Top 100 Movies Of The 1990's: #20 Sleepers
Box Office: $53.3 Million
Oscar Nominations: Best Dramatic Score
Oscar Wins: None
MovieRankings.Net: 79/100
Available To Stream: Amazon Prime ($3)
I'm sure this pick will go over well.
There are two ways to make a list like this. You can make a list of the well regarded favorites and just re-order them. I think it's a lot more interesting if it's a personal list. There's only 19 spots left. Even if you're one of the seven people who love Sleepers as much as I do, I'm sure I'm going to leave movies out that you love off the list entirely.
I know a ton of people hate that I have Braveheart at 75. That's totally OK. No one's top 100 list is going to match someone else's. If I made this list expecting people to agree, I'd be a crazy person. People are supposed to disagree with a list like this. That's half of the fun.
I also understand that Sleepers at 20 is more unusual than Braveheart at 75. Real film snobs don't like Braveheart at all and say it's one of the worst Best Picture winners ever. I'm more in the middle of the two camps. When it comes to Sleepers, I don't think anyone in any camp thinks Sleepers should be this high. But it's a movie that I think is truly great.
Before I begin this review, I will say if you haven't seen this yet, check it out. Even if I think is better than most, I don't know many people who dislike Sleepers. It has an incredible cast, great director and tells a dark and interesting story about revenge. Also, you can't shit on Sleepers at 20 on this list if you've never seen it.
Polygram. Shutterstock Images.
It's crazy that a movie starring Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Bacon and directed by a Best Director Oscar winner (Barry Levinson for Rain Man) would have slipped through the cracks of time, but that's exactly what happened. Sleepers isn't remembered badly. It's just not remembered.
That's in pretty stark contrast to when this came out. It was based on a best seller by Lorenzo Carcaterra that become very controversial because he claimed it was a true story. There is no record of anything in this movie actually happening. That doesn't bother me as much as a viewer as I think it would if I was a reader especially where this was written in the first person.
The question of whether it was real or not did cloud the movie to some extent. I know they say "there is no such thing as bad publicity" but when you are competing with movies like The English Patient and (#71) Jerry Maguire for Oscar nominations, it was. The funny thing is Fargo, which also came out in 1996, makes a joke that it's a true story (it wasn't) and no one cared.
This is a movie split pretty equally in two halves. You have the stuff from the 60's with the kids and then the 80's when they are grown. Having Robert De Niro (brilliant as Father Bobby) be the constant between these two sides is perfect. He is such a calm presence throughout this movie which goes down some truly horrific roads. It shows what great range De Niro has when you look at his performance in something like (#77) Cape Fear. I know Cuba Gooding Jr.'s performance as Rod Tidwell is more memorable but De Niro is so much better in this. It's a shame he didn't even get nominated.
You can make a real case for Kevin Bacon too. He might be the best actor never to get an Oscar nomination and his portrayal of Nokes is one of absolute evil. I don't know if you'll see many more horrific people on screen. It seems like he's having a bit of a career revival with MaXXXine and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. Hopefully, that means he'll get another great role sooner rather than later.
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This isn't a perfect movie. The first hour is much more dramatic than the second half and the kid actors are often better than the adult versions. This was also made in this short time in history when Hollywood was desperate to make Jason Patric a star. It didn't work in Speed 2: Cruise Control and it didn't work here. He's just too bland. It's not that he hurts the movie but he sure doesn't help it. Luckily, whether it be Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro or Minnie Driver, he's always on screen with a very good actor so they can carry the scenes.
If you think Sleepers was just kinda OK, you're not alone. Roger Ebert gave it three stars. It got one minor Oscar nomination. It's been mostly forgotten by movie fans. But this is my list and I think it's one of the very best revenge stories ever made.
20. Sleepers
21. Schindler's List
22. Rushmore
23. Fight Club
24. Saving Private Ryan
25. True Romance
26. Dumb & Dumber
27. Kingpin
28. Donnie Brasco
29. Heat
30. Terminator 2: Judgement Day
31. Rounders
32. Unforgiven
33. Trainspotting
34. The Game
35. Out Of Sight
36. Carlito's Way
37. Seven
38. L.A. Confidential
39. Speed
40. Gattaca
41. Misery
42. Tombstone
43. Ransom
44. Wayne's World
45. The Insider
46. Back To The Future Part III
47. A Bronx Tale
48. The People Vs. Larry Flynt
49. Eyes Wide Shut
50. The Sandlot
51. Happy Gilmore
52. Contact
53. The Green Mile
54. Man On The Moon
55. Boyz N The Hood
56. Grosse Pointe Blank
57. Independence Day
58. The Rainmaker
59. Go
60. The Firm
61. Magnolia
62. The Talented Mr. Ripley
63. Tommy Boy
64. The Usual Suspects
65. In The Line Of Fire
66. My Cousin Vinny
67. Awakenings
68. JFK
69. Toy Story
70. Home Alone
71. Jerry Maguire
72. Titanic
73. Billy Madison
74. Apollo 13
75. Braveheart
76. Edward Scissorhands
77. Cape Fear
78. The River Wild
79. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
80. 12 Monkeys
81. Stir Of Echoes
82. Mission: Impossible
83. Total Recall
84. Quiz Show
85. For Love Of The Game
87. Men In Black
88. Scream
89. Alive
90. Three Kings
91. Glengarry Glen Ross
92. Die Hard With A Vengeance
93. The Blair Witch Project
94. Twister
95. Dirty Work
96. Election
97. Tremors
98. Any Given Sunday
99. The Wedding Singer
100. Clerks