Sleepers

Sleepers

Summary
-Four boys-Michael Sullivan, John Reilly, Tommy Marcano and Lorenzo Carcaterra- live in Hell's Kitchen in 1960s New York. They run the streets like it's their own personal playground. One day, they pull a prank on an unsuspecting new hot dog vendor. While Lorenzo, the youngest and smallest, runs off with a hot dog in hand, the vendor chases him, leaving his cart unattended. The other boys push it to the edge of an open subway stairwell with the intention of letting it go. Unfortunately, a man gets hurt in the process and as a result, the four boys are sentenced to the Wilkinson Home for Boys, an upstate New York juvenile delinquents home. There the boys are systematically targeted for rape and abuse by the guards there. Two come out deadly as ever, while two try and forget the terror that occurred there

Cast
-Kevin Bacon: Sean Nokes
-Billy Crudup: Tommy Marcano
-Robert De Niro: Father Bobby Carrillo
-Ron Eldard: John Reilly
-Minnie Driver: Carol
-Vittorio Gassman: King Benny
-Dustin Hoffman: Danny Snyder (Danny O'Connor in the novel)
-Terry Kinney: Ralph Ferguson
-Bruno Kirby: Lorenzo 'Shakes' father
-Frank Medrano: Fat Mancho
-Jason Patric: Lorenzo 'Shakes' Carcaterra
-Joe Perrino: young Shakes
-Brad Pitt: Michael Sullivan
-Brad Renfro: young Michael
-Geoffrey Wigdor: young John
-Jonathan Tucker: young Tommy
-Eugene Byrd: Rizzo
-Jeffrey Donovan: Henry Addison
-George Georgiadis: Greek hot dog vendor
-Don Hewitt: James Caldwell
-Lennie Loftin: Adam Styler
Did You Know?
-Movie critic Roger Ebert criticized the movie as homophobic
-Part of the movie was filmed at the psychiatric hospital, Fairfield Hills, in Newton, C.T. after the state took possession of it
-During filming, Brad Renfro and Joe Perrino wore colored contact lenses so they would have the same color eyes as Brad Pitt and Jason Patric, who play the characters as adults


Joe Perrino as 'Lorenzo Carcaterra'



Brad Renfro as 'Michael Sullivan'

Jason Patric as adult Lorenzo and Brad Pitt as adult Michael

-When the characters need to send a coded message to one another, they use the name "Edmund". This is a reference to the main character, Edmund Dante, in the story The Count of Monte Cristo", which plays a heavy role in the movie
-Author Lorenzo Carcaterra claims his book is based on real life, based on an incident from his childhood. But the New York state legal community couldn't find evidence supporting the case that he and his friends were sent to a juvenile boys home and systematically raped and abused by the guards there