Line #20 Film/Sleeper


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3	1973 film starring Creator/WoodyAllen and Creator/DianeKeaton, wherein Creator/WoodyAllen plays the role of Miles Monroe, a jazz musician who is accidentally frozen (with tinfoil for freshness) for two hundred years, waking in the year 2173. He is drafted by the scientists who wake him, as he's the only man in the world who hasn't been scanned and cataloged by the globe-spanning dictatorship of "The Leader".
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5	Miles disguises himself as a robot to escape his pursuers, falls in love with a future woman, gets brainwashed, [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext wins the Miss America pageant]], and topples the world government with the help of his new girlfriend, wacky disguises, and a steamroller.
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7	Spoofing similar sci-fi and suspense films, future tech, and social standards of the time to great effect, this was [[http://nextprojection.com/2013/03/07/woody-allen-spotlight-sleeper-1973/ Allen's piece]] on how government control destroys creativity. It's based on Creator/HGWells novel ''Literature/TheSleeperAwakes'', and while it seems to be loosely based on the book at face value, it's just as satirical and insightful.
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9	----
10	!!This film provides examples of:
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12	* AffectionateParody: Of 1970s sci-fi films.
13	* AfraidOfNeedles: Miles is approached by a technician with a huge hypodermic...he stares in horror as the man walks by him to inject a potted plant, and promptly blacks out.
14	* TheAllegedCar: Turned completely on its head. While on the run from future dystopian authorities, Miles and Luna discover what appears to be a dust-covered, 200-year-old, mid-Sixties vintage Volkswagen Beetle. When Miles turns the key in the ignition the car starts without a millisecond's hesitation and purrs happily. Miles observes, "Wow, they really built these things, didn't they?"
15	* AlliterativeName: '''M'''iles '''M'''onroe.
16	* AlterKocker: Jackie Mason and Myron Cohen voice two old Jewish ''robots'' who run a clothing shop, complete with yamulke-like head covers.
17	* BananaPeel: Super economy size peels result in lots and lots of slipping.
18	* BangFlagGun: Miles threatens the Leader's nose with such a gun.
19	* BeautyContest: Miles is captured and made to assimilate through mental manipulation, put in a beauty contest scenario in a lab. It works, as a switch is thrown and he breathily spouts a banal speech about using the title to promote peace and brotherhood.
20	* BloodlessCarnage: As with ''Film/{{Bananas}}'', there's never any damage shown because Allen was going for a Chaplinesque comedy. The worst is a flattened nose.
21	* {{Brainwashed}}[=/=]{{Deprogram}}: Parodied as with everything else; Miles is subject to brainwashing to make him conform, and Luna must deprogram him. The deprogramming process, however, goes through a number of different personalities until it ends up being an impromptu performance of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire''. With Miles as Blanche and Luna as Stanley.
22	* BreathlessNonSequitur: Miles desperately tries to keep Luna from turning him in.
23	-->I'm a good person, I've got good life drives! I don't smoke, I don't drink, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick I would never force myself sexually on a blind person...]]
24	* BronsonCanyonAndCaves: Miles and Luna venture into the Bronson Caves and discover a 200-year-old Volkswagon (which still runs) and copy of ''The New York Times'' from 1990 with the headline "Pope's Wife Gives Birth to Twins."
25	* CastingGag: Guess who they got to voice the main computer? Douglas Rain AKA [[Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey Hal 9000]].
26	* CasualInterplanetaryTravel: It's not specified where they go but space travel is common enough that the average Joe can be expected to have a spacesuit at home.
27	* {{Confessional}}: After being captured by the Evil government, Miles goes to confession. He admits to various minor acts of disloyalty and asks for forgiveness. The priest is revealed to be a robot, which flashes "Absolved" on its screen and delivers a Kewpie doll.
28	* CoinWalkFlexing: Miles uses a coin walk as a seduction technique on Luna.
29	* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Watching a video of Howard Cosell is the worst punishment known to 2173. Miles of 1973 agrees wholeheartedly.
30	* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon:
31	-->'''Miles:''' You sit here. I'll go find us something, and don't try anything funny while I'm gone, 'cause you know what you'll get.\
32	'''Luna:''' What?\
33	'''Miles:''' What? W-w-what will you get? Uh, a ... large and ''painful'' hickey!
34	** His next line of dialog?
35	--->"My God... I just beat a man senseless with a strawberry!"
36	* DoYouWantToCopulate: The idea of two people having sex is alien to the people, as they've had machines to... do it for them, as it were.
