end closes the circle and makes us aware of how quickly our lives can fall apart. Thrilling and suspense is guaranteed. Very recommendable.

ride!

brilliant that i am amused it is a true story, and not a Hollywood written screenplay.... Amused in a positive way!

rare "non-swearing" roles of his. There is a scene where Jason Patric tells the story of the abuses they faced, and the camera focusses on Robert De Niro's face. Only thing changes is his eyes, from sharp and focussed at the first, you see them widening and then you see some trace of tears. Great! This scence reminds me of Omar Shariff standing on a balcony while soldiers start mayhem on the streets, in Dr. Zhivago.A good care has been taken in getting child stars and adult stars look pretty similar.Only thing li'll bit out of the place is constant referance to Count of montecristo. The revenge in the book is "sweet lasting revenge" where in this movie its straight shot. But heck! this is real life!the last night the friends spend together is also really touching. my rating 9/10.

riveted on the screen. It is a film you simply can't ignore or feel ambivalent about, as it has so much to say and does it all so well--with wonderful performances, writing and direction.The film begins with a horrific murder. Why these two men would see someone and then decide on the spot to brutally murder the guy is unknown--and you learn through the course of the film why this happened. Sure, the pair WERE career criminals and violent men, but there was far more to it than this...and it all stems from their troubled childhoods in a reform school from hell! And, you learn that the murder victim was no victim after all--the guy was a monster and truly deserved so much worse! What makes all this so interesting, however, is that the prosecutor happens to know EXACTLY why the man was killed, as he, too, had been sent to the reform school and knew about he horrors that occurred there. And so, despite his pledge to do his job and honor the law, he decides to deliberately do a horrible job in prosecuting--as he, too, is thrilled that they murdered the scoundrel.What makes the film even better is that although this murder was justified, the film does NOT have a pat ending. In fact, the way it ends and the wonderfully realistic epilogue make the film. Terrific and honest in how it tells the tale--being truthful to the characters and story from start to finish. See this film...

killing? The song is from a late 60s rock group called Everything is Everything. Deniro and Hoffman have less flashy roles than normal and excel. The character parts are filled out by Bruno Kirby, the broad from The Sopranos and "King Benny," played by Vittorio Gassman, an actor from old Hollywood. And kudos to the fat guy from the handball court. I enjoyed his street wisdom. The first third of this film--when they are kids and before the crime--is a lot of fun. The part of the film I didn't like was the reform school section. I know it is essential to the plot, but I've seen it before--from the "Dead End Kids" to Bad Boys, the movie with Sean Penn. But the rest of the film is perfect. Sweet. Brutal. And moving.

comment on the actual movie. I can not say enough positive things about the movie. The actors are perfectly casted. I think every single one of them do an outstanding job in their portrayal. The story is heart-wrenching and it does an excellent job of getting its point across without showing or saying too much. This movie deserves more than it got.

Nokes in a restaurant. They walk up to him, shoot him, and leave. The District Attorney who handles their case is Michael Brad Pitt , one of the four. He has asked for the case, not to win, but to lose. It is time for revenge. Together with Shakes Jason Patric , the narrator of the story, they come up with a plan to expose events at Wilkinson. Key figures here are John and Tommy's lawyer Snyder Dustin Hoffman , the girl they all like Carol Minnie Driver , the Mafia boss from the neighborhood King Benny Vittorio Gassman , and a priest who has been friends with the four forever, Father Bobby Robert De Niro . Especially he has a very important role.The first part is very good with four kid actors who are not annoying and a Bacon who is close to pure evil. The way they set up the story is very good as well. We learn to know the kids, King Benny, Father Bobby, the neighborhood. We feel we understand how things work in Hell's Kitchen which is pretty important to make events plausible when the kids have grown up. The second part is not as good but as least as interesting. There are more question we could ask here, but fine actors like De Niro, Hoffman, Pitt and Patric know how to create believable characters. Although what they do might not be the right thing, we somehow hope they pull it off.Director Barry Levinson has made a good film, with 147 minutes a little too long maybe. He finds the right way to tell this sad story, with a perfect set-up and with interesting courtroom scenes in the second part. That is sort of an achievement since we know the whole thing is scripted there. The star power probably does the rest. Hoffman and De Niro are great as always, Bacon is perfectly creepy, Pitt, Patric and Driver are effective. John Williams' score is great. We feel it, but it never distracts from the story. 'Sleepers' is most definitely worth watching.

Nokes. He is pivotal to the 4 boys descent in to hell and his evil in the bar scene where he meets his demise sets the wheels in motion for the revenge in the 3rd part of the movie. De Niro is superb as always but has great support in Brad Pitt, Jason Patric, Minnie Driver and Dustin Hoffman. A Must see if you like films of this genre.