Sleeper **** (1973, Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory, Don Keefer, John McLiam, Marya Small) – Classic Movie Review 6307

Co-writer/ director/ star Woody Allen’s hilarious 1973 comedy comes from his fresh, happy, carefree knockabout comedy salad days. He was 29 at the time.

Written by Allen and Marshall Brickman, it is an infectiously exuberant, zany sci-fi spoof, in which Allen stars as nerdy clarinet-playing store owner Miles Monroe, who undergoes an operation, is put in deep freeze and thaws out after 200 years to find himself a wanted alien in a dystopian police state. He is revived by anti-government radicals to help them fight the oppressive government he finds.

It is a cheeringly nutty movie, with funny sight gags galore, and good jokes coming thick and fast, plus the young Diane Keaton being very funny as Luna Schlosser, as well as a jazzy score from the star.

With Allen directing and co-writing with Brickman, this is his best movie before Annie Hall (1977), also co-written with Brickman.

Also in the cast are John Beck as Erno Windt, Mary Gregory, Don Keefer, John McLiam, Marya Small [Mews Small], Bartlett Robinson, Chris Forbes, Peter Hobbs, Spencer Milligan, Stanley Ralph Ross, Whitney Rydbeck, Susan Miller, Lou Picetti, Brian Avery, Jessica Rains and Albert Popwell.

It is shot by David M Walsh, produced by Jack Rollins, Charles Joffe and Jack Grossberg, scored by Woody Allen, and designed by Dale Hennesy.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6307

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