked to identify several historical figures from photographs and television clips. It was no surprise when he is told that they have figured out that in 1973 people who did something really terrible were punished by being made to watch Howard Cossell. The opening scenes where Miles has to be a robot are very amusing and once Miles and Luna (Keaton), the flighty 2173 socialite he takes as a hostage get separated and she joins a group of underground survivalists, the story gets a little convoluted leading to a finale that seemed like something out of a Three Stooges short subject, but it does lead to a satisfying finale.
The film is worth watching for Woody Allen's look at America in the year 2173, which utilizes some stunning art direction and outrageous set pieces that scene after scene, defy imagination but fit this crazy story like a glove. Of course, it goes without saying that Allen and Keaton are the well-oiled machine they always have been and they will get you through the confusing spots. It should also be noted that the jazzy music is provided by Woody and the band that he plays with at Michael's in New York every Oscar night.
Woody Allen and Diane Keaton team for the third time in a zany futuristic comedy from 1973 called Sleeper that, despite a couple of confusing detours during the final act, provides genuine belly laughs thanks to Woody's flawless ear for comic dialogue and some incredible set pieces.
The film opens in the year 2173 where Miles Monroe (Allen), a jazz clarinetist and health food store owner wakes up after being cryogenically frozen for 200 years after entering St. Vincent's Hospital in the village for a minor operation. Miles learns that he has been awakened in order to infiltrate the oppressive 2173 government in order to find out about something called the Aires Project. Miles apparently is the only one who can infiltrate because everyone in the future has been numbered and programmed and denied government access.
Allen co-wrote this wickedly funny satire with Marshall Brickman, with whom he also collaborated with on Manhattan and the Oscar-winning Annie Hall. Despite it being set 200 years in the future, the story is basically a different platform for Allen to publicize his well-known views on politics, religion, sex, relationships, and ecology. Only in the demented mind of Woody Allen would we actually find a futuristic society where vegetables are the size of trees and people have sex inside a machine.
The first two thirds of this movie are especially funny as we watch the Miles Monroe character try to adapt his 1973 sensibilities to 2173 society. I loved one of the opening scenes where he is asked to identify several historical figures from photographs and television clips. It was no surprise when he is told that they have figured out that in 1973 people who did something really terrible were punished by being made to watch Howard Cossell. The opening scenes where Miles has to be a robot are very amusing and once Miles and Luna (Keaton), the flighty 2173 socialite he takes as a hostage get separated and she joins a group of underground survivalists, the story gets a little convoluted leading to a finale that seemed like something out of a Three Stooges short subject, but it does lead to a satisfying finale.
The film is worth watching for Woody Allen's look at America in the year 2173, which utilizes some stunning art direction and outrageous set pieces that scene after scene, defy imagination but fit this crazy story like a glove. Of course, it goes without saying that Allen and Keaton are the well-oiled machine they always have been and they will get you through the confusing spots. It should also be noted that the jazzy music is provided by Woody and the band that he plays with at Michael's in New York every Oscar night.