37	-->'''Luna:''' Do you want to perform sex with me?\
38	'''Miles:''' ''Perform'' sex? I-i-i-i don't think I'm up for a performance, but I'll rehearse with you if you like.
39	* {{Dystopia}}: Remarkably, Allen uses the setting of a future dystopia to pay homage to the style of old silent comedies.
40	* ElectricInstantGratification.
41	-->'''Miles:''' ''(refusing to get into the Orgasmatron)'' ''Machine?!'' I'm not getting into that thing. I'm strictly a hand operator. I don't like anything with moving parts that aren't my own.
42	-->''(Of course, when Miles hides in an activated Orgasmatron, he comes out ... excessively pleased.)''
43	* EveryCarIsAPinto: Miles pushes a Volkswagen Beetle he'd used as a getaway car off a tall cliff into a lake to throw off pursuit. The car lands almost completely intact and the water turns out to be only a few inches deep.
44	* EverythingIsAnIPodInTheFuture: Thanks to an homage to ''Film/THX1138'' homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
45	* ExtyYearsFromPublication: Miles is out for precisely 200 years, with the film starting at the publication year of 1973.
46	* FantasticDrug: "Orb"--a silver sphere that makes the handler feel giddy and laugh uncontrollably when it's touched or rubbed. Great for parties.
47	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Miles is cryogenically frozen when he doesn't recover from routine surgery, then revived 200 years later. He unwillingly becomes a key figure in a revolution as someone who has no identifying records.
48	* TheFoodPoisoningIncident: Miles is cryogenically frozen and revived 200 years later as a fugitive. He pleads that he never did anything wrong, that he was just an owner of a health food store—"''occasionally'' a customer got botulism, but that was very ''rare''!"
49	* FruitOfTheLoon: Miles searches for food and comes across a farm where insanely large fruit is being grown. He picks a banana the size of a canoe, and when a guard runs up to catch him, the two slip repeatedly on the carpet-size banana peel.
50	* FullCircleRevolution: At the end, Miles has deliberately facilitated a communist takeover but fully expects a follow-up revolution.
51	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: While Miles is disguised as a robot butler, he attempts to deal with an out of control, sentient gelatin mold while Luna and one of her party guests have an obliviously-mundane conversation.
52	* FutureCopter: In 2173 we'll have helicopter backpacks...but they won't work very well.
53	* FutureImperfect:
54	** The scientists' knowledge of the past is limited and comes from old tapes of Howard Cosell. They seek to learn more by asking a Creator/WoodyAllen character, which one supposes is an improvement.
55	** Art in this future is influenced by big-eye-kid painter Walter Keane[[note]]Well, not ''exactly'', as noted in ''Film/BigEyes''[[/note]] -- "Keane" is in fact the descriptive term for a brilliant work, and is apparently one rank above [[CubanMedia Xavier Cugat]].
56	* GasolineLastsForever: Miles and Luna find a Volkswagen Beetle that has been in storage for 200 years. It starts right up and they drive it for a considerable distance with no problems.
57	* GiantFood: Advances in agriculture result in comically immense fruits and veggies. Miles notably and quotably "Beats a man senseless with a ''strawberry''".
58	* GloriousLeader: The Leader, naturally. [[spoiler: At least, his nose.]]
59	* HelicopterPack: After his attempt to use a JetPack fails (see below), Miles puts on and uses a helicopter backpack.
60	* {{Homage}}: Creator/WoodyAllen wanted to do a Creator/CharlieChaplin-styled movie. This was to be a silent film; instead, the film has a lot of slapstick comedy with no dialog. Allen also did something only Chaplin did: write, direct, star, produce, ''and'' write and perform the music in the soundtrack.
61	* HumanPopsicle: This is how Miles ends up in 2173 in the first place.
62	* IfItTastesBadItMustBeGoodForYou: Played with:
63	-->'''Dr. Melik:''' ''listing items Miles had requested for breakfast'' ... wheat germ, organic honey, and... Tiger's Milk.\
64	'''Dr. Aragon:''' Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.\
65	'''Dr. Melik:''' You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?\
66	'''Dr. Aragon:''' Those were thought to be unhealthy... precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.\
67	'''Dr. Melik:''' Incredible!
68	** Miles owned a health food store - he claims the awful food served in 2173 would've sold well there.
69	* ImprovisedWeapon: In a fight with a guard at a futuristic farm, Miles knocks him cold with a strawberry the size of a medicine ball. Earlier he subdued another guard by asphyxiating him with a block of blue cheese.
