ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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Woody Allen takes a shot at spoofing the Buck Rogers school of science fiction in this slapstick comedy with several thousand jokes (some great, some not-so-great).

Allen plays a befuddled guy who goes into the hospital for a simple ulcer treatment in 1973 and ends up in cryogenic suspension!

He is revived in the 22nd century by a group of rebel scientists who want to enlist his aid in fighting the totalitarian government. Storm Troopers attack the rebel headquarters, and Allen must flee. As a fugitive from the Storm Troopers, he masquerades as a robot butler, abducts a spoiled socialite (Diane Keaton), finds a rust-covered 200-year old Volkswagen which cranks instantly, and gets stoned simply by touching an electronic sphere.





The script by Allen and Marshall Brickman pokes fun at dozens of social institutions, from hospitals to beauty contests (the government brainwashes him into thinking he's Miss America).

Fairly good sets and props combine with straight-faced performances by the supporting players, providing a nice framework for Allen's lunatic portrayal of an average guy trapped in an impossible situation.





Admittedly Allen sometimes gets a little too silly, and the Dixieland jazz score works against the film because the music is totally unresponsive to what's happening on screen. But in general, "Sleeper" is one of Woody's most enjoyable creations.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

[Bud Brewster]

Thanks, David.

I couldn't find out the name of the artist who did the marvelous poster. To get that jpeg of the artwork alone (in better detail than the poster) and had to piece together a few cropped images I found. Here's what I used.








The less-than-perfect result is this.



Even then I wasn't able to include all the great stuff in the lower third of the painting, shown here in a cropped section --





-- but I'd still love to have a really detailed version of the poster that shows all of the artist's great painting.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Pye-Rate]

H.G. Wells When the Sleeper Wakes is the original story.

[Bud Brewster]

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This one has some funny moments.

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__________________ Sleeper (1973) - Trailer


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has __ trivia items for this movie. Here's a few of the ones I found the most interesting.
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Woody Allen originally intended the film to be three hours long, and in two parts. The first part would have him in the present day, coping with life, until his illness. And the second half, would be the futuristic part. But, United Artists rejected this concept.

Note from me: Hmmm . . . an ambitious idea, but I don't think that was a good idea. Perhaps it would have worked if the two parts each had budgets larger than the existing film.

Also, if Allen had resisted the urge to include so many of the Keystone Cops sped-up scenes (like repeatedly slipping on the giant banana peel), the movies would have been more coherent (while still being funny), if the writing was good enough.

Woody Allen had originally hoped to shoot much of the film in Brasilia, Brazil's futuristic capital city complex designed by urban planner Lucio Costa and architect Oscar Niemeyer. Budget limitations however restricted him to using locations within the continental USA.

Note from me:These days we have "futuristic" buildings much more impressive than this, so I doubt the location would have added much to Woody's film.





The rebel hideout was filmed at the "Sculptured House", a residence designed and built by architect Charles Deaton in the mountains west of Denver. The home was constructed in 1963 but the interior was not yet complete at the time of filming. In 2004, the home was offered for sale for $10 million.

Note from me: Now this is more impressive!





This film permanently ended plans for two productions based on H.G. Wells' "When the Sleeper Wakes", the 1899 novel on which this film is loosely based. One proposed production was by American International (long shelved due to the high proposed budget) and the other by producer George Pal.

Note from me: By gum, our good friend Pye-rate was correct! (Not that I doubted him a moment. )


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Douglas Rain — credited as the voice of the Evil Computer — is best known for voicing HAL in "2001".

Note from me: Boy, type casting in Hollywood is a bitch! Once your identified as the voice of an evil computer, that's all you get to play!


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

The painting is by Frank Frazetta. He did a lot of movie posters in this period like AFTER THE FOX, THE NIGHT THEY RAIDED MINSKYS, and many more.

[Bud Brewster]

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Well I'll be darned. I'm usually pretty good at spotting Frazetta's work, but I didn't even think of him!

Thanks!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[scotpens]

[orzel-w]

[Bogmeister]

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Woody Allen's hilarious take on waking up 200 years in the future, in the year 2173.

He also plays the lead, a hapless schlup who unwittingly does the Rip Van Winkle bit — placed in cryogenic sleep by accident in 1973. He's awakened in a brave new world by scientists who are members of a revolutionary group struggling against the current totalitarian regime. They need him to pull off a secret mission because he's the very rare bird who isn't documented.

Things quickly go sideways and Woody is on the run from rather inefficient police enforcers. He takes a spoiled and vacuous member (Diane Keaton) of this society hostage, but the two soon fall in love.

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Allen mixes sight and physical gags with his usual wry commentary on societal mores. We find out, for example, that tobacco is actually the best thing for a human body.

Many of the expected sci-fi tropes are given a new twist — robots as servants, flying jet-packs, pleasure machines, artificial foods, and some kind of futuristic cannon that the chasing police use and which never works properly.

We also get to see Keaton do a Brando imitation. This comedy takes many of its cues from the much more grim THX-1138 and A Clockwork Orange of a couple of years earlier, especially the overall plot of a controlled populace and brainwashing.

However, this itself was copied by many later movies and TV, from Death Race 2000 (the mysterious leader) to Futurama. Co-stars John Beck, who shows up late as the leader of a resistance cell which follows Marxism.

BoG's Score: 8 out of 10



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Krel]

The "Sculptured House" did influence a design in the movie. The house's elevator became the model for the Orgasmatron Booth.

David.

[Bud Brewster]

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This I did NOT know . . .
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)