70	* InsaneTrollLogic:
71	-->'''Luna:''' ''(amazed)'' Miles, do you know that "God" spelled backwards is "dog"?\
72	'''Miles:''' So?\
73	'''Luna:''' It makes you think.\
74	'''Miles:''' [[SureLetsGoWithThat Luna, help me push the car.]]
75	* JetPack: Miles tries to use one to escape the security police, but it takes off without him.
76	* KindheartedSimpleton: Luna is a NiceGirl but rather dumb, as she apparently [[ArtisticLicenseBiology thought butterflies turn into caterpillars, rather than vice versa]], along with realizing God is dog spelled backwards and thinking that constitutes some kind of amazing insight.
77	* LostCommonKnowledge: Played for laughs. Miles Monroe wakes up in the year 2173 after spending 200 years as a HumanPopsicle. The people of that time have lost most of their historical knowledge due to a nuclear war, so they ask him questions about 20th century artifacts (e.g. "chattering teeth") and people. Miles makes up a bunch of lies about them for his own amusement ("Creator/BelaLugosi...was the mayor of New York for a while" and "Charles de Gaulle...was a very famous French chef.").
78	* MirrorRoutine: At one point, Miles does the routine shaving at a futuristic mirror, where he notices his reflection is just a bit off-sync.
79	* MumblingBrando: Miles is undergoing a deprogramming - something goes wrong and he assumes the persona of Blanche du Bois from ''Film/AStreetcarNamedDesire''. To give them time to sedate him, Luna plays Stanley Kowalski. Funnily enough, Diane Keaton starred opposite Creator/MarlonBrando in ''Film/TheGodfather''.
80	* MythologyGag: Luna's rebel song is identical to Esposito's from ''Film/{{Bananas}}'': "Rebels are we! Born to be free -- just like the fish in the sea!"
81	* NakedApron: At one point Miles finds himself in an apartment where some gay men live. Enter the butler, clad only in an apron.
82	* NakedOnArrival: Played with when Miles claims he will clone the dictatorial leader from his remains (his nose) directly into his suit (he's bluffing).
83	* NoEnding: The Leader is destroyed, but the albeit dying totalitarian state still rules, and Miles really doesn't care.
84	-->'''Luna:''' Oh, I see. You don't believe in science, and you also don't believe that political systems work, and you don't believe in God, huh?\
85	'''Miles:''' Right.\
86	'''Luna:''' So then, what do you believe in?\
87	'''Miles:''' Sex and death - two things that come once in a lifetime... but at least after death, you're not nauseous. ''(BigDamnKiss, film ends.)''
88	* NobodyHereButUsStatues: While Miles is on the run from the authorities, he ducks into a van full of domestic servant robots and hastily makes himself up as one. Maybe it's a sign of intelligence in the future that everyone who sees him is fooled.
89	* NoodleIncident:
90	** Miles learns that the old world was destroyed when Albert Shanker[[note]][[GeniusBonus The head of the New York City teachers' union at the time of the film's release.]][[/note]] inexplicably [[EmptyQuiver "got a hold of a nuclear warhead."]]
91	** Miles moans when coming out of a bad dream, "No more Polish women!"
92	* OhCrap: Miles, while disguised as a Domesticon, dropping his mouthpiece as the other ones are having their heads ripped off at the service lab.
93	* OneWordTitle
94	* {{Orgasmatron}}: An elevator-like machine is used to make people have orgasms. Another device, an orb, gives orgasmic sensations to whoever holds it.
95	* PaperThinDisguise: Miles as a robot.
96	* PerfectlyCromulentWord: Luna describes a friend's painting as "pure keane. No, it's greater than keane...it's cugat." (The made-up words are a ShoutOut to '60s schlock artist[[note]]And, as seen in ''Film/BigEyes'', con artist.[[/note]] Walter Keane and bandleader-turned-cartoonist Xavier Cugat, respectively.)
97	* PlungerDetonator: There's a RunningGag involving a laser cannon that's fired using a plunger detonator. Each time part of the weapon is destroyed, instead of what's in front of it.
98	* PuttingOnTheReich: The US government has turned into a fascist, totalitarian state.
99	* RagnarokProofing: Parodied. After 200 years, a VW Beetle is still in perfect working condition. Miles then [[LampshadeHanging remarks]], "Wow, they really built these things, didn't they?"
100	* ReliablyUnreliableGuns: A RunningGag involves a different part of a laser cannon blowing up every time they try to fire it at Miles.
101	* RetroUpgrade: After [[HumanPopsicle waking up in the future]], Miles orders some health food for breakfast (he used to own a health food store). It's revealed that in the future they've discovered that "unhealthy" foods are actually extremely good for you.
102	* RidiculousFutureSequelisation: A UsefulNotes/McDonalds sign shows the number of hamburgers served as 1 followed by a hundred zeroes (a googol). In real life, the chain ended the count at 100 million in 1994, replacing it with "billions and billions served."
103	* RoadApples: Miles wonders if the robot dog leaves batteries behind to clean up.
104	* RobotDog: Rags.
105	-->'''Rags:''' Woof, woof, woof. Hello, I'm Rags! Woof, woof, woof.\
106	'''Miles:''' Is he house-trained or is he going to be leaving batteries everywhere?
107	* RobotMaid: Disguising as one of these is how Miles makes his escape initially.
108	* {{Robosexual}}: Miles asks if there are female robots because "the possibilities are endless."
109	* RunningGag: An ambiguous RayGun weapon that uses a PlungerDetonator for firing never works properly.
110	* ShoutOut: Aside from the general homage to silent comedies, there's a blink and you miss it moment where we see a Domesticom van driver dressed in dark blue coveralls and an unusual brimless cap, similar to the workers from ''{{Film/Metropolis}}''.
111	* SilentFilm: It's not one, but some of the sequences where Miles escapes the soldiers are set to that bouncy jazzy score and lack sound effects and dialogue, evoking the "feel" of a silent film.
112	* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: Miles wakes up 200 years after he was put to sleep to find a completely different world. One in which it was finally found out that smoking was good for you, and 200 year old VW bugs (the old model) started instantly.
113	* SoundtrackDissonance: The music is very jazzy for such a clean and dull future -- because Miles is a jazz musician.
114	* SquashedFlat: The Leader of the futuristic dictatorship — or what's left of him, his nose — ends up flattened under a steamroller.
115	* StrawberryShorthand: Miles is foraging at a farm growing enormous produce, and knocks out a guard with a strawberry the size of a beachball.
116	-->My God... I beat a man sensible with a strawberry!
117	* TakeThat:
118	** The gay couple's super-effeminate robot is named "[[UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan Reagan]]", then-Governor of California.
119	** Also when Miles "confirms" the scientists' hypothesis that recordings of Howard Cosell were used as a torture device.[[note]]Made even funnier when you know Allen and Cosell were good friends and the former was {{Troll}}ing the latter.[[/note]]
120	* TheTalk: Miles recalls his childhood.
121	-->When I asked my mother where babies came from, she thought I said "rabies". She said you get them from being bitten by a dog. The next week, a woman on my block gave birth to triplets... I thought she'd been bitten by a great dane.
122	* TheyDontMakeThemLikeTheyUsedTo: Interior cave - day: Luna—“What is it?” Miles—“It’s a 200-year-old Volkswagen.” (Turns key; car starts) “Ah. They really built these things, didn’t they?”
123	* VictoriasSecretCompartment: Miles and Luna have infiltrated Big Brother HQ to bring down the dictatorship. She produces a gun, he asks "Where were you hiding that? ...don't tell me."
124	* VideoPhone: Present, notably when Luna notifies the authorities that she has been kidnapped by Miles. Bathroom mirrors have also been replaced with video screens; changing the channel on a vid-mirror results in seeing other people go through their bathroom routines.
125	* WeWillHavePerfectHealthInTheFuture: Science has discovered that everything tasty is actually good for you, making everyone's health a lot better than when we were forcing ourselves to eat all that crappy health food.
126	* WhatAreRecords: Among the room full of "artifacts" that Miles is tasked with identifying is an old phonograph.
127	* WhatWeNowKnowToBeTrue: TropeNamer.
128	-->'''Dr. Melik:''' This morning for breakfast he [Miles] requested something called "wheat germ, organic honey and tiger's milk."
129	-->'''Dr. Aragon:''' Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
130	-->'''Dr. Melik:''' You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or... hot fudge?
131	-->'''Dr. Aragon:''' Those were thought to be unhealthy... ''precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.''
132	-->'''Dr. Melik:''' Incredible.[[note]]In a weird way, TruthInTelevision. A lot of the early 70s disapproval of fat was sparked by scientific papers that urged people to eat less fat and more carbs...which papers were subsidised by the sugar industry. Cream pies and hot fudge are especially unhealthy not so much because they're high in fat, but because they're high in fat and also sugar. High-fat foods make you sated for longer periods, but sugar makes you crave more sugar, which is why ice cream and doughnuts, etc. can be so addictive.[[/note]]
133	* YourNormalIsOurTaboo: Hinted at:
134	-->'''Luna''': I wanted to have sex, but we didn't invite enough people.

Context Film / Sleeper